Devotionals on Man

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• Types of Christ Adam:- the first man was a wonderful type of Christ, Who was the second Man and last Adam - Who was made sin for the bride, that God chose for Him. Eve:- who was taken from the side of Adam – what an astonishing type of the Church - Eve who was bone of His bone, and who became one with her Bridegroom.
• Job, a man God trusts to be a witness in the spiritual battle of the ages.
• Job, a man of righteousness and yet a man that is clearly motivated by self-righteousness.
• Wives and Widows Are you a wife or widow who has no man as your covering and feels like giving up?  Take heart, the Lord is your husband..

• Our old man has been crucified (Rom. 6:6), the world overcome,' and its prince judged' (John 16:33, 11).

• I believe that a work of God sometimes goes on behind a particular man or family, village or district before the knowledge of the truth ever reaches them.

• The natural man cannot bear the thought of being searched by God; he cannot stand to think of being found out in his true condition and character.

• This is only until the double lesson has been fully learned: (1) that a living faith can rejoice in the Living God, even when all feeling and experience appear to contradict the truth (Rom. 8:28, 29); and (2) that the Divine life only predominates as the life of the old man is held in the place of death, inoperative (Rom. 6:11a).

• He had come as a Man to identify with the ones that He was to save.
• Unique Role It is a beautiful picture of the triune Godhead uniting on the banks of the Jordan to encourage the Lord Jesus as Son of God and Son of Man to fulfil His unique role as Prophet, Priest and King – as He took His first step on the road that led to Calvary. Let us never be content to skip through the pages of Scripture without a deeper look into the gracious soul of our Saviour – Who gave His life as a ransom for you and me.

• The word burden here just does mean a load or weight, as much as a man can carry.
• This faculty of spiritual discernment makes the Prophet a very lonely man, and brings upon him all the charges of being singular, extreme, idealistic, unbalanced, spiritually proud, and even schismatic.

• They may express it in different ways, but it amounts to this: 'That man, that woman, has something that I have not got and it is something that I need.

• Look into the book of the Revelation: great multitude, which no man could numberten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands.The number cannot be expressed in human language and they have been gathered since the travail of the Lord Jesus.

• The LORD has sought for Himself a man after His own heart”1Samuel 13:14
• Loving Obedience God is seeking a man; a corporate body; a race; a peculiar people – a new creation. God is seeking a man after His own heart..
• a man made in His image and likeness. God wants a man to communicate His thoughts and character to a dying world in sin: and God made man in His own image to have dominion and to rule His earth Genesis 1:26.
• – but from the get-go, man failed the simple test of loving obedience to his Creator..
• so Christ was sent to be that Man after God’s own heart – walking in loving obedience.
• Christ was sent by the Father to show how a man after God’s own heart should live.
• New Man in Christ And God’s children became that new man in Christ; a corporate man; a race; a creation.
• God’s children became the Church, the new creation, which is His body - the Church, the fullness of Him” Ephesians 1:23.  For 2000 years the church of Christ has been quietly growing into a corporate body, and God is bringing that new creation in Christ into His planned fullness: till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: Ephesians 4:13.
• And such are the qualities that God seeks in the man after His own heart.
• so that like Christ, their living example, they should learn to walk in spirit and in truth : a new race; a corporate man : a new creation – reflecting His godly nature.
• Reflection of God And what is the result? It is not a man who becomes the personification of God….not deity, never.
• But a man that entirely reflects God’s moral nature – to God’s own satisfaction. A corporate man after God’s own heart – walking in loving obedience… A body, communicating His perfect character to a dying world in sin. And the goal of that corporate body is, “Christ in you - the hope of glory.”

• Most men will proclaim every one his own goodness, but a faithful man – who can find?Proverbs 20:6
• In Deuteronomy chapter 7 we read, Know therefore that the LORD thy God, He is God, the faithful God, Who keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him, for without His faithfulness, His eternal omniscience would be of little worth – and without His faithfulness, His infinite power would leave man adrift.
• And so too of David the man after God’s own heart, for who is so faithful among all thy servants as David, 1 Sam.22:14.

• And Peter urges us to:- sanctify the Lord God in your hearts: and be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you..

• God planned to give His perfect Son, so that imperfect man could be eternally saved.

• Living by faith which comes from hearing and not by sight or signs or dreams – putting off the old man in Adam and putting on the new man in Christ – recognising our heavenly home is a greater reality that this sin-sick, cursed world. Many such writings have been on waiting – waiting God’s time and waiting God’s way.
• Specific Man Today, I look back to a specific man – a man who exemplified and lived a life of trust.
• A man who waited God’s time. We read the following in Luke 2:26 and it was revealed unto him by the Holy Ghost, that he should not see death, before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. It is a truly fearful thing for anyone to see death before seeing Christ Jesus.

• When you are not walking in the spirit you are in the flesh: you have turned to the 'old man' which was crucified on the cross.

• Until we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.” Ephesians 4:13
• As Son of God and Son of Man, He is the object of our faith – our expression of love.
• And the godly goal and pure purpose is... that we all are to come to a perfect man.
• and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
• Perfect Man Each day of our lives the Lord is doing a good work is each one of us..
• until that wonderful day when “we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of Christ, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of His fullness of Christ.

• Prayer Warrior Habakkuk’s writings demonstrate him to be a deeply burdened man.

• And yet this dreadful defeat for man’s deliverance was to be effected over time.
• Paul, throughout His life, envisioned the triumphal train of His Lord and Saviour - a victorious, divinely appointed procession, with the defeated enemy displayed – a celebration of Man’s great victory accompanied by His few faithful followers – even a testimony of Christ’s great and mighty conquest at Calvary’s cross.
• Paul persevered through some of the most difficult times to befall any man. In a few short years, he testified in many places, that the cross is indeed triumphant.
• A man, battle-scared from pillar to post by a deluge of satanic oppression.
• A man, willing to die for his Lord – a man equally prepared to live for Him as well.

• Final Sacrifice In past times the blood of bulls and goats atoned for man’s sin – it covered man’s sins.
• We all have a sin nature – “the old man” as Paul often calls it.
• Kinsman-Redeemer But God had planned a unique way that all sinners could be forgiven of their sins., but it meant that the eternal Son of God would become a perfect human being so that He could be made a sacrifice for sin – a substitute for man – a kinsman-redeemer.
• The Perfect Man Only God’s eternal Son was good enough to pay the incredible price for humanities sin, but God is Spirit and without the shedding of human blood – is no forgiveness of sins. He had to lay aside His glory, leave His heavenly abode and become the Son of Man. And so at God’s appointed time Jesus was born – as the innocent and perfect Man. Only the blood of an innocent and perfect Man was sufficient to pay the price for sin.
• Son of Man The wages of sin is death – i.e.
• separation from God forever and only the shed blood of the Son of Man could have paid for our sin – and only the resurrection of the Son of Man would give us newness of life – a new life in Christ – a new creation in Christ.
• It was ONLY the humanity of Christ that qualified Him to die – for only as Son of Man did He have the blood pulsing through His veins that was to be shed for humanities sin.

• For Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness, which is based on law, shall live by that righteousness.Romans 10:4-5
• Unreachable Standard The unreachable standard of God’s Law was to be set aside for a new life in Christ. A man seeking to live by any Law must be prepared to keep every part of that law.
• But works of the law are unacceptable to God for all man’s righteousness is dross to God.
• New Life in Christ A man who seeks to live by the Law must be prepared to keep every part of that law, but the one who died to the Law with Christ has been given a new Christlike nature. A Christian with a new life in Christ must die to self so that Christ lives in him.
• Self-righteous Pride Nicodemus, a pious Jewish leader, struggled with the idea of grace rather than human merit to gain God’s acceptance. Self-righteous pride may be the most difficult obstacle to overcome when free grace is offered, for one relies on the merits of man while the other rests on the grace of God. The constant strivings of the religious man to become acceptable to God by works is a far cry from the submitted heart of a broken sinner, who is thirsting for salvation.
• It was the Lord Jesus Himself Who said... to the man, or woman, who has..
• It restricts the expression of the sinful nature of man - inherited from Adam.
• A Heart Matter Works of the law are unacceptable to God and unreachable to man, but the logic of legalism persists in trying to obscure God’s gift of grace. But trusting in God is not a matter of the intellect but a matter of the heart.. for with the heart man believesth unto righteousness.

• As she sat reading, she hoped she would be shown His plans and purposes... and the man sitting opposite struck up a conversation… amazed by her composure.
• And as she sat talking about the greatest gift of the Son of God to the man, the nurse come in and told her, Caleb has woken up.
• Rachel needed to go to Ontario hospital, for there was a man.  And we too need to go where God sends us, for there are many men and many women… The Lord Jesus is coming back – and he is coming soon..maybe today..

• And at centre stage of His holy life stands an old rugged cross – as the eternal emblem of God’s love for man.
• Advent of Christ It took 4000 years for God to prepare a fallen world for the advent of the Messiah, and the slowly unfolding plan of this never-ending love-story discovered righteousness and justices kissing love and grace as the eternal Creator Himself entered the universe that He made – to redeem the fallen race of man, who were in active rebellion against Him.
• We read that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, but it required the Creator breaking into His own universe to achieve the impossible – a Man, born of a human mother, Who was Son of the Most High God..

• If any man is in Christ, he is a new creature: the old things are passed away; behold, they are become new.

• Humble Obedience Christ came to earth as a man and in obedience to God, voluntarily emptied Himself. He did not cease to be fully God, but put aside His right of deity for a time. He obediently set aside all the privileges, prerogatives and power of Godhead.
• A Submitted Man Every sign, miracle, and work of grace was performed by the Father through the Son.
• Every action, attitude, move, and motive showed a man submitted to the Spirit of God.
• Unattainable Christ-likeness God first brings His bond-slave to a realisation that His standard unachievable.. that Christ-likeness is unattainable through the efforts and attempts of man. He makes us understand that this is impossible apart from a miracle of God within.

• For of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought in bondage.2Peter 2:19
• Enemy of the Soul The enemy of the soul deliberately seeks to shipwreck God’s purposed plan: “For of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought into bondage. 2Peter 2:19  And the seven-fold warning of the Spirit is this :- to him that overcometh.. So how must I overcome the world, the flesh and the satanic forces of evil?
• Ears to Hear But Christ still stands and knocks and asks: If any man will hear… If any woman will hear… If anyone will hear… Let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches… (See Revelation chapters 2 and 3) The Lord still seeks a body, however small, to burden themselves with His will. The Lord still seeks to complete the work He started through whosoever will.

• Many Religions, One God There are many religions – but only one FAITH. There is only ONE God Who is faithful. There is only ONE God in Whom we can put our trust. There is only ONE God Who we can confidently love and be loved by. His ways are superior from the devised plans of man. His ways are unique and are disclosed to those that love Him. The one God Who is faithful can be reverently loved. He longs to draw men to Himself with His long, exquisite chords of love and He desires to woo His own into a privileged intimacy with Himself.

• Unique Creation Man was a unique creation – created in the image and likeness of God.
• Man was created to rule and reign.
• Man was created in the image and likeness of eternal God – but then man fell..
• Adam passed on to his progeny the old sin nature that rages in every man, and Adam learned that blood must be spilled for redemption to be achieved, and God had a plan.
• Two Choices Abel and Cain exemplified two choices that man would be required to make - men that would trust and obey OR men of unbelief and disobedience.
• God chose a man from Adam’s race and created a new son – Israel.
• Adam, the man, was the first human ‘son’ of God – through whom He would work.
• As one man, that old creation in Jacob rejected the only begotten Son of God.
• New Man in Christ And so Israel was set aside..
• And for 2000 years the new man in Christ is the one through whom God works.
• Body of Christ Adam a fallen man was a firstborn human son – through whom God worked. Israel the nation was a firstborn human son – through whom God worked. Christ, the perfect man, was God’s only begotten Son – through whom He would work.
• the Church – through whom He will work for the new man in Christ was to become the mystical body of the Lord Jesus Christ – until it is no longer I that lives but Christ – that lives in me.
• Fruit of the Kingdom The Church is the nation bringing forth the fruit of the kingdom – through Christ, and the Word of God describes in detail the gospel of this coming glory of Christ – a kingdom when the perfect Man..
• the second Adam will rule and reign – a kingdom when this third Son and last Man will rule with this chosen bride.
• Rightly Divide At last – Man will fulfil the destiny for which he was created – to rule and reign..

• Created to Rule God created Adam to rule the earth through the guidance of God in heaven: let us make man in Our image to have dominion over the works of our hands.
• Earthly man was to govern the earth through God’s heavenly sovereignty, for the Lord prepared His throne in the heavens; and His kingdom rules over all.
• But that one nation that was chosen to be His witnesses also disobeyed the Lord their God. So God allowed the times of the Gentiles to demonstrate man’s inability to rule – from the time of Nebuchadnezzar God has permitted illegal dominion over the earth – the times of the gentiles.
• God set a guard over the tree of life until man could resume his role as king – until His Man, (the Man Christ Jesus) would govern the earth through God’s heavenly sovereignty.
• And God implemented His glorious plan of redemption and man’s glorification..
• Submissive Obedience Adam was to govern the earthly realm through God’s guidance in the heavenly realm. Later Israel was created to teach the nations the goodness of God. Israel was to demonstrate man living in submission to God – a son obedient to his Father.
• So God sent His Son to live and die in obedience to the Father as an example to man – an example of how man is to live in willing submissive obedience to the Father.
• King of Kings Christ will soon return to rule the earth as God intended – man in submission to God.

• Moses: Set Apart Moses was a sign to Israel,  through his life and through his disobedience! This humble man was used of God, to save His people from Egypt’s oppression. This great man was chosen and separated by God, to be His mouthpiece, And this consecrated saint was once disobedient – and had to be judged..
• Jesus: Set Apart The Lord Jesus Christ is the perfect example of a life, consecrated to God. He spent His earthly walk living His life through the power of the Father.. Every work He undertook, each word He spoke, was a sign of consecration to God. His was a life that signified the infinite wisdom, power and sovereignty of God, His was the life exemplifying God working in and through a man – He was a Man set-apart to God.
• Christ in Me Being His witnesses does not necessarily mean going out and talking. Being a consecrated man or woman – ‘being a sign’ may not mean what you think. It may not mean becoming a missionary or starting a ministry… This may be a fraction of the call on a sanctified life.

• God is not a man that He should lie.

• No, though sadly some believers do worry that they are not truly born again. Get once and for all the gospel truth ever firmly fixed in your mind and heart.. believe… just believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you are saved – forever. No, the majority of truths in Paul’s epistles are for the saved man or woman, so that we can live the life that is best for us, as directed by the Holy Spirit.
• Godly Witness Paul’s life, witness and work demonstrates a man that lived in fellowship with God. Paul’s instructions explain in detail how every believer may also live a victorious life. His life experiences were some of the worst that one could ever imagine.

• Double Mined Is your mind set on Christ, or are you a double-minded man – an unstable man?
• Hosea and James Hosea points the finger of accusation at Israel, their heart is divided, he warns, while James reminds us that: a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways, and the result is distress, disease, disturbance of heart and mind and soul.
• THIRDLY: Look to Christ, knowing that the return of the Lord is at hand. A single-minded man looks to the Lord in all things at all times... in total trust.
• The double-minded man can’t trust Him completely and tries to assist the Lord..

• The Perfect Law The perfect Law became our tutor to lead us to Christ, so we may be justified by faith. It was Nicodemus, a Pharisee and a leader of the Jews who came to Jesus by night. Like all religious leaders he was a man who was separated unto legal righteousness. He knew every nuance of the Law and at this time he was the main teacher in Israel.
• Imperfect Man No doubt he studied the Scriptures diligently thinking that in so doing he would earn eternal life and yet these very writings testified of Jesus in Whom abides eternal life.
• Doubtless he was a good man, a sincere man..
• a man highly honoured among his peers, but Nicodemus was only a man!
• – a man who was a sinner, a man incapable of keeping God’s Law – and therefore Nicodemus was a man who needed a saviour.
• Search For Truth Rabbi, we know that You have come from God as a teacher, for no one could perform the signs You do unless God was with him, were his opening words, that blessed night. Nicodemus was one of whom Paul spoke when he said that before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law – shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. But he was a man, searching for truth – and that night he found Truth incarnate.
• Secret Disciple Nicodemus was a man with the veil of the Law shrouding his heart – but the light of the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ shone down on this needy man – that dark night. And later we discover him to be a secret disciple – at the tomb of his Lord.
• Impossible Standard The reality that the Law, in which Nicodemus trusted was related to the flesh, must have been shattering to this religious-minded Pharisee – this esteemed teacher. Though the Law was God’s benchmark for the man that is born of the flesh it was an impossible standard to keep – but the new life in Christ, which is a gift of God’s grace to the one that believes, is a new work of God in man – a new creation in Christ Jesus.
• Spiritual Life Man must be born of the Holy Spirit – if he is to live in the power of the Holy Spirit. The spiritual life of which Christ spoke is something entirely separate from the Law. The spiritual life is rooted in grace and truth, which comes to us from Jesus Christ.

• One New Man But many lessons they needed to learn would come through the apostle Paul. They would have to come to understand that God is no respecter of persons – but it was to be a steep learning curve for every Jewish believer in Christ. They would need to accept the gospel was equally for Jew and Gentile alike. They would need to come to an understanding of the one new man in Christ.

• The Lord never comes to a man and recommissions him when he is in despair.
• A lot is made of Paul. 'What a great man Paul was naturally, what intellect he had, what training, what tremendous abilities!' That may all be true, but ask Paul what value it was to him when he was right up against a spiritual situation.

• We have been saved from the violent man and all fears and failings.
• O.T. Warning Moses was a very humble man we read..

• Divine Authority The Bible is the only book that God has given to man.
• But for those who have broken free from the bondage of man-made rules, and trust in Christ’s finished work alone, discover the Bible to be their sole Source of divine authority and the  singular sufficiency for every aspect of their Christian life.

• Perfect Man He scorned the false traditions of men that had replaced the perfect Law of Moses. He challenged the Scribes and Pharisees who had corrupted the truth of God’s Law. He claimed His right as Lord of the Sabbath, yet lived in humble obedience to God. Christ exemplified a perfect man – Who lived in spirit and truth and obedience to God.
• The God-Man came to Israel as their Messiah to fulfil God’s covenants with them, but they rejected Him and despised Him – betrayed Him and crucified their God.
• A Future Church He fulfilled biblical prophecy – identifying Himself as the anointed One from God, yet we see an occasional glimpse of God’s future plans for His future church. He was fully God, and He was fully Man but He lived His life as an example to us all. He adhered to the Law of Moses for Jesus lived all of His life before Calvary’s cross.

• But we have this treasure (this light) in earthen vessels… that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of ourselves. 2Cor.4:7 lest any man should boast… Eph.2:9

• Man is born with an old sin-nature, which means he is physically alive but spiritually dead.
• Dead or Alive In Romans 6 Paul describes the condition of the natural man..
• The word 'sin'  in Romans 6 refers to the inner being of man – the old sin-nature within man, that everyone inherits from Adam.

• man foes shall be those of his own household.Do not narrow that down to the limits of a family where one is a Christian and all the rest are not.
• That is going to be the cost of a walk in Life with the Lord and not with man, knowing the Lord for yourself.

• The Cross has separated us from the power of sin (Rom. 6:11), the old man (Rom. 6:6), the world (Gal. 6:14), the law (Rom. 7:4), and the devil (Heb. 2:14).
• It is the Lord's property I have on earth, but in heaven I have my own.' In the garden of Eden, man lost his place; the question to him then is, First - Where art thou?

• They know not that the life of grace is always and only a life of faith, and that in the relationship to the Lord Jesus the one daily and unceasing duty of the disciple is to believe, because believing is the one channel through which Divine grace and strength can flow into the heart of man.

• For believers to consecrate themselves to God' ere they have learnt their union with Christ in death and resurrection is only to present to God the members of the natural man, which He cannot use.
• The modern teaching of consecration, which is tantamount to the consecration of the old man,' seeks to bypass the death sentence and therefore only leads to frustration and failure.

• It is not the consecration of our old man' with its instincts and resources, his natural wisdom, strength and other gifts, to the Lord Jesus for Him to use.
• The presenting' spoken of is the outcome of my knowing my old man to have been crucified (Rom. 6:6), and my reckoning myself alive unto God in Christ Jesus (Rom. 6:11).

• Wise Advice One saint of God puts it this way:- When the Holy Spirit reasons with man, He does not reason from what man is for God, but from what God is to man.

• and every-man.
• You are accepted in the Beloved. “Ahhh Woe is me – I am a man of unclean lips, I live in the midst of evil people!” God never changes.
• Darby put it this way: When the Holy Spirit reasons with man, He does not reason from what man is for God, but from what God is to man. Souls reason from what they are in themselves as to whether God can accept them. He cannot accept you thus. You are looking for righteousness in yourself as a ground of acceptance with Him. You cannot get peace whilst reasoning in that way.
• From God to Man The Holy Spirit always reasons down from what God is, and this produces a total change in my soul. It is not that I abhor my sins; indeed I may have been walking very well… but it is ‘I abhor myself. Until the soul comes to that point He does not give it peace – He cannot for it would be healing the wound slightly. The soul has to go on until it finds there is nothing to rest on – but the abstract goodness of God; and then, ‘If God be for us, who can be against us?'”
• – for we have no standing before God, in ourselves.  9)  The lack of Divine blessing, therefore, comes from unbelief, not from failure of devotion.  10)  To preach devotion first, and blessing second, is reverse God’s order – it is to preach law, not grace. The Law made man’s blessing depend on devotion.
• Trusting God Just as the wife must rest in the assurance of her man’s deep devotion to her..

• Acceptance by Man But we know the condition of our own heart and the fickleness of every man. We sometimes do things to be accepted and sometimes say things to become accepted..
• Acceptance by God But acceptance by God is very different from acceptance by man.
• Believing is a choice every man must make at the cross.

• We need not a Nathan to say, Thou art the man!' A thousand voices are forever ringing in our ears giving the lie to what we long with infinite yearning might be an altogether convincing testimony of a truly Christian walk.

• If I could only walk up to it I think I should be a perfectly happy man.
• In this stage of spiritual development there are continual discoveries of the old man which makes that old self more and more repulsive, and there is also the presentation of the Lord Jesus again and again in which the soul finds increasing delight.
• This repulsion and attraction go on together until the soul accepts with God the reality of the incorrigible badness of the old man.
• This fact prepares one to see that the death of the Lord Jesus severed us from our old man, and that the Lord Jesus is now our Christian life.
• We are free, by the finished work of the Cross, from the domination of the man who is now so repugnant to us, and we discover with untold delight that the One who so attracted our hearts is our very life. -C.A.C.

• He knows a peace which passes all understanding, and he experiences a joy which no man can take from him.
• The danger is of being carried away by the very favors God has given to man.
• The Lord Jesus did not take the cup which He had to drink from us, from man, nor from Satan; but from His Father's hand.

• Suffering Afflictions From start to finish, Job is a wonderful type of God’s whole plan for man.
• Job was a man that was more deeply trusted by the Lord than most.
• Job was a man of faith – ..one that feared God. Job 1:1
•  Exemplary Faith God permitted Satan to 'smite' Job in this unseen realm of spiritual warfare, because Job was a man of exemplary faith, within his generation; because Job was a man that was more deeply trusted by the Lord than most.
• Job was a man who understood the power of continual prayer and praise.  And yet despite his ongoing, piteous pleadings for answers and vindication, yet the heavens remained closed.

• Our Representative As our representative we went to the cross with Him – together. As our representative our old-man was crucified together with Jesus. As our representative our old, Adamic self and sin-nature died together with Him. As our representative He took us to the cross and we are in Him Who is the last Adam.

• They saw that there was something in the background of His life, a mysterious power and knowledge, which was not ordinary to man.
• He had a knowledge which was far beyond man understanding.

• Believer’s Choice We can choose to live our Christian life God’s way or man’s way.

• To trust in God’s Word is the most unreasonable thing for a thinking man to do.
• Were this book written by man, it would never proclaim the things contains.
• It was written by an eternally holy, perfect God, to unholy, imperfect man:- imperfect in knowledge and wisdom; imperfect in mercy, justice and love.
• Revelation to Man It contains the thoughts of the all-knowing, all-powerful, all-sufficient eternal God..
• thoughts that convey perfect God to imperfect man, who is grossly limited – limited in knowledge and power, limited in all attributes bestowed on him by God.
• This infinite, changeless perfect God is Spirit, but man was created in the physical and God chose to reveal His eternal perfection to man, through His Word.
• Oh, we were created in God’s image and likeness – yes, but God is Spirit and man is a physical being and there is a big difference.
• Man’s Perceptions This God is awe-ful; tremendous; amazing; incomprehensible; incomparable and yet we often refuse to know Him through His word, because of our bias:- because what we are experiencing does not fit into our meager perception of Him.

• A Fervent Love Stripped of all and in poverty of spirit, one would think that He’d no more to give.  He had already bequeathed to all who hung Him on the Tree,  the Precious Pardon of God Almighty - to a dying world.  He had graciously bestowed on His companion in punishment... The Promise of Paradise, Today… to a dying man.  But there before Him, in dumb disbelief and paralysed in their agony, were two of those, beloved of Him.  Standing in that little group of mourners were two who had been His beloved companions:- When Jesus, therefore, saw His mother and the disciple standing by, whom He loved, He saith unto His mother, 'Woman, behold thy son!' Then saith He to the disciple, 'Behold thy mother' – and from that hour that disciple took her unto his own home.
• This was a love that passes the understanding of man - a love that staggers the imagination of all.

• Christ is our example who demonstrated how man should live in spirit and truth.

• He tells us – watch ye, then – in every season, praying that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that are about to come to pass, and to stand before the Son of Man.

• Also, He spent an evening with a member of the Sanhedrin – Nicodemus, and from this intimate meeting and cherished fellowship, a man was born again.
• Though we may be a man or woman of sorrow and acquainted with grief – we 'needs must go'.

• o man ever spoke the gracious words that this man spoke.
• His very actions and attitude were filled with grace and truth. He would not destroy a bruised reed nor snuff out a flickering candle, and He humbled Himself before God and man as an example for us to follow.
• Worthy Example Christ was the worthy example of the perfect Man, and He demonstrated how we should act and react.
• Jesus was a godly man; a man of faith; a man that trusted God in all things.
• He walked in spirit and truth and humbly said, Thy will not mine be done. Jesus was indeed the example of godliness – a man who walked by faith.
• Man of Faith Christ Jesus our Lord also lived by faith and Christ Jesus our Lord pleased God.
• Christ Jesus our Lord was God’s chosen and ultimate example of a man of faith.
• Perfect Example Though 100% God, the Lord Jesus Christ was the perfect example of a Man that lived by faith.
• He gave us Himself, as the ultimate example of a man after God’s own heart.  And whatever He did He did only to the glory of God – for He is our perfect pattern.

• Impossible Reality What is impossible in the minds and imaginations of man is the reality of God truth that fills every page of the Word of God, and the most amazing of all the impossible realities that flood the pages of Scripture, is the miraculous conception of the young virgin Mary, when she submitted to the work of the Holy Spirit in her life and prayed her beautiful song of praise to the Father: be it unto me according to Your Word.
• Prepared Body But the perfect Son of Man hid in the womb of His mother for the full gestation period.
• Trusting Submission What is impossible in the mind and imagination of man is truly possible with God.

• We may be acclaimed and honoured by man, for our great and good works – but unless implemented from Christ, such acts of His body produce nothing..

• Spirit of God The Holy Spirit is an all-knowing Person, and He knows the deep things of God, for what man knows the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him?
• even so, the things of God knows no man – but the Spirit of God.

• Man of God Paul was a man who loved his Saviour and a man whose service to his Lord is one that we hold up as an example of a great man of faith – a man of God that we ourselves would seek to emulate, and yet his comparatively short life in the ministry was one that was engulfed by an overabundance of problems and difficulties – a ministry that was packed from start to finish with unbelievable severities and significant hardships.
• Apostle of Christ One would have thought that this apostle of God, whom the Lord had specifically selected to be the His chosen instrument to the gentles, would have been a man held in high esteem by his contemporaries.

