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..
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.
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..
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.
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.
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..
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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..
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.
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
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..
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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!
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.
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..
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.
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.
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 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
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
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.
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.
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..
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.
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.
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.
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.
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..
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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…
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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)
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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..
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!
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…
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.
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
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.
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.
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).
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.
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?
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..
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.
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.
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.
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..
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.
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.
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..
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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 ….
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
My-Self. We all know that what a man sets his heart on has a mighty influence on his life. The self-regarding man that seeks after his own interests – becomes selfish.
Christ is the Message that God has sent to man and God says, HEAR HIM.
Millennial Rule
The millennial rule of Christ will be ushered in. The mystery of God will be accomplished and completed. The finished, finalised house of the Lord will be built up of living stones. The 6000-year long dispensation of man under Satan’s rule will be over – and Satan will be bound for 1000 years in the bottomless pit.
A Study:- Man’s Nature and Destiny
Spiritual Discernment
The natural man has no spiritual discernment, which is given by God’s Spirit.
The spiritual man does have spiritual discernment.
The spiritual man walks in spirit and in truth – he has the mind of Christ.
Once the natural man is born from above, he should live as a spiritual man.
A newborn babe must grow and a child must develop into a man, and so too the Christian.
But the carnal man is a fleshly believer.
The ‘old man’ dominates the ‘new life’.
Place of Death
The epistles of Paul are replete with warnings and helps to keep the ‘old man’ in the place of death: know ye not that your body is the temple of God, and He dwells in you? 1Cor.6:19.
Ego-Centric
To many, Paul’s words fall like caustic soda on the ears of the carnal self, for self-examination and introspection is a cruel task to the ego-centric carnal man – as we search out to uncover dark areas in our lives that need to be examined; as we study our own failures, weaknesses, and proclivity towards carnality; as we search out our hearts to discover where our own weaknesses are hidden – as we discover what form the multi-headed gorgon of our own carnality takes.
Controversies with God will divide, but those artificial things, those things resultant from man activity and his projecting of himself, insinuating of himself into the interests of God, those things cannot abide where there is an adequate inward revelation of the Lord Jesus; they cannot be.
Sin handed man over to death, with nothing in himself to defeat sin and death.
Man’s Choice
Man has a choice – and that choice is by faith and not by sight or works.
Choose life or choose death – there is no middle ground, Man must meet God on a new principle – one decreed by God Himself – a principle we see in Abel, Enoch, Noah, and many others – even faith.
They are destined to collapse when God hurricane and fire test every man work.
may be the products, or by-products, of what is called hristian civilization,and things for which to be profoundly grateful, but let us not confuse these with new creation,regeneration, a being orn from above.The Church is nothing which man can build by any resource in himself personally or collectively.
o this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and that trembles at My word./i> That statement embodies all that we are saying.To what one will He look?
To the one who never says, am right!but to the one who says, may be as wrong as ever a man or woman was wrong, there is nothing of which I am not capable; my only ground is Christ; so help me God, Christ is my ground!To stand on Christ is to stand always in the consciousness and recognition that this other ground, ourselves at any point, is dangerous ground.
Nehemiah-a Sign
The world often scoffs at the sanctified man or woman – set apart to do God’s will.
Moses-a Sign
This humble man was first used of God to save Israel from Egypt’s oppression.
This great man was chosen and separated by God to be His singular mouthpiece. This consecrated saint was once disobedient and judgment was passed on Moses. Moses was a consecrated prophet of God who became a significant sign to Israel – a sign that obedience would be rewarded and disobedience would be punished.
This may be man’s way – but it is certainly not the scriptural concept of consecration.
Mental activity, emotional life and the will is exactly that which the New Testament calls the natural man, who as a oulish/i> man is incapable of accepting what comes from the Spirit of God.
The natural man has been maneuvered into Christianity and been made a Christian.
It is a work of man... Christianity has become a system of human interpretation of the thoughts of God.
Multifaceted Legalism
Legalism is a chameleon that appears in many shapes and sizes – colours and hues. It imposes man-made requirements on the finished work of Christ.
Man-Imposed Legalism
All rules and every restriction to a greater or lesser extent are man-imposed laws. But, we have died to the law in Christ, Who put the power of the law away, forever.
We were released from the power and the penalty of the Law. We were made free simply because we believed with NO additional, man-made law.
The life of Christ has now become the power and purity in our life. His life is our life simply because we believed – with NO additional man-made laws.
Bright Morning Star
Jesus is not only the Light that lights every man that comes into the world, He is the Day-Spring Himself - the Bright Morning Star.
Yet he must never be tempted to go further that the Lord instructed: 'thus far', for John was but the herald of the coming Sun of Righteousness, 'Who was the true Light, which lights every man that comes into the world'.
Paul was no lily-livered little, milk-sop of a man, and yet crushing circumstances made him despair even of life.
But like a man trying to empty the Titanic’s flooding bilges with a teaspoon you will fail..
His love has no limit, His grace has no measure.His power no boundary known unto man;For out of His infinite riches in Jesus.He giveth and giveth and giveth again.
It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD.Lamentations 3:26
I am your Father – I will not overwhelm your spiritual strength, I will come to you – walking on the stormy waters of life’s confusion, as you paddle on your helpless raft, 'mid oceans tempestuous turbulence. I am your Saviour – I will uphold you with My righteous right hand, lest you sink beneath the squally waves of life’s uncertainties. Look, One comes to hold you up. One, like as unto the Son of Man. Oh, wait child of God.
Living Organism
The one new man in Christ is not a sterile organisation but a living organism.
The one new man is a corporate, spiritual entity, who are entrusted with Christ’s work. Jesus said of those that make up this one new man, “and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father” John 14:12
Guiding Principle
God often uses the natural life as a guiding principle for the spiritual life, He takes foundational truths from the physical and applies them to the spiritual,. The first creation in Adam contains principles that apply to the new-creation in Christ. The first man became a living being but Christ became a life-giving Spirit. 1Corinthians 15:45
Jesus came as the Head of a new creation of man – and was the ‘firstborn’ of many sons.
The one new man is a corporate, spiritual entity who are entrusted with Christ’s work. Jesus said of those that make up this one new man, and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father” John 14:12
It is as our hearts are under the sway of that grace which is ministered to us through the Lord Jesus Christ, and as we are knit to Him in affection, that we touch and taste a new life, and are severed in heart from all that constituted the life of our old man.
When eventually all work, all service, all activity, is weighed in the balances, which will determine what abides forever or passes away forever, all that which was merely human energy for God will go; all that which was merely man's enterprise for the Lord will go; all that which was in any way out from man himself, even though in devotion to God, will go.
God cannot set His seal upon anything that is of man.
What we have got to be quite sure about is that that thing is not being carried on by the momentum of man, or the momentum of organization, the momentum of machinery, the momentum of human zeal and energy for God, nor by the momentum of a program, but that it is being energized by the Holy Ghost, that it is Christ Himself who is the Life and the power of that thing.
Truth of Scripture
But the word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, for the word of God is the single supernatural communication from God to man.
No man takes it from Me, He cried, I lay it down Myself – I have power to lay it down I have, and I power to take it again – and His coming kingdom is an everlasting kingdom. Jesus Christ Is Eternal – and in John 10:28, Jesus said, “And I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.”
If the deity of Jesus Christ were to be false, man’s hope of salvation would be over.
If however, He is God, every man who questions His divinity is a gross blasphemer, and all who deem Him no more than a good man or wise teacher condemn themselves.
Everlasting King
The second time He will come with great power and glory to set up His everlasting kingdom, an earthly kingdom of thousand years – and an eternal kingdom that will last forever for He is our representative Man and our everlasting King. There are many intricate and interlinking story-lines woven together in God’s Word and every single one of them intersect on the Son of God, Who became Son of Man – God’s eternal gift to men.
The present order requires a man to speak every so often; hence he must get something, and this necessity means either that God must be offered our program and asked to meet it (which He will not do) or the preacher must make something for the constantly recurring occasion.
This is a pernicious system and it opens the door to any number of dangerous and baneful intrusions of what is of man and not of God.
Man’s Evil Plans
The eyes of the LORD are also on the sinful kingdom, and the wicked man and evil dynasty will be utterly destroyed, Amos 9:8.
Rule of Life
For the ways of a man are always before the eyes of the LORD for He ponders all their paths, and He watches their walk. The eyes of the Lord are upon all the righteous and He hears their prayer.
The Lord's Word is: ...it is required in stewards, that a man be found faithful, not eloquent, intellectual, or with a strong personality, none of those things.
No! ...it is required in stewards, that a man be found FAITHFUL.
Cup of Suffering
To be pinched by poverty; to be maligned by loved ones; to be fettered by some disability. To be stripped bare of loving comfort; to stand alone in the shocks and quakes of life; to be overwhelmed by man's indifference to man and man's hatred of God.
A man's goings are established of Jehovah; and he delighteth in His way (Ps. 37:23, ASV.) .
Surely the wrath of man shall praise Thee For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God (Ps. 76:10; 2 Cor. 4:15).
Seed of Man
For 4000 years fallen man, in a fallen world waited for the Seed of the woman, and silently, secretly, deep within each generation..
Born to Die
He was born to die – that men might live. He was born to be made vile sin – that sinners might be made pure and perfect. He was born to be broken – that sin-shattered man might be made whole. He was born to be wounded – that damaged, traumatised man might be made new. He was born to bring the despairing, comfort, hope and joy that was lost in Eden’s realm. He came to bind up and to heal the broken, bloodied, wounded heart.
Fearful Man
Fear Not were the first words this message proclaimed:- fear not, fear not… Fear Not….
Fear was the first sin-soaked emotion felt by the first fallen, sin-soaked man.
Gen.3:10 The once innocent, God-conscious man, became the guilty, self-conscious sinner.
Prideful Man
And fear translated into contempt..
And thus fear, shame, contempt and rage have been the hallmark of prideful man.
Prideful man, who needs but to acknowledge his sin.
Prideful man, who needs but to kneel in humble repentance before God.
Whoever speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory, but he who seeks the glory of the One who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him. (John 7:18 NIV)
The whole constitution of this world is a lie, and it is in the very nature of man, though multitudes do not know it, but think they are true.
A Man in Heaven
There is a man in heaven that is seated on the throne of God – the Lord Jesus Christ.
There is a man of flesh and bone in the celestial sphere – Christ Jesus our Lord, and He is the Head of His Body, which is the Church – and we are His Body.
Fullness of Grace
It was the fullness of grace that conceived of the plan of salvation that purposed that He’d plead the hopeless cause of unregenerate man and undertake to pay its price. It was the person of Christ Who demonstrated the fullness of grace on Calvary’s cross and out of His fullness have we all received grace upon grace upon much more grace, for in Christ is all the fullness of the Godhead bodily – the fullness of all grace.
God’s Plan
Grace was not a modification of the original plan of God for man when He realised that the Law was a ministration of death.
The Law was designed to point people to Christ. God did not have to send the Lord Jesus Christ as the Word made flesh, to modify the original plan He had purposed for man… Grace was God’s plan from the beginning.
Profound Words
Austin Sparks’ proclamation of the gospel is so simple and yet so profound:- It is that the Son of God, Who is Son of Man, has come, and His coming, has expressed to the world (before times eternal...)
the divine type of what God intended His race to be – what His creation should be….that is God, contracted to the span of human life; God manifest in the flesh; combining His Own essential nature with another kind of creation called ‘man’.
Those destined to be the instruments for the manifestation of God – that manifestation to be demonstrated by God – indwelling man.
And all this resulting from the representative Man, achieving His work at Calvary.
All this the consequence of Jesus Christ – Who is Son of God and Son of Man.
The God-Man
Have we even started to scratch the surface of this God-Man, Who loves us so dearly that He did this for you?
The Glory Departed
The glory of the Lord that thundered in Mount Sinai was the same glory from which Isaiah hid his face – for in the presence of God he knew he was a sinful man with unclean lips dwelling in the midst of a sinful race of people.
The good news is for those that believe and the bad news is for those that do not. The biblical gospel teaches man in totally is depraved and due to sin we all have missed the mark, and as a result are alienated from God and separated from Him. The bad news of the biblical gospel is that all have sinned and are deserving of death.
Man’s Choice
The day Adam sinned in the garden he died spiritually.
He was separated from God. His body lived and breathed for many centuries, but spiritual death had occurred. Indeed, if this state of spiritual death continues to the point of physical death.. man is separated from God forever, in the lake of fire – a sombre thought indeed.
But every man, from Adam on, can choose spiritual life rather than spiritual death.
Redemption Plan
Re-union with God requires the death of Another – and until Christ’s blood streamed from His veins at Calvary, the blood of an innocent lamb was to cover sin-stained man.
The Bad News
The bad news of the biblical gospel is that all have sinned and are deserving of death. All have missed the mark – all are separated from God – all are sinners to the core. All are spiritually dead – all are without hope and without God in a world of sin. But only when the bad news of the gospel is seen in its proper context – where sin separates man from God forever – does the good news of the gospel come into view. So what is the good news of the gospel of salvation that is open to every man? What is the good news for those that believe in Jesus Christ – the Son of God?
His Word
Well, there’s a specific person – the Lord Jesus Christ, Who was fully God and fully Man.
Being GOD – He represented God to man but being MAN He represented man to God.
He had to be both fully God and fully man – in order to be our substitute and save us. Unless He was fully God and fully Man there could be reconciliation with the Father.
He identified with man and died for mans’ sins and took the punishment man deserved.
And there is even more – the gospel requires a specific response from EVERY man – and we are to believe that a specific person undertook a specific work to accomplish a specific result so that all who believe could be specifically saved.
Specified Peace
The race of man to whom the angels had been sent were ‘children of wrath’, who were at enmity with the Creator – dead in their sins and without any hope in the world. The peace of which the angels sang was not a universal peace, with goodwill to all men, but a specified peace for men of goodwill – peace with God – through His Son. The peace that was proclaimed by the angelic host was the perfect peace of God, which is the right of those that trust in Christ – the only begotten Son of the Father.
Goodwill of God
The proclamation of peace on earth did not speak of goodwill among men towards each other – but spoke of the Goodwill of God towards all those who would trust in His only begotten Son as Saviour… to men of goodwill – for the peace of God can only come to man, through the blood of Christ Jesus – our Lord.
The Seed of God
Man was created by God to rule and reign and govern the kingdom of God – on earth. When Adam sinned, God set in motion a glorious plan that would redeem mankind.
The Lord is against mere freelancers in every way, His order is fellowship in the Body; nevertheless if we submit to any kind of natural influence concerning what the Lord has been saying to us, and take counsel or take our direction from governing elements of man or things, we shall come under arrest and probably be disobedient to the heavenly vision.
The strength of the Lord's people is none other than the strength of the Holy Spirit in the inward man.
Right at the very center of the being, deeper than thought or reason, deeper than emotion or feeling, deeper than all that which comprises the more outward man which, under given circumstances, may prove weak and incapable of standing up to the situation.
When these cannot stand up to conditions of intense spiritual antagonism, opposition or perplexity, there is that more inward thing, right in the inward man, which is of God the Holy Spirit: i>Strengthened with might by His Spirit into the inward man./p>
As with the seed that is buried once for all, but then disintegrated through a gradual process that sets free the new life, even so does our Father deal with our old nature by delivering it to death with the Lord Jesus once for all, and then bringing about its mortifying in detail through the circumstances of daily life, until the power of the old man has lost its hold on us. -L.T.
He intends to break down what is of the old man, and then, in His own good time, He will pour in that which sweetens all.
What we are in the old man is not the thing to scan, but what we are, and where we are, in the Son; and what there is in the living affections of the Father, who has raised us up together with His Son, and has given us all heavenly blessings in Him. -G.V.W.
Gone is the distinction between Jew and Greek, slave and free man, male and female you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28 Phillips)
His Word to the Jew is: You must leave your Jewish ground, and stand before God, not as a Jew, but as a man, and until you take that ground God has nothing to say to you; you will not have any light whilst you persist in coming before God on your own ground.
The Lord will not meet you on the ground of what you are, whether it be good or bad; He will meet you on the ground of the Heavenly Man.
I have provided a Heavenly Man Who is full of all that you need; now come on to that ground.
To the natural man, the man of soul, what is essentially and intrinsically spiritual is unreal.
Their reaction is h, let us be practical, let us come down to earth, let us get out of the clouds and get our feet solidly on the terra firma, let us get down to things that are more real.That is the reaction of the natural man to the spiritual.
But to the spiritual man, spiritual things are far more real than the tangible.
The thing that man has brought down on to the earth and taken up and perpetuated is only at best a poor imitation of things in the heavens, but in a very large realm it is a caricature of heavenly things.
Man has taken hold of heavenly things and brought them down to earth and made them earthly things.
They wanted man to be attracted, and that was the first step in one of the greatest perils that has overtaken the church.
The preeminent thing is lost, that the church and Christ is a mystery to the natural man and that it is no use to expect the natural man to appreciate it.
A Study:- Man’s Nature and Destiny
The natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, but he who is spiritual judges all things, but I speak to you as carnal. 1 Cor.2:14-3:1
Natural Man
If born in the west, you may be considered upper class, middle class, or lower class.
In four short verses Paul outlines the truth of these three men:- 1) the Natural Man ……..unsaved 2) the Spiritual Man…….saved 3) the Carnal Man……….saved.
Unsaved Man
In one small section of Scripture we are given this vital information.
The natural man is the state into which all of humanity is born: for 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.
Old Creation
The natural man is made up of the old creation in Adam and the old Creation in Jacob.
The natural man by birth is an A-theist – a nonbeliever in the Son of Man.
The natural man by origin is born into the kingdom of darkness..
The natural man by lineage is dead in trespasses and sins.
The natural man by heritage is a child of Satan.
The natural man is condemned already – because he has not believed in the only begotten Son of God.
The natural man was my caste and the natural man was your class.
Spiritual & Carnal
The spiritual man is a believer in the Lord Jesus..(a new creation in Christ) but he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one.
But we have the mind of Christ. 1Cor.2:13. But so also the carnal man is a believer in the Lord Jesus: and I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual people but as to carnal, as to babes in Christ. 1Cor.3:1
How important to take heed to the scorching words of Paul. That we do not remain in or revert back to babyhood, but launch out into the deep: now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual.
But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, but he who is spiritual judges all things.
To take hold of Christianity and mold it, and shape it, and systematize it, and crystallize it, and make it some mighty movement here; with its roots here, with all its associations such as man can see, appreciate and approve; to register itself upon the ordinary consciousness of this world as being something; all of that is contrary to the Word of God and is contrary to spiritual life and spiritual power.
And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man.Luke 2:51-52
The Scarlet Thread
From the beginning of God’s revelation to man fallen humanity, the cursed creation and the angelic hosts anticipated the coming of the promised Seed of the woman. The Law and Prophets together with biblical history and poetry all pointed to Christ, The scarlet thread of the Redeemer’s blood can be traced throughout these holy pages.
Christ’s Early Life
But God is not mocked by man nor angel and the Holy Child was born and for 12 years He grew and become strong, increasing in wisdom; and the grace of God was on Him.
And so at the tender age of twelve, the Son of God and Son of Man crossed a boundary from childhood to youth – and we receive a tiny, brief glimpse of this perfect person.
And for three days, though lost to His parents, He astonished all Who heard Him speak. No surprise, for He was that Light that came into the world – the Light that gives light to every man born into the world – a world which He Himself had created.
The Perfect Person
And so at the tender age of twelve, the Son of God and Son of Man crossed a boundary from childhood to youth – and we receive a tiny, brief glimpse of this perfect person.
And His mother treasured up all these things in her heart – and pondered them. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and with man.
Christ’s Humanity
But Christ was also fully Man – and as such he had a human nature – yet without sin. He was a man with a mind and emotions and He had a human body, a soul and spirit. As Man He grew weary and could legitimately say, I thirst – give me to drink… and as Man He could rightfully say to the High Priest at His trial – you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven.
Perfect Saviour
As God He was still the omnipotent, omniscient, infinite, eternal, universal Creator – as Man He began His life as a babe in Bethlehem – and gave His life a ransom for many. The reality of Christ’s human nature links Him irrefutably with the whole human race, and though Christ must never be divorced from His deity, He became a man and He participated in the history of humankind – having come to this world in the likeness of sinful flesh. It was for us that the perfect uncreated God of the universe, became perfect Man and Who in the fullness of time – and for our sakes become our perfect Saviour.
Substitute Saviour
Both the deity and the manhood of Christ is challenged today in differing quarters but unless fully God and fully Man, united in one Person – He could never have become the perfect Sin-Sacrifice for humanity.
He could never have become our Substitute Saviour. Jesus Christ, though fully God throughout His sojourn on earth was indeed fully man. His ancestry through both His adoptive father and human mother is listed in the Bible.
Two Vital Components
His physical appearance was that of a normal man as He met with people on the road. His was endowed with the essence of humanity..
Unique Person & Work
The two natures of Christ is a simple concept and yet it contains a profound reality. Without the two natures of Jesus Christ humanity has no Saviour and no Salvation, but by faith in the unique person and work of Jesus Christ – as Son of God and Son of Man we are given the free gift of life – eternal life – abundant life – by God’s grace.
Decaying World
In the carousel of life, even the man of faith is dissatisfied with his earthly lot, and we long for stability in just something – anything..
Never has a man spoken the way this Man speaks.John 7:46
Son of God
There have been many religious leaders, but none have been like Christ Jesus. There have been many teachers and preachers, but none compare with the Lord. There have been many men that have had many disciples, but none are like Jesus, There have been many great orators, but no man has spoken the way Jesus spoke.
Son of Man
There have been many characters through history – many kings and many carpenters. There have been speakers; pioneers; healers and heroes, but Christ is incomparable.
Jesus Christ is the unique Son of God and Son of Man.
Unique Person
All spoke well of Him, and wondered about the gracious words which fell from His lips. No man in the history of the universe can ever compare with this matchless Man, He is the incomparable Christ; the unparalleled Person; the singular, unique Man.
His life was a lovely example of the only way a man can live a life that’s pleasing to God.
Only He could claim I am the Way – no man comes to the Father but through Me.
Submitted Life
Jesus Christ is the unique Son of God and unique Son of Man.
Jesus Christ is the chief among ten thousand, and altogether lovely. He walked a path of righteousness – He lived the only sinless life in a world of sinners. He lived each day of His life in submission to the leading and guiding of the Holy Spirit. His life exemplified the only way a man can live a life that’s pleasing to God.
By His blood spilt at Calvary’s cross, we are robed in the righteousness of Christ – and by His glorious resurrection, He is the First-born of the dead – the preeminent Man.
But there lies before you and reaches out through eternal ages such a purpose of God concerning us all that i>Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him(1 Cor. 2:9).
God’s Revelation
God is ‘incomprehensible’, and yet God is wonderfully ‘knowable’. God is ‘unfathomable’, and yet God chose to ‘reveal’ Himself to man. For some reason, God wants to get across to man both sides of His Person.
Progressive Revelation
Yes, God chose to communicate His character to us… but how? Well, He looked at man with his pea-size brain, and his foolish notions and inflated ego, and started gradually unveiling Himself little by little.
Bereshit Bara Elohim
In the first three words of Genesis… “Bereshit bara Elohim” (In Beginning God). And the very first glimpse of this incomprehensible person is shown to man.. like a tiny infant taking its first glimpse of a world into which he is born.
Relationship With Man
Scripture certainly shows that God wants a relationship with man, but first man must comprehend this characteristic of the incomprehensible’ God. In the beginning Elohim – the Powerful God created the heaven and the earth.
The finite minds of finite man can never comprehend God’s infinite mind! For by definition, to understand the infinity of God is an impossible undertaking.
Infinite Profit
No superlatives in the combined languages of man can begin to touch this concept. It can only be simply and humbly proclaimed in the vocabulary of a little child.
He is simply – God. And yet mystery of mysteries, God has chosen to make Himself known to man..
for man’s eternal, limitless and infinite profit – for the believers’ immortal, permanent, and boundless blessings.
Yes, eternity nestles in the breast of God, and He’s placed eternity in the heart of man.
solitary, unprotected and exposed to the dangers of this world – selfish sinners, separated from God, in desperate need of a Saviour. What a graphic description of fallen man; what a sad statement of humanity.
Perfect Man
It was against our Creator that we sinned and it was from God that we wandered, and He it was that outlined the only payment for sin that would utterly satisfy – a sinless days-man; a pure redeemer; a perfect man who was willing to die.
Sacrificial Lamb
And so God sent His Son into the world to reconcile man back to Himself. God Himself took on human flesh to become humanities perfect kinsman-redeemer: and The LORD laid on Him the iniquity of us all. God placed the accumulated sin of the whole world on His beloved Son – Jesus became that sacrificial lamb.
And God, in His grace, came to pay the price for sin in the person of Christ – the perfect Son of God became the perfect Son of Man.
Deferred hope is not something that only you are facing today; it is Job – in his tempest; it is Abraham, on the long and dusty road to Moriah; it is Moses, in the blistering deserts of Midian; it is Elijah, beside the evaporating brook of Cherith. It is Habakkuk, trembling in his Shigionoth. It is the Son of Man, prostrate in the Garden of Gethsemane. There is no patience so hard to bear as hope that has been deferred. This is waiting for a delayed hope, which requires endurance, patience, perseverance.
Job 42:2 Abraham saw His Jehovah Jireh as the One Who provides Himself a Lamb. Genesis 22:8 In the cleft of the rock Moses watched, as the glory of the Lord passed by and Elijah wrapped his face in his mantle as he heard whisper the still small voice… and the Son of Man?
Our Blessed Hope
The Son of Man Who for the joy that was before Him, prostrated Himself in the Garden of Gethsemane..
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)
If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new' (2 Cor. 5:17).
Do we go back to Adam, the innocent man in the garden in which God set him to dress and keep?
Is the Lord Jesus but the first man set up afresh?
No, He is the second man, the Lord from heaven.' He is a heavenly man, the Last Adam - head of a new race; beginning of a new creation - and you and I who believe are in Him,' seen and accepted before the Father in His Beloved.' The full image of Him we have not yet: true.
Just as the sin of one man, (Adam) resulted in condemnation for all people, so also one righteous act of the one Man, (Christ Jesus) resulted in justification and life for all people.Romans 5:18
God’s Condemnation
The whole world came under the condemnation of God because of one man’s sin. Adam’s disobedience resulted in the human race being born under condemnation. It was sin that was the cause of man’s condemnation and the wages of sin is death. It was necessary for God to cover man’s sin with the blood-soaked fleece of a lamb, for in His heart God purposed to send a Saviour – Who could pay the price of sin. What grace was being shown to man when God purposed to save His fallen race.
Christ’s Blood
His perfect life would be a payment – for the sinful lives of the entire human race. All sin that was covered by the fleece of a lamb would be atoned for by His blood. Until the blood of the perfect Sacrifice was offered, man’s sin would remain covered – covered but never forgiven UNTIL the final Sacrifice for all sin was offered.
God’s Grace
But grace was in God’s heart when He purposed to give His Son as a ransom for many, Christ was to come bringing with Him grace and truth for all condemned by the Law. His perfect life and sacrificial death was to break the power of sin, resting on man, His death on the cross was so that man could be released from ALL condemnation.
What grace the Father showed to man, that His Son was to die to save a fallen race.
God’s grace dictated that He would give His only Son to pay the price for all sin.. and the ONLY requirement of man was to believe that Christ died for their sin – and the ONLY way to be free from condemnation was to believe on Jesus Christ.
Sin’s Penalty
The ONLY requirement of man is to believe that Christ died for his sins.
What grace God showed to man, that Christ Jesus has paid the penalty for humanities sin.
Instead of the LAW being the criteria for perfection that man must attain, the life of Christ Jesus was to be God’s standard – and He was to do it all for us, – and the ONLY requirement of us is to believe that Christ died for our sins, and rose again the third day.
Unbelief Condemns
Man is not now condemned because he broke God’s Law but because of unbelief - unbelief in the Lord Jesus Christ – the Messiah of Israel and Saviour of the world.
Man is not condemned because he sinned, but because he did not believe… because he did not believe on the name of the only begotten Son of God. Jesus Christ warned the hypocritical Scribes and Pharisees that they would all die in their sins, for though outwardly righteous, their hearts were riddled with unbelief. The Lord Jesus wept over Jerusalem for in rejecting Him they rejected His grace, and in rejecting His grace they placed themselves under condemnation.
Unique Codes of Conduct
Those living in Eden also had laws for living specific to that era:- be fruitful, multiply, subdue the earth, tend the garden and don’t eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil – but man failed.
What deep attachment that He forever should take on the form of man, for you.
Die to Self
Turn away from your foolish boasting and dismount your elevated self-image, and put on Christ and Christ alone – nailing Self to the blood-stained tree. For no man has known God at any time, save the Lord Jesus.
Fragile Self
A tiny cornflower seed embodies the life of a cornflower within its fragile self. The little seed contains in full reproduction of the life from which it came. We too are complete in Him – and our life is hid with Christ in God, 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
William Law agrees, and writes: 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 of its growth to perfection, as every man may be whose spirit aspires after all that which God is ready..
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.
The spirit of man is the candle of the LORD.Proverbs 20:27
Glorious Light
Proverbs 20 tells us that the spirit of man is the candle of the LORD, but in our natural, unregenerate Adamic state, that candle is cold and unlighted. The candle of the Lord is set ablaze at rebirth-when touched with the heavenly flame.
Infinite Light
No man has seen God at any time and lived, for His glory is beyond understanding. No searching in the heavens above or the earth beneath can discover Him, for He dwells in eternal light and infinite love that cannot be seen nor fathomed out.
The God-Man
THE – the definite article, that identifies the One and only One. LORD – He Who is master, sovereign God, and king.
This Man that is the very image and likeness of the invisible, indivisible God – this Lord Jesus Christ, Who chose to share His glory with the likes of me… was mocked and jeered at, spat upon and despised – all to meet my terrible sin – all for Love of me and all for Love of you too.
The kingdom of heaven (it should be in the plural, the kingdom of the heavens) is like unto a treasure hidden in the field; which a man found, and hid.... The Lord is doing a secret work in relation to the Church.
as a young man should be pleased to consult his father for wise counsel – so should we open our hearts to allow His Spirit to lead and to guide; to correct and discipline; to heal and protect; to revive and to command – to conform us into the image of Christ.
Good and Gracious
Even those who pride themselves on being intellectually superior to those who trust Christ as Saviour are happy to applaud the Lord Jesus as a good and a gracious man.
David was a man after God’s own heart and Abraham displayed a great trust in God.
The LORD has sought for Himself a man after His own heart1 Samuel 13:14
Elements of a woman, that worships at His feet, in heart and soul. A man of faith – a woman of virtue.
A man of prayer – a woman of wisdom.
A man after God’s own heart – a woman who worships at His feet.
A man of obedience – a woman of humility.
A man beloved of God – a woman, chosen by Him.
As we read through Scripture, we discover one here and we find another there… But in the fulness of time God sent His only Son in the form of man, in Whom would dwell all the godly attributes of Deity bodily – for He is the ultimate Man of faith and virtue, the perfect Man of prayer and praise, the godly Man of wisdom and worship, the loving Man of obedience and humility, the gracious Man so beloved of the Father, Who was chosen to be our Saviour for He is the true Man after God’s own heart.
Marvellous Man
There are many wonderful qualities in this one amazing, perfect, marvellous Man – qualities and attributes that at times were dimly reflected in God’s servants – but every one of which is to be found in Christ in all it’s fulness..
There is one God and one Mediator between God and men, the Man Christ Jesus. (1 Timothy 2:5)
God's answer to everything, God's explanation of everything, and God's means of realizing everything is a Man, the man Christ Jesus.
When this world has run its evil course, this inhabited earth will be judged in a Man.
Men will be judged by what their inward relationship is to that Man.
The question at the judgment will never be of how much good or bad, right or wrong, more or less, is in a man; it will turn upon this one point, Are you in Christ?
It is all gathered up in a Man, and what is in that Man of God for us.
It is all summed up in a Man, the man Christ Jesus.
The Lord continue to open our eyes to His glorious and Heavenly Man, Who is also the Divine Servant.
That is why the Apostle adds that governing clause to his great statement about the new creation, when he says, If any man be in Christ there is a new creation; old things have passed away, behold all things are become new.
There is a Man in the work of God.
There is a Man to whom all the works of God are entrusted.
There is one Man, only one.
All the works of God are bound up with that Man in the glory.
The important thing for us is to see what Christ is; not only who Christ is (though it is important to see that Christ is God), but what Christ is, that Christ is an inclusive new-creation Man; that He is a Divine humanity now, and that He fully and utterly, conclusively and finally, expresses the thought of God.
Fundamental and Foundational
This is fundamental and this is foundational – Check out the scripture from Genesis to Revelation. Scrutinise the teachings of Paul. Plough your way through the Psalms of David. Plunge into Soloman’s Proverbs and time and again and over and increasingly, it comes back to man’s thinking… to our thoughts..
Godly Reminders
The life we live depends on the thoughts we think, as a man thinks so is he. Proverbs 23:7. Let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus Philippians 2:5.
The Psalmist says the LORD knows the thoughts of man, that they are vanity..
while Moses tells us that in the days of Noah:- every imagination of the thoughts of man’s heart was only evil continually.Genesis 6:5.
United Mind
David was an example of a man who knew to refresh and renew his mind: Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts.
and I must decrease in every aspect – until I am nothing and He is everything. But if you are man enough (or woman enough) to accept this challenge, it will mean your mortification and death to self.
Titus is a man that understands that the grace of God touches every aspect of our lives – for it is the grace of God that offers us the gift of salvation, we so richly enjoy,
Final Revelation
God may gracious illuminate the mind of man from His own Spirit-revealed revelation, but God’s revelation to man is an open secret in the scriptures of God: for God, spoke in many ways and means, in time past to the fathers, by the prophets, Hebrews 1:1 But God’s last and final revelation came through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.
John 17:7 God may indeed conceal a matter, but the glory of kings is to search it out – not through dreams, visions, and experiences of man – but via God’s Word: through searching the scriptures daily; through comparing scripture with scripture – through the illumination of the Holy Spirit - The Holy Spirit teaches: comparing spiritual things with spiritual. 1Corinthians 2:13
Trials and Temptations
God reveals patience and other graces through life’s trials and temptations. God develops faith in the man or woman that is thus broken before Him. James tells us to count it all joy when you fall into various trials.
Revelation and Illumination
God combines the revelation in His word and illumination through His Spirit – to bring to light many hidden truths He wants you to understand. The purposes of God’s mysteries are not to tantalise or to tease us, for like Moses, who was shown the glory of God, we can only be shown so much: thou canst not see my face, for shall no man see Me, and live. Exodus 33:20
A Glass Darkly
Yet more and more mysterious revelation from God was unfolded within scripture, until God Himself in the form of Man, showed His face, shrouded in servant-hood.
When a man attempts thus to design his living, to reflect that of Christ, he will fail.
A wayfaring man that so errs in the ways of God, is wise in his own conceits.
Pure Diagnosis
God will often apply His chastising rod on the back of such a man or woman of His.
until in desperation we cry:- depart from me for I am a sinful man O Lord..” Luke 5:8 – until all such aspects or attitudes are rooted out by the Spirit’s two-edged sword.
It was a truth that was hidden from man in the Old Testament, and it was a truth that was explained through Paul in the New.
He was clothed in mortal flesh so that He could be identified as one with our race. God became man so that man could return back into fellowship with a holy God. Christ became sin so that sinners could be covered in His perfect righteousness.
Jesus became the Captain of our salvation to demonstrate how to live godly in Him. He was made in the image of man, that He might destroy the works of the evil one.
Rom.3:10 - save the man, Christ Jesus. Paul told us to set our hearts on things above Col.3:1 For minds can become overburdened with the cares of this world.
Perfect Name
Jesus: perfect God and perfect man.
Jesus - love made flesh and tabernacling with man. Oh that men would praise the name of the LORD, for His name alone is exalted. His glory is above the earth and heaven.
Many of these live lives which from man's point of view are morally almost flawless.
The natural man receiveth not... neither can he know the things of the Spirit of God.
Perhaps the faulty translation is not altogether unfortunate for the natural man is the psychical man, and the psychical man is the natural man.
He is a different species so to speak from the spiritual man.
As the word implies the psychical man is entirely governed and bound by reason, feeling, volition, within a world of sense.
There is only one sure safeguard against the colossal delusion by which multitudes will be carried away in the latter days, and that is a clear apprehension of the teaching of the Holy Spirit concerning soul and spirit and the continual operation of the Cross in the realm of the natural man.
A Study:- Man’s Nature and Destiny
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
Earthly Parentage
The state of the natural man is the circumstance into which all humanity is born.
The man born of earthly parentage has his roots in the earthly generations, and all roots reach back to the one man Adam, who was of the earth – earthly.
For by one man sin entered the world, and by one man came death upon all.
Wisdom of Man
We live in a world where God is despised and yet man seeks after spiritual wisdom!
We inhabit a sphere where man has subsumed the role of God and all has become relative!
An era of insanity, as natural man plans humanities next move – on the chessboard of life: but God has made foolish the wisdom of this world. 1Cor.3:19 And a young child, brought up in the fear and nurture of the Lord has greater wisdom, than the anti-theist minds of the world’s ministers, who so love to play “god“.
The natural man has rejected Christ and remains dead in trespasses and sins.
The unsaved man today, whether Jew or Greek lacks spiritual understanding.
Spiritual Discernment
Sin in its raw state has robbed the natural man of a vital sphere of knowledge – a sphere of knowledge that is the most important of all: the spiritual sphere.
The natural, unsaved man is excluded by birth from spiritual understanding.
Paul tells us: for the natural man, unsaved 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
For let not that man suppose he will receive anything from God.
He is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways. Do you see that?
3 Classes of Man
The Natural Man?
– he is the unsaved man, who needs to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ for Salvation.
– he is a saved man who has trusted in Christ as Saviour, but he needs to get his eyes off the world and onto Jesus.
Christ became a man, so that humanity had a Kinsman Redeemer to atone for their sin.
God-Man
All power in heaven and on earth has been given to this unique God-Man, Christ Jesus, Who ascended to heaven, and at this moment is sitting on the Father’s throne in glory.
But the Father could not have saved mankind – for God is Spirit and man is flesh.
The Lord Jesus Christ
Only a perfect Man Who was made in the image and likeness of human flesh could atone for the collective sin of mankind – and God alone is perfect.
Christ is the only mediator between God and man – there is no other way – NONE.
And when He had come, as a man in His external form, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death — even to death on a cross.
And God will allow His Church and its members oft-times to get into such situations as are altogether beyond human help, in order that He may give the display, which is His own display, in which no man has any place to glory.
To Nathanael the Lord Jesus said, Henceforth (our old English word is hereafter, but I think many people have mistakenly thought that means the after life) ye shall see the heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of man.
Never, never is it necessary for anyone to know that desolation of God-forsakenness while they put their trust, their faith, upon His taking up this age-long issue as Man for man the issue of the light of Thy countenance.
There is much more bound up with it, which the Lord may show us as we go on, as to what kind of man it is who enjoys that opened heaven, but that is with the Lord.
That defines the nature of man in the deepest, the most real part of his being, that he is fundamentally in the sight of God, spirit.
In order to reach and realize all God's thought, God must put Himself into man in the very essence of His being, His very Life.
The Scriptures make it very clear that man's own natural life can never be the basis of the realization of any of God's purposes, that God's own Life alone can be that.
Christ’s Pre-Existence
The foundation and superstructure of Scripture rests on Christ as both God and Man.
God and Man
If Christ was not God, there could be no salvation, for God alone is good enough to pay the price of sin.
But unless Christ is also Man – unless Jesus is our kinsman-redeemer, there would be no salvation – for the price of sin must be made by a perfect MAN. The teachings of His incarnation and atonement for sin is impregnated in Scripture.
Christ’s Incarnation
The incarnation of Christ in human flesh demands His pre-existence, for the bodily manifestation of the eternally existent God is founded on His becoming truly man. What a mystery – what majesty – what a mighty God we have, that He should make Himself of no reputation and choose to take upon Himself the form of a servant – the nature of a bond-slave, and to be fashioned in the likeness of human flesh.
Christ’s Humanity
Who for us men, and for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the Holy Spirit, Who overshadowed the virgin Mary, and was made perfect Man. Christ was accused of being born out of wedlock.
God-Man
He could have called down twelve legions of angels to silence them, but this God-man confounded them with His staggering proclamation, 'Before Abraham was – I AM'.
The foundation and superstructure of Scripture, rests on Christ as both God and Man.
Unique Son
Jesus Christ is the unique Son of God and Son of Man – the chief among 10 thousand.
He is the incomparable Christ – the unparalleled Person – the singular, unique Man.
He prayed 'forgive'– and for every man born of woman and every woman begotten of man He prayed 'forgive'.
The Eternal Gift
This God-Man paid the price for our every sin and He suffered.
This pivotal point in HIS-Story, which flooded the far reaches of creation, as fallen man was saturated with God’s forgiveness. This centralised fulcrum in the affairs of mankind – spans past time and through eternity.
The cost of redemption was high, for the soul of man was submerged in sin.
Price for Sin
Eye has not seen, nor could man imagine the shocking reality of such a sentence.
When man sinned he became a slave of sin, and servant of Satan, with no escape.
Our obligation to be punished for our sin, was removed by Christ, and we have a new obligation to loving obedience and lifelong service: “for He who is called by the Lord as a slave, is the Lord’s free man.
Likewise he who is called as a free man – is Christ’s slave”. 1Cor.7:22
Phil.4:11 Paul is the most astonishing example of a man that was utterly dependent on God, He is an example and sign that his life was not his own, but hid with Christ in God.
No-one but a man like Paul could have walked this painful path through life – yet Paul himself would vehemently argue that all his strength was drawn from above.
Christ in Me
He of all men would discriminate between man’s reason and God’s revelation. He of all disciples would distinguish between man’s reasoning and God’s wisdom. He of all apostles would cry out – it was not he that worked but Christ working in Him.
Meat of the Word
Indeed, there is today a famine for the ‘hearing’ of the meat of the Word of God.. as hungry sheep rush to and fro feasting on much that is harmful to their souls – desiring to know God’s purpose for their lives, while imbibing the doctrines of man. What is God’s will and purpose for the lives of all His disciples? God’s will is clearly stated in Scripture: This is the will (the purpose) of God, even your sanctification 1Thes.4.3 This is the will, of God concerning you that in everything give thanks 1Thes.5:18. This is the purpose of God …that they might know Thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ, Whom He sent.
God’s Purpose For Man
God’s Purpose for us does not have to be extracted from a 12-step programme. God’s Word is the true source of knowledge in understanding His purpose and will. Trace the truth of God’s purpose from before the foundation of the world. Explore the meaning of life from the pages of Scripture – starting with Genesis. God said..
let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.
And though man failed..
God’s purpose, plan and will remain intact. The God-centred man became a Self-centred man, and his progeny from then on were born ungodly and selfish – born in the image of Adam..
I did not receive it from any man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ. (Galatians 1:12 ESV)
When the Scriptures say so much about the knowledge of God and of the truth as the basis of eternal life, resulting in being set free, doing exploits, etc., they also affirm that man cannot by searching find out God, and they make it abundantly clear that it is knowledge in the spirit, not in the natural mind.
Eternal Questions
How we long to know answers to those eternal questions deep in the heart of man.
Human Heart
The human heart desires to know answers to so many unanswerable questions. Believers are not exempt from a longing to know answers to imponderable issues. Man’s mission in life is to discover the unknowable which is hidden deep in the mind of God.
It is possible for a man to be marked by an analytical mind, so that he wants to argue out everything, reason out everything and subject everything to the microscope of his own brain, his own reason, and just see the whole thing right through in that way not accept it until he can understand it like that.
That man will make very slow progress.
Progress in the things of God is simply the growth of our inner man and not the acknowledgment of our intellectual capacity to grasp truth.
And that capacity may expand and expand until there is very little that is available to be grasped, and yet with such there may be the very smallest measure of real spirituality.... The child of God is one whose spirit has been renewed and who has, at the center of their being, a union and a communion with God which is not the possession of any man by nature, and which cannot come in any other realm but in the renewed spirit.
Christ had come and fulfilled all the types,and being the center of all the types, the veil, all that keptGod shut off from man, was now dealt with, and the way was open.There was no need for types now.
The God-Man
The Creator God of Genesis is the Word made flesh, Who came to dwell among man. The Saviour God of Israel is the Man Who was nailed to a cross as God’s gift to man – for there is no other name given among men whereby we must be saved – for salvation is found in none other..
Eternal Claims
No surprise that He could claim, before Abraham was, I Am – and boldly stated – all authority in heaven and earth is given to Me, for He was a Man Who walked in spirit and truth and He was the Son Who did only those things He heard from the Father. The child was to be born of a human mother.
If so, we stand to lose terribly.... Is there something quite distinctive about our lives that says that man, that woman, that young man, that young woman is utter for God, there no doubt about it, you see it all the time, they are utter for God; they are not playing at things, there no compromise with them.
Impossible Burden
This is the most difficult of all tasks for the insatiably curious human mind. It is an impossible burden for the one that declares “give me proof and I’ll believe”. It is always hard for prideful man to admit there are things we don’t understand, but it needs deep humility, founded on faith to admit that we’ll never understand.
God honoured man. This self-existent God created man in His own image and likeness for fellowship. This is not a nice little fairy story, born of poetic imagery or religious desire. This is stark reality..
Awful Truth
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.
Seat of Power
But Christian doctrine has been twisted in many areas to elevate mans supremacy. Man may accept God’s gift as His Saviour 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 Rebellion
This was the root of the struggle in man that goes right back to the way of Cain.
Old Man
Yes – the old self (the old-man) must be crucified and remain in the place of death – and this is an uncomfortable place indeed! Why in heavens name did this Self-Existent Being create man in His own image, knowing that for 6000 years pride would be the attitude of man towards His God.
Service of God
There are many that claim to be in the service of God. Many that claim to be doing mighty works in the Name of Jesus, but thank God that true ministry is not to be judged and assessed by man – but please God that we will all judge and assess our own hearts and motives.
Tools of God
Some ‘base’ men, like Nebuchadnezzar are taken by God and used to His glory. Some adversaries and antagonists are often used by heaven to glorify His Name. Some Christ-haters have proclaimed prophecies… like the great prophetic words of Caiaphas…the High Priest, who identified Christ’s ultimate sacrifice, when he cried:- “It is expedient for us, that one Man should die for the people, and that the whole nation should perish not.” John 11:50. Some are even manipulated to do His will..like those hooks in the jaws of Magog.
Warning Signs
But how often we ignore His warnings and launch out into the deep ourselves – Thinking that our works alone can do the work of the Father: But motive, good intentions, enthusiasm, interest in your fellow-man is not enough – Giving, praying, encouraging, labouring is all insufficient.
— Why did God seek to kill the very man that He had trained for 80 years? Because the circumcising of the flesh had been neglected, And no flesh can serve God – and God has made it very clear.. I will not give my glory to another Isaiah 42:8
Barrier To Sin
Christ was made sin for the world, taking the punishment we deserve in His body on the cross, and the veil of the temple was rent in two, from top to bottom, removing forever the barrier that separated sinful man from a holy God.
Man’s Standard
One denomination sees sin as non-compliance with their self-imposed regulations.
Sin Barrier Broken
Man’s standard for sin will keep believers bound by sin, indifferent to sin or ignorant of sin, while God’s standard for sin is out of our reach.
Trinity in ManMan’s spirit is dead in trespasses and sins until made a new creation and born again.
Man’s body is dying and diseased until we meet Him at His soon return.
Man’s soul is born in the image and likeness of sinful Adam’s old-sin nature, and for the believer, there is a choice – either a spiritual walk or carnal concerns.
It is the new man in Christ, not our body or spirit that should wait in silence on Him.
The Cross simply says that an order, though it be religious, well-motivated, or good-intentioned, but nevertheless proceeding from man in his natural state (not necessarily in defiance of God or in conscious rebellion against Him, but just the expression of man's natural state as he is), the Cross says that this entire order is set aside.
Spiritual growth is the Holy Spirit engraving the Lord Jesus on a man's heart, putting Him into his thoughts, his words, and his ways, just as the Law was engraved upon stones.
A man who is seeking to make money does not always succeed; but everybody knows what his object is.
Before time was created and the stars were formed, God alone existed, and God had a plan to save those who would believe on the name of His Son – and God purposed that man would be saved by faith and that man would live by faith.
Saving of the Soul
In Heb.11:38 we are told that the justified man shall live by faith, which pleases God.
In this verse, we are told that redeemed man can draw back but this displeases God.
The redeemed man is to live out his Christian life by faith, which leads to the saving of the soul.
A Study:- Man’s Nature and Destiny
But he who is spiritual judges all things.1Cor.2:15
Spiritual Man
The spiritual man is identified as one that has the mind of Christ Paul exhorted us: let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus, and by implication this is not a past state but one to which we should strive.
That newborn babe has the mind of a man – not an animal or angel or fish or tree.
3 Essential Elements
For his physical development man requires three vital factors, without which that newborn person would not grow: 1) food; 2) air, and 3) exercise.
The spiritual man likewise needs these same three essential elements, and without these 3 essential ingredients, growth in Christ is blocked.
If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink.
A Study:- Man’s Nature and Destiny
He who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one.
The Mind of Christ
The spiritual man is the one who has the mind of Christ, and Phil 2:5 exhorts us to: let this mind be in you that was in Christ Jesus.
A man with the grossest of sin and the darkest and evil past can be saved.