• Christ as Preeminent A ministry that does not have Christ at the centre is an abortive mission. A man or movement without Christ as preeminent is of no consequence. Preaching Christ, proclaiming Christ, publishing Christ is God’s pleasure.

• And this is only a secret for the believer, for the natural man is dead in sins.
• Knowledge of God For 4000 years God had been declaring His glory to man through nature. For 4 millennia God had spoken to man through the words of the prophets of old. But at the end of these days..
• Mode of Communication God never changes, but He alters His mode of communication to man.
• Revelation From God In the Old Testament, He gave man a method of worship – a preparation.
• but to stir expectation in the human heart. The new was the full revelation of Himself in Christ: I and My Father are One.  And for 4000 years God prepared the way for the dawning of the Day-spring.  And 2000 years ago the Day-star from on high visited man.
• Perfect Man Oh, 6000 years ago God set in motion His plan for the perfect Man.
• a choice that affects the future destiny of a man – salvation of the spirit – being born again – regeneration.

• Man must do something, see something, have something.
• It is a very difficult thing, a crucifixion indeed, for the natural man to do nothing and have nothing, and especially to know nothing.

• The Looming Cross But they rejected their King Messiah and said, we will not have this man rule over us.
• For 2000 years the Spirit has taken up residence in the body of all who trust Jesus as Saviour – He takes up permanent residence the moment a man or woman puts their trust in Jesus.

• The weakness that is in myself, and the many things which I have to deplore in my past, or perhaps even in my present, make me thankful to know that my Father has brought in another Man, and has secured in Him all his own thoughts of blessing manward.

• Joseph gives a wonderful example of a man who does not know what God is doing and yet who by faith cooperates with Him at every step of the way.
• The man who imagines that things have got out of the Father's hands, that they are not working out as He intended, or that Satan or his agents are really in control, is the man who is not in a position to give the Father the required cooperation in it all.

• Lasting peace will come when we rest in Calvary's conquest of sin and self, and allow that victory to be applied by the faithful Spirit of God.The Holy Spirit does not reason from what man is for God, but from what God is to man.

• Peace of Christ The first word to His trembling disciples after Calvary was PEACE… The heavenly Man who ascended to His Father’s throne left peace with his disciples: peace I leave with you – my peace I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled.

• Appointed Times Many bewail their own perceptions of His return and cry “The Lord delays….” causing the Lord to ponder the question of the faith of His servants: when the Son of man comes, shall He find faith on the earth?

• We are expressly told in the Word that we are to: put on the new man ..
• and this “new man” is Christ, but it carries with it a whole revelation of practical provision.”

• Tremble with awe and wait.  No man can stand on the threshold of eternity unshaken.
• Silently comes the kingdom into the heart of a man, and who can judge the heart of a man and witness the new birth save the Lord alone?  But the results of that silent birth should by degrees be visible, until Christ be formed in you.  And then cultivate silence for God often speaks in silences.

• Man’s 2 Natures As children of God we were given a new life in Christ – a baby life that needs to grow. Our life should be a fruitful, victorious life that matures into a spiritual believer – a life submitted to the Spirit, so it may be conformed into the image and likeness of Jesus. But we still have a sin nature that seeks to gain supremacy over our new Christ-life. We were freed from its power over us, at the cross, but it remains our deadly enemy.
• Put Off the Old Paul tells us that to be practically sanctified as we journey through life, we must put off the old man and put on the new man – and we are not to be conformed to the pattern of this world, but we are to be changed – transformed, by the renewing of our minds.

• It is not merely that a man does certain things or speaks certain words, but that he is a certain kind of man.

• For the love of Christ compels us, because we judge, that if One died for all, then all died. For as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners, so also by one Man’s obedience many will be made righteous. The first man was of the earth, made of dust – a living being.
• The second Man is the Lord from heaven, a life-giving spirit. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly.
• Sacrifice for Man That since by man came death..
• by man must also come the resurrection of the dead.
• and since no days-man could be found among the sons of Adam, the strong arm of the eternal Son of God, must bypass the nature of angels. To be made seed of Abraham; to be made seed of David; to be made seed of the woman.
• Bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh - Behold the Babe; the Boy; the Youth; Behold the Man - Behold our God manifest in the flesh.
• Lord of Glory Behold the Lord of glory revealed by Man to men. Yet, His glory is shrouded, and He has no form or majesty that we should look at Him. Behold, He has no beauty that we should desire Him. His exceeding loveliness is veiled before His human brethren. His grace and glory is tempered before human gaze. No man has seen God in His pure essence at any time, except the only begotten Son of His love, Who has unfolded to man… the brightness of God’s glory and Who has demonstrated to us the exact expression of His nature and love.
• The Last Adam Behold the Man; the second Man; the last Adam in Whom a new race began – the new creation in Christ.
• And through Whom a new creation was formed – by Whom new creatures are born from above into newness of life. The former race bore the marks of its origin – fallen Adam. The new race is to bear the marks of its Founder and Fount – the last Adam; the Lord from Heaven; The Son of God and Son of Man.
• Behold the Man!

• Masses crowded this alluring man who ate locusts and wild honey and cried ”Repent!” But this man who was filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother’s womb..

• And Pilate said unto them, Behold the Man!John 19:5
• The Coming Man It was Pilate who uttered these words that are so impregnated with mystery.
• He presented a Man: scourged; mocked, bleeding; torn and crowned with thorns..
• but there was a depth of meaning enveloping these words: BEHOLD, THE MAN!
• They were prophetic words, given to the people, about the coming Man.
• No Ordinary Man This was no ordinary Man, for He was the coming Seed, Who was to redeem His people. This Man was the Word of God, Who in the beginning flung galaxies into space. This was the incarnate Son of God, made flesh – indeed He was the Man.
• This was the Man, Who entreated, “come to Me”, throughout His earthly ministry.
• This was the anointed One, the Christ, of whom Zachariah prophesied, saying: this is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘BEHOLD THE MAN whose name is the Branch, and He will branch out from His place and build the temple of the LORD'.
• The Crucified Man Israel beheld the Man Who was their Messiah, yet screamed: away with Him.
• Little did Pilate understand the deep pathos of his eternally shattering words: Behold, The Man – Behold the Son of God, Who taketh away the sin of the world.
• Jesus put Himself to open shame so the world could 'Behold the Man'.
• Look and Live Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness so that all could behold it and live, and now Jesus was lifted up on the cross – so that ALL could look and live. As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up – for all that look will live.
• But His cruel rejection by man, enabled humanity to make peace with God. Had He not been rejected by humanity, man would have remained rejected by God.
• For He alone is the Man that can bring mankind into fellowship with God, and it was for all that He suffered and died, Jew and Gentile – for me and for you.
• for God, in the eternal council chambers of His Divine Wisdom, ordained it to be so – so that whosoever believes on this Man should not perish but have everlasting life – so that whosoever will “Behold the Man” – will live.

• Died for All Christ died for the sin of the whole world which means that every man and woman who has ever lived has had their sins forgive!
• Light of Christ The light of Christ has been given to every single man who has entered the world. Not one member of the human race has ever been excluded from God’s gracious gift. Though now crowned with glory and great honour, Jesus tasted death for everyone. By God’s grace alone every man and woman has an opportunity to receive eternal life.
• Bridge of Faith In a world, (or in a man), that does not know the Lord Jesus Christ – He cannot reign as king, nor can He impart righteousness to those who do not believe in His name. Condemnation is removed from ALL those that trust in the Lord Jesus Christ – BUT ALL who reject God’s free gift of grace are already condemned – because of unbelief. There is a great divide between the two which can only be bridged by faith.
• Eternal Life This is eternal life that they might know Thee – the only true God and Jesus Christ Whom He has sent. It is that simple, and yet how many reject God’s grace. The shocking reason that men turn their back on God’s free and gracious gift of salvation is wrapped up in the notion that man can produce his own righteousness.
• Grace and Truth Grace and truth came to the world, for Christ died for the sin of the whole world, so that every man has been forgiven of their sins.
• ALL they have to do is to believe. The light of Christ has been given to every single man who has entered the world. Not one member of the human race has ever been excluded from God’s gracious gift.
• Great Divide The necklace of pride that chokes man’s thinking and darkens man’s mind emanates from a heart that has confidence in its own abilities to meet the righteous criteria that is laid out by the Father – a confidence in his own abilities and based on human merit.

• The modern teaching adds repentance as a work – as an extra requirement – as an addition that has to be added to the finished work of the cross – if man is to be saved, which would require a sinner to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ AND also repent.

• I believe in the finished work of Christ, yet sometimes I am just as miserable about myself as any man could be.

• No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please Him who hath chosen him to be a soldier (2 Tim. 2:4).

• Oil and perfume make the heart glad, so a man’s counsel is sweet to his friend.Proverbs 27:9
• A man of too many friends comes to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.Proverbs 18:24
• Timely Word To lovingly receive a timely word from a friend is wise indeed. To graciously accept a friends’ counsel demonstrates humility of spirit:- for as iron sharpeneth iron, so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.
• Prov.27.17 And the truly wise man not only accepts but seeks to apply timely words.

• Faith is man’s response to the promises of God and God expects us to trust Him.  But biblical faith can only be biblical faith if Jesus is central to our belief.
• Faith is implemented through hearing the Word of God and God’s plan for man..
• Non-Meritus Salvation is the gifts of God’s grace to man and is accessed by believing His Word.
• It anticipates total trust in God’s character, revelation, promises, plans and purposes, It excludes ALL legalistic regulation, man-made interpretation or meritorious works.
• It is implemented through hearing the Word of God and God’s plan for man.

• Then shall the lame man leap as an hart. . .

• The will of man is guided by what he knows and what he desires.
• The divine method of reaching the will is by graciously increasing man's knowledge and by stimulating his desires, while on the divine side of this method there remains not the shadow of possible failure.
• On the human side, man is conscious of doing only what he actually does: he chooses as an act of his own volition to receive the grace God offers in Christ Jesus.
• God's elective purposes are carried out in such an incomprehensible way through the internal and external influences of infinite love and wisdom that man is at no time conscious of any external compulsion, but only of choices and decisions in the exercise of his own free will.

• A Full Study Of JOB Spiritual Conflict Job’s belief was that God only blessed and prospered the upright, man of faith – but calamity after contradictory calamity conflicted with his creed.
• But Job had entered into a spiritual conflict between God and Satan – a spiritual battle that would encompass the 6000 years of 'Man’s Day'.  And never once did God make it clear to Job the battle that raged in the spiritual realm.

• One is, you are not to have the man here and the place where he is, the other is, you do have another Man, and the place where He is.

• Unique Creation Collectively we are one new-man in Christ – a unique creation – a peculiar people. He makes the whole body fit together perfectly – each part with its own special use.

• The new man finds delight in Him, and nowhere else.

• It is a grand thing and a source of tremendous strength to come to the same position as that of Christ as Man, where we know that boundless heavenly resources are available.
• Everything is so utterly from above - and so utterly not from man - that the life or work becomes spiritual as a consequence.

• Man and circumstances would then be received as so many agents and instruments in our Father's hand; so many ingredients in His cup for us.

• Jesus said, ” I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: and the bread that I will give is My flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.John 6:51
• Food for the Human Heart No bread that is grown on earth will furnish food for the human heart. No nourishment for the body can suffice the deep need of the believer’s soul. Jesus alone can satisfy the longings and desires of the hungry man, for He is the Bread of LIFE.
• Worldly strivings and fleshly ambitions may briefly sustain an earthly body, while the inner man dies of hunger, for lack of spiritual food that is eternal.
• The Bread from Heaven The Manna that fed the Israelites was food for bodies – not for the spirit. The Bread that truly came down from heaven – satisfies man’s deepest need.
• What in the soul corresponds to the desperate cravings of a starving man?
• Man’s Desperate Cravings The deepest and most intense craving of the stained sinner is FORGIVENESS.
• Man’s Deep Need Another deep craving of the believer is HOLINESS. There is no art or make-up that can restore the human soul to moral beauty. No restoration can restore to original nobleness, a soul ravaged by the fires of life: there is none righteous, no, not one.
• Man’s Need of Acceptance Satan has robbed many believers of their full ASSURANCE of eternal salvation, and many crave for reassurance of spiritual life here and eternal life to come. Many seek through good works and spiritual activity to confirm their acceptance..
• If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.

• We are going to see the outward form of things, which is earthly, man-made, man-constituted, an imitation or a representation of spiritual things, breaking down, shaking at its very foundations.

• But presumptuous, religious man, has for 6000 years, denied this eternal truth.
• Feelings, sentimentality and reason – emanate from a man-centred source – self.
• Romans 10:17.  Faith has to do with God and what He is and what He says and not man – never man.  Faith has to do with God’s eternal Word..
• the link that connects man with God – a living link, coupling man’s listening soul with the God Who gave His Word.
• Human Works Human feeling, however intense can never connect man’s soul with the living God.
• Religious man, as pictured by Cain, has been attempting this by self for 6000 years.
• Spiritual man, as pictured by Abel, has understood this by faith for 6000 years.
• Faith Looks to God Man’s wisdom and works, feelings, and sentiments can never accomplish such results!!
• Religious Verses Spiritual It is the religious man verses the spiritual man.

• The difference lies in the fact that in Canaan the battle is not fought under our own leadership, but under that of the Victorious Man with the drawn sword, who has never suffered defeat.

• A Study:- Man’s Nature and Destiny Now these things were for our examples, to the intent we should not lust after evil things, as they also lusted.
• Flesh & Spirit The man of flesh and the man of spirit is exemplified through Cain and Abel.
• The man of flesh and the man of spirit is compared through Esau and Jacob.
• The man of flesh and the man of spirit is contrasted through Amalek and Israel.
• Yet the man of flesh and the man of spirit is also seen through one man:- Jacob and Israel.
• Jacob the man of flesh, but Israel the Prince with God, the spiritual man.
• But God will not reward the old man..
• The new man in Christ must be put on.
• God blessed this man – this: Jacob whom I love, but God left Jacob needing more and wanting more.
• God had chosen this man for heights he could scarce begin to comprehend.
• God had great plans for this man, but God first had to deal with Jacob’s self.
• Hand of God That night, Jacob limped from his encounter a broken man.
• Man of Flesh to Prince with God God loved Jacob with an everlasting love – Jacob I have loved, and God loves me with an everlasting love..
• May the decades of my own fleshly struggle with fleshly pride be converted from a man of flesh to a prince with God, as I prepare for the return of my King – and may that be true of you too.

• Pattern for Humanity The simple, beautiful, purposeful portrait of Christ is God’s pattern for humanity, but fallen man in his own selfish cocoon fails miserably to copy His perfect standard – for fallen man in His own foolish pride tries to live the 'Christ-life' in his own strength.
• Abiding in Christ Both have been endowed with every spiritual blessing in heavenly places – in Christ..  but only one is abiding in Christ and living the Christ-life – the spiritual man.  Only one has appropriated their heavenly portion, which is theirs in Christ..

• And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favour with God and man.Luke 2:52
• He increased in wisdom, He grew in stature and He gained favour with God and man.
• Sinless Life Oh, there are many false and spurious legends that have grown up surrounding the early life of the Lord, with untrue and foolish stories of childhood miracles He did – but all are erroneous and blasphemous and are the product of a vivid imagination. But what we do know is that the Boy Jesus lived a sinless life, which is equally true of the many silent years of His childhood as it is of His three intense years of ministry, for He was God and He was Man – not just for 3 years but throughout His whole life.
• He did not suddenly burst on the centre stage of history as a full-grown mature man..
• The God-Man Who came into the world to save sinners from sin, death, and hell.
• Messiah King The shepherds were told that they would recognise their Messiah-King by a special sign: You will find the baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth - and lying in a manger. Heaven rejoiced while Satan fumed in a frenzy of killing, at the birth of the God-Man.
• Unique Person In one sense the birth and life of the Child Jesus was like any other child, for He was conceived and born into a world of sorrow like any other man and His life was one of toil and poverty.

• God in His wisdom knew that man would sin and that man would need a saviour – and in His eternal council chambers God purposed that Christ would be all in all.
• God in His eternal attributes endued man with free-will to accept, or to reject Him, and God chose us in Christ before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy, set apart, and blameless before Him – in love.
• God’s Justice God in His justice purposed that sin must be punished and the wages of sin is death.  But God in His grace so loved the world that He sent His only begotten Son, to die...  so that Christ would identify with man and become the propitiation for our sins – so that all Who believed on His name would not perish but have everlasting life.
• God’s Grace And so God, in Himself, knew before time..  the choice every man would make.

• In time, his O wretched man complex is replaced by I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom. 7:24, 25). Christ-confidence is the basis for the healthy Christian's walk.

• The mind of man has been deceived into following countless dead-end directions, but God’s Word proclaims the one way – the one truth and the one life, is Christ.
• One Way There is a need in the life of all mankind for God – for His forgiveness and love,  and multiple methods have been designed in an attempt to reach humanity’s goal.  But the futility of those that are searching for a bloodless way is tragic and pitiful – for Christ not only told us the Way, but He alone is the Way – the only way to God – and all the questions that are deep in the heart of man have been answered in Him.
• One Answer Christ is the answer to man’s every cry.
• One Sacrifice But the multiplied, un-bloody methods of man are more appealing to his prideful heart.
• The substitutional sacrifice offends man’s sensitivities – it displeases his delicacy!!
• Foolish men suppress the truth of God by their ungodly, unrighteous behaviours, because what can be known about God has made very clear to them all: for ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky… and through everything God has made, man can clearly see God’s invisible qualities, His eternal power and His divine nature. Romans 1:20
• One Salvation God spoke to man in the beginning when He created the world and made Adam. God demonstrated His mighty power through general and specific revelation. God declared Himself through the evidence of creation – and the Word made flesh, and the ONLY way to reach God is being covered with the blood of the Lamb – and this is non-negotiable.
• God’s Wisdom There is a need in the life of all mankind for God – for His forgiveness and love, but the true and only God has been swept aside in preference for man’s imaginings. Multiple methods have been designed in an attempt to reach humanity’s goal. God will once again astound these hypocrites with amazing wonders.

• The truth is that Christ shall be All, and that we decrease that He may increase; that He should be the primary Personality, and that the impact and registration of any life and any service should not be: What a good man he was!

• All deception has its own ground in man.
• It is the fact that man is now a psychical being.
• The ground of all this is in thefact that man is a psychical being, and when Satan interferedwith man at the beginning and man consented along the line of hisown soul-life, Satan made man suitable to his own government.
• Itwas not that he came and set himself up as man ruler andsubjected man by sheer force to his own government.
• By breaking into that realm in man being where man waslinked with God, and that was in the realm of man spirit.e that is joined to the Lord is one spirit,and manwas in fellowship and communion with God by means of his spirit,not his soul, not his body.
• The enemy, the Deceiver came to man soul,and instead of man reacting by his spirit-fellowship with, andknowledge of, God, he dropped down on to his soul, came out ofhis spirit and reacted in his soul.
• You see what happened when man violated the very organ of his union with God, his spirit.... So the enemy governs man, and the whole of therace now through the nature of the soul-life.

• Eternal Redeemer What grace that God should send His only begotten Son to become our Redeemer. What grace that the eternal Son of God should set aside His deity to be born as man and clothe Himself in human flesh..
• Humanity of Christ It was only the humanity of Christ that qualified Him to be the redeemer of mankind. The angels could not redeem man for angels are a different species – a different kind. God could not die for humanities sin for God is immortal and eternal – He cannot die.
• Wages of Sin Only a perfect member of the human race was equipped to become man’s Redeemer. The requirement for humanities “kinsman redeemer” was a perfect Man : a sinless life. Adam was made in the image and likeness of God – the created son of the Father, but Adam sinned and lost his inheritance – He forfeited his ruler-ship of the earth. The wages of Adam’s sin were death – death for humanity and separation from God, so death passed to all men, for that all have sinned – and all mankind was condemned.
• God Incarnate Only a perfect Man, ‘a daysman’, ‘a goel’ – ‘a kinsman redeemer’ could save mankind. Only the perfect Son of God manifest in the flesh – would qualify as man’s redeemer, for the One who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified – must all be human, for the One who sanctifies and those who are being sanctified – all have one Father.
• High Priest And there is even MORE- Jesus had to be like His brothers in every way, so that He could become a merciful and faithful High Priest in service to God, to make propitiation for the sins of His people. What grace that God should send His only begotten Son to be our kinsman-redeemer. What grace that the eternal Son of God should set aside His deity to be born as man and clothe Himself in human flesh – so that we could be redeemed by His blood.

• The Spirit's ministry within is the displacement of the old man, and the emplacement of the New Man.

• Then it is not the result of man labors, it is the issue of God grace.

• Confused Christianity But the work and wisdom of God does not come through the best efforts of man. The ‘new creation’ in Christ is independent of man’s humanitarianism – but too often man’s perception of the Church is confused with true Christianity. And too often man’s perception of Christianity is confused with the true Church.
• Living Organism The Church is not built by man nor is it confined in fine buildings.
• One Foundation If a ministry is dependent on the name of its leader it is doomed to fail. If Christ is replaced by a man, woman or denomination, a death knoll has sounded, for other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ” 1Corinthians 3:11
• He is God made Man.
• He is revealed within His cross; death; resurrection; ascension; glorification: We need to realise that there is a Man in heaven sitting on the throne of God, and that man is Christ Jesus the Lord,  the head of the Church.
• We must beware when a denomination is simply following the traditions of men. We must be careful of a body that is a fawning over a man-made ministry. We must be alert to the many false doctrines and deceiving spirits many proclaim today.
• Foundation and Capstone We need to realise that there is a Man in heaven sitting on the throne of God, and that Man is Christ Jesus our Lord – the Head of the Church – and He alone is the foundation and capstone of all that is called Christianity.

• With God all is uncultured which is not in accord with the likeness of Christ - of Him in whose image man was first created.
• Christ is the typical Man, and all in our education which is not after the pattern, after His likeness, is uncultured - only a caricature.

• Oswald Chambers Oswald Chambers puts it this way:- a devotee to doctrine does not need to 'think', but a man who is devoted to Christ is obliged to think, and to think every day of his life.
• Satanic Strategy But Calvary is the secret. Satan's satanic strategy is to destroy man's relationship with the Lord. He can't remove our eternal security for that is set, secure in Christ.... but he seeks to damage our relationship with Christ.
• James Ussher Usher put it this way: The believer can never overcome the old man even by the power of the new, apart from the death of Christ, and therefore the death of Christ unto sin is indispensable.
• And unless the Cross is made the basis upon which he overcomes the old man, he only drops into another form of morality - in other words, he is seeking by self-effort to overcome self, and struggle is hopeless.

• The saved man's relation to the Lord Jesus has been made contractual instead of personal.
• That they do not know: That their old man was crucified with him, that the body of sin might be done away, so that they should no longer be in bondage to sin' (Rom. 6:6). -G.M.
• In Christ, God put to death our old man that we might be delivered from the power and dominion of sin in our lives.

• If any man suffer as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God on this behalf (1 Pet. 4:16).

• We read in 1Corinthians 11:28 “But let a man examine himself.”  Self-examination is not a focus on self. Self-examination is not an unhealthy introspection, but an examination of the inward heart.

• Before that great schoolmaster took me in hand, I was an unweaned child, not a grown man.

• Even Christ Himself, the perfect Man, was being made perfect, through obedience.
• for by one Man’s obedience, many are made righteous.
• for if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. 2 Corinthians 5:17a Second, as we hold to this fact by faith, we are brought into the practical reality of it day by day in our experience.

• We were born into Him and God has made us complete in Him: if any man be in Christ he is a new creature in Him. 2Cor.5:17.
• And like the cornflower seed, all of Christ is embodied within our new man, and we will be fully like Him when we see Him as He is.
• William Law agrees: “A root set in the finest soil, in the best climate, and blessed with all that sun and air and rain can do for it, is not so sure a way of its growth to perfection, as every man may be whose spirit aspires after all that which God is ready and infinitely desirous to give him.

• Whereas most feel that personal weakness is the great hindrance to a sound Christian life, the real tragedy is the astonishing strength of the old man.

• Where man calls for conditions, God calls for the Cross.
• As the finished work of the Cross is applied to the life by the Holy Spirit, thereby progressively holding the old man in the position of death, the believer is conditioned for the Spirit's fulness.
• A crucified man relies upon no experience.

• But prideful man often cannot comprehend that there are invisible intangibles, beyond his experience.

• It is Himself which He is seeking to establish as the object of man's life, and not the things that have relation to Himself: and I say again, you meet something intensely fierce if you touch a thing, even though you are touching it maybe with a view to getting people to move on with the Lord Himself.

• Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered, Blessed is the man against whom the LORD counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.Psalm 32:1-2
• Forgiveness Benefits Many believers recognise David, as a man after God’s own heart.
• We read: blessed is he whose transgression (sin) is forgiven; blessed is the man to whom the LORD does not impute iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.
• However “beloved” of God this man was, God had stipulated how to live.
• David may be a man after God’s own heart, by faith – but like us, he needed to confess his sins.

• “Consider” the position of the eternal Son of God, Who made Man, for our salvation.
• “Consider” the responsibility of the perfect Son on Man, Who was made sin for us.

• And a man shall be like an hiding place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; like rivers of water in a dry place, like the shadow of a great rock in a weary land (Isa. 32:2).

• He does not bring about some kind of transformation of the old man so as to produce some kind of resemblance to Christ in Christian character and conduct.
• Crucifixion was a lingering death, and while we stand once for all upon the fact of God, which is eternal and unchangeable, when our Lord Jesus Christ went to the Cross He took more than our sins with Him; He took our old man and dealt with the source of all our sin, and dealt with it satisfactorily.

• Saul was also a man who repeatedly blamed everyone else for his problems.
• David may also have been an impetuous man, but was God-centred, not self-centred.
• David repented, while Saul was only bothered about his own skin - not God’s reputation/  Unlike Saul, David was a man after God’s own heart.
• But David was a teachable man whose heart was open towards the Lord.
• David was a correctable man who was prepared to turn from his sin.
• Man of God David was prepared to accept responsibilities for his life – not to blame others. David was prepared to often confess his sins and faults to the Lord..
• but above all, David was a man that was jealous for God’s glory - not his own.
• David was a man after God’s own heart and his life can be summed up this way:
• Accountable But only one was a man after God’s own heart, who was jealous of God’s holy name.

• Put away, as concerning your former manner of life, the old man (Eph. 4:22, ASV).
• Positionally, in the finished work of the Cross and resurrection, we have been cut off from the old man through death, and have been born into the new Man by the new birth.
• Ye have put off the old man...and have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him (Col. 3:9, 10).
• Put on the new man (Eph. 4:24).

• The wondrous depths of the finished work of the Cross will always be adequate to deal with the terrible depths of the unfinished work of the old man.
• Otherwise the flesh reinstates itself and we once more fall prey to the old man's reign.
• There are always remaining, however much we have advanced, hidden strongholds of the old man which must be rendered inoperative by the finished work of the Cross. -F.J.H.

• Child Training Blessed is the man who endures Satan’s temptation. Blessed is the man who endures God’s testings – (for the temptations of Satan are used by God in His child training). So blessed is the man who endures temptation, for when he has been approved he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.
• We read that: He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. It is not God that places temptation in the lives of believers but the enemy. God cannot be tempted with evil neither does He tempt any man.

• We do not get through, behind all that is of man, to touch the living God. -A.H.

• Common Suffering Suffering is an experience common to man. The child of God is not exempted from suffering, nor was the Son of God immune from pain - knowing that suffering produces the fruit of the Spirit.
• The heat of the flame and the weight of the hammer's iron is merciful and tender... Controlled by the hand of the Son of Man, Who was in all points tested as we are, yet without sin.

• Man has put his hand on heavenly things and tried to bring them on to this earth.
• It might be a 'New Testament Church' of a composite nature: certain things taught, enacted, and done in conformity to the record in the New Testament; a certain order, technique, and construction; these things have been drawn together for a creed, a form of procedure, and made the 'basis,' the form and standard, the 'constitution' of a body, an institution, a society: man's mind and man's hand defining, controlling, holding.
• It was only when man pulled this down on to the earth that things went wrong.... Oh, this earth touch!