And being found in fashion as a man, He humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
As you trust your life into His hands, He will show you a way of escape, for there hath no trial taken you but such as is common to man, but God is faithful, Who will not suffer you to be tried above that ye are able, but will with the trial also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. 1 Corinthians 10:13.
In 1939 he opened his first Christmas broadcast to the nation with Minnie’s words:- I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year 'Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown'.
Does not this multi-hued gemstone reflect the life of the perfect Man?
Behold the Man Who is the personification of this spectrum of love.
The blind man said unto Him, Lord, that I might receive my sight.
Consider His Person
Consider Christ Jesus: “Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God, and being found in fashion as a man, He humbled Himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
My determined purpose is that I may know Him. (Philippians 3:10 AMP) There are few words in his writings which reveal how committed to the Lord Jesus this man was.
Here is a man who has had a revelation and knowledge of Jesus Christ greater than any other man up to that time.
Here, after all that, near the end of his life, he is crying passionately: That I may know Him.The very least that we can say about this is that the Christ in view was a very great Christ indeed, who outstrips the greatest capacity and comprehension of man.
Meaning of Poverty
‘Poor in spirit’ does not mean lacking in earthly conditions or worldly wealth, for a destitute man may display much pride – an affluent one humility of heart.
A Study:- Man’s Nature and Destiny
Right Relationship
Christianity as a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus, and is liberating.
Triune Relationship
Our triune God created a triune man for a triune relationship.
Threefold Life
In his epistle to the Romans, He guides us with clarity on the essential guidelines. Man, spiritually dead is separated from God in sin, and it is then that the threefold life begins.
He desires that man and women believe in Him; rely on Him – relate to Him.
Similarly, salvation of the spirit is the first step on the journey of an everlasting story, and every man and woman is offered a role in this immortal drama.
The work in which we are engaged, to which this phrase ach man workapplies, is the building of Christ livingly into the very substance of our being, into the very fabric of our lives.
Grace-Promise-Faith
There are two paths believers can follow in their Christian life, either grace or law, either faith or works, either promise or merit, either God’s way or man’s way.
Rom.8:2. This path promises freedom from the law of sin and death and by living our life God’s way we are not placing ourselves under any man-made regulations or laws – we are not placing ourselves back not under condemnation.
Works-Merit-Law
Man’s attempts at sanctification are counter to God’s way and are founded on man’s merits, and his effort to please God.
The “works-merit–law way”, places the believer under regulation and is founded on man’s merits (man’s works).
Jam.2:10. Paul warns that living man’s way means that: the grace of Christ has become of no effect unto you: for whosoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace. Gal.5:4.
Heart of Man
Once this astonishing principle is embraced, God can work in a believer’s life, and he is freed from the law and enabled to walk by means of the Spirit rather than by means of the flesh.
We are told to: walk in the spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. Gal.5:16. Some erroneously think that the lust of the flesh only means overt sinning, but every type of sin, overt and covert, emanates from man’s heart (from the inner man – the old sin nature).
Sanctification through law, is founded on man’s effort to please God.
Law is man’s work, founded on the man’s merit and accessed through law, while grace is God’s work, founded on the promises of God and accessed by faith.
The true Jew is one who belongs to God in heart, a man whose circumcision is not just an outward physical affair but is a God-made sign upon the heart and soul, and results in a life lived not for the approval of man, but for the approval of God. (Romans 2:29 Phillips)
Paul said: – For I would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me is not according to man.
For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ.Galatians 1:11
Lord Jesus
The book of Acts was written by Dr. Luke and is a sequel to the gospel of Luke. Both books were written to a man called 'the most excellent Theophilus'.
Paul’s Gospel
For I would have you know, brethren, that the Gospel which was preached by me is not according to man.
For I neither received it from man, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation of Jesus Christ – for Jesus said I will build My Church.
STUDY - Character and Attributes of GOD
View of God
A man’s conduct is always determined by his view of God. A man’s conduct is always determined by his understanding of God.
The more we come to know Him – the more we understand Him, but a man’s conduct is always determined by his understanding of God.
All in ALL
Whatever you need – I AM. Wherever you go – I AM. Whoever you are – I AM. Whenever you are – I AM. However you are – I AM. I AM That I AM. But a man’s conduct is always determined by his view of God.
Correct Conduct
God knew that a man’s conduct is determined by his view of Him, and so He began to unveil the indescribable nature of our inexpressible God..
a man’s conduct is always determined by his view of God.
Just remember –
A man’s conduct is always determined by his view of God… and behind it all, is the Divine Purpose to show us that “My Grace Is Sufficient..”
Unique Nature
The unique nature of the Lord Jesus Christ is a topic requiring deep exploration. Without His pre-existence as God He could never have become incarnate Man. He’s singular among the children of men for His birth was not the start of His origin. He’s unique within the Triune Godhead for He was the ONE Person Who became Human. Jesus Christ was the convergence of time with eternity. Jesus Christ was the harmonising of deity with humanity. Jesus Christ was the convergence of heaven with earth.
Unique Priest
He had neither beginning of days nor end of life, but has become High Priest forever in the order of Melchizedek – He is now the eternal High Priest of the Most High God. He came forth from the Father and He returned back to the Father to resume His eternal Sonship, but He returned in the body of a glorified Man : the Man Christ Jesus.
Unique Man
The ancient script of an old Latin inscription displays this timeless truth…
I am what I was – GODI was not what I am – MANI am now called both – GOD and MAN
Heavenly Person
Christ is the Beth’lem-born heavenly-Man Whose origins are of ancient days, and Whose goings forth have been from of old – from the everlasting days of eternity. Christ is the omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent One Who created the heavens and earth, becoming the sinless Lamb of God, slain from the foundation of the world.
Well, you are not alone in your wonderings! Man has puzzled about what God was really like for millennia.
From the first man who sought to discover God, and desired to be like Him, man has been curious about his Creator.
And imperfect man, with imperfect minds muse imperfect thoughts, about a perfect God.
But it is not possible to gatecrash the mind of God - yet foolish man pursues his quest.
A Deep Yearning
Yes, God in His wisdom has placed a deep yearning for Himself in our inner beings. He knows our deepest need is clear, clean, beautiful fellowship with Himself. But God also knows that man’s heart is intrinsically wicked and riddled with sin, and in His wisdom has withheld much that prideful man desires to know of God.
The second way is to let the mind of Christ be formed in you, for as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.
God (the powerful EL) is not a man, that He should lie; neither the son of man, that he should change His mind Num.23:19a.
God’s nature
If we have an understanding of God’s nature we will trust His word. Without an understanding of God’s nature we will oscillate with instability.. often based on the broken promises and shattered lies made by imperfect man: but hath He said, and shall He not do it, or hath He spoken, and shall He not make it good?
Growing Understanding
God is ‘Incomprehensible,’ yet God is also wonderfully ‘Knowable.’ God is ‘Unfathomable,’ yet God chose to ‘reveal’ Himself to man – to unveil His character, little by little..
Deeper Understanding
God chose to expand the depth of their understanding – the “WHO” He Is. This unknowable, unfathomable powerful almighty God.. Who stooped to show Himself to man.
Gen 5:2 And Abraham, the man of faith, who trusted God’s word said… My Adonai – My Lord, (and Master) if now I have found favour in thy sight, pass not away, I pray thee, from thy servant: Gen 18:3
God is ‘unfathomable’ – yet God chose to ‘reveal’ Himself to man.
STUDY - Character and Attributes of GOD
Word of God
In the beginning God spoke to man.
He spoke through His prophets to man. In the end God spoke to us.
Watch – Prepare
Live the life of a spiritual man – put off the carnal lust of the flesh. Look at your position in Christ – not the condition of your circumstances. Prepare your heart for the Lord’s return is near – at the very door. Keep your lamps trimmed, and be filled with the Spirit. Understand what scripture says about these end times in which we live.
Living and Written
In the beginning, God spoke to man by His prophets, but today He speaks to us through His Word.
Peace and Satisfaction
The soul of man was made for God and needs fellowship with God.
Without God, the heart and soul of man is lost and in bondage to a cruel taskmaster – but when a lost soul returns to the Lord he finds peace and satisfaction.
Moral Qualities
Man’s exaggerated assessment of humankind, is that he’s born with moral qualities – qualities that can be worked on and improved, which will be acceptable to God.
Religious man’s inflated opinion is that he is intrinsically good and can only improve, and the more he does FOR God, the more acceptable will he be in God’s eyes.
Nothing is more important to a believer than to grasp God’s view of fallen man: for all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.
Born in Adam, (the 1st man), the human race inherits sin, disobedience, and death.
Born again in Christ, (the 2nd man) -a believer inherits righteousness, obedience, and life.
Either – The federal head of the old creation – Adam, (the 1st man, the first Adam) or – the federal head of the new creation – Christ. (the 2nd Man, the last Adam).
The means whereby we derive our fallen nature from the 1st man, is natural birth.
The mode of acquiring a new, redeemed nature from the 2nd man is a spiritual birth. As Jesus told Nicodemus: marvel not that I said unto thee, ye must be born again.
for an unbloodied sacrifice is the highest degree of man’s presumption.
Religious Mind
Cain demonstrated the ignorance or rebellion of a religious-minded man..
Cain’s example has been adopted by unregenerate man and carnal believers alike: woe unto them!
Christ’s Atonement
The fleshly, carnal, egotistical Self – thinks man can draw close to God, but self-denial through the bloody sacrifice of Christ’s death is the only way, Praise and worship, and grateful thanks is all that man can offer to the Lord, but this can only be offered in full and clear intelligence that our sins are put away – and this can only be known by faith, in virtue of Christ’s accomplished atonement.
A life out of control can result from the old Adam, which Paul calls, “the old man”.
Wise Words
Stanford reminds us:- “When the Father has us prepared by means of Romans 7, He opens the liberating truths of Romans 8- but not until we first reach the point where we can cry out with Paul:- O wretched man that I am!
No man comes to the Father but by MeJohn 14:6He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all, how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?Romans 8:32
A Relative Issue
In today’s modern world, ‘truth’ has become a relative issue and is based on the thoughts, opinions, desires, and lusts of fallen man, but when Christ announced this earth-shattering truth, He placed truth in the realms of the eternal, for He is the singular interpretation of truth, and everything we need to know about God and man is inextricably bound up in Him.
A Relational Matter
He demonstrated the relationship that man should enjoy with the Father and He displayed the way that man should live on earth.
The Fullness of Truth
When the eternal God became perfect Man, He became man in the fullest sense of the word.
He became what man was created to be.
He behaved how man is intended to behave and He lived His life in perfect communion with the Father, just as God intended, when He first created man in His image and likeness, and breathed into him the breath of life.
A Demonstrated Reality
Every step that He made, every action, reaction and decision that He took, every word He spoke and each thought of His heart, was carried out as a man and was carried out for man, for He had laid aside His deity for a season, in order to demonstrate all that God had intended for us, but which man had lost through sin.
The man Christ Jesus has access ‘all things’ – to the inexhaustible supplies of the Father, and through Him we have become God’s children, and have the like-same access: for God Who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all – how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things?
Should not our response be willing obedience leading to righteous sanctification? For just as through one man’s disobedience many people were made sinners, so also through one Man’s obedience many people will be made righteous.
John 4:14 For as it is written, eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him. 1 Corinthians 2:9 Whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst.
God is Faithful
But this I know: if God permits a man to be overwhelmed with sorrow and darkness, which all but brings him to the point of denying His Lord..
destroying faith and hope – God knows how much we can all bear: 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. 1Corinthians 10:13
Hidden Strength
But if God permits a man to be overwhelmed with deepest sorrow and darkest blackness, it will prove in the end to an experience that develops patience, tenderness, and forbearance – and it will give that man a hidden strength and gentleness.
Truths to Remember
Jesus said: And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. John 10:28. While Paul told Timothy to: Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, whereunto thou art also called, and hast professed a good profession before many witnesses. 1 Tim6:12 Job confessed: Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him: but I will maintain mine own ways before him.
To each servant the Lord has given gifts, talents, abilities, jobs, for it will be like a man going on a journey, who called his servants, and He entrusted to them his property.
Fleeting Time
As blood-bought believers and servants of the Lord Jesus, we have the rest of our lives ahead of us, and yet we too are at the very door of our departure from earth... as for man, his days are like grass.
He appealed to the Jews to take note that Jesus of Nazareth was a Man, accredited by God, Who demonstrated His Messianic credentials by His miracles, wonders and signs.
Pharaoh is another example of a man who heard but did not listen, and Pharaoh, in prideful rebellion..
The difference is living your life in the discouraging failure of Romans chapter 7 – where we read: O wretched man that I am!
who shall deliver me from the body of this death… that is (this 'old man' – the old sin nature) OR….
Living Faith
Living your Christian life in the wonderful freedom of Romans Chapter 8 – where we read: There is therefore now no condemnation..to them which are in Christ Jesus (that is to them which are living their lives in Christ Jesus, and not living in the failure of the old man of Romans 7) There is therefore now no condemnation..
And many, like Demas and Orphah, turn back to the world. But this is God’s take on that issue: there hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will NOT suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the trial also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it. 1Cor.13:10
Man is like the grass of the field or the flower that blossoms on the hillside... in the morning it flourishes and is renewed.
So there is every reason that man should walk humbly before the Lord – and to refrain from boastful claims and elevated self-importance.
Today Counts
Let us pursue these truths today. Let us heed and apply these truths – today. Change and decay we see, in all around us yet He is the One that never changes. His years have no end, for He is eternal and He placed eternity in the hearts of man.
All Of God
This concept is often rejected by many, as it conflicts with much teaching today, but the truth of the matter is that man can contribute NOTHING to salvation.
Man cannot add to any facet of salvation, because it is all by God’s gracious power.
Man is not able to contribute a thread or shoe-latchet to the riches of His salvation.
Not Man’s Merit
Redeeming, reconciliation, sanctification, and maturing in the faith is ALL by grace.
All merit belongs to God, and man cannot contribute ANYTHING to salvation.
Law hath dominion over a man as long as he liveth' (Rom. 7:1), but when it has cursed him and killed him the law has no more to say to him; and we are become dead to the law by the body of Christ' (Rom. 7:4), for we have died judicially with Christ on the Cross.
The new life which we have in Him comes to us from Him in heaven, the risen and glorified Man before the Father. -H.F.W.
Our Teacher
The law of God is a schoolmaster to bring the unsaved man and woman to Christ, but once we are saved it is the grace of God that becomes our teacher and instructor.
Free Choice
Unlike the rest of the creation which depends on fixed properties, laws or instincts. Man was created in the image and likeness of God and given volition – free choice.
While the animal & vegetable kingdoms depend on God to uphold and sustain them… man was given freewill to trust in His gracious provision or act independently of Him.
Humanity was endowed with a free-will to submit to God’s rule OR to reject Him – man can believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation OR remain in condemnation.
How blessed to know that He is absolute Master in all things; that even He maketh the wrath of man to praise Him, and the remainder of wrath He restrains.' It is the only thing that can give the smallest comfort in the midst of such a scene of confusion all around us. -F.W.G.
Heavenly Home
And yet our feet are dusty – polluted with the sin and filth of this world, for we are ever yet journeying towards our heavenly home. The Father is there and seated on His throne of grace. At His right hand is seated the Son of His love – the Man; the perfect Man; the Man Christ Jesus - seated on the throne with the Father.
Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for them that love Him.
A Study:- Man’s Nature and Destiny
May your whole spirit, soul, and body be preserved blameless…1 Thessalonians 5:23
Mystery of Man
The mystery of the triune Godhead is revealed in the person of the Son, for no man comes to the Father except by means of the Son... no one.
We read in Genesis that: God made man in His own image, in the image of God created He him – male and female created He them, to have dominion – to rule over the works of God’s hand.
Mystery of Life
The triune God created the triune man in the image and likeness of Himself.
This is one of the great mysteries of life – a mystery that man needs to explore – a mystery that is revealed in the face of the Lord Jesus.
And God created man out of the dust of the earth: BODY.
And God breathed into man the breath of (God’s) life: SPIRIT.
And man became a living being, a unique individual: SOUL.
Contemplate the incredible depth of the Father’s love in the life of a man – for God loved you so much that He sent His Son to die, for you.
Whenever a man or a woman really recognizing the truth that Calvary means the end of I commits himself or herself to the Lord to work it out, the flame of the sword will come round to the point where that flesh would seek to enter into the realm where the first Adam no longer has any standing.
Succinct Outline
Metcalf gives a succinct outline of the problem and the solution – he writes:- The modern teaching of consecration, which is tantamount to the consecration of the ‘old man,’ seeks to bypass the death sentence and, and therefore, only leads to frustration and failure. When, however, you and I are prepared, in simple humility, to make the FACT of our death with Christ our daily basis of life and service, there is nothing that can prevent the uprising and outflow of the new life in Christ, and meet the need of thirsty souls around us.
Consecrated Man
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 consecrated man – a Man set-apart to God.
And He too – the great Creator of the Universe, became a ‘spectacle’ to man.. a sign of suffering, affliction, and ridicule, but also a sign of wisdom, a sign of power... a sign of great resurrection glory – the sign of a life consecrated to God.
Maybe in the physical, but predominantly and principally in the spiritual… “Ye are My witnesses .” the Lord Jesus tells us. 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… though such may certainly be a part of the sanctified life.
“Most growing believers rightly maintain that all must come from the Lord; but instead of taking their actual position of being dwellers in heaven, and coming from there to earth, they 177 only look up to heaven for help as to their walk on earth; and their thoughts and labors are always influenced and dictated by the state and order of things on earth, and instead of seeking the mind of the Lord as learned in heaven, they are occupied with the blessings of man on earth.” -J.B.S.
As A Man Thinks
Wrong thoughts toward God and imperfect attitudes about Him are a death knoll, for all doctrinal error has its roots in a wrong perception of God and His Christ.
The curious thing is that we are warned in scripture of this very problem: for as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.
This incredibly simple text is heavily pregnant with meaning and truth: for as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.
For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.
For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.
For as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.
This is really worth thinking about… for as a man thinks in his heart, so is he Prov.23:7
Leave traditionalism alone that is, the set order of things as it has always been; that framework of things as it has been constituted and set up and established by man; that Christianity which is the fixed, accepted system of things and you will escape a great deal of trouble.
By faith also David and the prophets. Yes, God speaks and man is called to believe what God has revealed. Hear Him. God has spoken - You must trust me completely..
Discipline for known faults or shortcomings we can easily comprehend; but when it is that peculiar order of training which fits a man to be God's instrument and witness, we can no more understand it than the plants of the earth can understand why they must pass through all the vicissitudes of winter in order to bring forth a more abundant harvest. -J.B.S.
The grace-promise-faith way is 100% achievable and done by God for man.
The works-merit-law way is 100% unachievable and done by man for God.
God’s Way OR Man’s Way
The grace way is sanctification God’s way.
The works' way is sanctification man’s way.
Within the inner ‘being’ of man are two continuously conflicting camps:- the old sin nature (the flesh or self-ego) is gained from the old birth in Adam, while the new life in Christ (the spirit of life in Christ Jesus) comes from our new birth.
Faith Not Works
Believers make a choice to either live God’s way, which is the ‘grace-promise-faith’ way, or man’s way, the ‘works-merit -law’ way.
Man’s Prayer
Hence the need for perseverance in prayer. Hence the need for importunity in supplication. In the days of flint and steel and brimstone they needed to be struck and struck.. again and again – dozens of times, before a spark would light up the tinder box.
Self is the circle and center of man's mind in his fallen state; but when Christ is formed in the soul, God is the center and source of everything. -J.B.S.
If any man be in Christ, he is a new creation (2 Cor. 5:17).
The teachings of the kingdom (as illustrated in the Sermon on the Mount) have not yet been applied to any man.
One made its appeal to the limited resources of the natural man and conditioned his life on the earth; the other sets aside the natural man, secures a whole new creation in Christ Jesus, and counsels that new being in his pilgrim journey to his heavenly home.
The same man was just and devout… waiting for the consolation of Israel.Luke 2:25
Jesus the Jew
Jesus was born a Jew and lived His life in full accordance with the Jewish law, for the law, promises, prophecies and salvation must all come through the Jews. And so on the eighth day, after the custom of the law, Jesus was brought to the temple, and there He was seen by Simeon, and the same man was just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Ghost was upon him.
It takes the blending of both of Simeon’s characteristics of justice and devotion… to become a man after God’s own heart.
This man was 'waiting'.
Simeon was a wonderful example of a man who continued seeking God, all his life.
This simple, basic 'formula' is the winning combination in a man or woman of God.
Faithful Life
This faithful godly man was given illumination in his old age, because he demonstrated a life of faith, of love, of patience and – Simeon waited.
The man or woman of prayer has God’s interest as their sole and sublime concern.
Servant Heart
The ministry of intercession probes into God’s desires; God’s will; God’s purpose. The man or woman of prayer has God’s interest as their sole and sublime concern. The intercessor has a servant-heart that looks away from self to the purpose of God, The intercessor is cleansed daily from all unrighteousness.
Man’s Freewill
And God decided ahead of time that the ones that would choose, of their own free-will, to trust Jesus as Saviour would be conformed into the exact image of Jesus Christ.
Lifelong Process
God wants all his children to be sanctified and set apart unto Him, just as the Lord Jesus, who learnt obedience during His life as He grew in favour with God and man.
John was Israel’s final prophet, and he called them to repent and return to God. It is important to see the ministry of John the Baptist in its context of Israel. Paul was the man God chose to give greater insight into Church-age doctrine – and the book of Acts is a bridge from pre-cross teaching to post-cross doctrine.
Son of Man
God – the invisible God, cannot look upon sin and hid His pure face from sinful man.
In Christ Jesus
All God‘s works were performed through the Word – the Word Who became flesh. All God’s blessings and healings – flow through faith in the Man, Christ Jesus, for in Him all things were made and by Him, all things hold together.
Matthew 11:27 Yet He was despised – rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
Access Through Christ
For it is only through the faith in the Son of God, Who loves me that I live; Faith in the Son of Man, Who gave Himself for me….
Do you have faith in the Son of God – the Son of Man… God incarnate?
“According to your faith (in the One Revelation of God Himself) be it unto you.” “According to your faith (in the Lord Jesus Christ) let it be to you.” “Be of good cheer, your faith (in the Son of Man) has made you well.” “Go your way; your faith (in the Son of God) has made you whole.” “Great is thy faith (in Me).
This was a ‘must-be-seen-with’ type o’ guy. What self-confidence – what self-sufficiency – what self-reliance – what a MAN!!! This was a man after men's own heart!
Paul came to the point of absolute surrender, full submission – a totally broken man.
that self-confident; self-sufficient man after men's own heart, became simply Paul.
a little man abandoned in absolute surrender to his Lord.
Paul… a man fully submitted in total brokenness to his Christ – Paul a bond-slave of Jesus.
– Why did He not match their perceived expectations? Because He fell short of their projected presumptions! Daniel’s 70th week was almost ended – yet they missed His first arrival. They knew the little Judean town Beth’hem, Ephratah – yet they called Him a Nazarene. The sceptre was taken from Israel – yet they recognised not the 12-year old child. The king was in their midst – yet they jeered: we will not have this man rule over us.
Man’s Approach
There are many people who would argue that they should certainly get into heaven. Many think they qualify to enter into paradise because of their many good deeds. Many consider that their applaudable attempts to keep the ten commandments are sufficient for God to joyfully fling wide the gates to happiness and bid them enter in. Many think that regular attendance at church more than meets God’s requirements, but this reasoning places the burden of responsibility of access to heaven – on ME. This thinking bases qualification to enter into heaven on Self..
Only Way
It all centres around believing on the Lord Jesus Christ and His work on the cross, for apart from Calvary there is no forgiveness of sin – no salvation – no heaven. Man’s assumption is inevitably that I must win my way to heaven by my good deeds. God’s criteria is believe on the finished work of Christ crucified – and nothing else. The one point men seem to forget is that we are all sinners and estranged from God. Sin is the one thing that separates man from God.
Spiritually Dead
When we entered this life we were born into sin – we were sinners at birth, because we are sinners we are dead in trespasses and sins – separated from God. We are physically alive but our spirit is dead = separated from God; separated forever. Man throughout the centuries has devised many ways to get to God – to please Him, and they are based on good deeds, religious works, keeping the ten commandments.
Christ’s Cross
However, man in his arrogance and pride does not think that God’s way is best, and man in his conceit and vanity has tried to circumnavigate the Word of God. Man in his foolish ignorance – has superimposed his own criteria over God’s Word. But we are all guilty sinners – and we all stand condemned before a righteous God. We have nothing God can accept in payment for our sins – except Christ’s cross.
Christ was born during the dispensation of the Law and had to live a perfect life under the Law, so that He would could become the promised Days-man, who would redeem those born under the law.
Foundational Truth
I once heard about a godly man who read Romans – once, every month of his life.