• A Study:- Man’s Nature and Destiny Question in Life What happens when people prefer to curse God and die rather than to bless God and live?
• No: God forbid, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it’s written, thou might be justified in thy sayings, and might overcome when thou art judged.
• Behold, I come quickly: hold fast to what you have, let no man take your crown.

• Greatest Wonder God used an angelic visitation to inform that motley crew of His greatest gift to man, and they heard and acted; they saw and believed – and they shared this good news, for all who heard it wondered at what the shepherds told them. Luke 2:18.

• Glories of Justification Chapter after chapter and verse-by-verse, Paul reveals the glories of justification – the fall into sin by one man:- Adam..
• which plunged the human race into death, so that the transgression of one man resulted in the condemnation of the human race. The gift of salvation that was freely bestowed on us through one Man:- Christ Jesus, so that by the obedience and righteousness of one Man, many were made righteous – for by His death and resurrection the consequences of sin were done away with.
• Inherent Sin The sin nature within man is imputed to ALL people.

• The offender has been removed from His eye by a Man - the Lord Jesus Christ, and He can receive us on the ground of the Man who glorified Him in bearing our judgment.
• But if we are in any degree dark as to the crucifixion of the old man, we are not in acceptance experientially, we are not in the daily benefit of it, and our liberty by the Spirit can never go beyond our conscious acceptance. -J.B.S.

• Trial of Faith Every great man of God in Scripture or church history finally saw Peter’s truth.

• Heavenly Sign Has the world got it wrong, in the areas and arenas that they value and pursue? Has man missed the point, as he blithely follows after the baubles of this world? The truth embedded in this one little verse of scripture indicates that they have.. for this shall be a sign unto you, ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
• Christ arrived, despising the badges of rank by which men indicate greatness. He wore the insignia and seal of poverty and meanness. He bore the pain and embarrassment of humiliation and ignominy. Man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart. 1 Samuel 16:7

• If we draw upon the soul resources of people to build up Christianity, instead of recognizing that ll things are out from Godthat all must first come from Him and have its first point of contact with man in his spirit, which, being renewed (made anew) becomes the vessel and vehicle of all divine things for ever after no matter how immense may be our structure, it is going to crash when the great shaking comes.

• At the Cross the old man was crucified and buried.
• We want to get clear in our minds that the Father does not mean to improve the old man on the one hand, nor to remove it on the other.
• Our having been crucified with the Lord Jesus was to make the body of sin of none effect while we live by faith, but the old man can become active and dominant in the walk of the believer when faith becomes dormant and inactive.

• Man’s Suffering The pain and heartache and bitterness of suffering has spanned the millennia.
• to the wickedness of these clamorous end times, where the accumulated filth of man’s sin, which bears down so heavily of all who live godly, has all but reached its fullness.

• All conflicts are calmed because the God-Man kissed the extremes, Uniting Mercy and Truth, Judgment and Love, Righteousness and Peace: for He was wounded for our transgressions; He was crushed for our iniquities; upon Him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with His stripes, we are healed.
• Reconciling Work He it was that undertook to represent both God and man.

• Everything which has to do with the realization of God's purpose in creating man, and this world, and its universe, is a matter of knowing God in Christ, which, of course, means knowing Christ.

• This whole Bible is about bringing man back to God, bringing him into God, and restoring him to his environment.

• i>The fire shall try every man work, said Paul (1 Cor. 3:13).

• All the powers of Deity which already wrought together in the accomplishment of the first part of the eternal purpose, the revealing of the Father's likeness in the man Christ Jesus, are equally engaged to accomplish the second part, and work that likeness in each of the Father's children. -A.M.

• I am sure many in the church of Christ long to be effective in their service to Him, but fullness of life and service in the inner man is birthed from Christ’s imputed life..  and for a believer to live in newness of life in Christ – he first must die on the cross.
• The inner spirit of man is the part of our being that communes with God.

• One Lone Voice When the fluency and eloquence of poetic utterances about God is hushed..  when the extravagant tints of religious art have been stopped… when the last harmonic strains of musical praise drift into silence – there is one lone voice that remains: I am the way and the truth and the life, no man comes to the Father except by Me.

• Unique Man He is unique and exclusive for none are like Him, and none can compare with Him.
• Representative Man God has set-up the Lord Jesus as our representative man – He is God’s standard for mankind. Jesus Christ is appointed as our set norm – the perfect pattern for all of humanity. The likeness of Christ is to become the established and universal guideline for man.

• My goal is that they may be encouraged in heart and united in love, so that they may have the full riches of complete understanding, in order that they may know the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge – and I say this, lest any man should deceive you with enticing words.Colossians 2:2-4
• He comes using beguiling words and deceptive tricks designed to deceive and delude, and Paul is keen that our security in Christ helps to ward off these seductive advances, this I say, lest any man should deceive you with enticing words. Colossians 2:4

• Limited Gospel Well, too frequently it is the voice of a man that is sought after and not God’s voice.
• It is often the message of a man they flock to hear, and not the word of the Lord. It is a twisting of the word to suit a pet teaching that is increasing in these last days.
• Hardened Hearts Pharaoh is an example of a man who heard God’s truth but stopped listening.
• Twisted Truth If twisted truth is believed long enough, it becomes ‘truth’ to that man..  it becomes his ‘truth’! If ears are tickled by false teaching long enough, it finally becomes accepted as true.

• Man’s View There is a modern-day view that the Bible is a history of man’s discovery of God.
• Some think the Scriptures show that man has uncovered the truth about God.
• This opinion places man in the driving seat. This perspective implies that man is getting knowledge through man’s wisdom...  that through man’s pioneering cleverness, man has found out the secrets of God.
• The Holy Scriptures are the record of the revelation of God to man.
• but the revelation is clearly from God -and not via the wisdom of man.
• Our Lord is the only One Who is in unity with His two natures – of God and of man.
• to His children. He may reveal Himself in a blinding flash, as He did to Paul on the road to Damascus. He may unveil His magnificence in the quiet dawning of understanding, but it is He and not man that uncloaks His truths and enlightens the heart. This knowledge and understanding that is revealed in the person of the Lord Jesus, enlightens the mind; sanctifies the soul; and rejoices the heart.

• The sum of everything in the new creation is in Christ, or, to put that in another way, it is outside of man himself.
• It is apart from man, and it always will be.
• On both sides, the people who have someopinion of themselves had better settle it once and for all thatthere is nothing in them but corruption, and also those who havesettled it, and yet are so occupied with their old man as thoughit were something really worth being occupied with.

• Profound Principle Sadly, this simple standard yet profound principle is devastating to the human ego. It flies in the face of what arrogant man; with his focus in prideful self, delights in.
• Greater Horizons To satisfy God’s heart in His eternal plan is greater than man’s initial salvation.

• Moses had to wait and be weathered. Moses had to discover that God alone had the answers. Moses had to be humbled to the point of seeking the Giver and not the gifts. Moses had to be set apart for a long season, before God used him mightily. Were Moses’ years of waiting a waste of time? Never! The headstrong prince of Egypt had to become the humble man of God.
• It takes a man who has discovered something of the measure of his own weakness to be patient with the foibles of others.
• Such a man also has first-hand knowledge of the loving care of the Chief Shepherd, and His ability to heal one who has come humbly to trust in Him and Him alone. Therefore, he does not easily despair of others, but looks beyond sinfulness, wilfulness, and stupidity, to the might of unchanging love.
• God has set eternity in the heart of man, and this is eternal life..

• No man or woman, principality or power can touch you.

• Jesus Himself reassures His children: I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.

• Just as sin entered the world through one man, and death through sin, in this way death spread to all men, because all sinned.Romans 5:13
• Adam, the first man, was made from the dust of the earth, while Christ, the second man, came from heaven.1 Corinthians 15:47
• Perfect Sacrifice Christ Jesus is the eternal Son of the Father and the unique Son of Man.
• His deity equipped the Son of God to be good enough to pay the ransom price for the sin of world – but only His humanity qualified the Son of Man to become our kinsman-Redeemer, so that He could pour out His life-blood at Calvary, as the one and only perfect human Sacrifice for sin – the Sin Offering. Not only was He the perfect sacrifice that went to the cross as an obedient Son in submission to His Father – but He willingly walked the way of the cross for the depth of love He had for His Father.
• The first man, Adam, who had been made in the image and likeness of God was the physical head of the human race – the progenitor of humanity – the original ancestor of all mankind, through whom have sprung all the nations upon earth. The sin in the garden of Eden was Adam’s responsibility for he was the man, created in the image and likeness of God, to be His son and to become the governor of the whole earth.
• It was through his disobedience to the Father that the entire race of man fell – and inherent sin was the shocking outcome that was to separate his sinful race forever, from a holy God.
• Adam’s Disobedience Every man was rendered a sinner through this one man’s disobedience.
• and the first man, Adam became a living being.
• The first man was a natural man – an unsaved man – a man condemned to be separated from God forever, for the wages of sin is death; spiritual death – spiritual separation from the Father.
• And all who are born of the seed of Adam are of the earth, and each one bears the image of that earthly man – a disobedient man – a race in rebellion against their Creator God.
• Just as the whole human race was imputed with the sin of the first man Adam – so also those that have trusted Jesus as Saviour have the new-life of Christ breathed into them by the Spirit of God – and they are imputed with His righteousness.
• Old Creation The sin of the first man, Adam, rendered the entire race of mankind : CONDEMNED sinners.
• There was no way that man could reconcile himself to God and so God purposed that He would reconcile Himself back to man – but it required the appointment of a new federal head of the human race – it necessitated a Second Man – One who would become The Last Adam.
• First Man The first man (the first Adam) was the federal head of the human race. The first man was of the old creation in Adam, who was a man of the earth.
• But the Lord knows the end from the beginning and He had already conceived of a plan to save the human race, by means of a second Man – a second federal Head.
• New Creation The second Man (the last Adam)  was to become the federal Head of a new creation of man… the new creation in Christ, Who was a Man from heaven.
• Just as God prepared a body for the first Adam so He also prepared a body for the last Adam  – a living, breathing human body, that was free from the inherent sin nature of fallen man – but a body of flesh and blood, in which would dwell the incarnate Son of God – the Word made flesh.
• Second Man  Just as sin entered the world through the disobedience of one man, and death came through sin, causing condemnation and separation from God to be the inherited status of all people – so also redemption came to the world through the obedience of one Man, resulting in the forgiveness of sins for all humanity – and light and life and hope and peace and renewed fellowship with the Father – to ALL who would believe on His name. It was divine grace that provided a second Adam to redeem the fallen race of man.
• It was the eternal Son of God Who laid aside His glory to become the second Man Who would redeem the family of man from their sins, by becoming their substitute Sacrifice.
• Last Adam It was Vine who rightly wrote the following: Without becoming man none of this would have been possible.
• He is now the head of a race of redeemed sinners (the last Adam) and He is the ‘second man’ whose heavenly origin sets Him apart from all the men who went before Him – for the first man Adam became a living being – but the last Adam – a Life-giving Spirit. 
• Heavenly Man The spiritual did not come first, but the natural, and after that the spiritual.
• The first man was of the dust of the earth; the second man is of heaven.
• And just as we have been born in the image of the earthly man, so shall we bear the image of the Lord Jesus Christ – Who is our heavenly Man.

• Glorious Truth Adam was made in the image and likeness of God. Adam was made in a state of innocence. Adam walked naked and was not ashamed. In his innocence, Adam knew nothing of evil, for evil was not there to be known. As yet, Adam had no need of conscience – man gained his conscience through the fall.
• Important Truth But remember God’s everlasting mercy. Man’s conscience tries to find repose in religiosity and self-approval, yet man’s conscience cannot find approval in any semblance of self, self- importance; self- reliance; self-sufficiency; self-will – self-seeking. Man’s conscience cannot approve in any semblance of self. How much less can a holy God, Whose His eyes behold the very thoughts and motives of man. Man will therefore turn away and try to hide his own shame: sad, lonely, hurting, shameful, fearful man! Adam walked with God in the cool of the evening, yet Adam did not know God. Do you? Had Adam truly known God’s perfect love, he would not have been afraid for it is written, there is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. And it is also continues: He that fears is not made perfect in love. Praise God that there is something beyond the conscience – of what I am. Praise God there is an unveiled mystery and a revelation – of what God is.
• mercy that spans the ages of man, but a mercy which began with Satan’s meddling! Satan’s meddling in God’s creation, resulted in his own eternal defeat and confusion. His lie gave occasion for God’s truth to be eternally displayed.
• he is prowling around seeking a prey – walking up and down, throughout the world, seeking whom he may devour. 1Pet.5:8.  His strategies are still wicked and highly refined with the passing of time. He still uses his favourite toys to tempt and ensnare. Examine yourself to see if you are a slave to the strategies of Satan, or seek the Spirit’s scrutiny of your inner being. No man or woman is secure from the ravages of pride and ego and self. No-one is exempt..

• No man's heart will ever be gladdened by the joy of divine acceptance until he has learned that there is not a single bit about him, as a man in the flesh, that does not deserve the judgment of God. -C.A.C.

• It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God (Luke 4:4).

• Because of this one man’s sin all humanity is born into the world separated from God.
• The natural man is very much physically alive, but born dead in trespasses and sins.
• The unbeliever (the natural man) is ‘dead’ – spiritually separated from God.
• In verse 17 we are told that the natural man is dead.
• The unsaved man is dead – separated from God.
• Gift of Saving Grace Paul tells us that sin came from one man and is passed on to all men: for all men sinned.
• But he also tells us that that the gift of saving grace and eternal life also came from one Man: our Lord Jesus Christ.

• For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel.
• For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.Galatians 1:11-12
• Twelve Apostles Matthias was the man that replaced Judas Iscariot to become Christ’s 12th apostle. All these disciples including Matthias, were eye-witnesses of Christ’s life and death. They all were with Him the entire time that Jesus travelled in Judea and the Galilee.
• Personal Witnesses These disciples knew Jesus as a Man and they were personal witnesses of all He did. These apostles knew Christ as God incarnate and worshiped Him as Saviour and Lord. They listened to the sermon on the Mount as Jesus taught of His coming kingdom. They were party to His discourses, warning of a coming time of tribulation and trouble.
• Unrevealed Truths Moses was the man for Israel, who revealed God’s commandments to His people. The twelve apostles were the men that were taught the truths of the kingdom of God. Paul was the person for the Church – who unfolded many unrevealed truths to us.
• Received Through Revelation For I would have you know, brothers, that the gospel that was preached by me is not man’s gospel.
• For I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. Galatians 1:11-12

• Trust requires the man – the whole man to accept God’s Word, without reservation.

• Faith is simply trusting God to do what God has said.  Faith is acting, walking, or praying on the basis of what God has said about a matter.  There may be many so-called “faiths” that unregenerate man follows, but there is only one God in Whom faith can placed, and this is non-negotiable: one Lord, one faith, one baptism into the Lord Jesus, by believing in Him.
• Only a regenerate man has had the breath of life breathed into him by the Spirit of life.  Only a believer in Jesus is able to function on the spiritual plane – by faith.  Only a new man in Christ, who has passed from darkness to light can act by faith.  Faith is simply believing God.  Faith is simply trusting God to do what God has said, and faith comes by hearing which comes through the Word of God.
• God-Breathed God in His wisdom has spoken to redeemed man, in the God-breathed Bible.
• Man, within his spiritual capacity, is able to avail himself of what God has said, and then man (redeemed man), is to live and to act and to pray accordingly.  The ‘just’ shall live by faith… the ‘righteous’, ‘redeemed’, ‘spiritually-alive’, ‘new man in-Christ’ shall live by faith.  Why, you ask – why should we live by faith?  What, you ask – what is the point of simply trusting God to do what God has said?  Let us eat, drink, and be merry, and party in this life, for tomorrow we die!!   Why you ask… because God has ordered His amazing creative plans and purposes to include you.  Before the foundation of the world, He set these plans in motion, to involve you.  He has designed that those with patient endurance will receive the great promise: for you have need of patient endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise.” Heb.10:36
• Spirit, Soul, Body God has designed the whole man to be thus redeemed, to fulfil His purpose in us, and Hebrews is a book from start to finish whose focus is on sanctification..

• It is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful. (1 Corinthians 4:2)
• He died largely a lonely man, but faithful, ...it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful.

• Man’s Assumptions are False Assumptions about God’s character that conflict with the word of God are false.
• Scriptural Examples Scripture gives many examples of people who built up false assumptions about God. From Adam to Malachi and from Matthew to John, God was often misunderstood. His ways seemed so strange and life’s circumstances conflicted with man’s expectations.

• But Jesus did not commit Himself unto them, because He knew all men, and needed not that any should testify of man: for He knew what was in man.John 2:24-25
• If we truly love others, we will remove all man-erected illusions – we will see and love men as women through the eyes of disillusionment.

• Precious Fruit Since His substitutionary death, sin is not the real barrier between man and God: but what think ye of Christ –  for whoever believes in Him is not condemned.

• Death was never God’s intent for man.
• Death is the utterly unnatural. Man was not intended to die..
• but by man and man’s sin came death. Man was not made mortal. Man was made a living soul, in-breathed with God’s life, but the wages of sin are death..
• This truth is as steadfast and sure for the cherished wife taken through cancer..  the young man cut down in his prime..  the little innocent who barely drew breath.

• Job reminds us: man that is born of a woman is of few days, and full of trouble.
• and a man-child conceived.
• And sin, and the eternal ruin of our race, can cause man and woman to despair of life.
• His plans and purposes are for man to escape from a life of sin and slavery – a plan made from before the foundation of the world.

• A day that every man shall receive according to that which is done in the body..
• Man of Faith We must be like Abraham – the man of faith – who looked forward to his inheritance.

• Free Gift of Grace God’s wrath and condemnation for the sin of the world was poured out on Christ. All that man has to do to receive this free gift of grace is to believe on Jesus Christ – simply believing puts us in union with Christ and places us into the family of God.
• – by ‘confession’, I do not mean attending a man-made confessional,  but coming to the feet of the Father with a humble and penitent heart, A heart that is broken before the Lord is the heart that is cleansed and restored.

• The Testimony of Jesus is: i>I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.Stephen died for that Testimony.

• But this sorrowful man proclaimed, in minute detail of a new and glorious House, and Jeremiah cried to Israel:- proclaim these words toward the north, and say: 'Return, backsliding Israel,’ says the LORD; 'I will not cause My anger to fall on you for I am merciful,’ says the LORD; 'I will not remain angry forever.
• Federal Head John’s gospel, letters and apocalypse were scripted at a time of departing glory, and Christ is presented in his writings by John as the heavenly Man.
• There is one need for all humanity – one need for believer and non-believer alike, to SEE the Son of Man – to have his spiritual eyes opened.

• The Greatest Man Jesus - is the greatest Man that ever walked this earth.
• The greatest Word ever spoken was proclaimed by the greatest Man Who ever lived.
• Christianity is the Superlative Person:- the Substitute Man.
• Wesley told us that God contracted to span all, and incomprehensibly was made Man...in the incarnation.
• The Greatest Victory How did God become Man?
• the meeting of man and God..
• the acceptance of man BY God… the wages of sin and death paid in full – telelestai!!  Telelestai!!  TELELESTAI.

• And He said to them all, If any man will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me (Luke 9:23)

• Holy Character His divine decisions could not violate His own eternal essence or His holy character, and His divine decrees could not contravene all He purposed for mans’ sovereign will... for in His divine decrees God was to attribute to man volition – his own free-will.
• In His eternity, He planned that man would share eternal life on the basis of His grace.
• God foreknows the free-will choices that every man will ever make, and God will never coerce or override man’s volition regarding his choices. Salvation is a free gift of God’s grace to whosoever will trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.
• Man’s Choice Well, all believers are 'the called' of God.

• There follows a dissertation of a carnal Christian compared with the spiritual man..

• We must accept as fact what has already been made ours through faith in Christ, but we must be aware of our need of these truths in our daily walk – and only the Holy Spirit can reveal these truths to the seeking believer: for the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God, they are foolishness to him: neither can they be known to them, because they are spiritually discerned. 1Corinthians.2:1 There are many ways to live that fail to deal with ‘self’ and the ‘self-life’. We have to recognise that God’s way, to self-denial, is at the cross.
• He has put our old man where He put our sins, namely, on the cross with Christ: knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him’ (Romans 6:6).
• And it is the same Word that tells you that you as connected with Adam, died with Christ, that your old man was crucified, that since you are in Christ you shared His death unto sin, and are thus to reckon your present relationship to sin in Christ – as one who is dead to it, and alive unto God” (Romans, Verse by Verse, p.227).
• ‘The old man, ‘the old self’ in God’s reckoning was taken to the cross with Christ and crucified and taken into the tomb with Christ and buried.
• Assurance of deliverance from the sphere of the ‘flesh’ and of the de-thronement of  ‘the old man’ rests upon the apprehension and acceptance of this fact of co-crucifixion” (Life on the Highest Plane, Vol.
• The blood can wash away my sins, but it cannot wash away my ‘old man’, I need the cross to crucify me – the sinner. (The Normal Christian Life).
• Harrison: “This is the distinctive mark of the Christian – the experience of the cross. Not merely that Christ died FOR us, but that we died WITH Him. ‘Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him’ (Romans 6:6)” (His Side Versus Our Side, p.40).
• This will lead, under the Lord’s hand, to the fuller understanding of the meaning of identification with Christ, as in Romans six. Happy is the man who has been instructed in this from the beginning”. (What Is Man?
• ‘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.
• Accept by faith the further fact that you died with Him, i.e., that your ‘old man was crucified with Him'” (The New Life, p.51).

• Let any of our old man, whether of our old temper, our old way of judging, our old disposition, any of it come up at all, if we are children of God, we know quite well that at that point a barrier is set up and we cannot get past, we are held up in our spiritual life and we have to go back and have that thing cleared up.

• Body of Death Paul tried to deal with his own sin nature in his own strength and cried out, oh wretched man that I am..
• The whole of creation waits for its final deliverance from the effect of man’s fall.

• No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please Him who hath chosen him to be a soldier (2 Tim. 2:4).
• You may say, Show me a pattern man.' We all like to copy; but there is no gain in copying.
• And if a man also strive for masteries, yet is he not crowned, except he strive lawfully (2 Tim. 2:5).

• Seeking to urge oneself into conformity to law, the old man is before the eye, and satisfaction is felt according as there is conformity to a given standard.

• I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ. (Galatians 1:12)

• The law was applied to the natural man, that he might produce; grace is given to the spiritual man, that He might produce.Almost every believer makes the same mistake as the Galatian Christians.
• The old man is not subject to it, and the new man does not need it.

• The believer can never overcome the old man' even by the power of the new' apart from the work of the Cross, and therefore the death of Christ is indispensable, and unless the Cross is made the basis upon which he overcomes the old nature,' he only drops into another form of morality; in other words, he is seeking by self-effort to overcome sin and self, and the struggle is a hopeless one. -C.U.

• Man's soul can communicate with God only through the vehicle of his spirit in union with God.

• There is no way to a full abiding fellowship with our Father, but through the rent veil of the flesh; through a life with the old man crucified in the Lord Jesus.
• God be praised that the Holy Spirit ever dwells in us to keep the old man in the place of crucifixion and condemnation, and to give us progressive liberty from all the old. -A.M.

• Oh, wretched man that I am!
• Being fully persuaded that we cannot do it, we cease trying to please God from the ground of the old man.
• It would form man in the flesh; it would make Adam what he ought to be for God in the world.

• But this is just the beginning of that deep work of the Cross which is to deal with the carnality of our cherished affections, our spiritual comforts, our dearest friendships, our creeds, and our denominations, our devotion to which prevents the dying of the old man that makes impossible whole-hearted devotion to the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. -J.M.

• And we have an enemy within our gates - the old man - that opposes us too.

• Little did the martyred Stephen, as he received those vicious attacks from his aggressors, know how far his prayer of forgiveness would stretch. Little did he realise that his forgiving prayer, which echoed the One on the Cross would cover the man Saul, who stood in agreement to his murder.
• Little did Stephen realise that his prayer of forgiveness would cover the man who became the apostle to the gentiles and wrote... The greatest of all is love 1Cor.13:13

• It is not as one isolated unit in God universe, that He is to have everything, but by appointment man-wise, in a corporate sense, and not only in a personal sense.... The Lord is not satisfied with His people just being saved, and the Lord is not satisfied that people should just remain saved.

• A person of that sort must not expect to receive anything from the Lord - such a one is a man of two minds, undecided in every step he takes (James 1:6,8, Wey.).

• Man has constructed his own interpretations of Christianity and of truth, brought in his own systems and has confused things so much that you really do not know, unless you have clear discernment such as Nehemiah had, what is of God and what is not of God.
• Man's religious systems have brought about that confusion and multitudes of honest people believe with all their heart that the thing that they are in is of God, and it is just possible for them to get such an awakening to see the whole thing was man-made and not of God at all; ...much rubbish.Paul was one of those.
• The Lord will have to show us by revelation what the rubbish is, but there is the simple statement and it contains a truth, and you and I will really have to ask the Lord to show us even in religious matters, where man ends and God begins, or where God ends and man begins, so that we shall be delivered from everything that man has imposed or added upon what is of God, and we shall be able to get right down to foundations, the rubbish being removed: and there is a very great deal of ecclesiastical rubbish about in these days that must go.

• Cease ye from man, whose breath is in his nostrils: for wherein is he to be accounted of? (Isa. 2:22).

• Man in God’s Image And then… God said… “Let US make man in our OWN image after OUR own likeness.” And man was made to rule and to reign. Man was created to have dominion over all in the earth.
• “So God created man in His own image; in the image of God created He him; male and female He created them” Genesis 1:7 He made them to complement each other and to rule and reign together as one flesh, Man in authority, and his bride and helper at his side – in the image and likeness of God.
• Beauty and Sustenance Gathered up in this one plot was all the good from God’s heart; prepared for man: - beauty to behold; sustenance for man’s food; pleasantness to warm man’s heart.
• And then we see the innocent sacrifice – slain to cover man’s sin.
• Is He not the light of life that lights every man that comes into the world?

• And the answer is clearly and definitely this: that somehow or other man has come into this business of God and turned it to himself.

• Natural Man Natural man is incapable of any spiritual intercourse with the Spirit of God. This is a law that God dictated and God has His one way – His only Way; His only Truth; His only Life. Divine life imparted to a born-again soul is essential for communion with God. Divine life, (the free unmerited gift of grace from God) is the only uniting bridge.
• Necessity and Blessing Faith, in the only begotten Son, is an obligation, a necessity and a blessing for man..
• And the truth of God and His tremendous goodness hides behind the walls of doubt..  and God’s Father heart of love is tainted by man, through self-imposed twisted thoughts.
• Right Thinking Every attitude displayed and every word you speak starts with a thought: for as a man thinketh in this heart so is he.

• Unique Birth Christ would not have an ordinary birth, but rather would be born supernaturally. His unique birth was prefigured in the Old Testament by Isaac, the son of promise. He was to be formed in a unique, mystical way for He was to be both God and Man.
• He was to be fully God yet also perfect Man..
• free from the old sin nature passed from father to son. Without the virgin birth there could be no Saviour for a man born from the union of a man with a woman, is imputed with an inherent sin nature – right from conception.
• Begotten of God But He was begotten not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, or man – but of God. The Holy Spirit was to come upon her, and the power of the Most High overshadowed her, so that the baby to be born to her was holy, and He was called the Son of God.
• Perfect Sacrifice To deny His humanity renders the work on the cross as a mockery and masquerade,  for the wrath of God could only be satisfied by a perfect kinsman-redeemer – MAN.
• Man alone had to be the perfect sacrifice. It is equally heretical to deny that Jesus was fully God as to deny He was fully Man.

• God’s Instances I have heard it said that man’s disappointments are God appointments. I have heard people say that man’s coincidences are God instances.

• Serving MAN..
• fame; applause; the good opinions of others; MAN.

• The heart of man is so often perturbed about the unknown, unpredictable future – but the Word clearly tells us.
• Supply in the Scripture Just remember… From Genesis to Revelation God slowly and gradually revealed Himself to man.

• The Lord Jesus did not come in just as a rescuer of man and of man lot.
• In that, of course, man is rescued, but it is something very much bigger than that.