Two Laws
But then comes the wonderful TRUTH of Romans chapter 6 – identification. Because we are in Christ, we are not subject to the law of sin and death. Because we are in Christ, we are subject to the law of life and liberty in Christ. One saint of God describes it in these terms… He has put our old man – our original self – where He put our sins… namely, on the cross with Christ.
Adamic Life
Just as the sins we committed were placed on Christ 2000 years ago… when He died, so our sinful nature (our old self-life), was nailed to that cross, when He died – our Adamic propensity; the old man; our sin nature was nailed to the cross.
Then the “wretched man” learns to rest in the Victor
The old man was crucified, and you cannot reform him; all attempts of amiable people to reform him are only denying the fact that he has been dealt with in judgment.
The responsible (law) man is not before God now.
Everyone who receives His grace is set free from the dominion of the old man.
Mysteries of God
How God could become flesh is a mystery. How the One from eternity past could take on the form of man remains a mystery. How the One Who is the fountain of all life, laid aside His majesty for us is astonishing.
No surprise that it was reported that no man ever spoke like this man spoke, 'for the words of the LORD are flawless, like silver purified in a crucible, like gold refined seven times', Psalm 12:6.
The Lord Jesus spoke the truth in love when He challenged the woman at the well. He spoke the truth in love to the man born blind – to Nicodemus – to Simon Peter.
They should edify and encourage. 'Let your speech be always with grace, seasoned with salt, that ye may know how ye ought to answer every man.' Colossians 4:6
Immediately the man in himself knew the glory of God.
He knew he was changed, he was in the good of God rest.... This man was a testimony which was the answer to every argument.
Seeing the man there in the midst whole, they had to shut their mouths.
All this can be if we will go the way of this man, and say, es, this has gone on long enough and it has to end, and to end, so far as my giving diligence is concerned, at once, and I do most truly by the grace of God take a deliberate and definite faith attitude toward the Lord Jesus for my complete deliverance and the setting of me upon my feet for His glory, for His praise!I think there will be an issue, and I think it will be e, leaping up, stood upon his feet, praising and glorifying God.May it be so with every one of us.
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John.
Gospel of John
But the Baptist was not the only man called ‘John’ that witnessed of the grace of God.
It proceeded from the Father through the Son – to sinful man in need of a Saviour.
John was a man sent from God, who came as a witness..
to bear witness about Jesus – the Word of God made flesh; the Messiah and King of Israel; the Saviour of ALL the world – the Light that illuminates every man that comes into the world… so that all might believe – through Him.
Special Man
There was a very special man sent from God, whose name was John.
Man has put his hand upon the things of the Lord, and man has made things according to his own mind, and therefore a great deal has come in which is of man and not of the Lord.
Everything that is only of man is going to perish.
Every man's work shall be tried in the fire, says the Word of God.
Every man and woman since creation has no capacity to fellowship with the Lord.
Spiritually Separated
Man is born spiritually dead and can only function through the old sin nature. Man remains spiritually separated from God until they are made alive in Christ: for that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. John 3:6
Alive unto God
It is only at the point of birth from above that our human spirit is made alive unto God. It is only believers that are capable of fellowshiping – or communing with the Lord: for God is Spirit and only the spirit of man can interact with the Holy Spirit of God, and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and truth. John 4:24
Access or Estrangement
The immovable barrier between God and man was demolished by the Man, Christ Jesus.
The veil of the temple, separating man from God, was torn asunder by the Lord Jesus.
God’s High Priest
Before the cross, man had to approach the Lord through a mediator – God’s high priest. Sin offerings, burnt offerings – ANY offerings were made to God through the high priest.
The veil of the temple represented that division between man and God.
But man did not have access to God, for sin separated fallen man from a holy God.
The point in history, when man could worship God in spirit and truth, was the cross.
Our new life in Christ must develop and mature, and our new man will grow and mature as we submit to the indwelling Holy Spirit.
It is often the seeking heart that becomes the butt of Satan’s vicious and prolonged attacks:- 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. James 1:12
God cannot be tempted with evil neither does He tempt any man.” James.1:13.
The Lord’s testings were needful to demonstrate the qualities of the second Man: for we do not have a High Priest Who cannot sympathise with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin, Heb.4:5
He even asked the question, “When the Son of Man comes.. will He really find faith on the earth?” Luke 18:8.
Many times we are reminded that God will give us a way to escape from trials: for no temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man.
Nothing To Do With You
No man or woman, principality or power can touch you or any blood-bought believer.
There is nothing so good or worthy that can gain an unbeliever His acceptance – except believing on the Lord Jesus Christ. It never has and it never will depend on man – it all depends on Him.
Man’s False Perception
Many Christians find this total acceptance by God, very difficult to understand. Many spend much time seeking to remain in His good books, by being “good”, They think that if their foot slips, or temptation strikes, that God’s favour is lost – Not so !!
Blessings of God
How blessed are we who know the blessings of the Lord. “Blessed are the people whose God is the Lord !” Psalm 33:12 “Blessed is the man whose trust is the Lord.” Jeremiah 17:7 “Blessed are those whose strength is in You, Psalm 84:5 “Blessed are all who take refuge in Him.” Psalm 2:12
Many Blessings
There are many ‘Blesseds’ in the Word, that pepper the pages of Scripture:- “Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked.” Psalm 1:1 “Blessed is the man who makes the Lord his trust” Psalm 40:4 “Blessed is the man whom You discipline, O Lord.” Psalm 33:12 “Blessed is the one who listens to Me, Hebrews 12:6 – watching daily at My gates….
Strange Blessings
“Blessed is the one who is not offended in Me…” Luke 7:23 “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial,” James 1:12 “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake…” “Blessed are you when others revile you and persecute you ..” Matt.5:10 “Blessed are you when others utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on My account.
Denial of the old man is where he is most felt, not where he is least felt; and all the light of Scripture cannot promote growth without self-denial.
Here is where most fail, and in this day there is a great deal more zeal to acquire knowledge and intelligence in the wonders of revelation, than to deny the man that has no sympathy with it, nor part in it, but condemnation.
Paul was an example of a mature man of God who was prepared to consider the privileges of this world as insignificant and inconsequential, by comparison with the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus as his Lord.
Stephen was a young man who converted to Christianity at the start of the Church age and was given a leadership role because he was filled with the Holy Ghost and imbued with godly wisdom.
Stephen reminded them that God cannot be confined by man.
But Stephen, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up steadfastly into heaven and saw the glory of God and Jesus standing on the right hand of the Father, and said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God.
And yet as Stephen was being martyred, Jesus stood up - and Stephen said, Behold, I see the heavens opened up and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God.
The day of God's judgement is coming upon the whole earth and many of the terrible physical characteristics and devastating disasters that Zephaniah set out in his prophetic writings, speak of the dreadful 'Day of the Lord', that future, 7-year long Tribulation period, known as 'Daniel’s 70th week' or the 'Time of Jacob’s Trouble'.This man of God wrote his severe warning of the wrath to come during the reign of Josiah, king of Judah.
There are many that like to accuse God and blame Him for the wrongs that this world conceives, but man caused the earth to be cursed because of his sin.
The power of the grave was insufficient to keep the dead body of the sinless Son of Man entombed in the heart of the earth, for in Him was LIFE - the eternal, resurrected life that becomes our life when we trust in Him for salvation.
Paul was a man who was equipped to comfort and encourage other Christians through the difficulties and dangers of life, because Paul was a man who understood the significance of suffering for the sake of Christ.
Paul was also a man that received gracious comfort from the God of all comforts (Who comforts each one of us so that we may be used by Him to comfort other people, who may cross our life-path).
Paul was a man who was also subject to rejection, hostility, sufferings, afflictions, distresses, and opposition.
Paul was a man who was learning that he could not trust in his own ability and cleverness.
God gave an unfolding revelation of Himself to man through His prophetic Scriptures and much of that revelation, though concealed in the Old Testament, was penned to the Church in the New Testament by Paul.
It was eternal God Who is from everlasting to everlasting, Who commanded and caused this wonderful revelation of Himself to be gifted to man, through the Holy Scriptures, and He did it for a purpose: To advance the obedience of faith among all nations.
The literal truth of fallen man and what he is and what he needs is similarly written in the holy Scriptures, all of which point to man's need of a Saviour, and all of which point to Jesus as that Saviour.
This is not what Scripture teaches but was an unscriptural, man-made tradition that violated God's Law.
You disregard the command of God, but keep the tradition of men.' Yes, Jesus accused these religious leaders of totally invalidating God’s command in order to maintain their unscriptural, man-made traditions.
There were many such traditions that these pious people valued above God's Law, but their teachings were leading the people astray and Jesus summoned the crowd to Himself to explain that nothing that goes into a person from outside can defile him, just as religious ritual and Jewish traditions can never cleanse the sin-stained heart of fallen man.
The heart of man is evil continuously and can only be cleansed from above - by grace through faith in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Don’t you realise that nothing going into a man from the outside can defile him?
Jesus went on to explain that a man's heart is defiled by what comes out through his thoughts, motives, words, and imaginations, Sin is conceived in the human heart, it takes root in the human mind, and is finally put into practice through human action: For from within the human heart come evil thoughts, which are translated into sexual immoralities; thefts; murders; adulteries; greed; evil actions; deceit; promiscuity; stinginess; blasphemy; pride, and foolishness.
These are the evil things that defile a man, - not the failure to wash one's hands!
It was the eternal Son, Whom they mocked and ridiculed - Who came to earth as the Word made flesh, so that He could reveal God to man and pay the price for the sin of the whole world.
by condemning the innocent Son of Man to death and washing his hands of his God-given right to uphold the rule of law.
the perfect, innocent and unique Man..
And the Roman governor prophetically declared; Behold the Man.
As a Roman governor, it is unlikely that Pilate knew the significance of those immortal words: BEHOLD THE MAN, but for the wicked Jewish leaders..
those words must have burned their consciences to the core - for centuries earlier the prophet Zechariah had used that self-same phrase to identify the coming Jewish Messiah, the King of Israel - and Saviour of the world: Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the Man whose name is The BRANCH; and He shall grow up out of His place, and His shall build the temple of the LORD.
but the day is fast approaching when ALL unfulfilled prophecies in connection with Christ will be finally and fully fulfilled and we too will Behold the Man, Who chose to die a sacrificial death so that by faith in Him..
Today there is a Man in heaven Who is seated on the right hand of the Father in power and great glory, having been raised from the dead, highly exalted, and given the name that is above every name.
During the six days of creation, we discover in Genesis chapter one that God made man in His own image and likeness, with a mind to think, emotions to feel, and a will to make choices.
The man that God created was destined to rule and reign as His appointed regent over all the whole earth, in total dependence upon his God and in willing submission to his gracious Creator.
And so we read that having spoken the heaven and the earth into existence: The LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life - and man became a living being.
God formed and fashioned the world to be the ideal environment for His appointed king, and having spoken the universe into existence, the Lord God took a handful of His creation and formed and fashioned the dust of the earth into a man.
Finally, the breath of God was breathed into the nostrils the first man: And Adam became a living being.
But none can approach that awesome heavenly throne, for God is pure and righteousness, while man is intrinsically evil and permanently estranged from His presence, for all have sinned and fallen short of His glory, and all are condemned to eternal separation.
BUT praise be to God that there is one Mediator for all men and all women; the Man, Christ Jesus, indivisible and eternal, the incarnate God Who became the sacrifice to pay the price for all men and all women who would believe on His name.
But the plain Word of God still shines as a light in a dark world, proclaiming the eternal truth that there is one God and one Mediator between God and man - the Man, Christ Jesus.
Unless a perfect man from Adam's fallen race could be found to become humanity's perfect sacrifice, mankind as a race would be cursed, condemned, damned, and eternally separated from God, forever.
Praise God that there is one God and one Mediator between God and every man, woman, and child that has been born into this human race.
But the influence of the world is very strong and religious formality resides deep in the heart of all humanity. Participation in man-made rules and regulations and adherence to legalistic practices combine with men's imputed sin nature, causing many believers to be pulled back into worldly ways and revert to the basic rudiments of this world's religious systems. But Paul scolds such shallow resolve in our Christian commitment.
Paul is pointing out that because we are born again and 'in-Christ' we are dead to prideful principles, man-made customs, and religious practices of the world.
Religion is man's attempt to save himself without being accountable to God.
It is adherence to man-made rules and regulations, but faith in Christ is the only way that God ordained for man to live.
Such a securely sealed and secret document, could only be opened by the rightfully appointed recipient... and as John continued to watch the scene unfold, he discovered that it contained the full-force of God's outrage and wrath against sin and only a sinless Man would be worthy to unseal the scroll - but all men are sinners and all fall short of God's glory.
So shocking is sin in the eyes of God, that the full force of His anger and wrath must be poured out in fullest measure, on the God-hating, Christ-rejecting, fallen race of man, living on the cursed earth... to pay for the accumulated sin of the world.
But he was soon to be told that the Lamb on the throne was worthy to break the seals... for the eternal, invisible Son of God had become the visible sinless Son of Man and gained the ultimate victory on the Cross at Calvary.
It was on Calvary's Cross that the full force God's wrath was poured out on the Lord Jesus Christ... the perfect Lamb of God and sinless Son of Man Whose lifeblood was shed to take away the sin of the world and to pay for the price of my sin, your sin, and the sin of the world.
Paul was a man who knew that nothing in heaven or earth could separate him from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus.
For me to live is Christ, was this man's non-negotiable future, and yet he knew that death was the gateway into the bodily presence of Christ.
The future hope of fallen man is tied up with the things of this world and death is seen as the spoiler of life But the sting of death is removed for the believer, and life becomes an opportunity to serve Him, while death is the occasion to be translated into His presence and be with Him forever.
Christ is fully God and fully Man, uniting holy deity with perfect humanity; and fruitfulness in the life of a believer results from the very life of the Son being reproduced within the life of the Christian.Throughout His earthly life, Jesus did not rely on His attributes of deity nor His human abilities to live His life, but He set an example of how every born-again child of God must live if his life is to be fruitful and glorify the Father.
Such an offering is not merely to be an external display of reverent homage or a gesture of pious religiosity, but an inner spirit of genuine gratefulness, a heart overflowing with adoration that springs from the man or woman that is deeply in love with the Lord.
Man may look on the externals, but God looks on the heart, and He knows the inner thoughts and the hidden attitudes of the mind, which can so often mask insincerity in the worship of a double-minded man.
How dare this motley crew of pious religionists and rude mobsters approach, and challenge this heavenly Man, let alone lay hands upon Him and drag Him off to be falsely accused and cruelly tried by Pilate's Gentile injustice and the Sanhedrin's Jewish hatred.
The Aaronic priests would stand in the Temple, day after day, fulfilling their role as mediator between man and God, and the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies once a year and standing before the altar, would make atonement for the sins of the people... as the blood of bulls and calves flowed continuously as a temporary covering for the sins of the people.
Jesus used the illustration of light in much of His earthly teaching, and the apostle John and other New Testament authors frequently referred to Christ as 'the Light Who came into the world' and we rejoice to know that darkness can never overcome Him.A thick darkness has enveloped this fallen world system due to man's sin, and the eyes of every soul born into this sinful race, is shrouded in a deep blackness that can only be removed by the true Light of God Who came into the world in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Light of the world.
Without Christ, the deep darkness of man's inner soul remains blinded to the truth of the glorious gospel of grace, which points to Jesus as the true Light Who alone lights the hearts and minds of all who believe on Him.Two thousand years ago, heavenly Light shone out of the darkness and by God's grace, the beauty of His Light and Life has shone into our hearts and given us the knowledge of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ.
The book of Romans guides us, step by step, through the innate depravity of sinful man and our great need of a Saviour.
Paul traces the great plan of redemption from the first man-Adam to the last Adam-Jesus; from the old creation in the flesh to the new creation in the spirit; from the old sin nature to the new life in Christ; from the curse of the Law to the freedom of grace, and points out that salvation is by grace through faith in Christ alone and not by personal merit or through works of the flesh.
He explains the reason why God selected one man, one kingly line, one particular tribe, one earthly people, one nation under God (the nation of Israel).
He explains that they were chosen to be God's mouthpiece on earth and to bring forth the promised Seed Who would save His people from their sins and redeem the lost race of fallen man.
Paul made it very clear that Israel plainly understood that the Lord required godly righteousness by grace through faith, and not man's fleshly righteousness by works of the Law, but they refused to receive their heavenly Kinsman Who was God's chosen sacrifice for the sin of Israel as well as the Redeemer of the whole world.
There are many places in the Word of God where we discover the symbolism of the union between a man and His bride, pointing to the future marriage between Christ with the Church.
The book of Genesis tells us about the beginning of creation, but before time and space and matter were brought into being, before the universe came into existence and before man was made in His image and likeness - there was only God.
God is and has always been and will be forever and ever, and the Psalmist seeks to place this concept that is inconceivable to the mind of man into perspective, with the words: From everlasting to everlasting You are God.
He is sufficient in Himself and needs neither man nor angels to find completeness.
It is the trusting heart that has confidence in God's character and believes His promises that pleases the Lord, and it is such a man that remains persuaded of God's never-failing goodness no matter what difficulties rise up to confound the heart or confuse the mind.
Obadiah means 'servant of Yahweh' and his name is the singular, identifying mark of this man, for his lineage was not disclosed in Scripture and there is no significant information recorded about him, except that he was a servant of the living God, and prophesied of the downfall of Edom.
As a young man, Esau swore to murder his twin brother, and Edom's ongoing hostility towards Israel is recorded in many places.
Nebuchadnezzar's fluctuating emotions demonstrate the folly of a double-minded man and the importance of knowing the truth, standing firm in the faith, and honouring the Lord in all we are.
And perhaps more than any other Bible character, Nebuchadnezzar is the man that brings great poignancy to Christ's words, For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?
Moses is lifted up in the book of Hebrews as a prime example of faithfulness, for we read: Now Moses was faithful in all his house as a servant, and the Lord used Moses as a testimony of those things which were to be spoken of later.Just as the Law is a schoolmaster which steadfastly points us to Christ and His New and better Covenant, so Moses was a faithful servant whom God used as a trusted sign-post to point us to the coming Messiah, for he testified of those things which were to be spoken about later - the revelation that was to come through Jesus Christ, the Son of God and Son of Man.Moses bore witness of the good news of man's redemption which would come through a greater Prophet than he, a greater Priest than Aaron, and a greater king than David.
When the sinner-man trusts in Christ as Saviour, he is clothed in Christ's righteousness and receives peace with God.
When the saved-man, who is clothed in Christ's own righteousness walks in spirit and truth, he maintains fellowship with the Father and receives the perfect peace of God, which passes our comprehension.
What is man that we should be fearful of him when we have the almighty strength of the eternal God as our shield and buckler... for He is our God and those who reverently fear Him have no need to be anxious or fearful.
But this is often asked by sinners, who do not understand that evil and suffering is a consequence of man's sin, or believers who are trying to live by fleshly works and earn God's favour.
But He is also a God of justice, who can have no fellowship with sinful man.
God gave man one simple instruction, From any tree of the garden you may eat freely.
Man was to work by the sweat of his brow.
But the man and his wife believed God's Word, for Adam named his wife Eve, which means the mother of all living.
The man and the woman were saved by grace through faith in God's Word.
The shed blood of the coming Seed of the woman would be the covering, poured over their race of man - in triumph over the deceiving serpent.
Earlier, He had told them that the Son of man was soon to be betrayed into the hands of wicked men who would kill him, and on the third day, He would rise from the dead.
It was to this man that Paul entrusted the delivery of his letter to the Christians at Colossae.
And so, he sent Tychicus to encourage and comfort their hearts in the midst of the difficult times in which they were living, and to embolden them to preach the Word fearlessly.It was through Tychicus that Paul sent his letter to Colossae, for this faithful friend was a man who brought encouragement and comfort to all those he served.
The godly character of this dear man of faith was manifested in his actions, attitude, and commendable ministry.May we, like Tychicus, walk in wisdom, pray in spirit and truth, redeem the time, and give godly comfort and encouragement to our Christian brothers and sisters in Christ.
Let us give thanks that He is the first-fruits of those who are asleep in Christ - for since by a man (the first Adam) came death, by a Man (Christ Jesus our Lord - the last Adam) came also the resurrection of the dead.
Paul explained that when man sinned against God, all humanity was imputed with a sin nature.
But man did not recognise the wickedness of sin in his own life until the Law was given to Israel.
The Law demanded perfect righteousness and so it exposed the wicked sinfulness of man.
The righteousness requirements of the Law were not given as a means of salvation, for its standard is unattainable... so much so that no man living could ever be justified by it.
God, in His wisdom, knew that sinful man would always fall short of the perfect standard that His holy Law demanded.
Indeed, the righteous requirement of the Law identified the gross sinfulness of man - in order to show people that they needed someone to save them from their sins - for they could never be justified in the eyes of God by their own merit.
Yes, it was the humble Son of Man Who stretched out His arms of love on a cruel Roman Cross and Who suffered, died, and rose again Who established the earth and formed the heavens, in the beginning.
Today the Man Christ Jesus is seated at the right hand of God Father in heaven, in preparation for the day when He will return in power and great glory, for He alone is the Almighty God.
As the sinless Son of Man, He paid the full burden-weight of the accumulated sins of the whole world, past, present, and future, and He also identified with all who would believe on Him so that we might reckon ourselves dead TO those sins as we live our Christian life.
It was by faith that blind Bartimaeus received his sight, and when Jesus saw the faith of the four men bringing their sick friend to Him, He healed the paralytic man.
However, people did not want to hear what this 'upstart' from their village had to say, and questioned His authority, Where did this man get these things?
It was because of Israel's failure to trust in God, keep His covenant, and obey His commands, that the Lord has allowed fallen man to assume authority over the whole earth... until Israel is ready to repent of her sin and accept God's anointed Son as their Messiah.
Before the world began, God knew that man would sin and that rebellion would become part of man's sin-nature.
God knew that Christ ALONE can break into pieces the bars of iron that entrap man's soul.
He alone can triumph over man's greatest enemy - DEATH.
Man is a sinner, and only a Saviour is the answer to man's sin problem.
Fallen man seeks answers in many different places, but God has purposed that there is one Deliverer Who can release us from the domain of darkness.
There is only one Saviour that can rescue us from the terrible, eternal consequences of our fallen state, the 'God-Man' Christ Jesus.
Because of the fall, man was eternally separated from God, and it was only by means of His gracious act of divine intervention (by means of the death, burial, and Resurrection of the eternal Son of God) that man can be delivered from the domain of darkness over which Satan, the god of this world, exercises his satanic rule.
So many of the psalms of David have become special favourites to generations of God's children for this man after God’s own heart so often pens the inner-thoughts that flood our own minds, as we reflect on the wonders of our Heavenly Father and as we consider man's many imperfections in the light of His glorious perfection.
God knows the thoughts and exploits of every man, sinner and saved alike, but He is deeply interested in the reasonings, actions, and attitudes of His own, blood-bought children in a special way.
In this distinctive manner, the Gospel of Luke prepares the reader for the hypostatic union of a holy God with perfect Man in the Person of Jesus Christ - the beloved Son of God and true Son of Man: And Jesus was about 30 years of age when He began His ministry.
In this verse, we read that the Lord Jesus Himself was about thirty years of age when He began His ministry, which shows the critical importance God places on sound preparation and serious training before a man is equipped for an important ministry.
The piece of advice that Paul gives to Titus, and to other Christians in this verse, is to reject a fractious man after a first and second warning.
Reject a fractious man after a first and second warning, Paul explains... knowing that such a man is perverted and is sinning - being self-condemned.
Rejecting a factious man may appear in contradiction to the biblical instruction of turning the other cheek or forgiving someone seventy times seven... but whether aggressive conflict comes from an unsaved man or even a carnal Christian, whose primary desire is to promote discord, it is absurd to quibble or engage in fruitless bickering.
Paul describes this sort of person as divisive and fractious and states very clearly that we are to reject a factious man after a first and second warning.
Grace demands that we do not assume someone to be a fractious man or a religious 'nit-picker' with their first quibbling comment.
We are to reject the fractious man who maintains tunnel-vision, which is continuously critical of those that do not agree with his favourite dogmas and rabbit trails.
In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth, and made man in His own image and likeness..
Sadly, only a few chapters later we read that the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of men's heart was only evil continually.
We also discover later in Scripture that it is faith in God that is credited to man as righteousness..
and as the Lord grieved over His fallen creation and the utter depravity of man's heart..
for He searches the heart and He understands every desire and every thought in the mind of man..
Noah was not a perfect man..
Why do we read that Noah was a righteous man, who was blameless among the people of his time?
Jesus claimed deity, eternality, omniscience, and equality with the Father on many occasions, and the Jews of His day knew exactly what Christ meant when He called God His Father and referred to Himself as the Son of Man, when He forgave sins, or identified Himself with the holy name of God (I AM).
And in declaring Himself as the Son of God and Son of Man, the Lord Jesus was professing a truth that had its roots in eternity past; a fact that was sanctified by the Lord God of Hosts; a truth that was practiced in the earthly life of our Saviour - that Christ was and is and is to come, God Almighty.
I am about to send My herald, who will clear the way before Me. God was telling His faithful remnant that one day, He would send a man to be a voice in the wilderness.
He is the God of all comfort and peace, Who raised Christ from the dead - Whose blood secured the everlasting covenant He promised to His people Israel. He is our Chief Shepherd and Sovereign Lord of all, for He is the Supreme Man and Prince of all pastors and teachers.
Jesus came to His own people, but Israel announced, we will not have this Man rule over us, thus causing their promised kingdom to be postponed - for a season.
Jesus may have been the Son of God through Whom heaven and earth were created, but He also came into this world as the Son of Man, the suffering Servant of Jehovah Who would give His life as the ransom price for the sin of the whole world.He had come to set up God's kingdom on earth, but His own people rejected Him and He finally set His face as a flint towards Jerusalem and the Cross.
And it identifies humility, obedience, love, and purity as godly characteristics which should be manifested in the life of the man or woman of God who is walking in spirit and truth.
The unsaved man does not simply transgress the law of God but is in direct opposition to Him, which is why we read that sin is lawlessness.
It is when the man or woman of God is prepared to admit their weakness and incapacitates, that they are enabled by Him to draw from the bottomless well of His everlasting supply, and drink deeply from the living waters of God's super-abundant provision.
Paul was a prisoner in Rome, but his path must have crossed with Onesimus for this young man had become a Christian due to his teaching, and the ageing apostle referred to him in his letter to Philemon as my son, whom I have begotten while in chains.
Paul wanted Philemon to know that Onesimus was a changed man.
This was the first time that Jesus was brought before Pilate who quickly realised the Man before Him was innocent of the crimes of which He was accused.
Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowds, 'I find no fault in this Man - I find no guilt in this Man.' He found no blemish in the Lamb of God.
The Jew's attempt to have Jesus legitimately condemned to death for blasphemy, treason, rioting, and insurrection, failed utterly... for He was the spotless Lamb of God, the perfect Passover Lamb, the sinless Son of Man.
God used Israel and the Mosaic Law to demonstrate the inability of the Law to provide the salvation that sinful man desperately needed.
It could only reveal the weaknesses and uselessness of the Law to save man from sin.
Although the Law was perfect, it magnified man's sin and exposed the deficiencies of the earthly priesthood - for the Aaronic priesthood comprised of sinners, descendants of Levi, who were also in need of a Saviour.
God in His grace, made provision for man's redemption through the Lord Jesus Christ.
Perfection can never come through imperfect man, and perfection could never be achieved through an imperfect priest in a Levitical priesthood.
Jacob needed to submit entirely to God - and we read that a Man, the pre-existent person of Christ, wrestled with him until the break of day.
And although the Man dislocated the socked of his thigh in the struggle, to demonstrate His unsurpassable strength, Jacob was determined to prevail to the end and receive all that God had promised him - for when the Man said to Jacob, Let me go, for the dawn is breaking, we read that Jacob said, I will not let you go unless you bless me.
It is wise to note that Jacob's experience in his wrestling match with the Man Who dislocated his thigh is very similar to the trials, tribulations, and testings that each one of God's children experiences when He wants to teach us an important lesson, instruct us in a necessary truth, or fine-tune our faith in Him.
The Lord even forbade this man of God to have a wife, as a sign of the imminent disaster that was about to befall the nation.
And so, in a chapter that pronounces the destruction of Israel's wealth, the loss of their inheritance, enslavement to their enemies, and a curse on the man who places his trust in the flesh, Jeremiah also gives wonderful reassurance to the faithful remnant who place their trust in the Lord: Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, is Jeremiah's declaration from the Almighty God, For he will be like a tree planted by the water, that extends its roots by a stream, and doesn't fear when the heat comes.
He looks on the inside and reads the heart of a man.
The Lord knows the thoughts of man's mind and the motivation of a man's heart.
I, the Lord test the mind of man.
I, the Lord even give to each one according to his ways, for I, the Lord reward man according to the results of his deeds.
And so we read that this young man asked the Lord for wisdom and knowledge.
which are only given to those that have spiritual discernment through the indwelling Christ - for the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned, but he who is spiritual, discerns all things - by His goodness and grace.
The Lord Jesus was born to become the representative Man, upon Whose shoulders rested the future of humanity and the salvation of the human race.
And unless He was also fully human, He could not have become the representative-Man, our Kinsman-Redeemer, and the appointed federal Head of a new creation of mankind.
Only the perfect Son of Man could have died in the place of the fallen sons of men.
Only the risen God-Man could give His resurrected life to those who believe in His name, making each one part of a new creation in Him.
And by His death, He paid the price for man's sin and destroyed the power of sin and death in the lives of all who trust in Him, thus becoming the Federal Head of a new creation of humanity.
This is the time when the successive ages of man and the millennial rule of Christ, in which the gospel of God and the good news of Christ has reached the distant shores of humanity will be brought to its close – the time when everything will be gathered up together, in Christ, and given back to God.
From his early years as a shepherd-boy, this man was an out-doors kinda-guy and must have witnessed many thunderstorms and other natural phenomena.
The Lord brought the earth and all created things into being by the Word of His mouth, and the majestic display of a thunderstorm with its flashes of lightning and great reverberating thunderclaps, brought this man-after-God's-own-heart to his knees, in humble worship of God's astonishing greatness.
One man they chose was Stephen who was soon to became the first Christian martyr.
The man appointed to ease internal tension, would also increased external hatred for the fledging Church and give rise to the spread of the gospel beyond the city boundaries.
Stephen was a man full of grace and power, and he performed great wonders and signs among the people.
As stones were being hurled at him and smashing his body, we read that a young man called Saul was also being prepared by God to become Christ's chosen apostle to preach the good news of gospel to every creature - Gentiles as well as to Jews.
No man can be saved because of his birthright, bank balance, talents, good works or religiosity, for all have sinned and fallen short of God's glory.
Paul needed to address this false notion that the unbelief of man nullified the faithful promises of God.
He wanted them to understand that God is not a man that He would change His mind or reject His people and so, anticipating their reasoning, he asked a rhetorical question of his readers: Shall Israel's unbelief make the faith of God without effect? - will their unbelief make the assurances of God ineffective?
And Paul continued his teaching by saying, Rather, let God be found true, though every man be found a liar, as it is written, 'that You may be justified in Your words, and prevail when You are judged.'
Whether Israel rejected God's Word individually or nationally, man's unbelief could never cancel out the truth of God's Word.
The character of God dictates that His Word is true and this will be confirmed and upheld when fallen man stands before Him on judgement day.
The testimony of David, which is quoted in Romans, establishes a truth we all need to understand - that God is justified in His dealings with sinful man, for we are all guilty creatures in need of His gift of grace for our salvation... and any presumptuous accusations that men may make against God's Word or His Character will simply condemn the sinner as a liar and justify the Lord in His righteousness.
In the end, all He says and does will be justified and His righteousness will be contrasted with man's unrighteousness... for the unchangeable God cannot lie for He is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
It is the start of the 'Day of the Lord' which covers the seven year Tribulation period and the subsequent thousand year Millennial Kingdom, when God Himself, rather than fallen man, will rule and reign on earth through Jesus Christ, the righteous God-Man.
As the eternal Son of God He would give His life as the perfect Son of Man for the sin of the world - so that all who do the will of God, by believing in Him..
The sacrifice of animals whose innocent blood had been shed for many centuries, was only a temporary means to cover man's sin until God's one and only sacrificial Lamb was nailed to a Cross so that the wrath of God could be poured out in full measure on His sinless head so that the price for our sin could be paid in full by Him and the power of sin, death, hell, and the Law could be broken in our lives.
In the Old Testament, the high priest was appointed of God to represent man to God, for sinful man cannot approach a holy God and needs a mediator to stand in the gap.
The high priest is the one that stands between God and man, to offer sacrifices to Him, in order to atone for man's many sins.
Although our Great High Priest is the eternal Son of God, He laid aside His glory and became the incarnate Word of God so that as the perfect Son of Man, He could identify with the human race in every way.
The sinless Son of Man did not need to die, for sin is the reason for death, yet He chose to die and willingly gave up His perfect life so that our punishment was paid and also that we might receive His life in us, the new life in Christ, and that we might have it more abundantly.
The Holy Spirit of God, Who in times past, moved prophets of old to pen the sacred words of Scripture, is the same Breath of God, Who breathes life to the spirit of a man when he is born from above.
Jesus taught His disciples many things that would happen during the dreadful 'Day of the Lord' which would precede His coming, earthly kingdom, and in verse 26, He describes the wicked state into which the world will sink as the time for His return draws closer: Just as it was in the days of Noah, we read, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man.
The days of Noah were written about in Genesis 6 where we read: Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually.
As the Great Tribulation advances through its pre-determined course, the evil in the world will progressively wax worse and worse and every imagination of man will become increasingly and continuously corrupt and wicked.
As we wait for the any-day return of Christ and the Rapture of Church Age believers, we are witnessing a cascade of evil flooding the earth which is reminiscent of the days of Noah - when the Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth.
However, when the Restrainer of evil is taken out of the world at the time of the Rapture, how terrible will it become on earth when the wickedness of man reaches its fullness and every intent of the thoughts of men's heart will only be evil continually.
Indeed, the peace of God which passes all human comprehension, is a gracious gift from our Heavenly Father which is promised to all His children through Jesus Christ our Lord, for it guards the heart and mind of all who cast their cares upon Him.God's peace is the gracious gift that under-girds our going out and our coming in, and every man or woman of faith in Christ, is promised that heavenly peace will garrison our heart and mind in every difficult circumstance or troublesome situation.
No one but the sinless Son of Man is able to become man's kinsman-Redeemer.
and the sacrifice for the sin of mankind had to be given by a physical MAN, who was willing to give His life as a ransom for many.
It was by His death as a perfect man that Jesus paid the price for sin..
As the perfect Man He died to pay the price for sin - and as the eternal God, Who had life in Himself He rose from the grave, so that His life would become the life of ALL who believe on His name.
God loved the world so much that He gave His only begotten Son - the eternal Son of God to be born as the perfect Son of Man.. so that by His death we might be forgiven and by His life we might have eternal life..
And Paul also mentions the astonishing and immediate judicial changes that take place in the life of every man and woman, who trusts in the death, burial, and Resurrection of our Saviour Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of sins and life everlasting.
The Lord Jesus was soon to demonstrate how deep that love was for all who receive Him as their redeeming sin sacrifice, for greater love has no one than this, that the Man Christ Jesus, God incarnate, would lay down His life for His friends.
And so He gave us a new commandment, a command that sums up the perfect Law of God in one simple act: Love one another as I have loved You, for in so doing, we perfectly fulfil the requirements of God's law and the will of God’s heart for all His children, for what is impossible for man is possible with God.
It is always a joy when a man or woman trusts in Christ as their Saviour and sets out on their life-journey with Jesus at the helm, but what a thrill it must have been for Paul when Titus, his true son in the common faith, was ready to take on full responsibility for the establishment of the Christian churches throughout the Isle of Crete.
His peace resides deep within our inner man and is our ever-present possession - when we look to Jesus and focus the eyes of our minds upon HIM.
The Christians in Thessalonica were fairly new believers, but Paul had made sure that he taught them the full counsel of God, including prophecies about the Rapture, the Great Tribulation, the coming man-of-perdition, and the terrible wrath of God that will be poured out on a world that rejected Him and refused to be saved by faith in Jesus Christ.
He had told them that something was restraining the man-of-lawlessness from emerging onto the world scene.
It prevented the prophesied man-of-lawlessness from emerging onto the world scene before God's predetermined time.
He reminded them that Daniel taught that the identity of this man would not be revealed until God's appointed time.
Lawlessness is a mystery that is secretly but constantly working within this world and will continue to spread like a cancer until it produces the prophesied man-of-sin - the Antichrist.
It is THEN that the man-of-sin will be revealed.
In this passage, Paul reminds them of many things the man-of-sin will do, while the prophet Daniel tells us that this satanically inspired man will come onto the world scene for seven years, during which time God's wrath will be poured out on a God-hating, Christ-rejecting, sinful world.
Could they not watch and pray with Him for one, short, critical hour, as the Son of Man prepared Himself to carry the weight of the world's sin on His sinless shoulders?
Jesus, the Lamb of God and Shepherd of Israel had come to set up His eternal kingdom on earth BUT He was despised and rejected by those He came to save: We will not have this Man rule over us, was Israel’s final pronouncement, Crucify Him!
Throughout His earthly life, the Lord Jesus ignored the unscriptural traditions of the elders and would knowingly violate the unbiblical customs of the Scribes and Pharisees, and disregard their man-made rituals and manufactured ceremonies.
The Son of Man Whom they now confessed as Son of God was full of grace and truth, and He was shortly to display a love so staggering, that it baffles the minds of men.
No one can love as Jesus loved by their own imperfect human effort, however hard we try, for the love of man is but a faint reflection of the glorious Son of Righteousness.
The perfection of God and His perfect Law cannot be carried out by imperfect man in the power of his fallen flesh, for the old sin nature dictates that we are sinners and sinners cannot achieve perfection.
But God in His grace has done for humanity what man, in the weakness of his fallen flesh, could never achieve.
Perfect God became perfect Man, in the likeness of sinful flesh.
And as the Seed of the woman and Son of the Father, the Lord Jesus Christ became Man.
The one and only perfect member of the human race, was born without the fallen sinful nature of Adam's fallen race and He alone lived a perfect life, a sinless life, a life that was lived in the power of the Spirit of truth, and a life that died a perfect Man to the glory of God.
In His sinless flesh, He carried out every jot and tittle of God's perfect Law, which imperfect man could never achieve - thus Christ fulfilled all the righteous requirements of God's perfect Law on behalf of imperfect humanity.
He is the Son of God and God the Son, Who became the Son of Man and our great Kinsman-Redeemer.
The Son of God is the unique Man Who has the authority to claim to be Alpha and Omega, the Beginning and End, the First and Last, the Lord God Almighty, the self-existent and self-sufficient One.
Jesus is the one to Whom every Passover lamb points - for just as these Passover lambs were slain their firstborn sons, so Jesus came to die in the place of sinful man. He was sent to redeem His people from their slavery to sin so that by faith in Him, they would LIVE.
It was to be a picture of the perfect Passover Lamb Who would come to earth as man's Kinsman-Redeemer to take away the sin of the world and become the sacrifice for our sin.
The eternal Son became the perfect Man to demonstrate to sinners like you and me - who would be saved by grace through faith in Christ - just HOW we should live, as children of God.
Man cannot begin to imagine the physical torture that Christ had to undergo on behalf of the sin of the whole world, but the emotional and spiritual anguish that He must have endured when His Heavenly Father turned away from Him and poured out the full force of His godly wrath upon Him in payment for the accumulated sin of the world, which He carried on our behalf, is beyond our finite imagination and staggers our limited understanding.
The Lord delights in the man or woman that has a teachable spirit, the one that admits to their lack and yearns for the truth of God's Word.
Godly wisdom flows to the man that is humble in heart, meek in spirit, and gentle in demeanour, for true wisdom from above is born of a childlike attitude and received by the one that submits to the Lord's will, desirous to learn His works and ways.
There are many today that lie in wait to trip and trap the man or woman that is placing their trust in the Lord.
If anyone had a mind to put confidence in the flesh, Paul was the man!
BUT he was a man who learned to put no confidence in his own flesh but to put ALL his confidence in Christ and Christ alone.
The deeds undertaken by 'the old man' (the old sin nature - our human ability), which we received from the first, 'terrestrial' creation, when we were born of Adam, can produce nothing of value, but wood, hay, and stubble.
We are to be strengthened in the 'inner man,' through the power of the indwelling Spirit of God.
When a man or woman turns from their sins to Christ and is cleansed by the washing of the water of the Word of God, the result is a good conscience before the Lord.
Only the shed blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, Who became a Man and paid the ultimate price for the sin of the world through His sacrificial death, was sufficient to pay the price of sin.
In a time when food was regularly offered to Roman gods and sacrifices made to pagan idols, Paul knew that believers, who had engaged in these ungodly practices before their salvation, were often repulsed by the thought of eating food that had been sacrificed to these false gods, while other Christians understood that it was not eating the food that defiles a man, but his attitude of heart.
The second chapter of James confirms an important Christian principle that Jesus established in His Sermon on the Mount - mercy will be extended to those that show mercy, while the merciless man will face God's judgement.
James approached his teaching about mercy from the standpoint of human partiality, where a man judges another to be worthy or unworthy because of his outward appearances, financial status, educational prowess, charismatic qualities, political views, or some other humanly acceptable attribute.
The Lord does not demonstrate any bias towards or against a man because of his outward appearance or magnetic personality.
He does not favour someone on the basis of their privileged status nor does He show disfavour because of a man's lack, and neither should we.
While those that are merciful will receive mercy, this verse is a sombre reminder that those who lack mercy, by exhibiting prejudice against their fellow man and discriminating against their neighbour, will have no mercy shown to them.
God will punish the unmerciful man unmercifully.
His judgement will be merciless against the one who does not show kindness to his fellow man or discriminates against his neighbour.
We will, one day, be judged by our words, our works, our spiritual fruit, and our behaviour towards our fellow man.
And yet this was not the attitude of the Lord Jesus Who set side His heavenly glory in order to be made in the likeness of sinful man.
God, the eternal Son and divine Creator, did not try to keep hold of all that is His by right of His unique position and person, but humbled Himself and laid aside His glory, in order to become subject to His Father and live as man was originally created to live - only doing those things that He heard from His Father and only acting on the instructions of the Holy Spirit.
Jesus was fully human yet fully God - the unique God-Man.
This was the one and only 'hypostatic union' of God and Man, uniting the humanity of Jesus with the divinity of God in one unique, individual Person.
Yet He veiled His glory, emptied Himself of His glory, left His place in heaven, and took upon Himself the form of a bond-servant by becoming a real Man.
The Law that was given to Israel through Moses caused an instant and bitter division to be set up between Jew and Gentile; and that same Law drew significant differences between male and female and between the free-man and the bond-slave.
Man is indeed unique in God's entire creation and although we are made in His image and likeness, we sinned, and by right, our entire race should have been eternally separated from God.
Oh, man have been blessed beyond compare because of the gracious pardon that we have received and the eternal salvation that we have been given, by grace through faith in Him, and the benefits that we enjoy are beyond our wildest imaginings, for God ways are so different from our own.
Indeed, multiple times in the Gospels, we hear Jesus telling people, My hour has not yet come - My time has not yet come. But God's Word is never broken, and the perfect time came, as recorded by John: The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
But because of His great love, He came as our representative Man to be a pattern for our learning, living His life in the power of the Spirit, to demonstrate how we too should live.
One of the essential elements of the Passover celebration was purification. The Law of Moses identified many external ways that a Jewish man or woman would become unclean, such as contact with a dead body or contracting some contagious, physical disease.
But Scripture also taught that God requires moral and spiritual purity of the inner man.
The shocking way that the religious leaders plotted against the King of glory for their own selfish ends, shows the depths of defilement to which man will stoop when their heart is not right before the Lord.
Only the incarnate God can authoritatively proclaim, I am the Light of the world. Only He is able to lift the one that is dead in trespasses and sins out of deep darkness that has permeated man's soul.
He is the unique Son of Man, in Whom is eternal life, and that life was the Light of men, which shines in the darkness, and the darkness cannot overwhelm it.
This is reinforced in Proverbs 16, where we read that an old man's grey hair and other symbols of his advancing age should not to be pitied or considered as detrimental, but rather should be praised and seen as a badge of honour.When a man has trusted God with all his heart during his lifetime and acknowledged the Lord in all his ways, his grey hair should be seen as a laudable crown of glory, which is often rewarded by a long and fruitful life.This is not to imply that ONLY older people who have honoured the Lord during their lifetime benefit from a long and productive life.
This verse is rejoicing that the silver-haired head of a godly old man, is a thing in which to rejoice – for it is a crown of splendour and a garland of glory.Similarly, this is not to insinuate that only older men who have grey hair are crowned with glory, but that an older man (irrespective of his hair or lack of it) who has trusted God in his life, is graced with certain wisdom and sound judgement that comes from above and deserves the respect and honour of the younger generation.There are many older people who mourn the loss of their good looks or bemoan a decline in their physical fitness, and although physical beauty and youthful strength are often held up as desirable, it is rather the godly wisdom of a mature man-of-God or elderly lady-of-faith that should command the respect and reverence of those that are younger.
When Solomon became king of Israel, we read that the Lord God appeared to him one night in a dream and asked this young man what he desired most and what request he would ask to receive of the Lord.
Knowledge and understanding of the Lord Jesus and His Word should be high-up on the priority list of the man or woman who is growing in grace and maturing in the faith... and we have been promised that if any of us lack wisdom we should ask it of the Lord, for He gives generously and without reproach... BUT there is a condition.
The man of God must ask in faith and not doubt the Word of the Lord, for the one who doubts proves himself to be spiritually unstable and is driven and tossed by every wind of change.
Solomon was a man who had observed God's faithfulness in his father's life and because He trusted in Him, the Lord heard and answered his prayer of faith in an astonishing way.
This glorious vision of the Son of Man shows Him standing in the midst of seven candlesticks, representing of the full Body of Christ - the Christian Church, which He Himself is building today.
The candlesticks have no light of their own and should never seek to bring glory to themselves, but individually and corporately, we are to reflect the light of the Lord Jesus, the Light of the world Who lights every man that comes into the world.
He was the man who stood up on the day of Pentecost and proclaimed, Men of Israel: Jesus the Nazarene - a man attested to you by God with miracles, wonders, and signs which God performed through Him in your midst - this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a Cross by the hands of godless men, and put Him to death.
The Son of God Who became the Son of Man was the Stone that the Father ordained from before the foundation of the world - to be the Bedrock upon which our faith is to be founded.
We discover the wonderful hope we have in our eternal God, as the antithesis of man's devastating despair in this fallen world system.
We hear of the futility of man's fleshly accomplishments and the emptiness and pain that permeates every aspect of life, when God is excluded.
We discover that the continuous ebb and flow of human activity, secures the soul of every man in the iron-grip of death, and no-one is exempt.
Yet Solomon's conclusion, when all had been evaluated, is that man's duty is to fear God and to keep His commandments.
At times, the contents of this book sound like the ramblings of a depressed man, interspersed with little glimmers of hope and injections of joy here and there.
Chapter 4 opens by lamenting that the oppression of secular society brings nothing but misery to a man, while the accumulation of wealth brings emptiness, unless there is someone with whom it can be shared! Despite his great wisdom, intellect, fame, and fortune, Solomon discovered all his privileges and accomplishments were vain and futile.
Although Solomon was a man who forgot to pay heed to the advice of his own father, he wanted his sons to make wise choices in their life-journeys.
He recognised his own personal achievements, intellectual greatness, fabulous wealth, military might and far-reaching fame were no more beneficial to a man's eternal soul than chasing after the wind or trying to catch hold of a passing breeze.
Two are better than one, he observed, for if someone can overpower a man who is alone, two can resist him - and a cord of three strands is not quickly torn apart.
had this great king of Israel been a man after God's own heart, like his father, David, and remained true to the Lord and humble before Him, his experiences in life may have been very different from the disappointments he underwent in his secular pursuits and the futility he found in the life he lived.
The Lord Jesus, Himself, said, I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no man comes unto the Father but by Me, and this elderly disciple of Christ rejoiced because these children were occupied with Christ and obeying His command - which from the beginning was to love one another.
The man or woman who is walking in truth is the one who is not only doctrinally sound... but who is humble of heart, growing in grace, standing fast on the Word, rejoicing in the Lord, and living in love and unity with their brothers in Christ.
Paul reassured these worried saints that the 'Day-of-the-Lord' which will usher in the prophesied time of judgement - and which precedes the Millennial reign of Christ, will not come until the man of sin is revealed.
He explained that God's wrath was not being poured out on them, even though there were going through much persecution - because the man of sin had yet to arrive on the scene.
The rebellious man of sin and Satan's evil plans were being held back by the prayers of the saints in Paul's day... and the man of sin and Satan's evil plans are continuing to be restrained today.
Sadly however, some interpretations of 2nd Thessalonians are only based on the initial summary statement and ignore the later verses which show that the Holy Spirit is restraining evil and suppressing the rise of the man of sin... and He is doing His restraining work through the prayers of Christians who are members of Christ's Body and His earthly ambassadors and representatives.
Once that restraining Body is removed THEN, and only then, will the man of sin be revealed.
Only after the Restrainer is removed, will the man of sin be identified and enabled by Satan to carry out his nefarious deeds and perform many lying signs and ungodly wonders - until he is overthrown by the breath of Christ, at His Second Coming.
It describes in detail man's total inability to succeed in keeping the law in his own strength.