• Let a man renounce himself, and see himself as crucified with Christ, and soon another Himself - the Lord Jesus Christ - will take the central place in the heart, and quietly bring all things under His sway.
• It is a great thing to offer the Lord Jesus Christ as the Saviour to sinful man, but it is still greater to express Him in a world where He is rejected. -J.B.S.

• He also gave many indications that this man Jesus was God Incarnate – God with us.
• Word of God Christ was not merely a man, chosen from the human race to play the part of Messiah.
• Nor was He a created Son of God, like the host of angelic beings or the race of man.
• Honour the Son And John says men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father, and just as God is the Judge of the earth so the Lord Jesus Christ is Judge of the whole earth – for Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son.

• You can read everything that has ever been written on Christian doctrine and still be the same man or woman.

• And we shall discover that while there are the compensations, for there are undoubtedly the compensations in this life and the mighty compensations for eternity, this is a way which is not easy for the natural man by any means.
• But note, and I am glad the Apostle Paul puts it like this, because it is so true to experience, “The new man who is being renewed.” Notice, first there was a precise and definite transaction, “Ye put off” and “ye put on,” but now the work that is going on is not a single act of a single moment and a single day, but it is something that is going on in us.

• I tell you the truth, you will all see heaven open and the angels of God going up and down on the Son of Man, the one who is the stairway between heaven and earth. (John 1:51 NLT)
• You remember that when He referred to Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel, He said to Nathanael: Ye shall see the heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man (John 1:51).
• All the communications of God and Heaven to man are by way of Jesus, the new Israel.

• Do you strive, in your own way, to prove yourself to now be good enough? You foolish man – you silly woman, accept His forgiveness and be comforted.

• It has often been said that inside the heart of every man is a God-shaped hole – a void that He in His grace secured within – a vacuum that He alone can fill..
• Rich Companionship When a man dwells deeply in Him, there can be precious, rich companionship, reaching into the very depths of the heart of man that no-one else can fathom.

• Word of God What an enormous responsibility to place on the shoulders of any man..
• Mighty Victory Many people look to the cross of Christ and see a torn and broken man.
• A man - broken, mocked, despised, rejected.
• When a man or woman believes unquestioningly what He says, they will unhesitatingly step into the realms of the unknown.
• Oh yes, I found great comfort in Kipling’s “IF’.. for through its verses a father gives his son the criterion of a real man.

• Only the defence of the indwelling Spirit – induces towards death of the old man… as the fleshly lusts and the pride of life seek to overthrow our witness of Him.

• John 5:40 Oh what meekness and majesty, Manhood and Deity, in perfect harmony – the Man who is God..
• The Man Who Is God JESUS – The Father’s pure radiance – Perfect in innocence, Who yet learns obedience to death on a cross.

•  New Testament Light The beloved disciple also affirmed that Jesus was indeed that wonderful light – the true light which lighteth every man that comes into the world John 1:9 – and he further commands us to: walk in the light, as He is in the light 1 John 1:7 while the Lord Jesus Himself proclaims: I am the LIGHT – of the world.

• However applaudable and true this gradation on the human 'need' scale is, two of the most important human needs were overlooked or ignored by Maslow – needs that should have been the capstone of his research and pinnacle of man’s hierarchy of need:- 1 My need of God Himself and  2 And my need of the things in life that God alone can supply.
• Pinnacle of Need If I fail to recognise these two fundamental needs, then I am blind to reality, for man’s need fulfilled in any other way, becomes an empty vacuum filled with nothingness.

• Study - GOD, All I Need Born Dead in Sin The great desire of the so many saintly people is for purity of heart – for in Matthew we read,  blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God. Matthew 5:8  Born, dead in trespasses and sins, there is a gulf betwixt man and God – a gulf so huge that none but God’s perfect Sacrifice alone, could bridge that gap.
• Sin in all its ugly shades of black darkness, hangs shroud-like over humanity’s head – but thanks be to God, that in His grace, He has given the way to bring us back to Himself – through the blood of Christ – (incarnate God and perfect Man)
• In all its bloody truth, man prefers to hide the truth of God’s eternal sacrifice.
• Job even asks the question, How then can man  be righteous before God – How can he be pure who is born of a woman?
• Step to Holiness Man of himself remains dead in trespasses and sins… unless and until he is washed, cleansed, and forgiven in the blood of the Lamb.
• Dressed in His Purity If I truly am to have a pure heart, a clean heart and a right spirit within then I must put off the things of this world – of self – of the old man – of the sin nature.

• Sacrifice for Sin God so loved the world that when man sinned, He put into effect the plan of salvation, that He had purposed before the world was created.
• God did not love the world system that is currently under Satan’s rule for Jesus plainly tells us, My kingdom is not of this world. John 18:36 It was man, for whom God set about implementing His glorious plan of salvation.
• Plan of Salvation It was man – sin-ridden, rebellious human-kind that God loved so much.
• It was mutinous man who desired to be as God; fallen man who was riddled through with rebellion, and sin-sick to the core, that God loved so deeply, that He sent His Son to die for our sins.
• God loved man, and that love was so deep and compassionate – so all-embracing that He sent His Son to die as the sacrifice for sin, so that man might live.
• And the only thing that is required of man is to believe….
• Salvation of Man There is only one place in Scripture where the question is actually asked, What must I do to be saved..? and the answer is given clearly and simply, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. The spirit of man which was born dead in trespasses and sins is saved simply by believing on the Lord Jesus Christ as our sacrifice for sin. But our initial salvation (our salvation of the spirit) is of course the first step on a life journey for the salvation of the soul of man, for once we have been eternally saved we are told by Paul, in Philippians 2:12, that we must work out our own salvation. This aspect of salvation is called sanctification and is ongoing throughout the whole of our whole Christian life.
• Being saved is sublimely simple and yet so unacceptably hard to receive freely, because proud man wants to be in charge.
• Man wants to be in charge of his own destiny… and he is not!
• God-Given Salvation Christ became flesh and died to restore the original relationship between God and man.
• Christ took upon Himself all our spiritual accountability and clothed Himself with all man’s evil and wickedness.
• Christ paid the price of redemption – a premium, impossible for man to discharge.
• Myriad of ways have been designed to get man to be accepted by God – and in man’s foolish attempt to get himself to God, man put faith in foolish alternatives to provide for their need.

• Man’s Deficient Strength Have you ever run a marathon – and finished first? Those who do rejoice greatly, like a strong man to run his race, as we read in Psalm 19:5  Oh, there is much joy and satisfaction in moral and physical strength, but the man that is perfect in physical strength depends on many things: nourishing food to replenish and build up the power of sinews and muscles; sufficient sleep and a carefully constructed workout, to maintain peak fitness – and how we love to look fit and sleek and how we love to confidently complete the race, and how we wish we were even fitter, fleeter, and faster!
• God’s Strength Made Perfect It is not the brawn of the mighty man nor the speed of the marathon runner, that is the thing that we should desire to develop..
• Man’s Weakness Made Strong It is utter dependence and total trust in Him that God desires from you and me – for He desires that it is HIM and not our own strength that is our supply and our stay.

• Knowledge of Truth Knowledge of the truth is no insignificant advantage, for it affects every facet of life. Understanding the truth affects the eternal soul of man..
• through time and into eternity, for as the apostle Paul reminds us, no foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 1 Corinthians 3:11 How it must please the heart of God when believers can be described like Gauis – a man of truth.
• Quest for Truth There is not one man, woman, or child that has not been damaged by this world of sin.
• It was Herod who asked the question What is Truth?  to the one Man Who was the personification of truth – but Herod was frightened by the crowd to pursue his quest.

• The Narrow Way It is to the Christian and not the unbelieving man that Christ told us that the way is straight and the way is narrow, and few there are that find it – for once born from above, the believer has two choices.

• We read in Ecclesiastes 2:26 that God gives wisdom and knowledge and joy to a man who is good in His sight, and a man’s wisdom makes his face shine – the sternness of his face is changed.
• Oh, but how I love the wisdom that was granted..to another man..
• The man with wise understanding relies on God’s Spirit as Corrector and Guide.
• Happy the man who wisdom gains,Thrice happy who his guest retains,He owns and shall forever own:-Wisdom, and Christ and heaven as one.

• 2 Timothy 3 All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness. 2 Timothy 3:16 Timothy was an example of a man that was taught the Holy Scripture from childhood..

• The one, can incubate pride while the other can foster independence from God. And both result in a believer being removed from God’s best purpose in their life. But God can correct many decades of dormant growth in a stunted Christian life, and God can reverse the worldly ways of a saint’s fleshly independence from Him… if the believer changes his mind, and looks to Jesus and away from all else… if the repentant believer approaches His majesty in genuine humility of heart.. if the man or woman of God sincerely recognises his own lack and need of God.

• A Study:- Man’s Nature and Destiny Hiding of Power “The world is going crazy,” are words that I have heard from many quarters.
• Multiplied Grief Habakkuk’s writings demonstrate him to be a deeply burdened man, and he was also a great prayer warrior – and for three chapters his colloquy displays mutual and intimate intercourse with God. Habakkuk and God carried on a reciprocal Spirit to spirit, Soul to soul communion.

• It has enabled Righteousness and Peace to embrace in gracious union. All this has been accomplished because the Word of God became Flesh. All contradictions are void because God has become incarnate. All conflicts are calmed because the God-Man kissed the extremes.
• Depth of Truth He it was that undertook to represent both God and man.

• God’s Mercy God’s mercy is proclaimed four times as much in the old as in the new. Vast mercy was poured out over the head of man in the garden of Eden. Endless mercy was showered on mankind in the garden of Gethsemane. Infinite mercy continues to be showered over humanity as we journey to the garden of paradise – the New Jerusalem of God..

• Many seek to interpret His words and calculate the meaning behind His proclamations, but only a very small remnant worship at His feet and honestly want to know Him. There were very few that sat at the feet of the Lord Jesus – gazing upon His beauty at His first coming. And there are still very few whose deepest desire is to know this Perfect Man – this Divine Omnipotence. And yet to know Him should be the deepest desire of every blood-bought child.
• Paul An Example I look at Paul – the man who had a One-to-one teaching from the Lord Jesus Himself.
• Paul, the man chosen of God, to be His special tool to take the gospel to the gentiles.
• Knowing Him To me, this brief sentence from this great man, should be taken very seriously. His words should alert each of us as to where our priorities should lie. It is not what you know – nor is it about what knowledge you can acquire.

• man stands dumb, and utterly humbled before this Al-Mighty-One.
• The wisdom of Solomon exceeded all the seed of man - those born of woman.
• Yet the fall of man dictated creation’s descent into an abyss of travail, and the tears of groaning man have fallen ever since within this sin-sick world.
• But there is an end to man’s tears – a finale to the sufferings of the world.
• God in His wisdom continued with His eternal plan and purpose for man – as in the womb of time His wise plan unfolded and the Saviour was born.
• God has charged Himself with the responsibility of man’s salvation.

• A Man Forever When Christ the Saviour was welcomed into the world that first Christmas day, the Father gave His beloved Son to become a member of the human race for all eternity.
• Jesus Christ did not become a man for 33 years only – but a man forever. When the eternal Son of God was born in Bethlehem, as the perfect Son of Man, He became a fully-fledged member of the human family in a human body – with a human nature, which He will retain throughout the eternal ages to come.
• Gift of Love God loved the world so dearly that He gave the Son of His love to bear the punishment for our sin and to die an ignominious death as the substitute for our sin, on a cruel Roman cross – and He gave His Son as a Gift forever – to a race of fallen sinners. Today there is a man seated on the throne of God, Who was born in Bethlehem 2000 years ago.  He was laid in a manger and grew up in a simple home.
• for unto us a Child is born – Who is Christ the Lord – the eternal Son as perfect Man. The joyful arrival on earth of the Saviour, was heralded by an angelic throng – but it was also a departure of the Son of God from the bosom of His beloved Father, and from that point on, one member of the Godhead would possess a human body.
• Pivotal Point From the first fatal fall of man in Eden, the sin of man had been covered by the blood of bulls and goats, but His birth was a pivotal point in history – when the Son could say to the Father:- Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a (human) Body You have prepared for Me.
• In burnt offerings and sacrifices for sin You had no pleasure. Christ identified Himself with the fallen race man so completely and so intimately, that His birth into a world of men was an irreversible seal on the pages history.

• He gives us the facts of how GOD deals with MAN – and as believers we can choose to respond positively to the Word of God, or we can choose to ignore His Word.
• Simple Instructions These simple instructions conflict with the function of man’s old sin nature – and these simple instructions are diametrically opposed from man’s human wisdom.
• For the Sin Nature (the Flesh) – is in conflict against the Spirit,And Man’s Wisdom (man’s Reason) – is foolishness to God.
• Too often we approach God’s Word based on our human rationalisation, and we assume that God will deal with us in the same way that WE deal with others, but Scripture clearly outlines the one and only basis on which GOD deals with MAN.
• For God will never answer to human reason and more often than not God’s instructions in His Word conflict with human wisdom and rational thinking – indeed human reason and man’s logic causes us to misunderstand much of God’s Word.
• Divine Dealings God will not change His divinely developed dealings with man, nor will He alter His outlined instructions to us – so perhaps it’s time for us to start doing things His way..

• The Son The Son was sent by the Father as the representative Man and Sacrifice for sin, to carry out the work of salvation by paying the price of humanities sin, and redeeming all who would trust on His name.

• A Study:- Man’s Nature and Destiny And now abide these three – faith – hope – love.1Corinthians13:13
• God was not forced to take a ‘quick-fix’ avoidance strategy because of man’s sin.
• David, a man after God’s own heart pleaded to the Lord: take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.

• A Study:- Man’s Nature and Destiny Life of Faith “The world is going crazy,” and this truly is a life of faith.
• This is an attitude of life and health, and inherent in this attitude is a salutary effect: for every man that hath this hope in him purifies himself, even as He is pure. 1John.3:3.

• A Study:- Man’s Nature and Destiny Life of Faith God has given us the gift of faith and the righteous are to live their life by faith.
• Oh yes, but for the last 2000 years, there has been a Man sitting on the throne of God – and that Man is Christ, and for 2000 years He has been interceding for His saints.
• And that Man’s love for you is passionate and deep and eternal, for we are bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh.
• And today that Man is sitting on the throne of the almighty God – loving you.

• the riches of His grace - the wonders of His grace - the glories of His grace. We are recipients of the wonderful story of grace conceived in the heart of the Father. We were foreknown to the Father before the world was created and man was made.

• Curse of Sin To date it is 100% certain that if you have been born you will die – physically. Though man longs to live eternally, we are under the curse of sin and death..
• for by one man’s sin came death – spiritual death and finally physical death, for all.

• And we know that all things work together for good to those that love God, to them who are the called according to His purpose.Romans 8:28Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ:Ephesians 4:13

• Law of Death The truths that Nicodemus learnt on his night visit to Jesus Christ were staggering. During an evening conversation his long-held religious values had been fragmented. The requirements of the Mosaic Law were impossible – unattainable to mortal man! The notion of a new birth with a new life – was beyond the concept of human reason!

• Man’s Vanity Oh!—if I were God I know what I would do…. !!!!!!!!!!!!!  But I am not….
• a blind man..

• STUDY - Character and Attributes of GOD  For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.Proverbs 23:7
• Every word of Scripture is a megaphone of warning to the believer, for as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. Yet many ignore the words of wisdom that pepper the pages of the Holy Bible.
• Secular Man Secular man has borrowed from their pages and produced many great ideals. Philosophy and psychology have twisted truths to support their own pet teaching. Science and medicine have borrowed facts and a library of tomes have resulted.
• Unsaved Man But unsaved man knows nothing of God’s wisdom, as it is spiritually perceived. Natural man..
• the unsaved man, knows nothing of God’s wisdom – for God’s wisdom is spiritually discerned. Natural man knows little of God’s character – and the church mirrors their progress. The Church often shadows the trail of the natural – and discovers half-truths.
• For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. And Paul warned and urged..
• There has always been a tendency for man to conceive in His heart Who God is: for as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.
• Humble Yourself What does come to YOUR mind when you think of God and His Christ? Have you developed any false perception of God in your lifetime? …Have I? For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he. Are you prepared to humbly do anything about it?  Am I humble enough to do so, as well?

• Root of Discord Sin introduced strife and conflict, friction and hostility into the deepest part of man.
• What anguish of soul has torn at the heart of man since that excruciating estrangement.
• Disunity and division was the consequence of sin; disunity and divorce, between man and his fellow man; disunity and disconnection between man and His Creator God.
• Our Days-Man The Gospel is the good news that peace is possible and may be restored.
• The sin that once estranged and antagonised, is beauteously removed through faith, The God-Man became the Days-Man that Job so yearned for: his living Redeemer.
• the one that God called, “that ‘mighty man of valour!” to Gideon he became:- “Jehovah Shalom,” the Lord is my Peace.”

• What is man that you are mindful of Him, and the son of man that you care for him?Psalm 8:4
• Perfect Man Jesus is fully Man; the perfect Man; the representative Man – He is God’s Man.
• God’s Man God had fore-ordained that all things would one day be placed underneath His feet, For all was created by Him – all was created for Him – and all was created in Him. All things in heaven and on earth, all things visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers, rulers or authorities; all things have been created through Him and for Him.
• God’s Image Jesus is God’s Man.
• He is fully Man; the perfect Man; the representative Man.
• But what is man that God should take notice of him and take care of him as He does? Despite the amazing array of His creation that stretches into the far-flung universe, there is only one creature that God chose to make in His own image and likeness.
• God’s Blessing God undertook to form man to resemble Himself – a trinity of body, soul, and spirit.
• God determined man would be His governor – with dominion over the whole world.
• So God created mankind in his own image, in the image of God He created man.
• Male and female He created them – and then God gave man His hallowed blessing, He blessed man – who together with his wife, was to rule and reign as His regent.
• Representative Ruler Man was the capstone of God’s creation formed as His a special representative ruler, Man was the pinnacle of all God formed – and he was to fellowship with his Father. Be fruitful and increase in number, they were instructed.
• God’s People Never was a created being so honoured as man when God created him as His son.
• God’s Life What an astonishing happening that God should choose man to be just like Himself.
• But rather He took of the dust of His created earth and fashioned and moulded and sculptured and built the body of a man – then breathed His own life into His frame.
• God’s Knowledge God Who knows the end from the beginning was not taken aback when the son, he so carefully created with His own hands, rebelled against the One who gave him life. He knew man, through his own free-will, would despise his God-given birthright.
• He knew man would pass the sovereignty of God’s kingdom to a rebellious cherub.
• Planned Redemption He knew man would choose to violate the sacred position to which he was called – and yet in His grace, God still chose to make man in His own image and likeness.
• He planned to appoint His only begotten Son to be the unique – perfect Son of Man.
• Pre-ordained Plan From the moment that man sinned God instigated His perfect, pre-ordained plan, that He had purposed before the foundation of the world – that His Son would be all in all. What we now see is Jesus, Who was given a position “a little lower than the angels“; and because He suffered death for us, He is now “crowned with glory and honour.”
• Tasted Death for ALL By God’s grace, Jesus tasted death for ALL – every member of the fallen race of man, And as part of God’s plan to bring many sons to glory – God made Jesus (Who was made perfect through what He suffered)  the leader and pioneer of our salvation.

• True Peace Humanity craves peace in the world and we all desire perfect peace in our hearts and yet all that the world terms peace is superficial and shallow, for the restless heart of man can find no true tranquillity without the perfect peace that comes from above. Genuine peace is not simply the cessation of conflicts nor it is the absence of disputes but peace is a oneness with our Saviour, for true peace is being united as one with Christ Jesus.
• But despite man’s craving for peace, how few really seek Him.
• Life-Giving Peace Peace with God and the peace of God stretches through time and into eternity, for all who trust Christ as Saviour and learn to keep the eyes of their hearts looking to Jesus for it was our Saviour who calmed the ocean of God’s wrath against a sinful world, which He procured for us by His sufferings and death on Calvary’s cross. He broke down the middle wall of hostility that divided Jew from Gentile and the curtain of the temple was torn from top to bottom announcing that the gaping void between a holy God and sinful man had been spanned by the blood of the Lamb – for by Hs death, Jesus opened a new and life-giving way, through the curtain which is His body.

• Lamb of God He was betrayed by one of His closest friends and was sold for 30 pieces of silver. He was despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief.
• NO MAN of his seed shall prosper, sitting upon the throne of David, and ruling any more in Judah. No future descendent of Solomon’s line of could ever rule as the king of Israel, and for a time it must have seemed to Satan that God’s Messiah had been defeated. Descendants of the cursed bloodline from Jeconiahm onwards… could never sit on the throne of David, and yet the Messiah was to be born of the house and lineage of David.

• The Father’s Will He did not engage in a 12-step program, developed through man’s clever strategy.
• Life Purpose God has a plan and purpose for the life of every believer: man, woman, or child.
• God takes time, and plenty of time, to bring a man to a point of true submission..
• Man or Ministry If God’s word is true, then God is more interested in developing a man than a ministry.

• Mighty To Save Moses is an example of a man that remained strong in the mighty strength of God –  and as Moses raised his rod of intercession before the Lord – God was mighty to save.

• The Saviour Jesus Christ has many wonderful names, many beautiful titles, many eternal qualities but perhaps the most excellent and precious of all is that of Saviour – Redeemer. The sin of one man separated the race of humanity from the holiness of God for we are told in the Word of God that sin had separated fallen man from a righteous God, and without a Saviour to save us from our sins – that separation is eternal.
• Kinsman-Redeemer But holy angels were not in need of a Saviour for they had not sinned, and fallen angels were not the subject of God’s grace, for man alone was made in the image and likeness of God so that God, in the person of Christ could be made in the likeness of human flesh. Christ did not take on the nature of angels nor was He made in their image or likeness.
• Great Salvation The Salvation that is given as a free gift of grace to all Who trust in the name of God’s only begotten Son, is a great Salvation that was given to man by God; announced to the world by angelic beings; confirmed by all Who heard and received the glorious gospel of Christ and recorded for our learning – to guide us into all truth and to give us hope and encouragement as we wait patiently for God’s promises to be fulfilled.
• Eternal Salvation Salvation that came through the Man Christ Jesus was not a finite redemption but an eternal salvation.
• Unique Attributes Every aspect of the Person of Christ and the work of Christ is unique for He was not only God, but the anointed of God Who was spoken of by the prophets of old and Who Himself became fully man so that He could be our Prophet, Priest and King – bringing God to man and uniting humanity back to the Father. He is not only Creator of all, Lord of heaven and earth and God our righteousness, but He is the Prince of Peace, the Everlasting Father and our Wonderful Councillor.

• Beloved of God Jesus is Son of God and Son of Man. He is Seed of the woman. He is Beloved of the Father. He is Begotten of the Father before all worlds.
• As a man His earthly seed was through David, Abraham, Nathan … Mary.
• Unbroken Fellowship And throughout His earthly life, Christ demonstrated how God wants man to live..
• For Christ laid aside His glory, living and dying as God wants man to live – trusting Him in the power of the Spirit and walking in spirit and truth.
• As God, He had the power to do these things but for our sake He laid aside His glory, Christ demonstrated by example – the only way a man can live in fellowship with God.
• Governed by God The pre-eminent mark of a spiritual man is a life governed by the Spirit of Christ..
• Imputed Righteousness But fallen man cannot follow His example by imitation – only by imputation.
• Christ in You Fallen man has a heritage of humanism..

• One New Man in Christ The time had come when the Church was to be the vehicle to witness of God’s grace.
• There would be neither Jew nor Gentile, but rather one new man in Christ.

• Typologically, Job is the most complete 'type' of the church-age believer, and its poetic form demonstrates God’s dealings with the innermost being of man.
• And James reminds us that it is the righteous man that availeth much.  But a servant can be under the blood, and a recipient of His mercy and grace but can have God oppose Him and frustrate His prayers, when in wrong standing.
• Right Standing All characters were saved, but not one was in complete, right-standing with God.  And God corrects all such wrong attitudes and actions, that are influenced by the old sin nature. Job is instructed by the Spirit of God, in chapter 5 verse 17, of a truth of God, behold, happy is the man whom God corrects, therefore despise not thou the chastening of the Almighty.

• as we watch the Church of God being harassed and persecuted – as we question why He permits wicked man to trample our rights. And still… God’s profound and wondrous thoughts are beyond our scant understanding, His perplexing and peculiar ways are too mystifying for our poor minds to grasp.

• God-Dependency When God gave the Law through Moses, He knew man’s fallen sin-nature would develop a spirit of confidence in self – rather than humble dependence upon God.
• The standard God set to regulate man’s behaviour was perfect – but God did not supply the way or means for man to achieve His standard – so man inevitably failed.
• God’s intention was that man would fulfil the righteous requirements of the Law in dependence upon Him – rather than relying on his own abilities, strength, or wisdom.
• Impossible Requirement God knew that sinful man could never achieve the perfection that the Law required, but Israel confidently announced – all that the Lord has spoken to us, we will do!  Exodus 19:8   This worthy pronouncement to do the will of God sounds commendable to the ear of fallen man – but it displays man’s pride, and demonstrates independence from God. God in His wisdom knew that it was needful for man to try to be perfect in his own strength and fail, to realise he was unable to reach the perfection God required.
• He would not have known that coveting was wrong if the Law had not said, “You must not covet.” King Saul was also a prideful man who tried to address the problem of life in his own fleshly strength, rather than depending on God’s provision and trusting His word. The Galatians were a group of believers who demonstrated pride, rebellion, and independence from God, by insisting that the righteous requirements of the Law should be achieved by human merit – having failed to learn God’s vital lesson.
• Man’s Inability And when we attempt in our own strength to meet our own needs or try to reach God’s standard, through self-confidence in our own abilities, we will also fail.
• What an incredible contrast to that which was required of the Law… Under Law, man was responsible to do all God commanded – but could not, Under Law, prideful man was drawn to self-dependence – not God-dependence.
• But under Grace, man has to believe – to believe on Him Whom God has sent.
• One New Man God has made Himself responsible to carry out His good work in US.
• God has purposed to create one-new-man..
• God has promised to live in the one-new-man in Christ (not the old sinful man) and that one-new-man is to live in a state of perfect dependence upon the Lord his God. God is working in you, enabling you both to desire and work out His good purpose. God is working in you, giving you the desire and the power to do what pleases Him.

• Christlike Life A life governed by the Spirit is a life that becomes increasingly like Christ. The mark of a Christian is a man or woman that is led by the Spirit of God.
• Such a man or woman lives a life that becomes occupied with the Lord Jesus Christ.
• His Fullness The effect of this move of the Spirit in a Christian is that we are filled with His fullness, for when a man or woman is occupied with Jesus they get more and more like Him – and yet a life overflowing with Christ only scratches the surface of all that He is.
• Paul’s Desire Paul was a man that met and worshipped the glorified Christ on the road to Damascus. Paul was a man that was caught up to the third heaven and shown unspeakable things. Paul was a man who was shown the many things he would have to suffer for Christ.
• Paul was a man whose life was governed by the Holy Spirit of Christ Jesus his Lord. Paul was a man that longed that we also should know Christ – in an intimate way.. that you may to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3:19
• If we were to live as long as ever a man lived, we shall still be only on the fringe of this vast fullness of all that Christ is.

• The Law He is the eternal Word, the incarnate Word – the Word of God made flesh, forever, and He is also Light and Life – contrasting with all that is of darkness and death. The Mosaic Law was perfect in all respects, but the Law was a ministration of death, for the perfect requirements of the Law could never be attained by man’s own merit.
• Christ’s Name All that Christ is and all that Christ has done is reflected in the beauty of His name. All that’s of grace, that’s been given to man – is on account of the merit of Jesus – for the Law was given by Moses – but grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
• Truth + Grace The Law of Moses, though perfect was given to man through a fallen member of a sinful race. Grace and truth, was the gift of God to condemned sinners, thru Jesus Christ our Lord. Grace without truth – would have rendered the righteousness of God as void. Truth without grace – would have rendered the salvation of man as impossible.
• Love of God What manner of love the Father has bestowed on us that He should shower on sinful man the grace and favour that we do not deserve and cannot earn- but in His perfect life the Incarnate Word of God, in His sinless body on the tree, met all the righteous requirements of the Law – to free us from condemnation so that we might have LIFE. The law indeed was given to Israel through Moses, but the unfailing love of God and His everlasting and faithfulness - is only seen in the face of the Lord Jesus Christ.  