Chapter 7 describes the man or woman who fails in their attempt to live a holy life in their own strength and who has to finally admit..
oh wretched man that I am ..
Paul paints an amazing picture of a man who is groaning under the weight of the law, the burden of sin and the sentence of death in Chapter 7, but contrasts this failure with the successful Christian life which is found in chapters 6 and 8 - and it is ALL found in Christ. Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord, was Paul's joyful song when he discovered that without Christ I can do nothing - but I can do all things through Christ Who strengthens me.
An unguarded tongue or the inability to maintain trust can become a sharp blade that can slice through a valued friendship, and the Scriptures remind us that a gossip betrays a confidence, but a man of integrity keeps a secret: A talebearer reveals secrets, but he who is trustworthy conceals a matter.
And so it was that in the 6th month of Elisabeth's pregnancy that the angel Gabriel once again became a messianic messenger who was sent from God into a city in Galilee - called Nazareth - to a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, because he was of the house and lineage of David, Israel's greatest king.
He knew the evil intent of his heart and this time God permitted the magician to travel to Moab, but commanded the man to only speak the words that God put in his mouth and do only what the Lord instructed him to do.
In the morning, this mercenary man quickly saddled his mule and set out on the journey to Moab - riding his donkey.
He was angry that despite knowing that God's almighty power was unassailable, this foolish man set out to curse His chosen people.
The authority of the angel was greater than his mercenary master and his big stick, which this man cruelly used to strike the defenceless creature.
Balaam is a perfect example of a man whose love of money brought him to destruction.
A man who could have been greatly used by God to preach truth to a pagan nation, allowed his love of money to destroy his life and tarnish his reputation, and yet the spiritual sensitivity of a little dumb donkey was greater than his master.
His teaching in those early days was only addressed to the lost sheep of the house of Israel, especially those who had repented of the nation's past sin of apostasy, through John's 'baptism of repentance'.Knowing that the message of salvation is: Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will be saved, indicates that this 'Sermon on the Mount' is not addressed to unbelievers, but a message to those who are already believers in God. Christ's 'Sermon on the Mount' points out that sinful actions are conceived in the heart, and that a false 'righteousness' is hidden within man's fallen nature.
But sinful man cannot change the hard coldness of a heart of stone.
He came to pay the price for man's sin and to be crowned as Israel's King of kings.Whoever may be the main target audience, the Sermon on the Mount is not for unbelievers, but sets out a pattern of holy living for Jew and Gentile believers alike, that can only come through the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit when the inner heart of a believer has died to self, and lives for Christ alone.
The failure of Romans 7, which came by carrying out works of the flesh in his own strength, ended in defeat for Paul who cried out: Oh wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? (i.e.
The old sin nature in the unregenerate man or the Christian who is living carnally, is defenceless against the power of the law of sin and death which is at work within every member of the human race.
The disobedience of Adam's rebellion, which resulted in man's misery, has death as its final outcome.
Sin entered into the world affecting every member of the human race, and death came into the world and spread to all humanity, as a result of the sin of that one man, Adam.
For the sin of this one disobedient man, Adam, brought death to many.
But God's wonderful grace and His gift of forgiveness is so much better, for whosoever will may be forgiven of their sins, through one perfect Man, the Lord Jesus Christ.
This glorious truth needs to be shared with as many as possible, and Peter tells us of the Lord's desire: Not willing for any to perish, but for all to come to repentance. Let us tell as many as we meet, that although through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all mankind, because all sinned, all mankind has been redeemed through the precious blood of one Man.
His was a life that began with great promise when the Angel of the Lord announced his birth to the barren wife of a man named Manoah.
However, despite his flawed character, God used this man greatly to forward His redemptive plans and purposes.
In spite of his sinful behaviour, God used this man to defeat Israel's long-standing enemy and following the defeat of the Philistines, Samson ruled over Israel for 20 years.
And although God had blessed this man with great strength and set him as judge over His people, the time came when the Lord withdrew His blessing.
While the story of Samson is a stark example of unfulfilled potential in the life of a servant of God, it also gives us great hope... for despite his deeply flawed life, Samson is a man who is named in the great chapter of faith in Hebrews 11.
So deep was the stain of sin on the body and soul of man, that it was impossible to recondition or retrain the old fallen nature.
The sentence of death is on every man that is born into the world - and none are exempt.
And so crimson are humanities sins and so polluted mans' sin-stained life, that every characteristic of man needs to be started afresh - for all are born in the fallen image of sinful man who was made from the dust of the earth, but only those that bear the image of the heavenly Man will see the kingdom of God.
The only way to be redeemed is to be moved from the old creation into the new in order to bear the image of the heavenly Man.
The only way for sinful man to become a new creation in Christ is to be given a regenerated spirit, a sanctified soul, and an incorruptible body as a gift of God's grace.
The body that began its march to death the moment we were born into this world will be changed in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump, when the heavenly Man comes in the clouds to take us to be with Himself.
But just as we, who have been saved by grace through faith in Christ, were born in the image of the man of dust, so too we will also bear the image of the heavenly man - for He Who started a good work in us at salvation WILL complete it in the day of Christ Jesus.
Our soul is being conformed into the image of Christ, day by day, from glory to glory, and the day is coming when we will finally reflect the full image of the heavenly Man, for this corruptible body will put on incorruption.
In His grace and kindness, God intervened in the long-standing bitter enmity and deep-seated mistrust that existed between Jew and Gentile by making them into one new man in Christ.
He intervened in the enmity between God and man by bringing all who trust in Christ Jesus as Saviour back into close fellowship with Himself.
He married sinful Jews with sinful Gentiles, baptising them by the Spirit of God into the one New Man in Christ, which is the Church.
This simple statement is sufficiently elementary for the youngest child to understand, and yet so lofty that man's combined wisdom is unable to scratch the surface of its true meaning, or plumb the depth of its wider significance.
The disciples had to finally come out of the sheep-fold of Israel to become part of the one new man in Christ where there is one fold and one Shepherd.
Even though he was a member of the Sanhedrin, a teacher of the Law, and supposed himself to be a guardian of the truth, Nicodemus was a man who was spiritually impoverished.
He did not understand the spirit of the Law and the need for fallen man to have a spiritual birth - the need for sinful man to be cleansed of his sin by the washing of the water with the Word of God.
One is a physical birth into the family of man, while the second is a spiritual birth into the family of God, That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Our physical birth rendered us incapable of entering heaven, for tainted flesh and blood cannot enter into God's perfect kingdom which is why sinful man must be born again.
Until a man's spiritual birth, he will not see heaven nor be able to enter the heavenly portal.
How long it took for this truth to blossom in the heart of Nicodemus we will never know, but as one of the men who laid Christ's dead body in the stone-cold tomb, we know that this dear man did not only SEE heaven with his spiritual eye of faith, but will enter the kingdom of heaven as a forgiven child of God and a member of the Body of Christ.
He knew that before He would reign as King of kings on David's throne in the city of Jerusalem, He would be despised and rejected of men - a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.
They were to be like Jesus, the Son of Man Who did not come to earth to be served but to be of service to others.
He sounds as if he were advancing in years, because John refers to Him as 'Gaius, the Elder' and yet it is likely that this elderly gentleman was brought to faith in Christ through the ministry of John himself, for in addressing him, the apostle writes: I have no greater joy than this – to hear of my children walking in the truth.John makes no secret of his love and respect for this man, whom he admits to love in truth, for it appears that his whole life was dedicated to the Lord, and Gaius must have been a wonderful testimony of a godly man who walked in grace and love, for we read that his soul prospered.
The life of Gaius appears to be that of a mature man of God, who reflected the character of Christ.The world 'soul' and 'life' are used interchangeably in the Word of God, and we discover that this man's spiritual life was fruitful – his soul was flourishing.
John's prayer was that the physical health of this beloved saint might 'prosper' in the same way that his spiritual health was prospering.The word, 'prosperity' today nearly always refers to material wealth… but in context, we see that it is this dear man's physical health and bodily condition that John is praying will prosper.
But Paul outlines God's condemnation of the intent of man's heart.
He details in sober terms the inner thoughts of man's mind and he records in stark language what God thinks of man's actions, man's attitudes, man's words, and fallen man's sinful state: As it is written, there is none righteous, no - not even one.
Imputed sin and inherited sin is the birthright of all mankind, for sin has affected the warp and woof of the genetic make-up of every man and woman born into this human race.
God will never tempt a man to sin, for God hates sin and cannot look upon sin, but God will often use temptation in a man's life to test his faith, patience, and perseverance, and the one that endures the test will glorify God.
There could hardly be a more emphatic proclamation that God is God and there is no other, nor could there be a stronger statement that He will not share any of His glory with man or angel, nor any other created being.
It is immediately after his initial salutation, that Paul addresses this issue of strange doctrines within the church, reminding the younger man of instructions he had already received from the older apostle.
Timothy joined Paul on his second missionary journey when he had a night-vision of a man calling him to 'come over to Macedonia and help us'.
This was the antithesis of the gospel they were called to teach, where there is neither Jew nor Gentile but One New Man In Christ - One Body of people who trust in Christ's death and Resurrection for salvation.
he bewailed, Behold, I do not know how to speak, for I am only a youth.However, God in His grace gave this young man comfort and encouragement for the daunting task that lay ahead: Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, were the Lord’s reassuring words to this young man, and before you were born I consecrated you.Jeremiah had been born into a 'priestly' family, from the tribe of Benjamin... but it was not his parentage, his lineage, or the dictates of a board of directors that secured his prophetic ministry; nor was he a self-proclaimed mouthpiece for the Lord, as so often happened in Bible times, and still happens today!He was called and chosen by the Lord... and those that are called and chosen by God for a specific task, are always sufficiently equipped by the Spirit of God, to complete the task before them.Do not say, 'I am only a youth,' Jeremiah was told by the Lord, because everywhere I send you, you shall go, and all that I command you, you shall speak.He was not to worry about being too young or inarticulate, or because of any speech impediment.
However, Christ had no intention of remaining alone... for He is the eternal Son of God and He became the perfect Son of Man in Whom we have redemption, by faith.
Elijah once challenged Israel: how long will you hesitate between two opinions, and James warned Christians that an indecisive and double minded man is unstable in all his ways.
They were blind leaders of the blind and their lives reflected the opposite of the godly man or woman, who is walking in spirit and truth.
The man or woman who is serving God cannot serve another master - whether it be money or anything else upon which we place our trust.
We are not required to worship on a specific day nor are we commanded to keep certain feast days, special festivals, or the many ordinances imposed by man - for as believers in the age of grace we are free from the bondage of law.
The infiltration of apostate teachers and heretics in the early Church was a serious problem just as it is today, because those teaching a false gospel can only promise their followers a false freedom, a false christ, and a false salvation, because they are slaves to their own greed and corruption, for whatever gets the better of a man makes him its servant.
While Paul's main audience were Gentiles, Peter's focus were Jewish believers, and to emphasise the destructive nature of sin and the need to live holy lives while reassuring his readers of God promised protection, Peter often took examples from Israel's chequered history to warn his Jewish audience of the consequences of sin and the inevitable judgement that must follow when man rebels against his Creator.
Man's rebellion today has fallen to a shocking depth of degeneracy and degradation and yet ungodliness is often promoted in the media and celebrated by society.
This was Gentile territory, but as soon as the boat landed, Jesus was met by a wild, demon-possessed man, with multiple, unclean spirits, who lived among the tombs and wandered around the mountains.
This demon-possessed man knew that Jesus was Son of the Most-High God, and was fearful of Him.
Christ cast out an entire legion of demons from the man, and released him from this terrible ordeal.
The local herdsmen witnessed the entire display, but instead of rejoicing that the man was freed from His demonic possession, they rushed to the townsfolk to relate the happenings of the day - and promptly asked Jesus to leave their region.
How sad that the supernatural healing of this poor man was not celebrated by the people.
However, as Jesus got back into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged permission to go with the Lord and His followers. But Jesus would not allow him to join His band of disciples.
However, the grateful man was commissioned by Christ, to go to his own people in the Decapolis - the ten Gentile cities of the region.
Just as the demons RECOGNISED that this was Jesus, the Son of the living God, so the man, when he was restored to his right mind, KNEW Him as Lord.
This man was being called upon to prepare the way of the Lord, in the Gentile cities of the region, for a day was coming when Christ would lovingly stretch out His arms, as the sacrifice for the sin of the whole world, and welcome ALL who would believe in the death, burial, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Here again, on the other side of the Galilee, in the country of the Gerasenes, this demon-possessed man, had been chosen by God to tell forth the great thing the Lord had done for him, and to proclaim His wonderful mercy to all Gentiles in the 10 cities of the Decapolis.
And Peter was one of Christ's inner circle who witnessed the honour and glory of the Lord Jesus, the Messiah of Israel and Son of the most high God, on that glorious Mount of Transfiguration.Early in his second letter, which was addressed to other believers in the faith, he called to mind that wonderful day when Jesus was transfigured before his eyes – a short while before the Lord Jesus died on the Cross, and rose again as the sacrifice for man's sin.Jesus received great honour and glory from God the Father, Peter recalls, with appropriate humility and awestruck wonder.
Since the dawn of Adam's race when man's dominion over the earth had been foolishly relinquished to this fallen angel, due to Adam's sinful disobedience, we discover that authority over the earth remains under the jurisdiction of this evil being - even to this day.
Despite him deceiving Eve and cunningly wrestling man's God-ordained dominion over the earth from Adam's hand, Satan ultimately remains under the authority of his Almighty Creator - and is required to report his activities and actions before the throne of God.
But his authority is limited in both power and duration and his dominion over the earth will one day be returned to one, unique Man - the God-Man, Christ Jesus.
One day, dominion over the earth will be returned to the Man, Christ Jesus, our Kinsman-Redeemer and Lord... and He will be authorised to rule and reign over the earth - until ALL things are put in dominion under His feet.
He is the eternal Son of God, Who became the perfect Son of Man so that He could give His life as the ransom price for the sin of the whole world - so that WHOSOEVER believes on Him will not perish but have eternal life.
But man's sin not only brought a curse upon humanity as a whole, but on the animals, birds, fish, flowers and fauna alike.
The close interconnection of man with the rest of God's creation was established from the beginning..
for we read that God made man out of the dust of the earth - But Adam's sin had consequences that reached into every part of God's creation.
which not only returned man into fellowship with his Creator, by faith..
Creation itself was brutally subjected to frustration, bondage, corruption and decay due to man's sinful rebellion - and creation continues to groan and suffer under God's curse..
Praise God that in eternity past God laid out His plan of redemption for fallen man, which even included the renewal of the cursed earth..
God is not slow to fulfil His promises to us, and any perceived delay in the mindset of man cannot invalidate the perfect, unfolding plan of God.
The scornful scoffers and deriding mockers that belie the fast approaching Day of the Lord, are unaware that every passing moment is not slackness or disinterest on God's part, nor is God's acceptance or indifference towards man's sin, but just another expression of His long-suffering grace and His unwillingness that any should perish, but that all should turn from their sin to Jesus as the substitute offering for their sins and their glorious Saviour.
Achish, the king of the Philistines, recognised David as the man who was proclaimed throughout Israel as being the great champion of God’s chosen people, Saul has slain his thousands, was their joyful chant, and David has slain his tens of thousands.
David was a man after God’s own heart who recognised the sustaining hand of the Lord in his own life and gave honour and praise to Him at all times.
And like David, we would do well to hide under the shadow of God’s protective arm, to seek Him in the midst of our trials and tribulation, and cry out to the Lord for deliverance from the enemies into whose path we run, so that we too may rejoice with great joy and encourage others to, taste and see that the Lord is good and to know how truly blessed is the man, who takes refuge in the Lord.
This time the young man quickly responded, Speak, for Your servant is listening.
The ungodly behaviour of Eli's children had disgraced the holy office of the priesthood, but despite the earlier warnings of judgement from the Lord, the old man did not discipline his unruly sons.
Israel had fallen into deep apostasy and even the holy priesthood had become profane... but the eyes of the LORD had been moving to and fro looking for a man whom He could use to forward His perfect plan for the restoration of his people and the redemption of the world.
The vision given to Samuel that night may have been the start of his prophetic ministry to God, but the Lord had been preparing this young man for many years.
In this brief passage, we see a young man who had learned about the Lord from His mother's knee, and no doubt Hannah continued to pray for her firstborn son whom she had given back to the Lord.
We see in Samuel a young man who honoured his elders, fulfilled his daily duties, was obedient to Eli's instructions, and attentive to God's call on his life.
The old man, meek and mild,The priest of Israel, slept;His watch the temple child,The little Levite, kept;And what from Eli’s sense was sealedThe Lord to Hannah’s son revealed.
'Divide-and-conquer' has been an effective weapon that has been implemented since the creation of the world, and the crooked serpent, who is called the devil and Satan, is the greatest manipulator of this insidious strategy.He used it in the garden to estrange man from God and men from women.
The plan is to seize control of those that have been weakened by such monstrous manipulations.'Divide-and-conquer' exploits humanity's deceit, envy, pride, and fleshly lusts, and is designed to achieve man's greedy plans to seize control of their unwitting victims.
Instead of being a voice crying in the wilderness to the lost and executing our ministry of reconciliation between fallen man and a holy God, we have weakened our very voice and become a play-thing in the hands of the enemy.Nevertheless, we have the promise from Christ, Himself: I will build my Church and the gates of hell will NOT prevail against it.
Let us become bright lights in a darkened world, which point the way to Christ, the one and only Mediator between God and man.
In His Sermon on the Mount, the Lord Jesus Himself teaches: Blessed are those which are persecuted for righteousness sake, while in Luke He adds: Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man's sake.
God commissioned Paul to reveal to the Church, certain aspects of His plans and purposes that had not been revealed to man before..
The administration of the perfect Law which was given to Moses, pronounced sin and death on all - for the Law exposes the sinfulness of man without the means to save him.
God designed the Law to show man his sinfulness and recognise his desperate need of a Saviour.
But the Law is a vital signpost pointing sinners to Christ Who became the once-for-all sacrifice for sin, and Who alone can remove man from under the curse of the Law, by faith.
From that devastating fall of man in the idyllic garden of Eden to the final chapters of holy Scripture, we discover details of the wide-ranging repercussions of man's damning sin, and the tremendous grace that our offended God has extended towards the human race who was made in God's own image and likeness.
From man's fall in Eden to the present day, Satan is the arch-enemy of God and His beautiful, but polluted creation.
It put a question-mark in her mind over the dependability of her Creator and placed a doubt in her heart over the integrity of God's very character - in Whose image man was made.
Satan's questioning of God's Word was the catalyst that incited the fall of man and yet, God in His grace used this catastrophic fall of mankind to be the very trigger whereby His amazing plan for the redemption of humanity in particular, and the redemption of creation in general, was called into action.
Some do not believe the Lord will ever return because of the centuries that have rolled by without His return, yet Peter dismantles their unfounded reasoning, for time in God's economy is very different from man's perception of time.
God is eternal and man is finite, and his life-span is but a breath in comparison with God Who was and is and ever shall be, AMEN.
The reformation verse that shattered corridors of Christendom was, the just shall live by faith - the righteous man shall live by faith - the godly man, the virtuous woman, the justified sinner, the maturing believer, are to all live by faith as well as being saved by faith.
It is beyond man's intellect and cannot be penetrated through reasoning or discovered through scientific 'proof'.
David was a man who 'thrilled' to speak of the blessing on those to whom God credits with righteousness - apart from works.
How blessed is the man, is David's rejoicing cry, how amazingly favoured is the one whom the Lord does not charge with sin, and in whom is no spirit of deceit.
There is nothing we can say or do to justify ourselves - nothing we can do or say to earn His favour - there is nothing we can add in order to improve our salvation or make it more secure, for like Abraham and David, salvation is by faith alone in God's Word and when a man or woman believes in their heart by faith, God declares us righteous in His sight.
There is nothing in heaven or earth or under the earth that can reverse the status of fallen man, with one exception... faith in Christ.
We are changed from being condemned sinners to blessed saints - and David wrote of the blessings on the man to whom God credits righteousness.
For as David said, Blessed is the man whom God credits with righteousness.
I would have despaired unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living, are the words that bring Psalm 27 to a close They were written by a man who demonstrates a living faith in the living God.
These words were penned by the man that slew the great giant Goliath and who was honoured as one that slew his tens of thousands, yet he admits that without trust in his God, his heart would faint, and he would despair.
It is a secure knowledge of the holy, deep within the heart, which enables us to take a peep into an eternal reality that is hidden from the unsaved man, but which is a right that is reserved for the children of God in heavenly places.
And David proved once again to be a man after God's own heart, a man that trusted the Word of the Lord, a man who not only expected God to supply all his needs according to His riches in glory, but a man who believed God would deliver him from the hands of all his enemies.
She was ready and willing to yield to her husband's position of authority in the home, which was in compliance with God’s original plans and purposes from the beginning.It was God Who ordained that the man should be the head of the home, just as Christ is the head of the Body, which is the Church.
Indeed, it is not the sacrificial acts of a man or woman who desires to be pleasing to the Lord that delights His heart, but the one that walks in spirit and truth, the one that dies to the self-life and lives to Christ, the one that looks to Jesus, the one that abides in Christ, the one that can say, Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to Thy cross I cling.
The Angel of the Lord appears many times in the Old Testament and His unique characteristics identify Him as the Pre-existent Christ Who walked on earth before His incarnation, Who visited men before He was born into the world as the babe of Bethlehem and lived his life as the Man Christ Jesus - the sinless Son of a human mother and eternal Son of the almighty God.
The man who maintains an unshakable trust in God's Word, in spite of life's circumstances - when human logic screams the opposite - gives honour and glory to our Father in heaven and will prove to be praiseworthy and honourable when the Lord Jesus Christ returns.
Abraham believed God when He told him that through Isaac His redemptive plan would be fulfilled, and the old man's faith had become so secure that he believed, without question, that God would raise Isaac back to life.
There are many such parallels that can be identified between the offering of Isaac by his father Abraham and the sacrificial offering of the Lord Jesus Christ by His heavenly Father, Who loved the world so much that He gave His only begotten Son to be man's Kinsman Redeemer and the sacrifice for sin.
I don't think there is a more meaningful greeting or significant salutation given to man, than this duet of grace and peace found in all Paul's letters.
It is only by God's grace, through faith, that man is redeemed from the slave-market of sin.
GRACE is the highest expression of God's loving-kindness and benevolent blessings to man which is translated into God's unconditional, unmerited favour and showers super-abundant blessings on all who trust in His name.
It is only by grace that the sin barrier between man and God can be broken down, through faith, and we can receive peace with God.
The psalmist is clearly a man of great sorrows who, while protesting his innocence, is facing rejection from those that seek his destruction.
He is a man who is overwhelmed by the flood of condemnation he is receiving from those that oppress him and hate him.
King David loved the Lord with a passion and was a man after God's own heart, and this devoted servant longed to build a house for the Lord.
And although God denied his request because David was a man of war, the Lord had promised His faithful servant that HE - the Lord, would build David a house which would be an everlasting dynasty... and that Solomon, his son and heir, would be the one to build David's longed-for Temple of God.
The Psalmist likens them to arrows in the hand of a warrior and declares, Happy is the man who has His quiver full of them.Every child is a miracle from above, for we are fearfully and wonderfully made.
How much better, therefore to take refuge in the Lord rather than to place ones trust in man.
A reverential fear of God and a heart that trusts the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and gives us safety from the fear of man.
A trusting faith in the Lord puts to flight the terrors that stalk us by night and quench the fiery darts that fly around us by day - but the fear of people and dread of what man can do to us is a dangerous trap into which any one of us can all fall..
We can be sure that a sense of awe in our great God and a trusting reverence for the person and work of the Lord Jesus is a great protection from the fear of man and our concern over what they can do to us.
Such fear becomes a trap - for fear of man paralyses our heart..
body, soul and spirit, and bring our consecration to completeness as we trust in His unfailing mercies - for the fear of man is a dangerous trap but the heart that trusts the Lord is kept in safety.
And when faith in Christ's sacrificial work is finally received into the heart, that man or woman is born of the Spirit of God and a thirsty soul who aches for peace with God is satisfied.
It is not the self-satisfied, independent man who delights to be identified as 'master of his own destiny,' nor the carnal Christian who leaves his first love to enjoy the passing pleasures of this fallen world, but the one who cries: My soul thirsts for the Lord..
In the first chapter of Genesis, we read that God created man in His own image - in the image of God He created them.
Luke traces Christ's genealogy backwards, through Noah, Seth, and Adam, to show that Christ was truly Son of Man and the true Son of God, for we read, When Adam had lived one hundred and thirty years, he became the father of a son in his own likeness, according to his image, and named him Seth.
Successive names in this passage of Scripture identify the blemished nature that was passed on to all humanity, for the curse of death has wrapped its suffocating fingers around the throat of every man.