• The word of God is from God, and His word is truth and life. God’s method of grace as written in Scripture is perfect, but grace is frequently distorted by man’s interpretation. God’s character as outlined in Scripture is perfect, but God’s character is frequently distorted by man’s interpretation.
• A man who thinks God will accept your best efforts lives that way.

• But when we begin to grow in grace and in the knowledge of the Lord Jesus, we are able to face up to the awful facts concerning the old man and his condemnation at the Cross.
• As the Holy Spirit reveals the old man (Col. 3:9), we count upon death; as He reveals the new man (Col. 3:10), we count upon life (Rom. 6:11).

• When we rely upon and cater to the old man, that ground produces the works of the flesh (Gal. 5:1921).
• If you stand on the ground of what the Lord Jesus is (abide), you will find in your growth that all that is true of Him is becoming true of you; but if you remain on the ground of what you are in yourself, you will find that all that is true of the old man is true of you in life and walk.

• Spiritual Maturity God knows what’s best in the life of each believer to bring him to strong, full maturity – and God takes time to bring a man or woman from new-birth to final maturity, God takes time to conform each of His children into the likeness of His beloved Son.
• He, the perfect man learned obedience, over many years of insignificant obscurity.
• Jesus grew in wisdom and favour with God and man – over much time.
• Pressure from man nor presumption from within would cause Him to act too soon.
• God takes time in a man to bring him to a mature knowledge of His Word.

• Such a one who does not put on the new man and put off the old – grieves the Spirit.

• It is our privilege to be able, in our little measure, to thank God in view of everything, and take refuge in His eternal counsels, which must be made good despite all the unbelief of man, and all the malice of Satan.

• Both thrive in the man or woman that esteems the other as better than themselves.

• God trusted this man of prayer, who needed to die to self and be raised to the new life.
• God broke a prideful man, who eventually saw his folly and repented in dusty ashes.

• Spiritual Man Job presents as a spiritual man, who in this world has deep tribulation and distress - an intercessor at the start, and a prayer-warrior at the end of his spiritual walk.
• A man that does not understand, but a man with a teachable spirit; a man who trusts in the Lord, but a man that is prepared to question God; a man whom the Lord trusts in the unseen world of spiritual warfare.
• Yes, Job is a man who is faithful to the point of death.
• Job is a man who overcomes.
• But she is a lady, like Noah’s wife, who remains under the protection of her man.
• Man’s Wisdom His friends erroneously look to man’s understanding and offer man’s advice.
• Job is a man of considerable integrity although he certainly shows considerable pride!
• The man walking after the flesh, holds fast to his self-acquired truths of God, even when their legalism conflicts with the Word of God and the Spirit of truth.
• The old man in Adam will not listen – this man will not see the fullness of God.
• Spiritual Walk The man walking in the spirit is willingly prepared to be taught the deep truths of God – even if they conflict with one's long-held understanding of God… even if it means having to adjust one's deep-seated mindset about God; even if it means having to rethink one's whole perception of God.
• The new man in Christ will humble himself.
• Peter tells us to: humble yourself, under the mighty hand of God.  The new man in Christ will submit to His way and His time and listen and learn.
• High Calling The new man in Christ will be the one trusted to enter the spiritual battle.
• The new man in Christ will be an overcomer, if he holds fast to the end.

• The enemy knows about the 'religious' nature – buried deep within the 'old man.
• But whether a believer is blinded to his need or broken in her life’s circumstances… whether a servant exhibits prideful self-righteousness or deep discouragement, the primary agent of leviathan’s grip, is the 'religious' nature of the 'old man', which is exhibited in a multiplicity of ways.
• Hidden Religiosity We are clearly told to put off the 'Old Man' – which includes all hidden religiosity.
• First, we need to understand what IS the 'Old Man’..
• The 'Old Man' is everything within a believer – that is not of Christ and not In Christ.
• But the only way to be rid of his manipulating the religiosity of the 'Old Man', is to have an increasing reality of the 'New Man in Christ'.

• but He also blesses sinful man as well.
• but God also permits evil in the life of saints as well.  But ALL good that comes to man comes from a good and faithful God.
• The prince of the power of the air seeks to counterfeit the Spirit’s workings in man.
• Wiles of Satan The devil certainly was instrumental in the birth of fleshly sins and the carnal nature – but Satan seeks much more from the man of God, than to tempt his with such trifles.
• He desires to manage the mind and heart of a believing man in a more subtle way.
• He seeks to influence man’s heart against His Creator through Self-government..  so that believing man cries, whydo I have to suffer? I am upright in all God’s ways.
• Past, present, and future sins of the believing man are forgiven and forgotten. The same holds true for the man of God today – all sins are forgiven and forgotten – past, present and future – all forgiven and forgotten. So don’t pride yourself that your forgiven sins are influencing the troubles in your life.
• The one area in the life of this upright man – (one of Ezekiel’s 'These Three Men'….
• Fullness of God You can read about the fullness of our faithful God in Ephesians 3:19… and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.  You can read about the fullness of our faithful Christ in Ephesians 4:13 …until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.  You can read about the fullness of the Godhead in Coossiansl 2:9… For in him dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.

• Travail in David David’s Job experience – caused him to cry: How long will the wicked triumph?…Psa.94:3 but David’s Job experience – blossomed a few verses later when he proclaimed: Blessed is the man whom the Lord chasteneth.
• The agonies in the early part of Psalm 94 – displaying God’s training within His child explodes into joyous understanding, as God chastens ‘the man after His own heart’.
• seeking to influence the religious nature of your ‘old man against God…  that 'old sin nature' which prefers your-Self rather than God’s 'Christ-Self'?  Have you considered Job’s three friends, who walk in the flesh and not in the Spirit – where God accused them saying for you have not spoken of ME what is right?  Job 42:7

• When He corrects a man it is not that He may bring him down, but that He may lift him up.

• Man’s intense, spiritual dearth is often hidden, disguised, or camouflaged.
• It is man’s sins of greed and disinterest that permits scarcity and want in the world.
• It is Satan’s ploy to infect the world and cause distress of nations and pain to man.
• Spiritual Deficiencies Though very real, the physical need of man is a parable of the grotesque paucity..
• Every man and every woman has choices to make between famine and fullness – spiritual famine or spiritual fullness .

• Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love him.

• All power emanates from Him, and all the schemes of man will be used for God’s purposes.
• God, Who from this vantage point directs the affairs of man, through His delegated rulers – good or evil.
• The One Who gave the Word to man is the One that gave the Word through man.
• Things of God He is the same one that will guide the new man, into all truth.
• Indeed, He is the only One in the world today that can guide man into all truth, for the Scripture is living and the Scripture is spiritual, and spiritually discerned.
• The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 1Cor.2:14

• Come To Him “COME to ME” if any man thirst let him come unto Me and drink. “COME” let him that is athirst “COME”

• Behold, I stand at the door, and knock, if any man hears my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me.
• He Seeks This loose-living woman was unaware of the man Who sat at her well; unaware of the glory of the presence of the One who sat beside her.
• Jesus made Himself known to this woman through the garb of a tired, thirsty man..

• Inner Soul The eyes are often considered as mirrors that reflect the depth of the soul, but words are the instrument that reveals the very spirit of a man – for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.
• And this man after God’s own heart continued: keep watch over the door of my lips – for it is by the words of our mouths that the thoughts of the heart are judged.
• He reminds us that man must live according to God’s Word: for man must live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord Matthew 4:4
• There is a wholesome discipline of mind that we ought to cultivate, where word and thought to man and God pour forth the same soothing balm of Gilead – for lips which sing His glorious praises should not require continued sorrow and repeated repentance.
• Acceptable Words Of the lovely Lord Jesus, we heard:- Never a man spake like this man, and they wondered.. at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth. John 7:46. Let us abound in purity of thought and graciousness of speech – by the power of the Holy Spirit in all we say and think and are.

• Man’s Heart Cry How often we fall to our knees with little more than a sigh or an upward glance.
• Man’s Simple Plea Ahh but man takes each call, each prayer, each request as an individual plea, Father help me in this straight away”, and “Lord I need your comfort in that, now.” Man separates each prayer and petition as one single application.
• God’s Exquisite Answer Man offers his petitions, expecting them to be heard or ignored as God so chooses, never realising that the response and the wonderful reply was waiting all the time.

• Jesus placed the ultimate issue of Life or death upon this hearing the voice (not just the words) of the Son of Man.

• A Study:- Man’s Nature and Destiny Perspectives of Heaven Ask a hundred people what they think of heaven and you get will get a hundred different replies.

• If you do not know your union with the Lord Jesus in heaven, you cannot come out in the power of the heavenly Man to act from Him on earth, to be descriptive of Him.

• The Ten Commandments have a place assigned to them as the sine qua non, the recognition of which was necessary for true religion while man was in the flesh and under law.
• Judaism, in its full results, is the manifestation that God is come down to man upon the earth; and this will again be displayed in the millennial days of Israel's blessing.
• But Christianity is based upon the wondrous fact that man, in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, is gone up to the Father into the heavens.

• A man can take unto himself nothing except it be given him from heaven' (John 3:27).
• Most growing believers rightly maintain that all must come from the risen Lord; but instead of taking their actual position of being dwellers in heaven, and coming from there to earth, they only look up to heaven for help as to their walk on earth; and their faith and labors are always influenced and dictated by the condition and order of things on earth; and instead of seeking the mind of the Lord as learned in heaven, they are occupied with the blessing of man on earth. -J.B.S.

• There is a Man in heaven, and He is our heavenly Saviour.

• that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work. 2 Timothy 3:16-17
• One New Man The work of God’s Spirit throughout this present age has this spiritual focus:- redeemed man..
• prepared by the Spirit to bring forth the fruit He requires; saved Jews and Gentiles, participating in a spiritual battle and heavenly war.. a bride for Christ, prepared as co-regent with Him in His heavenly kingdom – the one new man in Christ – the Church.
• Overcoming And the one new man in Christ, is seven times exhorted to overcome in the spiritual war, for overcoming is God’s will for all believers.

• Secure Position Christ is located in heavenly places above all principalities and powers. There is a flesh and bone Man in the heavenlies, seated on the throne of God..

• You pass from Isaiah, and as you do so you remember that you have the results of such a vision seen in this man Isaiah.

• A Study:- Man’s Nature and Destiny For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.Philippians 3:21

• Maturity knows the Lord as the very LIFE itself, within my new man.
• As Paul wrote ‘For me to live is Christ.’ It is not God helping the old man to live.
• God will not help your old man, your old ‘self’ to live!!!
• “God works (in your new man) both to will and to do for His good pleasure.” Phil.2:13
• Old and New Man You are not trusting or honouring God when you ask Him to help YOU.
• the Old “I” must remain on the cross/ The old man must be crucified.The new man in Christ alone is the one that God lives in and works through.
• The Spirit of God lives in the spirit of man, the new man in Christ, which cannot sin, as John told us.
• “Whoever has been born of God (the new man in Christ) does not sin, for His seed remains in him; and he cannot sin, because he has been born of God”.
• Your old soul-life is the old man in Adam, the carnal self that can work for ill.
• Your new soul-life is the new man in Christ, the spiritual man that works for good.
• God sets us free from the dominion of sin, not by strengthening our old man but by crucifying him; not by helping him to do anything but by removing him….by removing him from the scene of action.”

• Christ Jesus The man or woman that has been placed in Christ is indeed blessed beyond compare..
• for hidden within Christ is a great treasure trove of all-wisdom and all-knowledge. Christ – the third person of the trinity was made man and became God incarnate. Christ was Son of Man Who was born – yet He was the Son of God Who was given. The fullness of deity dwells in Christ – and in Him is all wisdom and knowledge. Colossians 2:9 All that God is and all that God knows is present in the person of Christ Jesus.
• With our finite minds, we are incapable of understanding the essence of the infinite God – nevertheless, all the wisdom and knowledge of God is hidden in Christ in its entirety. Man, a fallen creature was incapable of meeting and communing with a holy God, but God in His mercy and love revealed Himself, in Christ Jesus – in His fullness.
• Veiled in Flesh The eternal self-existent, holy God clothed Himself in flesh to reveal Himself to man. The sovereign Creator chose to unveil Himself to you and me in time-space history. The absolute Lord of the universe came to dwell with us in the form of mortal flesh – and all the essential and unique characteristics of God are contained in Christ.
• Astonishing Privilege The man or woman that has been placed in Christ is indeed blessed beyond compare, for hidden within Christ is a great treasure trove of all-wisdom and all-knowledge.
• Deity of Christ The man or woman that has been placed in Christ is indeed blessed beyond compare, for hidden within Christ is a great treasure trove of all-wisdom and all-knowledge.
• Unique God-Man Christ is fully God, and He is fully man….

• May the Lord lead us into the shelter of His holy presence, that we may daily grow in the elevation to which He has raised us, and consequently into moral distance from the old man which is so entirely estranged from the light and perfection of the Father's presence.
• We are conversant with man in death and sin and distance from the Father, for that is our state by nature; but to know the Man in glory, One in acceptance with the Father according to all His moral greatness, is new to us and magnificent.

• He said to them all, If any man will come after Me, let him. . .
• But though this was recovered, it was not maintained that the old man was crucified on the Cross, and hence they only refused the exactions of popery, but recognized the flesh as still before God.
• Refusing the exaction was right; but the retention of that in which the exaction could be made, the old man, was the weakness of the Reformation.
• In the present day (1867) the truth is lowered to the measure of man's need; hence if the need is met, which grace does, the convert makes little or no advance; he rests in the satisfaction of his need, instead of being directed to the scope of God's thought, which only begins with his need.
• Where would souls be put if they were simply and definitely instructed in Christ Jesus and Him crucified and risen; connected by faith with the living One, who was crucified, and whose death terminated man in the flesh? -J.B.S.

• Representative Man He had suffered pain and punishment as well as this craving for a little drink of water for six hours.
• Here, our representative Man waited and waited - waited for Love’s accomplishment, before calling for His own physical need.
• come and drink from the living water? Was this offer of comfort a call to the heart to be comforted by the eternal Comforter?  For whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these little ones…. shall in no wise lose his reward.  Who can forget that great cry on that last day – that great last day of the feast of Tabernacles – Jesus stood and cried, saying, ‘If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. John 7:37.

• Luke writes to tell us that the young Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.  Luke 2:52 Christ never deviated from His sole life’s mission – to carry out His Father’s will.
• Lived as Man Christ readily laid aside His glory so that He could identify with the children of men. He willingly disrobed Himself of His attributes of Godhead to live as a man.
• God-Man Christ never wavered throughout His life from the purpose for which He came.
• We read in the book of Hebrews, Behold, I have come to do your will, O God, as it is written of Me in the scroll of the book – Hebrews 10:7 Oh yes, from Genesis to Revelation we discover that it all points to Christ Jesus – the God-man Who emptied Himself to become like one of us - to show us how to live.
• Perfect Example Christ lived and talked and walked and prayed and demonstrated what godliness was. He demonstrated how man can function in perfect union and communion with God.
• Christ in You NOW– THIS IS THE SCORE: God knows that fallen man can never ever function in spirit and in truth by himself.

• and John the apostle in his twilight years was submerged in love for His Lord, for he had dwelt on His gracious words, for no man spoke like this Man:  “love as I loved; trust as little children; forgive as your Father has forgiven you”.
• Blood of Christ God’s forgiveness was for HIS sake – for Christ’s sake; for the sake of His Son – it was not for the sake of man’s merit or man’s work, but for His name’s sake.
• His sacrifice alone could atone for sins committed and man’s inherent sin nature.

• It is not a man's thanksgiving that he has been set free from suffering; it is to be thanksgiving that he has been set free through suffering.

• Available Peace His peace is not the false, fractured peace of a world at war with God and man. His is the peace that passes human understanding – and He gives it freely. But the gifts that the Lord bestows upon His children must be received by them, a gift is no gift that is not taken and accepted, appropriated, and acted upon.

• Man’s Righteousness Our righteousness is as filthy rags, says the Lord. My dress is ugly and stained, torn and dirty. Truth is hard to swallow. Truth is never flattering to human pride. Truth exposes the dirt and grim and sin of the true nature.
• Righteousness Dress For the best of human righteousness is as filth to Him, and the kindest of human acts remain in the pits of slime in God’s eyes. Nothing we do of ourselves is satisfying to Him. Holy God points an accusing finger at sinful man and proclaims, CONDEMNED.  'Change me', I cry in despair, “Not so”, the Lord replies, 'Can a leopard change its spots', He declares,  'Can the Ethiopian change his skin', He proclaims. 'Can a sinner change himself into a saint?'. ”Never declares the Lord!” But the gospel makes an announcement of righteous dress..  adequate in the sight of a holy God, whose eyes are as a flame of fire – acceptable to the most pure eyes of the sinless Lord of Righteousness.

• Picture of man and children courtesy of David at Imagebase

• Eye has not seen, and it hasn’t entered into the heart of man the glories that await. We can hardly begin to appreciate the glory of God, and the wonders of heaven, so we can scarce comprehend the magnificence of Christ and the joys that lie ahead.

• A Study:- Man’s Nature and Destiny Threefold Name Our triune God created triune man: spirit, soul, and body for a threefold purpose:-salvation, sanctification and service, for time and through eternity.
• God in His mercy and wisdom gave His only begotten Son to be Son of God and Son of Man, with a threefold ‘name’:- Lord – Jesus – Christ.
• His Majesty Were we to plunge to the very depths of the oceans… were we to extend our beings into the extremity of the star-spangled universe, were we to spend from time until eternity exploring the qualities of this God-Man, we could not begin to exhaust the splendour and gentleness of His majesty.
• I believe that reflecting upon the Lord Jesus Christ is the most beneficial medicine known to man – just reflecting on our Jesus Christ our Lord.

• Who is the man who fears the Lord?
• I know, O Lord, that the way of man is not in himself – that it is not in man who walks to direct his steps.Jeremiah 10:23
• And He said to man, ‘The fear of the Lord–that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.’ Job 28 23-24.

• Trial and temptations, however dreadful and distressing are the experience of all: for no temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man, but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it. 1 Cor.10:13
• His Soon Appearing Christ is offering rewards to the man or woman that will overcome in this world, and the 1 warning this spiritual church is given is that of their potential loss is to hold fast what you have, that no one may take your crown.

• Coming Quickly “Let us hold fast that which is good.” Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering, for He who promised is faithful Hebrews 10:23 Behold, I come quickly, HOLD FAST to that which thou hast, that no man take thy crown Revelation 3:11

• John like Daniel was a man greatly beloved, but he fell with his face toward the ground and became dumb.
• Reverenced by Men The young Isaiah cried out in a voice of utter lamenting and grief:-woe is me for I am undone, I am a man of unclean lips.. and I live among a people of unclean lips – for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.

• A New Creation A new creature; a new man; a new creation; a new nature; a new life in Christ.  A new body that is being conformed into the image and likeness of her Saviour – a unique body that is possessor of the life of Christ and the nature of her Lord.

• God’s Standard God’s standard for man is perfection, but only Christ is perfect, for all have sinned and fall short of His glory, Romans 5:12. Our murmurings and bitter thoughts are ‘sin‘ by God’s standard.

• We became part of the one new man in Christ – His Church; His Body and His Bride.

• Eternal Salvation Though incarnate deity and perfect man, Christ needed to learn obedience.
• It is a deep, personal, eternal, relational love that excites true obedience in man – for God is love and the greatest of all is love.

• God’s Word would be discredited, should intercessory prayer be thus regarded, but God will not reward the old man, the old sinful nature.
• Man’s Strivings Our strivings in prayer are not against God but against our own sinful flesh.
• Christ and the new you must be resurrected – and the new man in Christ put on.
• God blessed this man – this: Jacob whom I love, but God left Jacob needing more and wanting more – and God just waited.
• God had chosen this man for heights he could scarce begin to comprehend.
• God had great plans for this man – but God first had to deal with Jacob’s self.
• Jacob’s Reward That night, Jacob limped from his encounter a broken man.

• Jesus said, “I AM, and ‘you will see the Son of Man seated at the right hand of the Power..
• The apostle Paul was the man through whom God revealed many hidden truths.
• It is an impossible burden on the one that declares 'give me proof before I’ll believe'. It is always hard for prideful man to admit there are things we don’t understand, but it needs humility of heart, founded on faith to admit that we’ll never fully understand.
• Created Man For some inexplicable reason, known only to God Himself – God honoured man.
• This self-existent God created man in His own image and likeness for fellowship.
• Christian Doctrine And Christian doctrine is based on the tenant... that God is ALL and man is nothing.
• And this plainly grates on the prideful nature of man, who considers that he is all!
• that man can only function in harmony with God if God works in and through him.
• Twisted Doctrine  But Christian doctrine has been twisted in many arenas to elevate man’s supremacy.
• Man may accept God’s gift of salvation and may even sacrifice much for God.
• But man prefers to remain the crowned king on the throne of his own life.
• And man is rarely if ever willing to remove himself from this seat of power.
• Prideful Witness This was Christ’s condemnation of the prideful Scribes and Pharisees of His day. This was the root of the struggle in man that goes right back to the days of Cain. This is no less true of much of Christendom today, who keeps Christ outside the door. This prideful witness is evident throughout the pages of Scripture.
• evertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?
• Faith in the Son of Man means… faith in self must be crucified on the cross of Christ.

• limped from his encounter with God – a weak and broken and humbled man.
• Remember, true prayers of importunity, which wrestle with God for His blessing, will indeed transform the man or woman who seeks Him with all their heart.

• the man of faith, who reminded the Jews that… the LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me.
• Boaz, the gracious kinsman-redeemer, and David, a man after God’s own heart.
• A total identification with the oblation was pictured here – a full transferral of trespasses, as sins passed from the sinner to the sacrifice. The innocent animal was to die. The guiltless creature was offered in the stead of the sinner. The life of the sinless beast was thus to be fully accepted – fully accepted as the life of the sinful man.

• Two Results A man’s heart and soul may be perfected through suffering – or suffering may make that same man’s soul bitter and rebellious. For through suffering we come to an end of self – to the extremity of me – or, through that same suffering selfishness may increase as “I” takes control – and God, not the old sin nature is blamed for the problems and pain that engulf us.
• The moral calibre of man is displayed in his everyday conduct and activity.
• Spiritual Temperature A man’s character is displayed in his words and in his attitudes.
• A man’s spiritual temperature is not displayed in public prayers or preaching, but at the supermarket checkout, the restaurant table, behind a steering wheel!
• Christian Living A man’s profound, solitary spiritual life is between himself and God alone, but life’s superficial activities may replace a Christ-centred life with a self-centred one, Am I willing to permit God to dominate both my profound and shallow activity? Am I prepared to allow Him to influence both spiritual and superficial things?
• for in such an hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh'.

• Such is the universal longing within,  that man substitutes the creature for the Creator.
• He was the God-Man; Immanuel; God with us.
• But although in times past, God revealed Himself to man,  through prophets, He has in these final days, graciously spoken to humanity through His dearly beloved Son.
• Radiance of God The world was unconscious that God had come as a living, breathing, walking Man..

• Scriptural Standards However hard we try to measure up to Scriptural standards we end up saying, Oh, wretched man that I am!
• For God knows that the requirements of Scripture outstrip man’s best capabilities.
• Righteous Requirements Christ’s demands are indeed impossible and far exceed man’s natural abilities.

• down and initiating reconciliation of man to Himself. (Jn. 1:14; 2 Cor. 8:9)A..It is God’s Abundantly giving us more than we could ever expect or deserve. (Jn. 1:16; Rom. 5:17; 2 Cor.9:8; Eph. 2:7; 1 Tim. 1:14)C..It is about God Caring enough to send Jesus to die in our place. (Eph. 1:7; 2 Thess.2:16)E..It is about being Eternally unendingly, unconditionally accepted in Christ. (Eph.1:6; 2 Tim.1:9; Titus 3:7)
• Strombeck’s Definition  Grace was once defined by Strombeck as:  “the unmerited abounding provision of the unrestrained operation of God’s infinite love through Christ Jesus on behalf of man – especially he who depends on Him.”

• We have the Spirit of strength and might in the inner man:- I pray that He may grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power in the inner man through His Spirit.

• Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His (Rom. 8:9).

• I tell you the truth, you will all see heaven open and the angels of God going up and down on the Son of Man, the One who is the stairway between heaven and earth. (John 1:51 NLT)
• Of this the Lord later said to Nathanael: Hereafter thou shalt see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.

• Bottom Line The bottom line is that there is nothing man can contribute to any aspect of salvation.
• The Works of God The only way that man can work the works of God, is to depend upon God completely. The only way that a believer can live the Christian life pleasing to God, is in His power.

• ECCLESIASTES teaches man how vain are all things here.
• JOEL describes the blessed days when God with man shall dwell.
• And Paul in ROMANS teaches us how man is saved by Grace.

• There are still a lot of people in this world who think that there is something in man that can contribute to the glory of God and that Christianity is only the bringing up out of man of something that is for the glory of God.
• It takes us so long to come to the place where we do fully and finally settle this matter, that if we lived as long as ever man lived on this earth, we shall not be able to contribute one iota which can be acceptable to God, and which He can take and use for our salvation, for our sanctification, for our glorification, not a bit.

• Promoting Man But this elevation of self above the self-existent God is also rife in Christendom too.
• This prideful desire to promote man to 'be as God’ has its roots in the garden of Eden.
• The branches of pride tentacle their way into every thought of man’s heart and mind.
• the proper study of mankind is man!!.. But His “enlightenment” is a philosophy that is diametrically opposed to the truth.
• Dependence on God Perhaps a wiser and more honest ditty could be rewritten as: 'know then thyself, presume not man to applaud..
• For when we know the truth of God in the word of God, we see man, for what he is.
• Man is created in the image of God in utter dependence on God..
• Upheld by God And not man only, but all created things, live and move and are upheld by God..
• for by Him were all things created, are upheld by His mighty power:- visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by Him, and for Him Col.1:16. When God is in His rightful place, then man understands who he is.
• Death to Self The concept of a God upon whom we utterly depend is obnoxious to natural man, but to the believer, the understanding and application of this fact is vital to growth.
• Enlightened Man There is only one Being that can claim I AM that I AM – and that is God Himself.
• There is only one Man that can claim I AM God – and that is Christ Jesus His Son.
• The truly “enlightened” man is one that gives God His rightful place in his own life.
• The wise man is the one that puts man in his right position, with Christ on the throne – for Christ is the beloved of God and by faith, we have been placed in Him.

• Many adopt His philosophy, seeing Him as a good man – a great teacher to follow.
• And Jesus is Man - My Lord and My God.

• For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve.Mark 10:45

• Eternal Glory He was in the world and the world was made by Him but the world did not know Him, but as many as received Him to them He gave authority to become the sons of God. The prophets of old were God’s instruments to unveil His eternal power and glory, but John gives the first glimpse of the great God among gods and Man among men.
• Fully God His Deity is demanded, for there is no other good enough to pay the price of sin. His Manhood in mandatory, for no other Days-man could redeem His brethren. This is the God-man, Who clothed Himself in flesh – the perfect sacrifice for sin. As fully God – He is the everlasting Son of the Most High God –He is uncreated and without beginning – of one Being with the Father Almighty.
• Fully Man As fully Man – He was born as Jesus of Nazareth - the carpenter’s ‘Son. He started life as a Seed in the virgin’s womb – begotten of the Father and born. As the God-Man, He is the unique Person of the Trinity – the Christ of God.He is appointed Heir of all things – Judge of all men – Pre-eminent among people.
• God-Man He is indeed pre-eminent in all things.

• A Full Study Of JOB Trust In God From our introduction to Job, we see him as a man of faith – a man of prayer.
• Spirit of Comfort From our introduction to this man of faith, he is saved – one whose sin is covered, and his triumphant call is … For I know that my Redeemer liveth… Job.19:25.

• A finished work of God in man’s spirit, as though I had never sinned.