But God in His grace, purposed in His heart to redeem His fallen creation (through the Person of Jesus Christ) to breathe His eternal life back into His New Creation in Christ (through faith in His sacrificial work on Calvary and glorious Resurrection) to reinstate His own image and likeness into the heart of man (as with unveiled faces, we are reflecting the glory of the Lord by being transformed into His image - from glory to glory).
The day is coming when God will reinstate Man's rule over all the earth - when Christ returns to set up His kingdom on earth as God of all gods, King of all kings, and Lord of all lords.
Jesus must reign until he has put all enemies under His feet and the last of man's enemy to be destroyed is DEATH.
There is no question, as one follows this man's unfolding train of thought, that he had his priorities right, and the private place of his heart contained the personal treasure that is found in Scripture, as he cries out to the Father, Your Word I have treasured in my heart, that I may not sin against You. This is the grateful cry of a sinner, saved by grace, whose dear desire is to love the Lord and honour Him with all his heart, and soul, and mind, and strength.
The author of this verse was a man who read God's Word, loved God's Word and valued it more than his daily bread.
This was a man who had come to love God's Word and treasure it in his heart.
Man may try to manipulate the mind and control the thought, but nothing can prevent the child of God communing in his heart with his Heavenly Lord, for such communion remains impenetrable to the last breath of our mortal life.
There is no more beneficial activity than reflecting, pondering and contemplating the Word of God, which is nourishment for the soul, rest for the weary, peace for the troubled, comfort for the afflicted, and instruction for the man of God.
The first four relate to man's relationship with God, while the last ones pertain to man's relationship with his fellow man.
Man was made in the image and likeness of God and the wilful taking of a man's life, or as Christ pointed out, an attitude of hatred in one's own heart for another person is a sin and considered by God as murder.
The positive declaration view sees faith as a force that can create one's own reality, or that God can be commanded to heal or to work miracles according to man's will and in response to man's word.
James reminds us that if we do not ask aright then we will not receive, and even the godly prayer of the righteous man or woman may be used by God to teach some deeper spiritual truth.
In totality, the kingdom of God reaches to every place in the entire universe, stretching through time and beyond eternity, but in His revelation to man which is detailed in the Scriptures, the kingdom of God almost always restricts its horizons to God's current work and future rule, through a group of His obedient servants.
Man does not live by bread alone, but by the whole truth of God's Word, and the reach of God's rule stretches far beyond the question of temporal needs such as eating, drinking, and the necessities of this world, for the substance of God's kingdom does not consist of external things which are passing away but of spiritual matters which are eternal.
His is a throne that puts down the mighty from their seat and lifts up those that are humble and meek, and today there is a man in heaven called Jesus, Who is seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high, Who loves us, and is interceding for all who have placed their trust in His redeeming blood.
One day, as God has ordained, the Man, Christ Jesus, will be seated on His Great White Throne to judge the wicked and the dead - but those that are His chosen Bride, by faith in Christ, will be seated with Him on the throne of the Lamb, showing forth His excellent grace to principalities and powers in the ages to come.
Earlier that week, Jesus had told his disciples that the feast of the Passover was near - when the Son of man would be betrayed and crucified. The two disciples did as Jesus had directed them and hastened to prepare the Upper Room for the annual feast.
Jesus was the eternal Son of God Who has become the perfect Son of Man, for this is the blood of the covenant - Christ's blood which is poured out for the forgiveness of sins.
God is no man's debtor, and despite spiritually gifting all who are called to shepherd the flock of God, Peter reveals a wonderful truth that should rejoice the heart of those who are called to be pastors or elders, or those who Shepherd the Body of Christ, for His name's sake.
There are many qualities that characterise a virtuous woman or a godly man.
David, the shepherd king of Israel, was described as a mighty and virtuous man, a man of battle, intelligent in word – and Jehovah was with him.Ruth, the grandmother of David, was known as a virtuous woman in Bethlehem, and the good seed in the parable of the sower, is identified as one who, having heard the Word of God, holds fast to it in a just, noble, and virtuous manner, having a worthy heart that brings forth much fruit to the glory of God.Perhaps the best known passage that outlines the exemplary life in virtuous living, is the woman described in Proverbs 31, where a vast array of noble, godly, gracious, and wise attributes are listed.She is a woman of faith, who serves God with her whole heart, mind, soul, and strength.
When a woman's own children recognise their mother's outstanding virtue and tell her so, or when a husband praises his wife and rejoices that she is his God-given help-meet, there is much joy that ensues.When a man or woman of God dies to self, lives for Christ, and conducts their public and private life with a gentle and caring spirit, they not only command the love and respect of their children and spouse and the admiration of their friends and neighbours, but also bring glory to their Father in heaven.May we seek to engage in the godly virtues that are laid out for our learning in Scripture, for the benefit of all and for the glory of God.
There is no merit in any one of us, and all our attempts to please God through religious strivings, self-abasement, fleshly works, or prescribed penances are of no effect, for the price of sin could only be paid for by the shed blood of the sinless Son of Man.
It was GRACE that caused the eternal Son of God to set aside His glory and be made in the likeness of sinful man (yet without sin).
Like Israel, every member of Christ's Body has our part to play in the perfecting of the saints, for the work of ministering, and the building up of the body of Christ - until we all reach unity in the faith and a deeper knowledge of God’s Son - as together we grow into a mature man, to a measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.
of His birth into the human race; His perfect life; His sacrificial death and His glorious resurrection from the dead - and it was the eternal Spirit Who empowered the Lord Jesus throughout His earthly life - for the eternal Son of God set aside His glory in order to become the perfect Son of Man, by submitting to the Father - our precious kinsman-Redeemer, Who lived and died in our stead.
we see Jesus living His life as God intended man to live, in humble submission and complete obedience to His Father in heaven..
we see Him despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief..
It is because He was willing to suffer the death of the cross on behalf of the fallen human race, that God has crowed Him with glory and honour - so that by the grace of God He tasted death for every man, woman and child who ever has lived..
There were however those that considered themselves righteous in their own eyes, because of their external behaviour and legalistic standards which they considered superior to that of their fellow man, but they were nonetheless sinners in the eyes of the Lord.
His message of salvation is only effective in the heart of the man or woman who acknowledges their sinfulness.
And so the story began: A certain man had two sons...
This verse is further biblical clarification that eternal life is found only in Christ Jesus, for He is the eternal Son of God and perfect Son of Man.
And Jesus proved to be the Son of God at the Cross when, as Son of Man, He was lifted up at Calvary, having done all the things that the Father required which so glorified His Father in heaven.
Paul was the apostle appointed by God to reveal many mysteries to the Church that had been hidden from man's understanding and which the former prophets of old longed to look into.
Far from demonstrating judicious discernment, such inter-congregational squabbles and petty differences identified a fleshly mindset rather than the wise, discerning heart of a man or woman that is walking in spirit and truth.
We are granted a little insight into the second dialogue between God and Satan... who falsely asserts that this distraught man remained true to his faith in God and held fast to his integrity for selfish reasons.
was Satan's scornful accusation, a man will give up everything he owns in exchange for his life. 'A man will sacrifice sons, daughters, wealth, and reputation, in order to hold on to his life', was Satan's cruelly implied accusation.
Job was so tormented by this additional affliction and the pain was so intense that the poor man took a piece of broken pottery to scrape the boils that covered his body, while he sat among the ashes in deep distress.
She was also traumatised, but unlike her husband, her faith faltered as she watched the man she loved sitting in dust and ashes as a social outcast from their local community, scraping the boils on his flesh from morning to night.
We do not know the interval of time between Job's two trials, but we do know that this wealthy man, who had been so blessed of God and who was held in high esteem by his neighbours, was reduced to the status of an unclean beggar overnight... which caused his wife's spirit and hope to be shattered.
Although Job longed to have a Mediator - a Days-man between man and God Who could arbitrate and argue his cause, we can rejoice that Jesus is our Mediator and we have been declared righteous by faith in Him.
God will not share His glory with another and yet Christ demonstrated His deity when He healed the paralytic man on a Sabbath Day.
Now that you are well, Christ warned the man, do not sin anymore, in case something worse happens to you. In this case it was his sin that had caused this man's paralysis, and Jesus connected sin to his sickness.
And the Bible teaches, NO man comes to the Father but through faith in Him.
Jesus is fully God and fully man, but He chose to set aside His heavenly glory and come to earth in the form of a man, and live the perfect life the Father wants ALL His people to live - a life totally dependent on HIM, a life that listens to His voice, a life that obeys His voice, a life that is walking in spirit and truth, a life that dies to self and lives for Him, a life that is willing to say not my will but Thine be done, so the Father may be revealed.
JESUS is the God-Man, Who came to earth to reconcile sinful man back to a holy God.
And it is the same Holy Spirit of God, Who breathes the breath of NEW life into the lifeless spirit of a fallen man at redemption.
Man was without hope in the world, walking according to the ways of this world and under the power of Satan - the prince of the power of the air whose influence permeates every aspect of life around us.
He came to reconcile man back to God and restore us into fellowship with Himself - but the astonishing thing is that He was despised and rejected by those He came to save.
The combination of a godly man or woman with a contented heart, is of far greater value than all the money, material possessions, power, and prestige in the world.Godliness, combined with an inner contentment which is rooted in the sufficiency of Christ to provide all that is needed, according to His riches in glory, surpasses anything that this world can provide.May we recognise that godliness with contentment is, indeed, a great gain and ensure that we stand on this truth 'til our life's end.
Sometimes God will indeed place a man or woman into a particular place or bring them into a peculiar set of circumstances in order to carry out a distinct task..
Let us be ready and willing like queen Esther to carry out the work that God has prepared for us to do, even when the task seems difficult, dangerous or daunting - for who knows whether or not you have been placed in this particular position - to pay a little part in the history of man's redemption.
But man has a dangerous enemy, a fallen angel called the devil and Satan, who desired to be as God and disguises himself as an angel of light, to deceive the nations.
Every man who has ever been born into this world has some illumination from God, for it is not God's will that any should perish.
All have received the exterior light of creation, and all are given the inner light of conscience - and as a result of the light that man has received from God, all are responsible before Him, for all possess the truth of His existence and yet many refuse to acknowledge the true and living God.
It was not being fed on bread and fish that these lost souls needed, but feeding on the Bread of Life from heaven - feeding on Christ, the Son of Man, in Whom is life eternal.
All those who feed on Christ will live forever, for Jesus said to those who followed Him, truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.
However, they refused to tell others that He is a light to lighten the Gentiles as well as the Jews, and they did not instruct other nations that in Him alone is man's salvation.But God never changes, and His plans and purposes can never be thwarted by sinful man or rebellious angels.
Salvation for pre-cross believers who lived in the dispensation of the Law and post-cross believers who live in the dispensation of the grace-of-God, is given and received in the same way - for salvation is by God's grace through man's faith in the God's Word.
for unless a man is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.
But as members of the new Creation in Christ we are members of His body - bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh and we have been made the righteousness of God in Him, for if any man is in Christ he is a new creature - old things are passed away and all things are become new.
But as time passed and complacency took root, Israel's life of ease began to be threatened and King Asa sought the help of man rather than maintaining his trust in the Lord.
He had proved Himself so many times to be faithful and true, and yet the nature of man is always to be independent of God, despite the testimony of His never-failing grace in our lives.
God does not judge anyone by man's own imperfect standard and unrighteous behaviour, however moral or seemingly respectable their conduct may appear to others.
The deceitful heart of man delights to judge his own 'goodness' against the 'evil' actions of his fellow men, but God remains true to His immovable standard of truth and righteousness, rendering man's judgement of others to become man's own accuser.
When David gazed up into the heavens and considered the work of His fingers, the moon and the stars which were set in place, he was overwhelmed to realise that God could be interested in man, and that He cared for His people.
When you contemplate the intricacies of nature, the complexities of design, and the unique position that humanity has been granted in the entire structure of the universe, not to mention the great salvation that is ours through trusting Jesus Christ as Saviour, the question surely must come to mind: What is man that God is mindful of him and the son of man that the Creator of the universe cares for him?
The innumerable stars in a boundless space, which extends far beyond the reaches of mortal eye and contains immeasurably more that man's limited imagination can consider, each have their appointed place in God's overall plan.
How insignificant man seems in comparison to this vast universe, and how unimportant man appears in contrast with the creative glories that are displayed in God’s universe – and yet weak, fragile, pitiful, sinful man is the vehicle through whom the plans and purposes of God were conceived before the foundation of the earth in the eternal council chambers of heaven.
While the Lord set the sun and moon in place to govern the day and the night, it was man who was made in the image of God who was ordained to rule over the earth as God's appointed regent.
God created man to have dominion over the fish of the sea, the fowl of the air, the cattle, and over all the earth and every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
Man was the one creature that was made in the image and likeness of his Creator to rule and reign the earth as regent under God's supreme authority.
One such concept to embrace with understanding is, The mind of man plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps.
Paul was a man who often spoke of his plans to visit certain Churches and wrote of goals he wanted to achieve, but Scripture shows that although Paul made many good travel plans and purposed in his heart to visit certain Churches, not all were accomplished, for the Lord was the one that directed his path.
May we embrace this statement of fact as a promise of God to each one of us and rejoice that, the mind of man plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps.
While the letter to the Hebrews is a wonderful tool to teach us all that Christ is fully God yet fully Man, its initial target audience was Jewish believers who were tempted to lapse back into Judaism's sacrifices, ceremonies, and the traditions of the elders - to escape the severe persecution that was raging through the fledgling Church.
Although this warning was particularly pertinent to certain believing Jews in the early Church who were tempted to revert to Judaism to avoid the terrible persecution that was sweeping through the early Christian Church, this danger of a Christian sinning wilfully, by returning to some pre-Cross teaching or being persuaded that other man-made policies, procedures, traditions, or customs are necessary for salvation or are required to keep one saved, is still perilous today.
He broke into the timeline of the earth's history as the perfect Man, in order to secure redemption for all who would believe on His name.He was the anointed One Who would redeem His people, as foretold by the prophets of old.
He came as God incarnate – fully God, yet fully Man so that His shed blood would pay the full price of mankind's bottomless swamp of sin.His claims were authenticated in word and deed, by the fulfilment of every prophecy pertaining to His first coming.
The whole of Paul's Roman epistle, is glorifying the wonderful works of God while exposing the depravity of man.
It details the glorious plan of salvation and the enormous sacrifice of Christ on the Cross, whereby fallen man is not only released from slavery to sin, delivered from eternal condemnation, and reconciled back to God, but also saved by grace through faith in Him, made a new creation in Christ, made a citizen of heaven and a joint-heir with the Son of God, bestowed with the riches of God's grace, in-dwelt by the Holy Spirit, eternally secure in His gracious love, and so much more.
These words of David have been of great comfort to many who have been overwhelmed by the fights and fancies of evildoers who, in comparison with the godly man, seem to prosper in the ways of the world and who can excite envy from those that are seeking to walk in spirit and truth.
David was a man after God's own heart, for he realised that it is not only the outside of a cup that needs to be clean and unsullied, but God desires an inner purity, which stems from a heart that is humble before the Lord and from whom will stream rivers of living water.
David not only understood the need for an inner cleansing and purity on a day by day basis, where God Himself governs and sanctifies the thoughts of the heart and the words of the mouth, but he had come to an understanding that the Lord Jesus - the coming Messiah - the divine days-man of Job - and the coming Seed of the woman, was the strength of his life and the only Kinsman-Redeemer for his soul.
Our resurrected Saviour broke the power of death and hell forever and the enemy of man's soul became a defeated adversary who was bound for the lake of fire.
Christ was fully identified with sinful man when He was made sin for us, on Calvary's Cross.
Sin entered into the world by one man, and because of sin - death passed onto all men for all are sinners and all are in need of salvation.
Just as through one man's disobedience many people were made sinners, so also through one Man's obedience, many people will be made righteous.
Man's natural desire in life is to live in ease and to avoid life's problems and pain, but Scripture reminds us that only those who face the distresses of life, through His sufficient grace, develop the patient endurance and proven character that is so acceptable to the Lord - which in turn results in a mature faith and a hope that is firmly established in Him.
Instead of promoting the freedom we have in Christ, legalism enslaves a soul which leads to defeat, and Paul needed to reinstate his God-given apostolic authority in the strongest possible terms, by stating, Paul, an apostle (not sent from men nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, Who raised Him from the dead.)
It empowers every man and woman of God to live a victorious life that honours the Lord Jesus and glorifies our Father in heaven.
Job was a man with whom thousands must have identified over the centuries.
He was a good man who faces tremendous hardships.
We also discover he was a man of prayer, who had a deep faith in God.
The fear that Job expressed, his regret of being born, his desire to die, the accusations he received from his friends and his assumption that the nature of God had changed, show that this man and his friends had a significant lack of understanding about God's character, His goodness, His grace, His sovereign authority, and the fallen state of the world in which we live.
Job was a righteous man, which means he was a sinner - saved by grace.
Confessing with my mouth to another person can never cause me to be saved - even if I use the right words, for no man can save another person - only God can save.
Verse 12 explains that the ten horns are the ten kings who give their authority and power into the hands of the 'beast' - that satanically inspired ruler, who will emerge as the man of sin; the antichrist.
Many speculate about the identity of this 'man of sin', but the Bible tells us that he will remain unidentified until the Church is removed from the earth at the end of this dispensation of grace.
No matter what man tries to do to scupper the plans and purposes of God there is no created thing in heaven above..
He had already told them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation, that He would be handed over to the elders, the chief priests, and teachers of the law, and that He must be killed and after three days, rise again.
They had forgotten that the Son of Man had talked of His death and Resurrection while they were still in Galilee.
Christ not only removed the sin-barrier between God and man through the sacrifice of His body on the Cross, but He also tore down the dividing walls of partition that separated Jew from Gentile, uniting them together in brotherly love, and making them 'one new man' in Christ.
And from Judah was born the promised Seed of the woman, the Messiah of Israel and Saviour of the world Who was to reconcile the world to Himself and remove all that was dividing man from man.
While the impartiality of God is perfect, it proves very easy for imperfect man to demonstrate a human preference towards people we consider well-to-do.
The fleshly nature of man finds it easy to be biased in favour of those who are nice towards us, especially if they are wealthy and show generosity towards us!
Well, it is not that God favours poor people by making them rich in faith, but He knows that the riches of this world can become an obstacle to faith, because the wealthy man too often places his hope in his bank balance or trusts in his wealth to get him out of difficult circumstances, instead of relying on the Lord to provide what is needed according to His riches in glory.
God also knows that a poor man living in needy circumstances, a destitute widow without hope in the world, or a penniless orphan, is much more likely to grasp hold of God's great gift of salvation which is given freely to all, rather than a self-sufficient, affluent man, whose super-abundance of material possessions and worldly wealth renders him independent of God's provision and can even cause him to become disdainful of God's free gift of salvation.
The poor man or the poverty-stricken widow does not have the material means to cling to in times of financial hardship or during an economic downturn, in the same way that a wealthy merchant or prosperous landowner is able to turn to their personal resources when times are hard.
As the sinless Son of God, He was qualified to pay the price for sin - for He was made in the likeness of sinful man YET there was no sin in Him.
As the sinless Son of Man, He was qualified to shed His lifeblood to rescue His people and bring many sons to glory.
As the perfect Man without sin, He was qualified to die on the Cross as the sacrificial offering for the sin of the world.
Although He was fully God, the Lord Jesus lived His life demonstrating to humanity how God wants every spiritual man to live - indwelt, led, and guided by the Holy Spirit of God while at the same time abiding in unbroken fellowship with our Father in heaven - every moment of the day.
Jesus was the perfect example of a Man of prayer, by which He maintained unbroken fellowship with His Heavenly Father, from Whom He received strength, comfort, and direction.
The apostle, Paul, was one whose prayer-life demonstrated a man who found His sufficient strength in the Lord.
The vain, meaninglessness of life without God and the vital importance of having the Lord in our lives, is summed up at the end of the book of Ecclesiastes: We are to fear God, and keep His commandments; for this is the whole duty of man.
But what a shocking silence must have descended on each person when Jesus stunned them with the words: Even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.
Every man and woman that has ever drawn breath is born dead in trespasses and sins and is at enmity with God. Fallen humanity is separated from our holy God by an unbridgeable sin barrier.
The inexhaustible wisdom and love of God is reflected in these blessed words, God has made us alive together with Christ, (by grace you are saved). From the terrible curse of the Law and the irreversible state of sin and death - which is the fixed and final state of all mankind - the divine nature of our merciful God has reached down to man, in a providential display of His abundant supply, through His unconditional covenant of grace.
The imputing of Christ's righteousness on sinful man is the result of the incomparable mission of the Redeemer, Who, through His saving blood, which was shed on a wooden tree, has lifted all who believe on His name out of the miry clay and into the heights of God's holy presence.
Christ came to earth to reveal God's goodness and grace, and His death on the cross opened the way for fallen man to find peace with God - to be reconciled back to Him through faith in His Son.
Man seeks after empty happiness and longs for peace in a world at war, but the child of God who has been saved by grace through the sacrificial work of Christ on Calvary's cross, gains more than happiness.
And may we become ambassadors of God's peace in a world at war, through our ministry of reconciliation - through Him Who is our one and only mediator between God and man - Jesus Christ our Lord.
They cried with a loud voice, We will not have this Man to rule over us, and so the kingdom was set aside for a season and Jesus, the Crown-Prince of heavenly glory, returned to His Father's throne until a future time when He would be accepted by His people, seated on the throne of David, and crowned as their eternal King, Sovereign Lord, and promised Messiah.Today, the kingdom has been postponed and the Prince of Peace continues to be Israel's 'King-in-Waiting'.
Jesus, the God-Man, became the Mediator of a New and better Covenant because He gave His life as the ransom price for the sin of the world and was raised to life – based on the power of an inextinguishable life.Jesus was fully God and fully Man.
As MAN, He offered Himself as humanity's sacrifice for sin.
The Lord Jesus was not talking about the temple that had been made with man's hands - for heaven is God's throne, and the earth is His footstool, and God is not confined by man's limited imagination.
Jesus was the eternal Son of God, Who had come to earth as a man - the perfect, sinless Son of Man - and He was clothed in a body of human flesh.
Jesus had a unique relationship with His Heavenly Father, for He was the eternal Son Who became a Member of the human race, but He also had a unique relationship with humanity, for He was fully Man and yet fully God.
Although fully God, He had to learn how to live as a man under the guidance and direction of God so that He could fulfil the will of His Father.
In Romans 1:5 we discover that the obedience that God requires of man is faith - faith in His Word.
We live in a fallen world that was a result of man's sin.
The earth was cursed, man died spiritually, and for a brief season, Satan has taken the reins of power and has become the prince of the power of the air... and the god of this age.
This fallen angel rules a fallen world through the medium of fallen man, in an attempt to thwart the perfect plans and purposes of our perfect God.
But Satan will never succeed, and God's perfect, unbreakable plan that the perfect Man, Christ Jesus, will rule and reign as God's appointed king over Israel and Saviour of the world, will happen in God's perfect timing and in God's perfect way.
But fallen man who lives in a fallen world, will sometimes look to around and wonder where God is in all our difficulties and pain and cry out, Who will show us any good?
David was a man that was beset by evil and pain, rejection and loss, but He was a man who knew His God and was able to quote the blessing that Aaron, the High Priest of Israel, first prayed over the people of God: Lift up the light of Your countenance upon us, O LORD.
Paul is an example of a man that prayed often and earnestly for the saints, making mention of them always in His prayers and always giving thanks to God for the grace that had been bestowed on fellow believers.
Though fully God, Jesus was fully Man... but He was the sinless Man upon Whom death had no hold.
I am the First and I am the Last. The Man Who walked and talked with John and Who knelt to wash His dusty feet at that last Passover meal in the upper room... is the eternal Son of Man Who spans time and encompasses eternity.
But God is Spirit and only one Member of the Triune Godhead was clothed in human flesh and became a Man.
Only Jesus the perfect Son of Man had blood in His veins that would one day be shed to pay the price for the sin of the world.
Only One Person of the Trinity was born into the human race as a Man, so that He could live a perfect life and die a sacrificial death, and in so doing pay the price for the sin of the world.
When liberal thinkers and Christian cults refuse to acknowledge the deity of the Lord Jesus... Who as the second Person of the Trinity is fully GOD, yet fully MAN, they destroy the one truth that can save their soul - a truth that cannot be compromised, for only a holy GOD is pure enough to pay the price for sin and break its deathly power.
But God is Spirit... and only a perfect MAN of flesh and blood is both able and worthy to become our Kinsman-Redeemer and pay the incredible price for the sin of the world by shedding His sinless blood for us - the Man Christ Jesus.
but FIRST a man must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be made alive spiritually.
While man's carnal behaviour exposes an inner, self-centredness mixed with a casual disregard for others, the deeds carried out in spirit and in truth identify a man or woman whose life is abiding in Christ and yielded to God.