• They are to know Christ – and to know Him intimately… and we are to become progressively more intimately acquainted with this Man, But WHY?
• in order that every man may be presented to God… PERFECT… MATURE… and DEVELOPED  intimately acquainted with our Lord.

• K.R.R.Y K – Know your old man is crucified with Him –R – Reckon yourself dead unto sin –R – Reckon yourself alive unto God – through Jesus Christ our LordY – Yield yourself to God.Romans 6:3-14
• For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection: KNOW this, that our old man is crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.

• A Study:- Man’s Nature and Destiny And when the fullness of the time was come… God sent forth His Son, made of a woman, made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.
• With men this is impossible; but with God all things are possible.Gal.4:4 Born of God The Lord Jesus came from glory and He returned to glory. He left His throne of glory to come to be with us – (to be with man). He laid aside His glory so that He would be like us – (to be like man). He was born of God, in the power of the Holy Spirit.
• Rom.8:3. He came from His heavenly home, into complete union with man. He renounced His magnificent heritage,  to come and share our lot. His task was to redeem sinful man from their sin. And in the power of the Holy Spirit it was so..
• and the new Man was born. And in the words of the famous hymn: “A second Adam to the fight and to the rescue came…” see 1Cor.15:45
• Born as Man Without the likeness, there could be no rescue and no remission of sins, and yet the likeness was to be a sinless likeness,  for the innocent must die for the guilty.
• God Made Man Why – why do we have to believe on Jesus? Why believe on Him? Why not just believe on God the Father? Surely that’s enough? Is not the Father’s love great enough and sufficient to save us from our sins? No!
• Kinsman Redeemer Only one that was fully identified with man could accomplish this enormous task, and God in heaven lacked the position of kinsman.
• Fullness of Time This was a non-negotiable Law that God Himself imposed upon man and sin, and In Genesis 3 we read that: the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them until that time…. (the fullness of time) for God is never late…

• For I do not need man’s defence or man’s explanation or man’s excuses.
• I need the man to love me – to love me with all his heart and all his soul and mind and strength.

• Man’s Accountability The third law of thermodynamics in one move sweeps aside the theory of evolution, for everything is moving from order to disorder – not from a low order to a higher.
• A disproved hypothesis must be fanned into life – to submerge the awful truth, that man is accountable to a higher Being and not master of his own destiny.
• The Word of Truth has been mingled with man’s mind and not rightly divided. This may seem shocking, appalling, scandalous, and odious – but it is true.

• Sanctification takes a baby Christian to a fully mature man or woman of God.

• Judas are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?
• That 'Last Night' He was a subject of a breach of faith: I find no fault in this Man….
• But a man must examine himself, and in so doing, he is to eat of the bread and drink of the cup.

• In man the law and the flesh always go together.

• It may be due to a bitter experience a man has undergone, through a lifetime of sorrow.
• This is never done by chasing after a man or a ministry – for there is bias in all.  But just like the Bereans, we should search the Scriptures to discover what they really say, Jesus said I am the TRUTH.

• In His humanity, He was a man of sorrows – acquainted with rejection, pain, and grief.

• The fatal result of this error is to leave the law claimant over those in the Lord Jesus, for the law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth' (Rom. 7:1).

• Grace is the Father's favor to man according to His own heart, and for His own glory.
• If the need of man were the sole measure of His grace, then man only would be thought of, the work of the Lord Jesus would be simply for man, and the power of God expended merely in rescuing man and securing his relief.
• Man would be the object and end of it all, and not God. -J.B.S.

• Not faith in the power of faith – but faith in Jesus, the Son of Man.
• Not faith in the power of prophecy – but faith in Jesus, the Son of Man.
• Not faith in the power of positive thinking – but faith in Jesus, the Son of Man – not faith in the power of your Christian walk – but faith in Jesus, the Son of Man.
• Trinity of Demands “Therefore,” ….we are exhorted: therefore let us lay aside every weight, and let us lay aside the sin (of unbelief as demonstrated in earlier chapters) let us lay aside this sin which so easily ensnares us – lack of trust in God and let us run with patient endurance the race that is set before us…”  But this trinity of demands has its focus on a person – the Lord Jesus, the Son of Man Let us look to JESUS….
• A man must not be a double-minded man, for you cannot love God and the world, and the language construction here, is a single act requiring two distinct actions.

• Man of Prayer Paul was a great example of a man that prayed to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
• A prayerful man or woman will develop that spiritual boldness to plead for the lost; protect the vulnerable; petition God’s grace on behalf of all his children and to plead, Thy will not mine be done.
• Spiritual Example There is no better example of a spiritual Man of prayer than our Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

• The law is good if a man use it lawfully; and its lawful application is expressly not to form, guide, and govern the walk of the righteous, but to deal with the lawless and disobedient, ungodly and sinful, unholy and profane, and, in short, with whatever is contrary to sound doctrine (1 Tim. 1:9, 10). -F.W.G.

• Grace 0r Law The perfect Law of Moses was nothing more than a tutor teaching us that sinful man could never reach the perfect standard required by a thrice-holy God.
• Once a man has been saved by grace, why return to the chains of the Law?

• So that even if a man loves God's law, as Paul did, he has no power to keep it; but sin only makes the law a constant means of working death to him, and the more a man tries to keep the law the more he comes under the power of sin.
• The law is for the man who departed from God - that man has been removed from God's sight in the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, and I rejoice that now by the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus' I am free from the law of sin and death' (Rom. 8:2).

• Know or KNOW Philip 'knew' the man, Jesus of Nazareth.
• He listened to the lovely words that poured like healing oil from His lips and agreed:- never a man spoke like this man, and they wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth.

• It is akin to a seed: the life of the Lord Jesus within must grow; and it would be against the laws of nature and grace alike if we expected from the babe in Christ the strength that can only be found in the young man, or the rich experience and stability of the fathers.
• Even where in the new convert there is great singleness of heart and faith, with true love and devotion to the Saviour, time is needed for a deeper knowledge of the old man and sin, for a spiritual insight into what the Father's will and grace are. -A.M.
• The spiritual man never stops growing, because he is always reaching upward to that still higher height that is just beyond. -R.P.

• Straining, driving effort does not accomplish the work God gives a man to do; we must partake of Christ so fully that He more than fills the life.

• It is union with Him as the new creation, as the new creation Man; union with Him in the Life which is the life of the new creation by the Spirit of Life.

• No man can believe he has a right to walk freely and fully in the Spirit until he believes himself to be free from the law. -W.R.N.

• just as the lifeless clay body of man required the Breath of Life to light his spirit... just as the Spirit overshadowed Mary in the Incarnation of the Light of the World – so the Holy Spirit, the ‘Ruach’ of God, breathes in life and light.

• Him we preach, warning every man and teaching every man in all wisdom, that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.Colossians 1:28
• in the whole spirit and soul and body of an Adam – of a man.

• To understand this grace we need to have very distinctly before our soul the One Man by whom it has come to us.

• The righteous man shall live by faith – a life of complete dependence upon God.
• In Hebrews, the main focus is faith – for it is by FAITH that the righteous man lives..

• But when a man is dead, he has no strength.

• Submit to Him He can only use the man or woman who is fully submitted to His leading and guiding.
• Strain every muscle to achieve until ‘life’ – So….what manner of man ought you to be?

• What it signified to Christ Himself, the perfect Man, our eternal substitute?  Can we dare to muse – what this astonishing, predestined event meant to the Father?  To do so demands we cover our face with a mantle, in fear and trembling.  It requires that we reverently remove our shoes from off our feet, for to do so means that we are standing on the holiest of holy ground.
• knowing that God’s love for man was such that He alone could display His Love.

• What is the good of a man being ennobled, made a prince of, if he feels he has gained no more or sensible acquisition by it?

• John 1:11 He was sent from heaven through the lineage of David, and yet they cried – we will not have this man rule over us.
• I poured over chronology and typology, from the start of Genesis to the end of Revelation and I eventually discovered the Man on the road to Emmaus – the One Who opened up the scriptures, which all point to Him – the One of Whom Paul said at the end of his life, that I may know Him.

• A Study:- Man’s Nature and Destiny Image and Likeness The triune God created man in His own image with body, soul, and a spirit, and in His grace God gave fallen man a threefold life-experience with his Creator:- salvation, sanctification, and service, and it is all through the Lord Jesus Christ.
• Fallen man comes to Jesus for salvation: for He shall save His people from their sins, Matt.1:21. As we abide in Him and He in us we are sanctified by His Spirit, for we are being conformed into His likeness.
• Promised Seed From his first fall in the garden of Eden, man has been waiting for God’s promised Saviour.
• Gospel of Grace Man is appointed mortal sorrow.
• John the Baptist thundered: behold, the Lamb of God, Who takes away the sin on the world. John 1:29.  Herod announced: behold the Man, John 19:5.  and Jude reminds us that Enoch proclaimed, behold He comes with ten thousands of His saints.

• Witness of the Word God’s faithful love and tender forbearance is seen throughout scripture, His Word and promises never once failed throughout the past 6000 years. The Word of God is witness to that fact, and untold saints who passed this way before can vouchsafe to this truth. Because of the past faithfulness of His Word, future prophecy is assured. God is not man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not fulfil it?

• Greater love has no one than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.

• The really heavenly man must be in a scene like this the most dependent man; and whenever anyone learns his heavenly calling truly, and walks according to it conscientiously, he ever finds that new circumstances or trials occur, to keep him dependent; so that the truly heavenly man is the best wilderness man.

• Between the activity of the old man and the accusations of Satan, we often find it very difficult to believe and understand that God is lovingly and legally on our side, both now and forever.

• Lo, all these things worketh God oftentimes with man, to bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living' (Job 33:29, 30). -C.H.M.

• What can man do to me.

• Uncompromising Trust Much of Christ’s life exemplified how the man of God should live and pray. Christ’s life demonstrated an unfailing, trusting obedience to the heavenly Father.. a simple, uncompromising trust in the Father – that did only what the Father did..  a life that remained in continuous and ongoing fellowship with the Father..  a life that is in love with the Father and a heart that prays, Thy will be done – a life that translated into unceasing; persevering; grateful; obedient; trusting prayer. Christ’s life reflected a life of continuous; gracious; thankful; trusting communion.
• No life is a better illustration of man’s of ceaseless, purposeful, thankful intercession.
• The Father’s Will In the garden, His thoughts flew to Abba - Father, His close relational bond, (a fellowship to which we can aspire – one achievable in the power of the Spirit)  It was in the place of deepest pain that He prayed, not My will but Thine be done. (an unachievable prayer when our will takes precedent over Thy will – but an achievable plea in the heart of a man – in love with the Father)

• Legalistic traditions of man can draw you away from appropriating this truth.

• And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up.John 3:14
• How can a man be born when he is old?
• Startling Picture But as with the woman; the hungry; the hurting and lost – Jesus met his specific need. He used the book of Moses and the wilderness wanderings as a startling picture. As Moses raised the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up – so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish – but will have eternal life.
• the serpent stood for sin and death, and the bronze metal was illustrative of God’s judgement. Though he could not have understood the poignant significance of what was to happen on Calvary’s cross, in the days to come – Nicodemus must have recalled this conversation, when the sinless, Son of Man was cruelly lifted up on the cross, as the Law required – so that all who were bitten by the curse of sin could look – and live.
• But he probably began to be aware that the justice of God demanded that one Man die – so that others might live.

• If I were God, I would do it this way… If I were Him I wouldn’t allow such and such to happen in my life or the life of others !!” You brainless man – you stupid woman! Do you really think you know better than Almighty God – how to achieve His plans and purposes?
• Perceptions of Man Can you imagine the pain and confusion that this must have caused in her little town?
• Heb.10:39 'Looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Saviour Jesus Christ', Titus 3:13 Jesus questioned: 'when the Son of Man comes, will He really find faith on the earth?' Luke 18:8.

• Jesus of Nazareth Philip KNEW the man, Jesus of Nazareth. He knew He was the son of Mary, brother of James and Jude. He watched this performer of miracles with incredulity and he listened to the lovely words that poured like healing oil from His lips and agreed that: never a man spake like this man, and they wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of His mouth.

• We have died with the Lord Jesus out of our old Adam position: our old man was crucified with Him.

• For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.
• Still He rules over all, and where evil cannot be turned to good, limits and forbids it: He maketh the wrath of man to praise Him, and the remainder of wrath (what would go beyond this) He restrains (Ps. 76:10).” - F.W.G. 114 “People may quarrel with the sovereignty of God, but I love it, because I know enough about my natural bent and will to be sure that if left to myself I should have gone straight to perdition.
• Some believers talk about man’s free will when they are on their feet, but all are firm believers in God’s sovereignty when they get on their knees.” -C.A.C.

• Oh, wretched man that I am!
• While both are essential, it is far more difficult to get to know the old man than it is to know the Lord Jesus.
• And there is nothing that can deliver us from it but that entire willingness to die to the old man, which comes when by faith we understand that we have died in Christ Jesus. -A.M.

• Love is not arrogant 1Cor.13:4 – But as for you, O man of God… pursue righteousness; godliness; faith; love; steadfastness; gentleness. 1Tim.6:11.
• A man or woman ‘gifted‘ in the areas that the world holds dear..includes..
• It is an inner garment of humility that blossoms in his soul – not the merely self-developed, efflorescent characteristics of the natural man.

• I am set upon that, and I am not going to allow other people's prejudices or suspicions or criticisms to get in the way; I am not going to allow any man-made system to hinder me; I am going right on with Thee for all Thy purpose.
• Because he was a man of violence.

• The discovery of the sinful old man is the first and foremost step in the discovery of the righteous Christ-life.
• It is for the effectual displacement of all this, and to transfer the heart to an entirely new center, that the revelation of the old man is divinely necessary for our souls.

• What a melancholy reflection it is upon our old man that we have to be shut up' to all the mercies of our Father!

• Man’s Redemption The beautiful chorus that rang through the night sky – that was being sung by the heavenly choirs of rejoicing angels, must have been a strange sight – for angelic beings are not the favoured recipients of God’s amazing grace.

• We are a new man, with a new life in Christ –  and all that is of the old must go.
• In simple terms man’s old nature failed, and must be put in the place of death, God gives all believers the new nature of Christ alongside the old nature in Adam.
• Another wrote: 'all the powers of Deity which have already wrought together in the accomplishment of the first part of the eternal purpose, (that is, the revealing of the Father’s perfect likeness in the Man Christ Jesus) are equally engaged to accomplish the second part –  and work that likeness into each of God’s children.'
• Source of all Good A third explained: a root that is set in the finest soil, in the best climate, and blessed with all that sun and air and rain can do for it, is not so sure a way of its growth to perfection, as every man may be..

• There was a man sent from God….John 1:6
• Messengers of God John the Baptizer was a man with a mission and a commission from God.
• Isaiah the Prophet was man with a humble and devoted heart towards God.

• On the other hand, if souls are upright and sincere they get into terrible distress, and experience what it is to have to do with Sinai-blackness, darkness, and tempest, so that a holy man like Moses could only exceedingly fear and quake.' Thank God!

•   World of Suffering Fallen man lives in a fallen world..
• A saved sinner is still a fallen man, who lives in a fallen world.
• Just one simple bad choice can change the entire direction of a man’s life.

• Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful” Psalm 1.1
• Seeking Happiness Man seeks after happiness, fulfilment, contentment in so many different ways. Many seek it through the insatiable desire for wealth and riches in abundance. Others see it as just getting to the end of a week to escape from the rat-race of life.
• Many and varied are the ways that man seeks after his dream in this world, but Scripture gives its own definitions of happiness, contentment – blessedness.
• The book of Psalms commences with a mighty proclamation of the blessed man: blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly.”  What a lovely benediction to open this book – so beloved by so many.
• Blessed is the man that walketh  not in the counsel of the ungodly.
• Blessed is the man that not stand in the way of sinners.
• Blessed is the man that does not sit in the seat of the scornful.
• Right Focus This description is one that is not influenced by the words and wisdom of the ungodly. This illustrates the person that walks in the world but does not hearken to its folly. This details the individual whose footsteps are ordered of God – not by deceitful man.
• This blessed man has a right focus – away from the world, centred on the Lord, for His delight is in the Lord, his God – Psalm 1.2 His pleasure is in righteousness and truth.
• Downward Spiral Yet the downward spiral of those that follow in the path of Demas is outlined here:- Demas loved the world and forsook the path of a disciple. This man is one that stopped waking God’s way to listen to Mr.
• A Blessed Man The blessed one is the man that delights in the Word of God. The wise man is the one that meditates upon God’s truth. It is this man who contemplated the beauty of the Lord.
• Blessed is the man that delights in His word.
• Blessed is the man that meditates upon Him day and night.
• Blessings of God The blessed one is the one that faithfully remains in the place where God has placed him, “for he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water.” Jeremiah 17:7  That man shall be a fruitful vine; a strong cedar; a blessed man indeed, for blessings of God are not the sort of baubles sought after by the world – fame and fortune; power and prestige; wealth and worldly wisdom.
• Rivers of Blessing God’s rivers of blessing contain all that man needs..
• The blessed man has rivers of living water streaming forth from him to others.
• This man “brings forth his fruit in his season.” Psalm 1:3  Only the one that remains by the rivers of supply will be satisfied.
• All that this man turns his hand to do shall prosper – what a promise.
• Spiritual Fruit This is the man that brings for the fruit of God’s Holy Spirit; Love in times of Hostility; Joy in times of Pain; Peace in times of Trouble; Long-suffering in times of Frustration; Gentleness in times of Oppression; Goodness in times of Evil; Faith in times of Testing; Meekness in times of Irritations; Temperance in times of Temptation.
• God Knows God knows the way you take – God is the only one that looks on the heart and His eyes are travelling throughout the world to find a man after His own heart: And blessed is such man…
• BLESSED is the man….

• For He, Himself, is our peace, Who made both groups into one and broke down the barrier of the dividing wall, by abolishing in His flesh the enmity, which is the Law of commandments contained in ordinances, so that in Himself He might make the two into one new man, thus establishing peace, that He might reconcile them both, in one body to God through the cross, by it having put to death the enmity.

• A Study:- Man’s Nature and Destiny ..

• Let suffering come from any cause in the universe, if we give it over entirely into the hand of our Father, and sink ourselves into His blessed will, with the desire for Him to work His purpose in us, He will make every pain, every tear, every particle of our suffering work in us a death to sin and to the old man, and to all things on earth which will be for our highest development and for His glory. -G.W.

• This most painful intimate time was not to be witnessed by the inquisitive eye of man..nor the angelic host, as Father and Son in unison suffered excruciating pain, through this momentous, agonising separation.  And a fathomless darkness, never witnessed within eternity before, hung heavily over the Son of His love.
• where He became our substitute Man.
• where He became our representative Man.
• This seems to be the point that as the second Man, the last Adam, He was covered with our guilt, God hath made Him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. 2 Cor.5:21

• Jesus, perfect God and perfect man.
• Here is a man Whose life was unique and Who lived a unique life.

• Oh, he saw enough to take the heart out of any man at the end of such a life, but he did not say: or me to live is to see my life work standing as a monument, intact; to have all my old friends faithful and around me; to know that my message has had universal acceptance and appreciation!No!

• Imagined Image It is man’s innate tendency to form a mental image of God..
• often building a perception of God based upon his culture and upbringing. But the heart of man has been deeply flawed by our sin-heritage, for the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked Jer.17:9 We all unconsciously conceive God in our own imagery and thought. This is not only true of the natural man, who is dead in trespasses and sins – this is also true of each of us who are blood-bought sons of God. This is equally true of the spiritual believer as it is of the carnal Christian.
• True Image Denominations and individuals alike envisage the God in whom they trust, and all too often the image that emerges is a distortion of the truth. All too often His resemblance has its poisoned roots in our early life. Role models we should trust and ached to believe in, let us down. Teachings of the church we attended or avoided..distorted God’s character, and over time, plus the input of life, God emerges – masked by our own imaginings. There are probably as many perceptions of God as there is sand on the seashore. But there is only one true character and likeness of God – the man Christ Jesus.

• it is, from start to finish, a wonderful type – a type of God’s whole plan for Man – a plan set out in the opening chapter of Genesis – let man have dominion..
• Unfolding Plan It demonstrates the way that God, over time, increasingly reveals Himself to man.
• It typifies the path that the man of faith must follow to see God and live.
• Yes, the book of Job is the most powerful encouragement to any suffering man.

• The inner need of man is sweet fellowship with God. He is my peace. He is my guide.  He is my strength.  He is my hope.  He is my all in all. They who have never drawn close to Him, see no beauty that they should desire Him.

• STUDY in PRAYER Man of Prayer How important it is as intercessors to pray into God’s will.
• New Man in Christ And HOW has God determined to do this?
• a deep, deep work, in the inner man of the new creation..,  till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, into a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ Ephesians.4:13 And that’s the new man in Christ.
• The new man is to come to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.
• Spiritual Maturity Suffering is not a question of sin, for Christ was made perfect through suffering. Christ, the innocent, sinless man was made perfect through suffering.
• Jesus the Man, came into maturity through child-training – through suffering.
• that the new man is to come to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

• Thus it was that the law dealt with man's flesh.
• In man the law and the flesh always go together.

• Principle of Need But one, comprehensive, universal, foundational principles – is ‘need‘… Whether sinner or saint, saved or unsaved, Jew or gentile, God has built ‘need‘ into man. The unsaved sinner needs a Saviour.
• and God uses this inbuilt operative of the human heart, to develop faith. God uses this innate function of man’s soul, to turn him from self to Christ. When others fail us, it is to the open arms of His comfort that we fly. When things go wrong, it is to the one source of His supply that we turn. When life’s circumstances shatter our hopes, we discover our ‘need‘ of Him.

• Walls of Jerusalem Nehemiah was a man that lamented that the walls of Jerusalem were broken down.
• Travail of Spirit Nehemiah was a man that lamented that the walls of Jerusalem were broken down.

• A Heartbroken Man Nehemiah was a man that had a passion for God and a love for His people.
• He was a man that wept, mourned, and fasted over the sorry state of Israel’s affairs.
• A Godly Man Nehemiah was a man that feared and reverenced the name of the Lord.
• A Praying Man Israel was God’s nation, who was to listen to the word of the Lord and obey His voice. They were also commanded to love their faithful God with all their mind and strength.
• But Nehemiah was a man that had a passion for his God and a love for God’s people – and so Nehemiah interceded for his people.
• A Pleading Man Nehemiah knew God and was prepared to remind the Lord of His precious promises –  promises that had been made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob – to Moses and Israel.
• Nehemiah is a fine example of a man who knows God and pleads for his people.
• The burden for his People As we look deep into Nehemiah’s being, we see a man with a heart-burden for his people.  He not only knew the wrongdoings of his people but he grieved deeply at their sin.
• Nehemiah 1:9 Nehemiah had lived his whole life in exile, but he never forgot the word of the Lord –  and his prayer reflected a man that placed his full trust in the promises of God.
• Temple of God Nehemiah was a man that had a passion for his God and a love for God’s people. He was distressed that the superstructure of God’s house had fallen into disrepair. We too should have a passion for God and a deep love for God’s people. We too should intercede on behalf of the body of Christ – who are the temple of God.

• the effective fervent prayer and intercession of the righteous man avails much.
• Man of God Nehemiah was a man of resolve – a man of action – a man of God – a man of prayer. Nehemiah was a man who loved his God – obeyed His word and trusted His promises, and so God used this man of Israel to be an instrument in His purposes for His people.
• Man of Action Nehemiah had spent his life in Persian captivity- far away from his homeland in Israel, but he had proved himself trustworthy- having been appointed cupbearer to the king. He was also a man of action.
• Nehemiah was a man that set about getting things done.
• Man of Prayer We discover Nehemiah to be a man with a great heart-burden for the things of God. He loved his homeland – his city – his people, and he was a man that loved his Creator.  And when news of the pitiable state of Israel reached his ears, his heart was grieved.
• the effective, fervent prayer and intercession of the righteous man avails much.

• Natural Man Our natural abilities and developed personalities mean nothing.
• “In Christ” that man is loved and precious..
• Our former self is no promise of what we are going to be… they are remnants of what we were – a ruined sinful creation 'in fallen man'.  And righteous saints, past and present discovered this to be true.
• God will never resurrect the fallen creations 'in Adam' or 'in Jacob.' He will never resurrect the 'old man' in gentile or in Jew.
• He will only resurrect the new creation In Christ – and that is non-negotiable. Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature… a new creation.

• Oh wretched man that I am Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?  Thanks be to God, Who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord.Romans 7:25
• Insufficient Law The Law may be perfect and man may desire to obey the perfect Law of God, but it is insufficient to save a guilty sinner – and we discover it to be a ministration of death – for it tells us God’s standard for man, but then shows us that we can only fail. The Law may be good and spiritual and the born-again life in Christ may desire to keep God’s commandments – but the old sin nature is carnal and in bondage to sin. This is why Paul failed when he tried to keep the Law in the strength of his old fallen nature, which caused him to cry out:- Oh wretched man that I am!
• Natural Man However hard man tries, it is impossible for him to keep the requirements of the Law. One only has to be born as a son of Adam to be condemned to death – eternal death. Natural man / unsaved man is dead in his sins and born under condemnation. No wonder the disciples asked Jesus in astonishment – Who then can be saved?  No wonder Paul warned the Galatians of the Law’s restrictive nature, when he said: before faith in Christ was available to us, we were placed under guard by the law. We were kept in protective custody, so to speak, until the way of faith was revealed.  Galatians 3:23
• And the Law was described by Paul as a schoolmaster that was to point us to Him. That schoolmaster could instruct the natural/unsaved man how to live but could not change the sinful nature of its students – it could only impose a penalty for failure, and the wages of sin – the penalty for failure to keep the Law – was death.
• Old Sin Nature Paul discovered, after his Damascus Road conversion, that trying to live the Christian life in the power of the old sin nature was doomed to failure, causing him to cry out… O wretched man that I am!

•  Creation of Man In the beginning, God created the universe and made everything that is in it. He made the earth; the plants; the animals.
• Finally, He made man in His own image. Man was created a tripartite being – with a spirit, a soul, and a body.
• God said, 'Let us make man in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals'.
• Cursed Creation Everything that God made for man to richly enjoy was good – oh, so very, very good, but Adam’s sin caused the creation to be cursed and man lost His regal position.
• God intended to redeem man of his sins and restore him to his rulership position, but God intended to do much more for man – to provide him with so very much more.
• God’s Purpose God purposed His own Son would shed His innocent blood to pay the tremendous price for the sin of the entire human race – as God’s perfect Law required. God’s plan was not simply to restore man to his original position – where sins could be forgiven and a right standing between God and man could be restored.
• His plan was to elevate man to a position of far greater eminence than ever before.
• Free Gift This was not to be the norm for the entire human race for every man was endowed with a mind to think, a will to choose, and a range of God-given emotions to feel.
• For as many as received CHRIST; the Messiah of Israel – Son of God and Son of Man; the giver of Life and Light of the world – the Author and Finisher of our faith….
• Perfect Sacrifice To receive Him as a good man of God or a religious leader is insufficient.
• To acknowledge Him as a great prophet or wise teacher is of no consequence, To revere Him as a moral man or an interesting historical figure is inadequate.

• We now have a new life in Christ and we are to dress ourselves in the spiritual man.
• We are to put away all the influences of the natural man and the carnal Christian: if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation.
• Christ in Me However old or young in the faith we are we all are to put on the new man in Christ, We are to put away all that is old and put on the new – until Christ is formed in us. The new man is to be the manifestation of our Christian life – Christ living in me.

• If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new  (2 Cor. 5:17).
• We are all-new creations in the all-new Man, Christ Jesus.
• The illustration of a man drafted for the army, and finding a substitute to stand in his stead is not the Gospel.
• It is not that you should keep the man who was under judgment, but that you should be completely severed from him in your death on the Cross. -J.B.S.
• If there were true apprehension of the work of the Lord Jesus on the Cross - that He so bore the judgment on man that all the man who had offended against God has been judicially removed to His infinite satisfaction, and that He who saved us from death is now our Life - there would be a wonderful testimony to the grace of God.
• The Reformers failed because they did not see that as faith alone could save, and place man outside himself in the Lord Jesus, he must not return to that which through grace has been crucified.
• In not seeing this, the Reformers left the door open for the system and ritualism which have grown up since in the church; and hence the simple and only effectual way of dealing with either is, at the start, to refuse any place to the old man except crucifixion. -J.B.S.

• Both get rid of it, depriving the soul of that which is the only means of a living link between God and man.
• It does not matter what the means or forms may be, whether the negative process of Rationalism, or the more positive claim of Ritualism: if man comes in - whether it be his rites or his reasonings - so as to exclude God's Word, or step between its authority and the soul of man, it becomes pretty much the same result in the end.
• Rationalism is the deification of human powers, in which man presumes by his own mind to judge the Word of God, and is therefore the infidelity of the intellect when either carried out to its results or judged in its principle.

• And it was through this terrible experience that he found the new or inward' man to be distinct from the old man; that the realm of the spirit' was absolutely separate from that of the flesh', that all of the old self, with its life and energy, was to be despaired of, not sanctified.

• Romans Six is one of the most blessed portions of the New Testament, teaching us that our old man,' our old nature that is in us, was actually crucified with Him, so that now we need no longer be in bondage to sin.

• If I am a babe in Christ, where there is true lowliness of heart, I display God, as a babe manifesting Him; but if, as a babe, I am attempting to manifest Him as a man, there will be frustration and failure.
• But now I forbear, lest any man should think of me above that which he seeth me to be, or that he heareth of me (2 Cor. 12:6).

• A sage of India was asked by a young man how he could find God.

• The ministration of the letter brings only failure, and condemnation; for it prescribes a rule which man, being a sinner, can never follow.
• It does not change a man; it proves him ungodly and without strength.'

• It is not the man who sees defects, but the man who removes them who is being used of God.

• God’s Thoughts It was here that the Invisible, Eternal God chose to reveal Himself to you: no man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father (from before time and space) He hath declared Him.

• That man takes the glory, and dishonours God.
• Is not that the tragic, dark story of the Church; man in his old creation powers and life pressing into the things of God, and making a name for himself?

• Thus saith the Lord, Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm (Jer. 17:5).

• Cross of Christ Man’s native wit shouts, 'this is not right, my life is tragic and unbearable, what must I do to be saved..?'  Common sense screams that life was not created to face such heartaches – until, like the Job’s of this world, they face the brutal cross of Christ.
• They Overcame It is only the heart that has fully embraced the Cross that can withstand the attacks… vicious attacks of a vicious enemy that accuse the bedrock of a man’s belief in God. And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb. And they overcame him because of the word of their testimony, And they overcame him because they did not love their life – even when faced with death.
• he starts to recognise his own helplessness. When a man reaches his extremity.. his only recourse is to rest in the Beloved. This is not the cowardly thing to do – though others may perceive it to be so.
• This is the one desire of the Lord in each pilgrim’s life. While a man can face and furnish his own desires, there is little need of a Saviour – but when a man denies self and rests in Him alone – this is the Way that God intended.
• Satan’s Aim The aim of Satan is to turn a man’s heart against God, and exhaust his trust in Him.
• He seeks to foster the lie that God is careless and cruel, disinterested and detached, but when a man strikes agonising depths of despair and deliberately turns to God..
• when a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief turns to God in his helplessness... God slowly draws back the curtain of unknowing, into realms not traversed before.
• Balm of Gilead God’s very hedge of protection around a faithful man of God often has sharp thorns; the sharpest of thorns -  thorns which rip and tear at the heart..  thorns that take him to the edge of helplessness. But the balm of Gilead is waiting to be applied after life’s lengthy season of sorrow..

• There are very few men in our day of whom it can be truly said, That man has had a revelation from God.

• A popular prejudice has robbed many a man and woman of knowing God fuller thoughts.

• ook, I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing in the place of honor at God right hand!Then they put their hands over their ears and began shouting.
• The very fact that you are jealous for the Lord will bring you into conflict with that trend that there is in this world, in man.... When there is the purest testimony, the fullest expression of what is of God, the heavenly over against the earthly, the spiritual over against the carnal or the natural, the enemy gives a turn to things, a twist to things, and lays the responsibility at the door of a spiritual and a heavenly ministry.
• The Lord Jesus set a very vivid example and object lesson of this truth right in the foreground, in the incident of the man born blind (John 9).
• There is no doubt that the Lord intended that man to represent Israel and Israel's condition at the time.
• He gave that man sight and what happened to the man?
• It is a costly thing to be a spiritual man or a spiritual woman in this universe.

• God’s Grace Grace was in the heart of the Creator when God set the ransom price for man’s sin. Grace was in mind of God when God laid on Him the iniquity of us all. Blessed be the God and Father – Who made Christ sin for our sake.

• Then, says the Apostle, Let us therefore give diligence to enter into that rest, that no man fall after the same example of disobedience.

• STUDY - Character and Attributes of GOD  LET GOD BE TRUE, and every man a liar.Romans.3:4
• ot even one – that God alone is good, as Jesus, the God-Man reminded the rich young ruler.
• Man’s Questions “How can a good God allow this to happen?” argue disbelieving religious skeptics. “How can our Father allow His children to suffer?” is questioned by confused believers.
• Man’s Logic If unbelieving saints or disbelieving sinners choose to use their own logic..  they will continue to question the goodness of God in the land of the living- they will continue in their agnosticism and unbelief in the goodness of God.
• but though every attribute of God appears to conflict with human logic –  let God be true, and every man a liar.

• Kinsman Redeemer The eternal Son of God became humanities Son of Man so that Adam’s fallen race could become the adoptive Sons of God.
• The hypostatic union, combining the undiminished attributes of the Godhead with the perfect human nature of the Son of Man – became Jesus… Son of God and Son of Man, so that as our kinsman-Redeemer He would save His people from their sins.
• Representative Man He was tried and tested in all things in the same way that we are – yet without sin, so that He could represent each of His brothers and sisters to our Father in heaven, for He is our representative Man.

• STUDY - Character and Attributes of GOD  Unhurried Disclosure How astonishing that the incomprehensible God chose to communicate with man.
• Scripture is an unhurried disclosure of His inconceivable relationship with man..
• God Has Spoken Who is God that He is answerable to man!!!
• God will not try to argue the truth with deluded man.
• when man was in his infancy God used men to pen His Words.
• Today He still speaks to man – to all who will hear and trust His Word.
• SCRIPTURE is an unhurried disclosure of His inconceivable relationship with man.
• Immature Clamour And man tries to twist God’s arm to speak today, as He did in mans’ infancy.
• Yet arrogant man today..
• Rom11:33.  And yet this incomprehensible God chose to communicate with man through His Word.
• God’s Character and Purpose The Word of God is an infinitely rich source of God’s revelation – to man.

• Loathsome Reward A workman is worthy of his hire and an employee expects to receive remuneration. A worker earns the salary he is paid and a craftsman has a right to receive his pay. A man in receipt of his wages is given what he has earned and has what he deserves.
• Faces of Sin There are many faces of sin and different kinds of sin but every sin deserves death. There are open sins committed in the body and veiled sins that mature in the mind. There are hidden sins and visible ones, for man’s very nature is streaked with evil – and the just decree of a holy God is death – for death is the reward for sin.
• Terrible Master The terrible master of man is sin and man is the slave and servant of sin. This profound reality is a devastating truth that touches every strand of humanity – and every man deserves his due reward and each must be paid their just desert.
• streams out God’s grace to a fallen race of man.

• Man’s Imperfection But I am not perfect!
• I cannot be perfect! I have too many imperfections to countenance this demand! How can God make demands on man, that are so impossible to achieve? How can God require perfection from one that by nature is so imperfect?
• Perfect Trinity It is because He is holy and perfect. It is because He is perfect God and became perfect Man. It is because He has saved us by the blood of His perfect Son. It is because He dwells in us by His perfect Spirit. It is because He can do the perfect in our imperfect life. It is because He can do the impossible…. and so He demands the impossible of all His children – for things which are impossible with men are possible with God. Luke 18:27

• The First Man Adam was the pinnacle of God’s entire creation, for man was made in the image and likeness of God.
• And for a time Adam, and his wife Eve, tasted the glory and honour of their God-given ruler-ship of the earth. Adam was created in God’s image – a perfect man with a wonderful range of human attributes and faculties that mirrored those of his Creator.
• The Second Man Dominion over God’s beautiful earth was lost by the first man, to a rebel angel, Satan – but God in His grace and mercy pre-ordained that a second Man – the Man Christ Jesus would become the last Adam, Who would regain the crown and reestablish the riches and glories of the kingdom that was forfeited to the enemy of God, by the first Adam.
• The first man – Adam, in his disobedience to God had placed himself under Satan’s authority... while the second Man – the Lord Jesus, in His obedience to God, must also be made a little lower than the angels that He Himself created – if humanity was to be redeemed by His life-giving blood, and regain Man’s God-given rulership of the earth.
• the second Man – the last Adam.
• Through the perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the second Man, we’ve been set free from slavery to Satan and to sin – and have become servants of our God.
• The Last Adam Today a Man is seated on God’s throne of glory in heaven.
• He is the second Man; the last Adam – the federal Head of the New Creation, Who has been awarded a position far above all principalities and powers; might and dominions, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come.
• God’s Representative The enemy of man was defeated at Calvary and will one day be removed forever by the second Man - the last Adam.
• Through the Man Christ Jesus, humanity has regained the position of authority as God’s representative on earth – to rule and reign and have dominion over the birds and the fishes – the animals and all that God has created.
• The Man Christ Jesus And for a second time, the glory and honour that was tasted so briefly by Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden has been regained by God’s true representative Man – Christ Jesus our Lord.
• The God-given rulership of His creation has been restored to the human race, and returned to the only perfect representative Man – the second Man – the last Adam – the Man Christ Jesus, by means of His sacrificial death on the cross. So that we also may enjoy sweet fellowship with our Creator God..

• He is the only begotten Son of God, Who laid aside His glory to become Son of Man.

• Purpose of Law The purpose of the Law was not to tell man how to be righteous. The reason for the Law was to show man that righteousness was unattainable. There were many that “touching the righteousness of the Law’ achieved blamelessness... and Saul of Tarsus was one that could describe himself as blameless: blameless before the Law Phil.3:6 – but never blameless before God.
• It is not an attainable portion even for a 'just' or 'good' man.

• You get to the heart of everything in the case of the Lord Jesus when you recognize that the one question which constituted the testing ground of His life was: Will this Man act alone, speak alone, choose alone, decide alone, move alone?

• This man who wrote these words, just look at him in this way: somehow he had seen Christ at the beginning and through his long years he had seen more and more of Christ, until in prison with all those terrible sufferings and afflictions and adversities and sorrows and disappointments that had come upon him through those years, his catalog of adversities right at the end; Christ is more than everything.
• May our hearts, more than even our minds, be mastered by this Man Jesus Christ and we be His abject slaves in worship and adoration.

• It is of immense importance for every Christian to know that our old man' has been fully judged and ended before God.

• God’s Initial Plan God is still waiting to fully complete and finally accomplish his initial plan for man. He started by making man in His own image – male and female created He them, proclaiming – let them have dominion… Genesis 1:26.  And from the fall God has been working towards His final goal when Christ is all in all.
• Sowing and Reaping The apostle Paul was a man that both taught and lived his life this way. He stripped away all hindrances and set his face as a flint to trust God unflinchingly, and Paul ran with persevering, patient endurance the race that was set before him.

• Pattern for Life The Lord Jesus Christ is our pattern for life and living – God’s representative man. He lived a life in submission to the will of the Father – Thy will, not mine be done.
• Standard for Life The Lord Jesus Christ illustrated the way that God ordained that man should live.
• Too often we attribute the twisted mindset of man to the pure wisdom of God..
• and in Him, we may be imputed with righteous.  In one we received death and condemnation and in the Other, life and reconciliation, for as by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners -so by the obedience of One shall many be made righteous.
• Representative Man The Lord Jesus Christ came as our pattern.
• He came as God’s representative man.

• Spiritual  Discernment And it is through Christ that we have been so endowed. It is by Christ that we have been brought into God’s family. It is in Christ that we stand and in Him that we are accepted by the Father.  It is Christ and Christ alone that is the means that has brought about our eternal bliss.  All Scripture is given by God to teach, train, and encourage the whole church of God, but the wealth of knowledge within its pages are only for those that trust in Christ.  The unsaved man is incapable of trawling the depths of the wealth of Scriptures..

• The unsaved man is incapable of trawling the depths of the wealth of Scriptures..

• I pray…that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with power through His Spirit in the inner man, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; and that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled up to all the fullness of God.
• We are not only to know about God’s mighty strength – but to be empowered by it: that you are strengthened with power through His Spirit, in the inner man.

• Triumph of Travail But true 'Spirit to spirit' sharing only takes place betwixt God and His bond-servant… when a man or woman is prepared to come to an utter end of themselves, and admit that they are truly nothing and He is everything.

• Peace does not, and cannot, exist in the fallen Adam life; and as long as the old man reigns within, there is going to be turmoil both within and without.
• This could only be on the ground of His death, for the man in Adam could never give up his will: to do so would be to give up his very existence.
• But the death of the Lord Jesus is - judicially, and for faith - the end of that man, and the Christian walking in the Spirit owns him no more.

• So many do not as yet see the application of the death of the Lord Jesus to their old man.
• All believers see that the Blood of the Lord Jesus screens them from the judgment of God; but most do not as yet see that they are dead unto sin' in the Lord Jesus; that their old man was crucified with Christ'; that not only have their sins been put upon Him at the Cross, but they themselves, as sinful children of Adam, have been personally identified with Him in His death unto sin; that God pronounces them dead and risen with Him.
• If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new (2 Cor. 5:17).

• This is why the wise man of God will keep his transgressions on a short lead, This is why the prudent woman of God will keep 1 John 1;9 in clear view.

• The perfect God-Man lived a perfect life.
• To be perfect means to be whole; to be healthy; to be mature; to be complete... just as the Lord Jesus was perfect – the perfect God-Man, Who lived a perfect life.

• Guarantee of Escape But remember, precious child of God… no temptation, anxiety, burden, oppression, persecution… no harassment, attack, wound or pressure has overtaken you, except such as is common to man.

• As with the seed that is buried once for all, but then disintegrates through a gradual process that sets free the new life, even so does the Father deal with our old man by delivering it to death with the Lord Jesus once for all, and then bringing about its mortification in detail through the circumstances of life, until the power of the flesh has lost its hold. -L.T.

• This is man chief end and chief good.

• He is partaker of the new life which cannot sin; but he bears about within him the old man which can do nothing else but sin.

• It takes a man who has discovered something of the measure of his own weakness to be patient with the foibles of others.
• Such a man also has a firsthand knowledge of the loving care of the Chief Shepherd, and His ability to heal one who has come humbly to trust Him and Him alone.
• Feed My lambs - shepherd My sheep' - is the new commission given to the man who had denied his Lord with an oath.
• Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord. . .

• The Father would not have His people act in the excitement of freshly-gained knowledge, and well would it often be, if instead of pushing on in the impulse of newly-acquired truth, there were first a tarrying, as it were, three days, to digest it, to make it, by the power of God’s Spirit, thoroughly part of the new man.” -H.F.W.

• He had revealed Himself to man in man's circumstances till that day; since then He has been requiring man to come into His circumstances.
• When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, except Jesus only (Matt. 17:8).

• In our foolishness we turn to the world or look into our own hearts, instead of keeping our eyes upon the Lord Jesus, the risen and exalted Man in whom the Father has given us His favor. -C.A.C.
• The Lord Jesus Christ, as Man, has glorified the Father on the earth.
• The Father rests in that; as Man having accomplished redemption, He has passed into the heavens, now to appear in the presence of God for us.' It is the glorified Lord Jesus who gives abiding rest to our souls, and not what our thoughts about ourselves may be.

• Can anything affect your heart so much as the way the man in Christ is received in the new position?

• He unfolded His creative progression ’til He finally created Man – the first of his kind.
• Creative Climax He made space, time, and language and imbued man with thought, reason, and choice.
• He created man in innocence, with the capacity to function in willing service to God.
• He formed man with total free-will, to choose to serve His creator gladly – in love.
• He worked in such a way as to progressively build up our understanding of all He did.  And the final piece in His creative jig-saw was Adam – Man created in God’s image..  and Man was His crowing glory.
• Man was the climax of God’s whole creation.
• Man – created in His own image and likeness, was the pinnacle of God’s creation.
• Finally, the breath of God Himself was breathed into him and Man began to live.
• God had determined in the eternal council chambers that He would create Man... and God in His infinite knowledge and understanding knew that man would sin.
• The all-knowing God had already purposed the flow of history despite man’s sin.
• New Man in Christ Before the world began the Lord knew that the old creation in Adam would fall.
• Before the foundation of the world, the Lord had planned the new creation in Christ.  From the beginning, the wonderful story of the new man in Christ was taking shape. In the eternal council chambers of the Godhead, Christ’s body was being planned.
• Old and New Natures The new man in Christ was now a fallen creation – not an innocent creation.
• God still gave His new creation a free-will, but man also had an old sin nature.
• The old sin nature meant that man could NEVER, EVER do what pleased God, but alongside the old sin nature was the new nature in Christ – the new life of Christ.
• Christ AS MAN was ABLE NOT to sin – but he COULD have sinned as a MAN.
• Christ was a Man with total free-will, Who chose to serve His creator gladly – in love.

• It reaches beyond man’s creative vision and peeps into the mind of the Creator.
• He unveiled the household of God as the habitation of God – one-new man in Him. He presented a glorious Church without spot or wrinkle – His purchased possession. He exposed the principalities and powers of evil in high places – the wiles of the devil.
• Pinnacle of Faith The book of Ephesians must be the pinnacle of faith, hope and love for the believer. The book of Ephesians has rightly been called the Holiest of all Holy Scripture, and we would do well to read its content; reflect on its glory and rely on its truth – for it reaches beyond man’s creative vision and peeps into the mind of the Creator. It touches into the heavenly realms and glimpses the likeness of the glory of God.

• His is not the easy way, and because the whole nature of man is either downward or to a quiet and happy snugness, the leader is not always popular.

• For the sin of this one man, Adam, brought death to many.
• But even greater is God’s wonderful grace and His gift of forgiveness to many through this other Man - Jesus Christ.
• Romans 5:16-18 The result of God’s gracious gift is very different from the result of that one man’s sin.
• For the sin of this one man, Adam, caused death to rule over many.
• But even greater is God’s wonderful gift of grace and His gift of righteousness - for all who receive it will live in triumph over sin and death through this one Man, the Lord Jesus Christ.

• We, beloved, shall come there and may come there more than once in the course of our life; we shall come to the place where we realise we are going right out into outer darkness and despair and paralysis, to be ruled completely out of any effectiveness, fruitfulness, or value whatever, unless we pull ourselves together and say to ourselves, The whole thing is an inexplicable, bewildering confusion, a tangle from our standpoint or the standpoint of man; but God is, God is faithful.

• The man in Romans Seven is occupied with himself, and his disappointment and anguish spring from his inability to find in self the good which he loves.
• The man of Romans Eight has learned there is no good to be found in self.

• True Confession This is not a man-made confession with a rosary or other unbiblical customs.
• This is not man-made repentance in a little confessional box – to a man.

• Spiritual Armoury Praying aright causes the breath of man’s soul to touch the Father-heart of God.

• Power Behind Prayer God delights to have His children come to Him in prayer. It is often said, “There is power in prayer“, and James 5 is a much-quoted passage on prayer: The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much. James 5:16 But the real power behind the prayer is God, to Whom the prayers are offered.
• Intercessory Prayer How we long for loved ones to be drawn by the Holy Spirit to a saving faith in Jesus, and our intercessory prayers can often have a part to play: for no man comes to Me, except the Father which hath sent Me draw him John 6:44.

• Men of Prayer Jesus demonstrated man’s need to be in prayerful communion with the Father. Paul exhorted us to pray without ceasing and prayed himself with many tears.

• But believing is a choice – for God ordained that man should be given a freewill to accept or to reject His gift.
• Self Condemnation Salvation is a free-will choice to be accepted or rejected by every man and woman. Those that accept Christ as Saviour were foreknown by God and predestined by Him.
• Because He is all-knowing He knows every decision every man will ever make.
• The spectrum of God’s eternal plan for man is encapsulated in this amazing verse.

• Grace Thru Faith - STUDY  Grace Thru Faith- study [24] Period of Preparation There must be a long and deep period of preparation, in the man and woman of God, if that life is to shed abroad the attributes of the Lord Jesus in thought word and deed..
• And one maturing saint observes that – It is highly possible for a man, after having found justifying rest in Christ, to enter upon a state of deep need as regards sanctifying rest.
• Once that man becomes a believer he has two natures: 1) a gross, mature, arrogant sin nature and 2) a new little 'baby nature in Christ.
• God not never no-how will change that old nature to become the new nature. God only will change, develop and conform our new, little baby nature, in Christ. That old sin nature (that old Adamic nature) the 'old man' must die, daily.

• Message to Man Two millennia ago, God gave man a choice... Believe in My Son and you will not be condemned or do not believe in my Son and you are already condemned John 3:18.
• Two thousand years have rolled by since this angelic proclamation of peace on earth and still this false perspective of God’s love and the peace of Christ deceives man’s thinking.
• so that you and I can have peace with God and the peace of God.  But Peace is a choice.  Peace is a gift from God that proud man presumes to aspire to.

• We must travel through these processings, for the simple reason that if the Lord Jesus is to be everything, the old man must be nothing, and it is often times a long journey to reach this point in the history of the soul.
• The old man may not always appear deceitful and hateful; on the contrary, it may be cultured, refined, and religious.
• Oh, wretched man that I am!

• Many sections are misunderstood or distorted and many are not rightly divided, resulting in much confusion, which often reflect a deep-rooted adherence to man-made religion.
• Believer’s Privileges For instance, when a man is born again he receives tremendous privileges, but how few understand or even accept this.
• How foolish to defer to man-made doctrines, unscriptural traditions or false imaginings in preference to God’s Word.
• Unless Scripture is rightly divided much confusion results, as divergent standards of interpretation identify deep-rooted adherence to man-made religiosity, as scripture is taken and unnaturally twisted, misrepresented or spiritualised.
• Let us study to show ourselves approved and search the scriptures daily, so that we will not misunderstand or distort the truth of Scripture, nor be misled by man-made doctrines and illusive imaginations.

• Coming Messiah Threading through the Old Testament are prophecies and promises of the coming Messiah Who was chosen of God to be His special representative and anointed king. Many references and titles, names and offices describe this long-awaited Saviour …  He was Seed of the Woman; Lion of Judah – Immanuel; Messiah; Mediator and Man. He was the chief Shepherd and faithful Witness and the root and the stem of David.
• Every title traced a particular characteristic of the eternal Son and the perfect Man. It was Zacharias of the line of Levi that uttered forth his stunning prophecy of Christ, the coming Saviour – breaking God’s four hundred year long prophetic silence… and for nine amazing months Zacharias waited in silence to tell forth the good news.

• Words of Forgiveness I wonder what touched the heart of this criminal – this malefactor and thief, who sharply rebuked his fellow-convict to call out: Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom. Did this dying man hear the gracious words of forgiveness..

• We see a servant in Acts 8 taken away from an interesting field of service, to meet one man in the desert.
• Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Spirit teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual (1 Cor. 2:13).

• The Apostle Paul said, Through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith.

• They are diametrically opposite to the actions and attitudes of the carnal man.

• What God hath joined together no man may separate.

• Deceitful Man One very important step is to come to terms with the baseness of what we were. We need to acknowledge the deceitfulness of our hearts and what we were by nature. It is not a very pretty sight and one we all prefer to sweep away under the carpet.

• He evermore learns to abhor himself as he sees the sinfulness of the old man within, only to delight himself the more in the Lord Jesus who is his life. -W.R.N.

• Hold that fast which thou hast... that no man take thy crown.Revelation 3:11

• No, He... knew what was in man (John 2:24).

• The contrast is painful in the extreme between the uniform language of the New Testament about Christians as thus called to worship in liberty and joy and nearness to the Father, and that of liturgies ancient and modern; and this because the results of redemption soon became merged and hidden in Jewish forms, and the law was recalled to the place of the Holy Spirit, and man in the flesh intruded wholesale into realms which belong only to those solemnly accredited as God's Church, the Body of Christ. -W.K.
• The liturgies of ritualism merely fall back upon the feelings of man, with a slight tincture of Gospel and a large infusion of law.

• We shall never know the fact of the Lord Jesus' victory in our lives until we are prepared to count upon His work on the Cross as the source of our personal freedom from the dominion of sin and the old man within.

• God’s Desire Reconciliation of sinners to God is a theme that traverses the pages of the Bible. Reconciliation is a reuniting of sinful man back into a tender relationship with God. It was conceived in heaven; applied in Eden; the prophets’ cry - and God’s desire.
• The responsibility of reconciliation between God and man is through Christ alone.
• declaring God’s will to a lost and dying race – obediently becoming the means of reconciliation between man and God.
• Christ became one Mediator between man and God by His perfect life-sacrifice..
• Do we grasp the enormity of His yearning for man in this unparalleled act of love?
• Reuniting Relationship Reconciliation is a reuniting of sinful man back into tender relationship with God. It was conceived in heaven; applied in Eden; the prophets’ cry and God’s desire - and we have been made ambassadors for Christ with a ministry of reconciliation.

• Moment by moment we understand that His grace is all-embracing. God does not deal with man according to his sins, He does not reward us according to our iniquities.  Psalm 103:10

• Blessed is the man ….
• Let your heart be glad:  for blessed is the man whose hope is in the Lord.
• Hope does not disappoint, Romans 5:5  for blessed is the man…whose hope is in the Lord. Psalm 146:5
• Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to render to every man according to what he has done. Revelation 22:12 So run in such a way that YOU may obtain the prize. 1 Corinthians 9:24  Blessed is the man ….

• There is not a thought or feeling that arises from the old man that is not false.

• Man’s Flawed Verdict The story is not over until is has the final full-stop in position..
• David the man after God’s own heart..

• We may be brought thither by a humbling process but it is not in merely thinking evil of the old man that we are truly humble; we have the privilege of forgetting ourselves in the love of our Father. -J.N.D.

• To be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inward man (Eph. 3:16) is the answer to it all.

• Through grace the old man' was nailed to the Cross and buried in the tomb; through faith the old man will be kept there.
• Continuously reckon yourself to be totally severed from all that belongs to the old man and all that pertains to the old sphere, and faith will eventuate into experience. -R.P.

• The believer then understands the meaning of Asa's words:  Lord, it is nothing with Thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power....O Lord, Thou art our God; let not man prevail against Thee... (2 Chron. 14:11).
• How often we have looked at the battle as ours and have asked that man shall not prevail against us.

• The believer will not be ready to enter into his spiritual rest until he is utterly worn out by his unsuccessful efforts to conquer sin and the old man.
• There is no rest for the wretched man of Romans 7 - that struggle must lead to the rest of Romans 8.
• The heart of man naturally seeks rest, and seeks it here.

• In God and man working together, there is nothing of the idea of a partnership between two partners who each contribute their share to a work.

• Now when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous man.Luke 32: 44-46
• Salvation Procured Man had done what they could to this sinless One.
• Evil man had done its vilest worst and hung Him on the cross to die.
• In humble, but like manner, regardless of what man or Satan plan against us, God set a greater plan from before the foundation of the world for us – O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God!
• Peace Accomplished The Man of prayer and Son of God, who through His perfect life offered God His prayers and praise and supplication, gave us a perfect example, when He said, Father, into Thy hands, I commend My spirit.
• Obedience Rewarded The Man of Service died as He lived, in complete and utter obedience to the will of His God and Father.
• The curse of the sin nature; the Old Man; the carnal Self would remain forever without that final resurrection triumph.

• Death is the greatest power in this universe against man; his labors, his hopes, his wellbeing.

• They are still all of that other kind: what they have received they have received through men or from a man; they have taken on an already completed, rounded-off system of truth and teaching called Christianity.

• Revelation of God The first statement God made in His revelation to man is …..in the beginning, God..
• Word of God It was Plato that said – if we had a word from God, that is what we would hang on to, but since we don’t – we have to hang on to the best opinions of man!
• But the best opinions of man are foolishness to God.
• the foolishness of proud man!!
• It is better to take refuge in God than to place our trust in man.
• Changeless Character God gives us simple instructions and yet they are diametrically opposed to man’s logic and the sin nature, for our fleshly sin nature is in conflict against God’s Spirit and the wisdom of this world is foolishness to God, but if we don’t know His character and His plan for humanity, how can we trust Him?
• No wonder the Psalmist wrote, what is man that You are mindful of him?

• ot the Law of Moses, for though perfect, the Law given to Moses kills. Perfection can never be reached by the efforts of sinful man, that Law points to Christ, for the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
• a mind that is set on Christ and Christ alone:- a single mind, for a double-minded man is unstable in all his ways..
• Man’s mind and man’s thinking are too frequently set on the wrong things, for as a man thinks..

• Gospel of the Kingdom Then Christ was born and the four gospels announced to Israel, 'your King is here!'  Israel’s long waiting for their King and His long promised Kingdom had arrived, and the Gospel of the Kingdom was preached to the lost sheep of the house of Israel – and Israel as a nation was to believe on the Son of Man – repent and be baptised, as recorded in Holy writ.
• Old Adam and New Man The old Adam is crucified, and the New Man is being conformed into His image.

• that crooked serpent called the devil, has dominated this realm. God is using the rebellion of Satan and the fall of Adam to teach man a vital lesson. God is teaching man that only submission to Himself brings joy and peace and hope. God rules in the kingdom of men, and gives it to whomsoever He will, and sets up over it the basest of men.
• For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God (not man), to the pulling down of strongholds. 2 Corinthians 10:4.
• Israel - Chosen Nation The first man, Adam, surrendered his earthy dominion to Satan’s spiritual forces.
• For the natural man (the old creations in Adam and Jacob) receive not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 2 Corinthians 10:4

• Growing In Grace - STUDYO wretched man that I am!
• Chapter 2: God is righteous and His laws are good, while man is unrighteous and his heart is evil.
• And although chapter 6 rejoices in the victorious Christian life, chapter 7 brings us to a jarring halt, as we tumble headlong from the glittering mountain top to the shocking realisation that the reality of our own life does not mirror the requirements of a holy God – rather our lives demonstrate the opposite of what we were called to be in Christ,  and we cry out with Paul: O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death?
• until we dissolve into Paul famous words: oh wretched man that I am.

• Fully Man Were Christ not fully man He could not have redeemed humanity; broken the curse of sin and death; imputed believers with His own righteousness; given us eternal life and reunited us forever with God the Father our Creator.
• King David Although the promise of great blessings and a land inheritance came to the people of faith through Abraham, perhaps the most stupendous promises given to man – were made to Israel’s King David.
• David was promised that one of his descendants – a Man Who would be born through the seed of David, would be anointed of God to sit on David’s kingly throne – throughout all eternity. The humanity of Christ is indisputably linked with the great king David.
• Fully Man However were Christ not also a living, breathing, human being, with His own lifeblood pulsing through His veins – He could never have shed that life-giving blood on the cross.

• Meaning of Patience We all have our own idea of patience and what it means to be a patient man or a patient woman.

• God’s Spirit and man’s spirit fellowshipping together – Spirit to spirit communion.
• Man’s Choice Adam was given one command and a freewill to choose to obey or elect to rebel. His beloved wife was deceived by the serpent – questioning the truth of God’s Word.
• Sin Nature Adam chose to disregard God’s word of truth, which is rebellion against God, but the day of his disobedience was the day man’s sin nature became a reality – for the seed of the man became tainted with sin and his progeny are tainted with sin.  We are not sinners because we sin – we sin because we are sinners. We sin because we are born of Adam’s sinful seed, dead in sins – estranged from God.
• so that Adam, and his fallen race, could be reunited in spirit with God – by faith..  faith in the Seed of the woman, not faith in any of the fallen progeny of Adam – salvation in the Son of Man..
• ot salvation by any other man or means or method.
• But God ordained a new race, a new man, a new creation, a new federal head. God planned for a second Adam; an obedient man having Holy Spirit to human spirit communion. God decided a rescue strategy – to redeem Adam’s fallen race from all condemnation – but there was no man to stand in the gap for all have sinned and all fall short,
• Sinless Sacrifice God alone is good, so God alone could save – but God is Spirit and man is flesh, and only a perfect Man could reach God on behalf of sinful, sin-infected man.
• Only a perfect Man would be sufficient to satisfy God’s righteous requirement.
• So God took on human flesh so man could be clothed in God’s righteousness.
• God-Man God made the Lord Jesus Christ, Who was the second person of the eternal Trinity, to come in the likeness of human flesh, through the pure Seed of the fallen woman.
• God, Who alone is righteous became the only righteous man that ever lived, for the rest of humanity are sinful, sin-infected people.
• He alone was the only One Who could pay the price for sinful, sin-infected man and the many sins that each sinful man committed.
• And so the One who knew no sin – the One Who did not sin, HE BECAME SIN on our behalf, and the wrath of God was poured out on Him in full measure – upon that sinless God-Man, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. 2Cor.5:21

• Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap (Gal. 6:7).
• It can preach a fine message, and pat itself on the back and say, That was splendid, what a useful man you are!

• Perversion of truth takes its rise from having the eye turned to man, and seeking to make the truth suit him, and not to conform man to the truth; so that the way to resolve this difference is by the simple question, Is it God-ward I am looking, or man-ward?

• The forgiven man is on an altogether new ground with God; he is on the ground of grace - grace which is set forth in Christ.
• If they saw that the power of the old man was broken on the Cross, and that in Christ they are new creations before God, they would walk here in deliverance.

• Believers in Christ are called by many names and known by a variety of titles. They are the “new man in Christ”; “the body of Christ”; “the new creation – His “children.” They are known as “Christians”; “His little flock”; “sons of God” and “the bride of Christ”.
• Righteous Acts When we abide in Him in spirit and truth, our righteous acts are acceptable to God..  for the spirit works in us, both to will and to do for God’s good pleasure – such are the righteous acts of the new man in Christ.

• Meaning of Discipleship A disciple is a learner – a proselyte – a man or woman who is a student or a pupil.

• Adding to Grace When man is required to add something to the cross of Christ, it nullifies His work, but many, many ministries today are adding to the simple gospel message of GRACE. If we are told we are to believe AND do something – it is adding to Christ’s cross. John tells us that as many as received Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God – even to them that believe on His name… believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
• Faith of Abraham But what does it actually mean to ‘believe’ – to ‘believe on the name of Jesus’?  Well, Paul cites Abraham as a man of faith – an example of one who believed God.
• Faith Choice Believing is man’s one and only response to the grace that is a free gift of God - for by grace and grace alone are you saved.

• A Study:- Man’s Nature and Destiny An Anomaly Once saved we should spend our lives praising and blessing God for His mercy, but we are left in a world of evil and hatred – a world in which we are strangers.

• Bible Faith A few days ago I reflected on those that really truly had faith in the Son of Man – faith written about in the scriptures.
• Resisting Satan Are we man enough or woman enough to stand to the end and have faith in Jesus?

• It is not what man considers to be love.

• Let another man praise you, and not your own mouth.Proverbs 27:2
• Sin is Toxic The central letter of that little word S-I-N is “I” = “ME” = “MYSELF”. That hidden, secret sin is laid buried deep within the very being of man.
• That furtive sin, which seeps like a toxic poison into the very soul of man; that private sin concealed from all others bites at the very heart of man..
• Blinding us to the pride that lurks in the hidden recesses of the mind, where man’s boast is inflated and Self seeks independence from his Sustainer.
• as I seek to discover the awful truth about my own faults and failings, I need to turn to the Spirit of grace and truth and cry out as did King David:- Search me and know me, cried the man after God’s own heart, cleanse me from my secret faults – my sin, know my heart: Try me, and know my thoughts.” Psalm 19:12

• As the son of God and Son of Man, the Lord Jesus could rightly claim of His renowned ancestor, before Abraham was I AM….
• for only a true descendant of the physical seed of Abraham could go to the cross as the perfect Man, Who would shed His sinless blood – to save His people from their sins.

• What becomes us now is to have the Lord Jesus before us, and not the correction of the old man.
• The snare of trying to improve oneself is very common, and it is important to see, that however well-meaning it may be, it is really a denial that our old man has been crucified, and a revival of that which has been judged in the death of the Cross.
• It is plain that if you are clear of the domination of the old man you can have no man before you but the Lord Jesus, and the more sensible you are of how ready the flesh is to intrude.

• Cloak of Pretence Is your ‘old man’ crucified on the cross? Is your ‘old sin nature’ nailed to the tree? Are you allowing the ‘new man in Christ‘ to be daily conformed into His image?
• How much it pretends to take on attributes that should be developed in the new man.
• Self’ disguises itself in the likeness, pretence, and mask of the ‘new man’ in Christ.
• Spiritual Pride ‘Self’ must remain forever cross-bound if the new nature in Christ is to grow and mature, for spiritual pride is only 'Self,' pretending to be the “new man” in Christ.
• Are you man enough or woman enough to get on your knees and pray those words that David first prayed - David the man after God’s own heart.

• The man in Christ has only His past and that is perfect and acceptable to the Father.
• The believer shares the Lord Jesus' Cross knowing this, that our old man was crucified with him' Rom. 6:6); His death:- ye died and your life is hid with Christ in God' Col. 3:3); His burial:- we were buried with him by baptism into death' Rom. 6:4); His resurrection:- as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we' Rom. 6:4); His ascension:- made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus' Eph. 2:6). -F.J.H.

• But when a man is dead he has no strength.

• I’ve fought a good fight, I’ve finished my course, I’ve kept the faith” 2Timothy 4:7  A man who can truly say, “I have finished my course,” is an entirely broken life.
• Servant-Heart We look to Isaiah as the one that exemplifies such a servant-heart… It was Isaiah who cried, “Woe is me, for I am undone - because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips, For my eyes have seen the king, The LORD of hosts.” Isaiah 6:5

• He charged them that they should tell no man of His service.

• The man or woman who has no inner ear, no inner silence, no inner place for hearing the Lord is never going to be of much use in the service of the Lord, and mark you, it must be the Lord, and we must be very careful that we do not give even good men and good writers the place that the Lord ought to have.

• A Study:- Man’s Nature and Destiny Threefold Life The Christian life is a three-fold experience – three phases, planned by the Trinity. 1) Salvation : 2) Sanctification : 3) Service.  FIRST: we come to Christ for salvation.
• We are born from above and become a new man.

• If we follow and note the history and ways of any true servant of the Lord, we shall see, that on the one side they, like Moses on the Mount, or Paul in Arabia, are entranced with the brightness and most marvelous display of divine glory; yet on man's side, those who know most of the divine ways, suffer most because of the indifference of those who have professed to be the Lord's people.

• And when you hear the sound of the trumpet, all the people shall shout with a great shout; and the wall of the city shall fall down flat, and the people shall ascend up every man straight before him.Joshua 6:5

• But this is a man-made deception, and spiritual abuse, which places believers under bondage.

• Knowing this, that our old man has been crucified with Him in order that the body of SIN might be annulled, that we may no longer serve sin as slaves.Romans 6:6
• Imputed Sin An inherited sin nature is imputed sin; 'the old man'.
• which is passed to all humanity, but God in His love and grace has provided a solution for the old sin nature, in Adam – and the solution is to be taken out of Adam and placed into Christ – by faith: for as by the one man’s disobedience (Adam) the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience (Christ) the many will be made righteous. Romans 5:19,
• The problem,  principle, and power of sin is also dealt with at the cross: knowing this, that our old man has been crucified with Christ in order that the body of SIN might be annulled, that we may no longer serve sin as slaves Romans 6:6

• The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and he delighteth in His way (Ps. 37:23).

• Anguish of heart has caused this man to react in grief – in humble submission of self.

• A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come, but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembers no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.John 16:21

• I am a sinful man, O Lord (Luke 5:8).
• There is much prayer for revival,' and much effort for the deepening of the spiritual life.' The only answer to this is a new knowing of the Cross, not only as to sins and a life of victory over them, but as to Christ as supplanting the natural man. -T.

• When we reflect on the innumerable things' about us - forces seen and unseen of the mineral, vegetable, and animal worlds; on man at enmity with God; on Satan, and his principalities and powers, in deadly array; on the uncertainty and even treachery of those near and dear to us, and even of professing Christians, and of our own selves - which we cannot trust for a moment; upon our unredeemed bodies; upon our general complete helplessness in ourselves - then, to have God say, All things are working together for your good,' - reveals to us a Divine providence that is absolutely limitless. -W.R.N.

• We have got to get this in the spirit, in the inward man.It is deeper than our best moral standards.

• A Study:- Man’s Nature and Destiny The Holy Spirit The Holy Spirit convicts us of sin, but we can resist Him. The Holy Spirit guides us into all truth, but we can grieve Him. The Holy Spirit achieves His purpose through us, but we can quench Him. The Holy Spirit feeds us with His healing words of life, but we can neglect it – but in all our life and in all our pain, He is never far from us.
• But this was not how it was meant to be from the start. For once He had breathed into man the breath of life, He gave them all manner of food and all the requirements of life to the full..walking in the garden in the cool of the day and communing with our first parents.

• Do you not think it is a very significant thing that the first miracle after the Day of Pentecost was the raising of an impotent man at the gate of the temple in Jerusalem?
• This poor man was delivered because he knew his own helplessness and he believed what Jesus said.

• A Study:- Man’s Nature and Destiny Spiritual Maturity The need for maturity in the body of Christ is the focus of most of Paul’s messages. It is the mature Christian who is an overcomer; a faithful steward – a wise virgin.
• Our Spiritual Need There is a threefold need in the life of a spiritual man.
• Christian Spirituality And nearly a hundred years ago, Norman Harrison put it this way:- “It remains for the spiritual man to prove the reality and worth of his spirituality, by laying hold of all his resources in Christ.. by giving them practical expression in day-by-day living. And in a day when the Christian life claims but slight attention.. or even respect, from the world – what a call for spiritual stalwarts, fully-developed, determined by His grace, to demonstrate the beauty, power, and practicality of the Spirit-life – to an unbelieving, even scoffing social order.”

• A Study:- Man’s Nature and Destiny Desire God’s Word Just as newborn babes require milk from the breast, so too spiritual babes must be fed. Paul instructs us: as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the Word, that you may grow. 1Pet.2:2. A new-born believer will grow by reading and delighting in the Word of God, and faith in that young believer with grow – for faith comes by hearing God’s Word.
• John 4:34, and the astonishing thing is that this God-Man only worked through the Holy Spirit..
• demonstrating the only way that man can live a spiritual life.
• a carnal nonspiritual life or a spiritual life in the Spirit – and throughout the Word of God, we are told exactly how to live: Man shall live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.
• Matt.4:4 – Man shall live on the Word of God.

• A Study:- Man’s Nature and Destiny But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one.
• Does this mean that man goes around being critical of others – never!
• And your spirit is as perfect and pure and clean as the God-Man Himself.
• Your new man – your reborn soul, is still in infancy and must grow and mature, but the old man..
• Putting Off and On The context is putting off the carnal man and putting on the spiritual man, and the result is that the mind of Christ is being developed in you.
• The Accepted Day I challenge you as I challenge myself to prayerfully read Mark 7:20-23, and adhere to the Lord’s earlier words: if any man have ears to hear, let him hear.
• In the context of becoming an overcomer..becoming a spiritual man… He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says unto the churches.
• If there were ever a time for the believer to seek to be a spiritual man – it is now.

• It is just as much your privilege to behold Christ as any man's in this universe, and, that being so, it is just as much your calling to minister what you see in Christ to others.

• We shall only come to the fullness of Christ as we leave behind the mind of the natural man and move on more and more in the progress of the mind of Christ.
• We may sometimes feel that we have the strongest ground for taking up a certain attitude or coming to a certain conclusion; we may feel that we have all the evidence and so are convinced; and yet we may be wrong.The man who wrote the letter to the Corinthians knew from deep and bitter experience that this was the case.
• There was no man who had stronger convictions as to the rightness of his course than Saul of Tarsus.

• There must be a man behind the message-a saint behind the service.

• Where we read:- O wretched man that I am!
• Spiritual Immaturity Many churches of the 20 century gave very limited teaching about Christian growth, and the result is a church that substitutes man’s teachings before the Word of God.  The result is that many believers remain spiritually immature and do not grow.

• We do not seek after the knowledge of man, and we do not apply our own wisdom in a matter… we search it out in Christ.

• I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you cannot have eternal life within you. (John 6:53 NLT)
• The flesh revelsin that, and when you come and say to that whole order of things,The way of God is the way of utter dependence and faith, with theHoly Spirit in entire charge, and you must keep your hands offand be willing to do only what the Lord tells you and no more,(that which is meant by the declaration, I can do nothingout from Myself) it is an offence to the natural man, evenin religious matters.
• If the natural man is not doing the whole thing, andarranging it, and ordering it, and running it all, he cannotthink that progress can be made at all.

• That was the issue with the man born blind in John 9.
• and the man answered and said, And who is He, Lord, that I may believe on Him?
• To get that man out of Judaism needed something more than could have been found on this earth.
• He is out, he is an emancipated man, he has seen.

• In our natural, physical man we have five senses.
• But there is also an inner man called the hidden man of the heart, and that inward man has what corresponds to the outer man's five senses.
• There is a faculty of spiritual sight, of spiritual hearing, of spiritual smelling or sensing, of spiritual taste and spiritual touch, and these senses are very important to the life of the inward man yes, more important even than the senses of the physical man.
• But it is equally true of the inward man.
• This is a very real inward man, and these are the senses which form the basis of spiritual capacity: these are the things to be exercised, to be put through it for increase and development.

• he love of Christ constrains us; because we thus judge, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, that they which live should no longer live unto themselves, but unto Him enceforth know we no man after the flesh./i> That means that as far as we can see, we have not made what we are by nature the final basis of our relationships, of our expectations, of our judgments, of our appraisals, of our valuations.

• This remnant man had lived a life of blind faith, love, patience...  and he waited.
• This loyal, godly Old Testament saint, exemplifies a true man of faith, who pleased God. For he believed God; he trusted God, he watched, and he waited – and yet Simeon, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise. Heb 11:39 ..

• A Study:- Man’s Nature and Destiny Wrong Assumptions God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world – never.
• But as it is written: Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. 1Cor.2:9

• A Study:- Man’s Nature and Destiny Man’s Capability There is an increasing misconception of Who God is and what He is capable of doing.
• There is a parallel delusion of who man is and what a Christian is able to do.
• Scripture exposes the truth of man’s inadequacies and incapacities – and man’s egocentricity.
• And yet, Adam had no need of conscience – man gained his conscience through the fall.
• Sad Fruit The point where man tried to raise himself to the pinnacle of moral existence, was the point man lost the very ground of elevation given to them by God – their innocence.
• Man’s Motive However man’s conscience tries to find repose in religiosity and self-approval, but man’s conscience can’t find approval in self, or self-satisfaction or self-importance.
• Whose holy eyes behold the very degraded thoughts and motives of man!
• Man will therefore turn away and try to hide his own shame: sad, lonely, hurting, shameful, fearful, disobedient man!
• Mercy, that spans the ages of man..
• No man or woman is secure from the ravages of pride and ego and self.

• Mighty Man Joab was loyal up to a point.

• How urgent therefore to stand in the gap for others and intercede for the “many.” In Ezekiel’s time the Lord sought for a man who would build a wall and stand in the gap – but He found no one – not even one.

• Name it and claim it and tell God how to act and tell Him to save you!' And yet such foolish counsel rests on man's view – not God’s great plan.
• Well stand still means to keep the posture of an upright man; to be ready for action; to expect further orders.

• Most have to fend for themselves, which is both irresponsible and unscriptural, and the inevitable result is a belief system founded on man-made doctrine, rather than God’s Word.
• When a child is schooled in a man-made belief system, God’s Word is falsified.

• God’s Grace Paul’s epistles give descriptive details of the riches of God’s grace towards believers. He details over and again our position in Christ – our privileges and our possession. He desires that our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ is firmly fixed on truth and not on the philosophies of man.
• Man-Centred Mindset We are surrounded by high-minded, vain-speculations that come from men’s minds.
• It seeks to steal our sufficiency in Christ and replace it with a man-centred mindset.
• Undermining Faith This mindset of the world is rooted in the traditions of man and human viewpoint, and such a perspective robs the believer of all that it means to be IN CHRIST. We must be alert to the many ways that the enemy seeks to undermine our faith.. not allowing ourselves to be swept into the ungodly philosophies of this world – and not permitting false teachings or spiritual powers to rob us of our joy in the Lord.

• All that is rendered inoperative is the old man - and thank God for that!
• We never surrender what we value until we find a better, and man is so full of himself and his own will that until he finds out the sovereignty of his Father's will he can be neither an obedient nor a suitable servant.

• Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends.”John 15:13

• By the daily supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ' (Phil. 1:19), the believer united to his Risen Lord grows continually to a more perfect knowledge and likeness of his Creator,' and grows up after the image of Him that created him, in the sphere where Christ is all, and in all.' The child naturally grows up in the likeness of his father, and the new life communicated to the redeemed grows up in the likeness of Him who is the Creator of the new creation if so be that the death with Christ is unflinchingly recognized, and old things' are truly allowed to pass away to make room for the growth of the new man, which is after God . . .

• Christian Way Am I a true follower of the Lamb of God – the Son of Man?
• Am I to embrace the shame and reproach that accompanies this separation, and to be labelled as dull and old-fashioned – unsociable and a fool? Am I to be so true to my calling, with unsullied witness and purity of heart, that I discover myself to be a marked man, a marked woman – a Christian?

• Normal Christian life Paul was a man who learned how to appropriate the riches of God’s grace.
• Paul’s Discovery There was a time in Paul’s life when he did not know or appropriate this truth – for in Romans chapter 7, Paul himself cried out Oh wretched man that I am… who shall deliver me from this body of sin – and Paul discovered the answer – I thank God!

• Willing Vessel When a man or woman is a willing vessel, God can do mighty exploits through them, and for millennia the “All-Prayer” of such vessels advances God’s purposes.
• All-Prayer Such Spirit-influenced prayer will be flung to earth to fulfil God’s purpose for man.
• Pray with Understanding Teach me to pray the effective and effectual prayers of a righteous man – and cover me in Your garment of righteousness – trimmed with humility.

• God’s Grace What is man that You are mindful of him?
• What is man that You should visit him?
• What is man that You should exalt him?
• What is man that You should set Your heart on him?
• What is man that he could be pure?

• Ye have put off the old man with his deeds (Col. 3:9).
• It means much to the heart of the believer to know that he is received on the ground of another Man who perfectly glorified God.
• God has changed His man, and you are never happy until you believe that and are able to say, I have, too.
• If you do not see that God has changed His man you will never change your man.
• The only way to freedom is to leave Adam for Christ - to change your man; then it is not I, but Christ liveth in me' (Gal. 2:20).
• And have put on the new man, that is renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him (Col. 3:10)

• Every one was carried out to the letter – in and through the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ. The eternal Son of God took upon Himself human flesh and became the perfect Son of Man – but had the Man Christ Jesus been anything but fully human, He could never have fulfilled this plethora of prophecies that authenticate – to the letter, His descendancy from His father Abraham and His legitimate right to the throne of David:– His anointed position as Israel’s coming Messiah and their rightful King.
• Prophesied Redeemer Had the Lord Jesus been anything but fully human, many of the prophecies of Scripture would have remained unfulfilled for only as man’s Kinsman-Redeemer, Who was like unto His brothers in every way – (and yet was without sin), could the Lord Jesus Christ have become our Saviour, and obediently carry out the demands of a holy God, in submission to His Father – and in so doing give His life as a ransom for many.
• It is considered by some of the finest mathematical minds that the odds of Jesus fulfilling all 300 Old Testament prophecies is immeasurable – indeed it has been calculated that the probability of only 8 prophecies being fulfilled by one man is a ratio of 1:28 which is 1 : 10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000.
• Christ’s First Advent The inerrant Word of God authenticates to the letter the fulfilment of every single prophecy of Christ’s first advent, but had the Lord Jesus not been fully Man as well being undiminished Deity, many of those prophecies could never have found their true fulfilment in Christ – for the Messiah of Israel must be born of the seed of a woman – He must be the offspring of Abraham.
• Their eyes would be blind to their kinsman-Redeemer and their ears would be deaf to Him – while the other gospel writers all describe another of Isaiah’s prophecies in gruelling detail:- for  He was despised and rejected by men; a Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as One from Whom men hide their faces..
• Willing Sacrifice Were it not for the humanity of our Saviour and the blood that poured over the Mercy Seat of God, from His human heart of love… there could never have been redemption for the race of man – for only a perfect Man (a kinsman Redeemer), Who was born into the human race, could redeem fallen man from eternal separation from a holy God.

• Paul the angry young man with blood-stains on his hands, used that same hand to pen the precious words: the greatest of all is love.
• a man whose earthly ministry was expressed in sacrifice for others… a man whose self-life and pride was being ground to powder – a life that cried in the end, that I may know Him.
• Servant of Christ The man who had sat at the feet of Gamaliel the great teacher..
• the man who was a Hebrew of the Hebrews, whose knowledge surpassed all others – a man who concerning the righteousness  (which is of the law) was blameless… this man of great intellect, knowledge, zeal, and ability cried in his final years when he realized Who was the common denominator: that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death – that I may know HIM.

• I see the heavens opened and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God! (Acts 7:56 ISV)
• One, perhaps supreme, factor in the significance of Stephen was what he saw at the end and said with almost his last breath: Behold, I see the heavens opened; and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God (Acts 7:56).

• As the Cross works in us, keeping in the place of death every assertion of the old man, and everything in our natures that is against God, our spirit finds a clear way up to the communion at the throne and a clear way out into conflict with our enemy.

• Man’s Insufficiency He is the All Self-Sufficient One. He is the High and Lofty One that inhabits eternity. All that God is and whatever God is comes from within Himself and no other. How different from the rest of creation for all things come from Him, and all things are held together by Him..
• Sustaining Power The man who curses God, needs Him to provide his blasphemous breath.
• God Dependency And all His life He only lived through the All-Sufficient Spirit living in Him... demonstrating the only way that insufficient, created man should live his life... demonstrating a life of utter and total submission... demonstrating complete and perfect reliance and a willing dependence on God – demonstrating to imperfect man how to live a perfect life.

• Word of Truth For it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants and entrusted to them his property.
• It is the time when men of faith – who overcome will share in His throne… just as He, the Man of faith, overcame and shared His Father’s throne….

• There is far more authority in the man born blind seeing, in his testimony One thing I know that, whereas I was blind, now I see than there is in all Israel, with all Israel tradition and learning.

• His grace is diametrically opposite to much man-made religious teaching.

• Believing the Truth affects the eternal soul of man, through time and eternity, for no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid – which is Jesus Christ.” 1Corinthians 3:11 How it pleased the heart of the apostle John who was able to say of Gaius, for I rejoiced greatly, when the brethren came and testified of the truth that is in thee, even as thou walkest in the truth.” 3John 1:3
• Incarnate Truth There is no man, woman, or child that has not been damaged by this world of sin.

• Character of Man God wrote a few brief verses revealing how He created the world – what He did. God wrote the entire Scripture telling us about Himself – Who He is. It is not what a man does in his life that is of final significance, it is what a man IS in life that is of consequence – not what he does.
• It is character, that emanates from a man that is important. A man’s character is so much more than a man’s deeds. It is a man’s ambiance and attitude – that is written in the heavenly annals. It is a man’s atmosphere rather than his activities that counts at the last.
• But man’s preconceived notions of God may distort the character of God – such as the suggestion that..
• False Assumptions If like Eliphaz we reason that God blesses the good man but not the bad man, we are on dangerous ground, for we falsely accuse the character of God.
• Relationship God Chambers says it this way… Theology is a great thing and so is a man’s creed… But God is greater, and the next greatest thing to God – is my relationship to Him.  The book of Job is probably the most extensive 'type' of the Christian life penned.
• The others bespeaking of the saved man, who reverts back to a Pharisaical self-life.
• Job and His friends represent the spiritual man and the carnal man.