The fruit of man's sinful nature bears nothing but rotting sadness and sour pain, and the ethical character and political correctness of a believer who is straining to live-up to certain socially acceptable moral standards, in their own strength, will similarly produce nothing but the bad fruit of the old sinful, Adamic nature.
Spiritual fruit can never be produced through man's effort.
While some people are adept at perfecting certain of these spiritual characteristics in their own strength, the fruit of the Spirit, which is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, can only be genuinely manifested in a spirit-filled man or woman.
Because of man's free-will and fallen nature, slavery became a common practice in the human realm, and the Bible gives believers instructions on how to conduct oneself as a slave, as well as instruction for those who are their masters.Throughout the letters of Paul and the other apostles, we see that slavery was very common in biblical times.
It was right at the end of day six that God formed man in His own image and likeness.
Finally the Lord said, Let us make man in our own image and likeness, and let them have dominion over the fish, the birds, the animals and the entire earth, and it was so.
Man was given a mandate to subdue the earth and take care of it because everything that God had made was very good.
It appears that not only was man to be a vegetarian at this point, but also the animals seem to have been herbivores.
Sadly, due to disobedience and sin, the God-ordained authority that man had been given over the earth was transferred to Satan, who is the 'god of this age'... for a season... but the Lord in His omniscience knew that man would sin and in His goodness and grace formulated His amazing redemption plan that would span 7000 years of human history.
Together we make up one New Man, where Christ is the Head... and we are all part of a new, perfected, and spiritual creation.
Because of sin, there is an immovable barrier between God and man - and priests from the house of Aaron were ordained by God to mediate between the two.
Their role was to remove the sin-barrier between man and God.
The role of the priest was to deal with: 1) sin 2) the sinner who was estranged from God due to their sin 3) an offended God Who demanded satisfaction for the sin that man had committed - and the wages of sin is death.
It was the role of the priest to be the propitiation between God and man so that God's wrath against sin could be appeased and satisfied, in order that the sin barrier between God and man could be removed.
The role of the priest was also to reconcile fallen man back to a holy God so that man could be redeemed, forgiven, and returned into sweet fellowship with the God Who created him.
But no man is good enough to act as mediator between God and man.
This priesthood could not reconcile fallen man back to God.
It could not be the propitiation for man's sins.
Like the rest of the people, the Levitical priests also stood in need of salvation and reconciliation between man and God.
They too needed a mediator between themselves and God. But just as the perfect Law was the tool that God used to show man his sinfulness and his need for salvation, so too the insufficiency of the Levitical priesthood was an instrument that God used to demonstrate the limitation of the Levitical priesthood and the insufficiency of its mediatorial role.
The earthly priesthood was used by God and to show man's need of a sinless High Priest, a new Priesthood, a perfect Mediator, a sinless Man who could represent man to God and God to man.
Only the sinless Son of God could be the propitiation for our sins and become the one and only Mediator between man and God, and between God and man.
Jesus is our only sinless High Priest, the perfect Mediator between God and man.
He is sinless Man Who was sent by God to establish a new priesthood, a Royal-Priesthood, a priesthood that was not after the insufficient order of Aaron but after the perfect order of Melchizedek (the King of Jerusalem and Priest of the most high God).
For only the Word made flesh could legitimately become God's representative to man and mans representative to God.
God's unshakable and irrefutable declaration to the fallen race of man is that God has given us eternal life and this life is in His Son, for He is the Way, and the Truth, and the Life, and He alone has the authority to give eternal life to all who come to Him for salvation.
It happened when Christ announced (in Bethsaida) that the hour had come for the Son of Man to be glorified.
David’s dear desire was to build a Temple for the Lord, but he was required to forgo the longings of his heart in favour of his son, whom God had decided would be the man to erect the House of God – for His greater glory.
David was a man whose life illustrated much of the suffering service of Christ’s ministry during his sojourn on earth.
During this energetic introduction to Christ's ministry, the drama intensified when a man in their synagogue, who had an unclean spirit, shouted out in the middle of the service, What business do we have with each other..
The testimony this demon-possessed man was compelled to make during that Sabbath service, stated plainly Who Jesus was and where He was from.
Why did the demon-possessed man cry out in this way?
In recognising the purity of the holy One of God, the demonic man responded with an abusive remark.
The demon-possessed man initially identified the Lord with a derogatory label, Jesus of Nazareth.
This term that was meant to belittle the Person and Work of the Son of Man, but he had to admit the true identity of the heavenly Man in their presence, the Holy One of God!
The voice of the demonic man was heard in the synagogue that day... but the words that were spoken came from the demon itself.
Jesus came in the likeness of man... to redeem the descendants of Abraham... and ALL who believe on His name WILL be saved.
He had experienced the most devastating loss of family and fortune, had been struck down with a most painful disease, and was accused by his friends, that his misfortune resulted from his own sinfulness – which he felt was a gross misrepresentation of his character and situation.Job cried out for a Days-man.
God did not have to explain Himself to one of His created beings, nor do any of us have a right to question God's perfect plan or know the reason WHY He permits bad things to happen to good people.Although this incredible soliloquy from the Lord, provides humanity with many insights into areas such as science, geology, cosmology, geography, oceanology, and anthropology, none of Job's questions were answered, and yet it brought that man into a deeper understanding of the very God in Whom he trusted.God alone was there when the foundation of the earth was laid, and however much man likes to speculate on the creation of the heaven and earth, God alone was present and, in His grace, has recorded it in the Scriptures for our learning – but how few trust His Word?
Jesus is the heavenly Man in Whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells and we are described as epistles of Christ whose function is to translate the truth of the glorious gospel of Christ into words and deeds to those with whom we come in contact.
We are not a dispatch that was formed in the imagination of fallen man with an anti-God agenda or a secular worldview, but a heavenly communication that is written on our heart - an epistle that honours the Lord and is grounded on biblical truth.
And in this verse, Solomon compares the pleasant aroma and rejuvenating effect of oil and incense to the wise counsel of a trusted friend, and writes: Oil and perfume make the heart glad, so a man's counsel is sweet to his friend.
What a beautiful picture this presents of the joy and gladness that fills the heart of a man or woman, when a beloved Christian friend or dear brother in Christ combines gracious acts of kindness, wise advice, words of encouragement, gentle chastening, and genial counsel with the glorious gospel of Christ in order to edify and encourage or even to correct.
In the Scriptures, the oil of gladness and incense of joy, are so often seen as the adornment of the man or woman that loves righteousness and hates wickedness, while the perfumer's ointment and sacred anointing incense is frequently seen in Scripture, ascending up to the Lord as a good and acceptable freewill offering, a love offering, a burnt sacrifice and sweet-smelling savour that is so pleasing in the sight of the Lord.
Although the Lord Jesus is truly God, He is also fully Man Who has walked His own earthly pathway and understands the difficulties and dangers of living on this earth in a body of flesh and blood.
Although Christ Jesus is truly Man, He is also the eternal, omnipotent, all-knowing God, Who will judge the world in righteousness, and we can confidently claim, the Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.
Although true Deity, the Lord Jesus is also fully man, and because He walked this earth before us, He is well-able to sympathise with all our weaknesses and He understands all the problems and pain that we will face in our individual lives.
The righteous man is the one who has been saved by grace through faith in Christ.
The righteous man has recognised that he is a sinner in need of salvation and believes that God sent His dearly beloved Son to die on the Cross for the forgiveness of sin and life everlasting.
John was the man who would come in the spirit and power of Elijah.
Confusion must have swept the heart of this great man of God who sent his followers to ask, Are You the One Who is to come, or should we expect someone else?
Hosea gives us a little insight into Jacob's wrestling with God, for we read in chapter 12: Jacob wept, and sought favour from Him... and what a wonderful blessing he was given, for the Man said to Jacob, 'Your name shall no longer be Jacob, but Israel; for you have striven with God and with men and have prevailed.' Just as God changed the names of his grandfather and grandmother, so He gave Jacob a new name.
The night that he wrestled with God, Jacob was made a new man with a new name - whose life was to be ruled by God from that point on.
The Sovereign Lord does nothing without first revealing His plan to His servants, the prophets, and Ezekiel was one such servant through whom the Lord spoke to His people, Israel, and disclosed many wonderful and many terrible things.Although this man of God warned of the judgement to come, there is much in this book that emphases the sovereign authority of the Lord, which gives encouragement and comfort to his people, Israel.Although the book of Ezekiel trumpets the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Sanctuary, it also proclaims the great and awesome glory of the Lord and describes, in detail, the future Millennial Temple under the administration of God's anointed King.One aspect of Ezekiel's ministry was that some of his prophetic announcements were to be articulated through drama or mime.
It was for this reason that Stephen, a man filled with the Holy Ghost, was arrested and brought before the Sanhedrin to testify of the truth of the gospel.
In the beginning God created man in His own image, but man rebelled and all his progeny were imputed with sin.
God cannot look upon sin but in these last days God chose to bring forth a new creation and breathe the breath of life into that new Man.
And so God sent His Son into the world to be the Head of that new Man - and as believers we are all part of that one new Man in Christ..
This means that Christ was the first man to ever rise from the dead with an immortal body and all who trust in Him for salvation will also be a kind of first-fruit from the dead..
And so began the final few hours of the incarnate Son of God Who had flung stars into space, formed man from the dust of the earth, and breathed into man the breath of life.
Hated and despised, rejected and falsely accused, the Son of God Who had come to save man from their sins, was handed over to the Roman guard to be crucified on a wooden cross.
Jesus completed God's gracious revelation to mankind in many ways, but perhaps the most memorable way that Christ unveiled God's name, God's character, and God's attributes was when He said, I AM the good Shepherd; I AM the Vine; I AM the Door; I AM the Bread of Life; I AM the Resurrection; I AM the Way, and the Truth, and the Life, no man cometh unto the Father but by Me.
Christ is fully God and fully Man, and in Him we have all we need for life and godliness.
During this life, we will grow into a mature man, who measures up to the full and complete standard of Christ.
We simply need to rest in His love and yield to the work of His Spirit in the inner man, for faithful is He Who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass.
There is no more important issue in the life of every man than knowing the way of salvation, because there are eternal consequences that lead to an eternal life with God or eternal separation from Him; heaven or the lake of fire.
While prideful man imagined a variety of ways to be saved and invented many paths to get into heaven, God in His wisdom purposed that there would be one way to be saved, and one way alone.
And Jesus told us, I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; no man comes to the Father but by Me.
No man can gain eternal life and enter heaven except through faith in Jesus.
In God's perfect economy the good deeds, generous acts, philanthropic behaviour, and kind conduct that fallen man is able to generate, falls far short of the glory and perfection of our holy God, for faith in Christ Jesus our Lord is the only Way. There is nothing we can do that could earn us a place in the heavenly realm.
Not one man has ever lived who is deserving of forgiveness of sin and the salvation of their soul, for humanity is a fallen race.
How important to read to the end of the sentence: BUT the GIFT of God is eternal life THROUGH JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD. God loved His creation so dearly that in His grace, He gave His only begotten Son to be born into the human race so that He could become man's Saviour, through paying the price for humanities sin through the shedding of His lifeblood - through the sacrifice of His perfect, sinless life.
The forgiveness of sin (salvation of the soul and eternal life, which is part of the package of forgiveness) is a gift - a free gift - a free gift from God - an unconditional gift from God which demonstrates His amazing grace and unconditional love, and it is available to every-man, every sinner.
The payment for sin is death, but Jesus received the payment on behalf of every man when He died on Calvary's cruel Cross: For the wages of sin is death; BUT the free gift of God is eternal life, THROUGH BELIEVING ON JESUS CHRIST OUR LORD.
Herein is love - not that we loved God, but that He took the initiative and loved us first, by sending His only begotten Son into the world to die for sinful man, so that whosoever believes on Him would not be condemned, but be given abundant and eternal life, by grace through faith.
There is a dignity and grace that accompanies a godly man into his old age, and one of the joys of being in one's twilight years is to have grandchildren.
No surprise that grandchildren are described in this verse as being a coronet on the head of an old man.
From the beginning, God ordained that a man should leave his father and mother and cleave to his own wife and they should become one flesh.
God established the intimacy of family life, where father and mother bring up their sons and daughters in the fear and reverence of the Lord, and a godly man who fulfils his roles and responsibilities as God designed, becomes the praise and glory of his children and grandchildren.
In Psalm 127, we read that sons are a heritage from the Lord and children are a reward. Sons and daughters born to a young couple are truly a gift from God, and those that are delivered during one's youth are described in Scripture as, arrows in a warrior's hand. Happy is the man who has filled his quiver with them.
Not only are grandchildren the crown of an old man, but he is also the glory of his sons.
A good man leaves an inheritance to his grandchildren, and the legacy of a godly grandfather should have eternal consequences in the lives of later generations.
He was a man after God's own heart because he trusted in the Lord.
David acknowledged that in this world we will suffer trials and tribulations and the enemy of our soul will use every opportunity to depress our heart and shipwreck our faith - but this man of God never forgot that the Lord is in control and the mischief of the oppressor will finally return on his own head.
David has become a great example of a man whose trust in God was severely tested, but one who maintained his faith in His Redeemer.
The man who falls on the Stone will be broken to pieces (saved by grace through faith) BUT on whosoever that Stone falls, (the unbeliever) will be scattered like dust.
They disapproved of His lack of formal education and were highly critical when He exposed their hypocrisy, religiosity and man-made traditions.
At His first coming, it was a Roman sword that pierced His side, from which poured redemption's blood-red stream over the sinful race of fallen man - as a dying, sin-cursed earth, groaned beneath the weight of sin, waiting in hope for this special day of redemption.
There were times when Titus journeyed with Paul and Barnabas on their missionary travels, and his responsibility in Crete demonstrates Paul's confidence in his ability.He even accompanied them to the Jerusalem Council, where it was agreed that Gentiles, like Titus, did not have to do be circumcised or adopt Jewish practices following their conversion – because Jew and Gentile alike, were part of the One New Man.
Jesus Christ is man's only hope and He is given the title “Saviour', for He it was Who set aside His glory and was born into the very race that He created in His own image..
God the Son is our Saviour for He carried out the Father's redemptive plan, by being born into the human race as Man's Kins-man-Redeemer, and giving His life as a ransom for many..
The man or woman whose life is a service of suffering, is the one that has been prepared to die to self and live to Christ - presenting their body as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto the Lord.
Religious men often seek to worship God through symbolic acts, man-made rituals, fleshly works, or emotional outbursts, but God desires a worshipful heart that is clean before Him, dependent upon Him, submissive to Him, and full of humility and grace.
God is eternal, and God is Spirit, and God made man in His own image and likeness.
At the innermost core of man's innermost being we have a human spirit which was designed for 'spirit to Spirit' fellowship with our God (a mutual, loving communion with our Heavenly Father).
But God is Spirit and man is flesh, and God is not limited by our human failings and fleshly limitation.
Though man looks on the outside and is drawn to religious acts of pomp and ceremony, God looks on the heart and delights in the one that approaches Him humbly, reverently, and in the fear of the Lord.
God is close to those that are humble in heart; He saves those who are crushed in spirit; He feeds those that are hungry for Him, and streams of His living water will flow in and through the man or woman that worships the Lord in spirit and in truth.
Although there is a wide variety of spiritual gifts It is one and the same Spirit Who works all these things, distributing (gifts) to each one individually just as He wills. Christians do not choose their preferred gift or gifts. They are distributed to believers as the Spirit chooses. Spiritual gifts are not awarded for good behaviour, earned by a man's meritorious works, achieved through academic excellence, or purchased for a handsome sum of money.
Jesus came to earth as the best example of how man should live.
He was God's ideal standard Who came to earth to illustrate the way that God had determined man should behave towards Himself and His creation - from the very beginning.
The goodness and purity that was inherent in Christ, exposed the ugliness and evil that is inherent in man, and so He was despised and rejected of men - a man of sorrows Who suffered and died at their hands.
God in His grace was fashioning the world into a perfect paradise for His final act of creation, and man would be formed from the dust of the earth and made in His own image and likeness.
The book of Numbers clearly states the unalterable truth... that, God is not a man.
The Lord is true to His Word, His mercy is new every morning, and He is a faithful God Who will stand firm to the very end of time... for God is NOT a man that He should lie, and the Lord Jesus Christ is the faithful and true Witness Whose Word stands fast for ever.
Heaven and earth may pass away, but the Word of the Lord stands fast forever, for God is not a man that He should lie, nor is he the son of a man that He should change His mind.
Little wonder that much of the epistle of James touches on areas of Christian living that would be close to the heart of this repentant man who identified as a bond-slave of Christ Jesus, the brother he once despised.
He emphasises the need to develop patient endurance and shows that the goodness in the heart of the Lord is the antithesis of the evil in the heart of man.
Just as a tiny bit in the mouth of a mighty horse causes it to submit to its rider, so the tongue will direct the path a man takes.
In the same way, the words that proceed from a man's mouth will influence his life, for good or ill, as well as the lives of many who listen to him.
Ill-advised words can defile the whole body and set a man and his hearers on a road to destruction, just as the tiniest, badly planned fire can bring ruin to a thriving forest.
Satan is the master counterfeiter and throughout man's 6000 year-long history..
The Word of the Lord, Who sits in the heavens will never fail, for the day is coming when He will judge the world in righteousness - by the Man Christ Jesus, Whom God Himself has appointed.
He was a much younger man than Paul, but in this letter the apostle graciously referred to him 'a fellow bondservant'.
It was lovely of Paul to include Timothy in his initial greeting, for these Christians would have had many fond memories of that special visit, when the rich wisdom, self-assurance, and extraordinary enthusiasm of the older apostle's authoritative teaching, was complimented with the quiet simplicity, deep assurance, and fervour, that characterised the younger man.
Paul had received a vision of a man in Macedonia beckoning to him to come over and teach them the gospel of Christ, and Paul concluded that the Lord wanted him to evangelise in that region.
He demonstrated His love towards man in a multitude of ways, but the incarnation of His dearly beloved Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, is the brightest and best signification of the love of God towards mankind.
The greatest possible example of the love of God towards fallen man is that God loved the world so much that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes on Him would not perish but be saved.
It is only the new-born-again life of Christ that can enable us to say, it is not I that live but Christ that lives in me. It is only through the death of this perfect Man that the power of death can be forever broken, in the lives of all who believe on the only begotten and dearly beloved Son of God.
and the teachings that we receive, to see if they are of God or from man... for anything that cannot be confirmed by means of the Bible must be rejected.
Although He remained fully God while here on earth, Christ lived His life as fully man to show you and me how God expects all men to live, not living for self, but doing only those things that we hear from HIM.
The Lord Jesus was a wonderful example of a Man who was perfect in thought and word, in action and attitude.
As the young man slept with his head on a stone, the Lord spoke to him in a dream and renewed the wonderful promise He had given to both Abraham and Isaac, so many years before.
It was to be through the offspring of this man that all the families of the earth were to be blessed.
He is the Son of Man Who comes to heal all who will call on His name, and He is the King of the Jews Who will one day bind up the wounds of His people Israel.
He reminds us that although we are living in a deteriorating, mortal body which may have to endure persecution or even premature death, our inner man is being renewed daily... and the passing nature of our present suffering and persecution is producing for us an everlasting weight of glory - a splendour that is far beyond any comparison.
In this passage 'flesh' refers to the old sinful self - 'the old man' as the Bible calls it.
When Adam sinned, man died spiritually, leaving every member of humanity dead in trespasses and sin.
Man's body also started to die immediately and man's soul was corrupted and tainted with sin... such that man knew what was good yet was unable to do it... and man knew what was evil but was unable to avoid it.
The only way that man can return into fellowship with his Creator, is by becoming part of His new creation - where Christ is the federal Head of an entirely new race of humanity.
Any good works that are undertaken by means of our 'old man' are unacceptable to the Lord and can never honour His name.
The sinful, fleshly old man will seek to reassert its supremacy while-ever we are in our human body of flesh and blood, but each fleshly uprising must be deactivated as we deny self, take up our Cross, and take every thought captive to Christ.
If we permit the old sin nature to mount the throne of our life, we dishonour the Lord and will reap the bitter fruit of sinfulness, but if we keep the old man nailed to the Cross and live for Christ alone, we will reap the everlasting fruit of righteousness: For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life.
God is able to open prison doors as well as men's hearts when a man or woman is ready and willing to be a prisoner in chains for Jesus Christ and become a living sacrifice, ready and willing to witness to the truth of the gospel of God.
Indeed, he made many mistakes in his journey through life, and had to learn many lessons along the way. Nevertheless, it is a wonderful testimony to this man that he did not falter in his faith, which not only glorified God but gives us an example of the need to understand how important it is to believe God - for without faith, it is impossible to please God.
But the man that trusts in God is clothed in confidence and strengthened in his faith, which glorifies the Father.Oh what peace and power, excellence and grace there is in trusting the Lord.
Legalism and license can become a 'ping-pong' type argument that often rages in Christian quarters, between 1) the dangers of legalism - which replaces the freedom we have in Christ with a string of man-made rules, and the reintroduction of Jewish practices which were set aside at the Cross – and 2) the perils of license - the abuse of the freedoms we have in Christ as an excuse to sin.
We have been set free from the restrictions of the Mosaic Law, or any form of man-made rules and religiosity.
Were they recalling the time that Jesus took His twelve disciples aside and told them that everything written in the prophets about the Son of Man would be accomplished?
Did they have a glimmer of hope when they told the stranger what Jesus had said on the way to Jerusalem, when He took the twelve disciples aside and told them that the Son of Man would be delivered to the chief priests and scribes, who would condemn Him to death and hand Him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and scourged and crucified - and that on the third day He would be raised-up from the grave? Maybe!
It was fellow Jews who had insisted in the segregation of circumcised Jewish believers from uncircumcised Gentiles Christians – and Peter caved into their pressure.Peter wanted a peaceful existence, and although he was a pillar of the early Christian Church who knew that salvation was by faith and not by following the Law, he crumbled from pressure and withdrew himself FEARING those of the circumcision.May we know the truth, stand fast on the Word of God, and not allow ourselves to compromise the glorious gospel of Christ through fear of the world, fear of our Christian brethren, or fear of our fellow man.
David was a man after God's own heart who desired to pass on the truth of the glorious goodness of God to the next generation... and he calls on us to taste and see that the Lord is good.
David made some foolish mistakes in many areas of his life - but he was a man after God's own heart because he learned to trust the Lord in all things - and not to lean on His own understanding.
It is not sufficient to believe that Jesus was simply a good man and a moral teacher whose life should be emulated, but to know that He is the eternal Son of God Who was born into His own creation as the perfect Son of Man.
The man or woman who believes on the Lord Jesus Christ, is the one whose heart has turned to Christ for full and free salvation.
He was born into His own creation as a perfect Man so that He could be made sin in our place and be punished for our iniquity.
It is faith in the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ at Calvary that renders a man or woman saved, forgiven, and a citizen of heaven.
We discover Him to be the full and final revelation of the eternal God to mortal man, and we are informed that He is superior in every element to the greatest of human-kind and the most exulted of the angelic host.
The eternal, invisible, self-existent God was to set aside His glory and to clothe Himself in frail, human flesh and be born as the perfect, mortal man, destined to die a criminal's death.
By the might of His power, He flung stars into space, and yet foolish man exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator.
Paul's appeal to them, and to us, is to cleanse our inner man of all filthiness of the flesh.
When a redeemed person has fallen from grace into legalism or carnality and is challenged about their sinfulness and unrighteous behaviour, when a believer is brought to deep sorrow for their wrongdoings and grieved about their sinful behaviour, when a Christian is broken before the Lord because of their sin, or when a justified man feels the chastening rod of God on their back and turns from their wicked way, they are brought to godly repentance with NO regrets.
There has never been pain like the pain Christ underwent and there has never been a more severe blow dealt on a man than the wrath poured out on Christ, for your sake and mine.
Centuries of indifference has passed since the sinless Son of Man died at Calvary in our place, but how few really care?
The sinfulness of fallen man with his filthy lips, who lives alongside other sinners with equally defiled mouths, is contrasted with the thrice-holy Lord of Hosts.
Yet Isaiah's heavenly vision of the Lord is the most beautiful picture of God's grace, because the foul mouth of this sinful man was cleansed and beautified by glowing coal, that had been taken from the heavenly altar, and placed on his lips.
It was a glorious vision of Deity that met the startled eyes of this humbled man.
Who will go for Us? The man who is SENT by the Lord on a divine mission, must be a man that is willing to GO for the Lord.
Here am I, send me, that we see the collaborative working of God's divine purpose uniting with man's willingness to go.
It was Paul who would later disclose a mystery that had been hidden from past ages and generations - that there was to be One New Man in Christ, made up of Jew and Gentile, Who would all become equal members of Christ's Body..
Only the shed blood of Jesus Christ (the perfect Son of God and sinless Son of Man), could satisfy the righteous demands of God Who had decreed that the wages of sin is death.
Jesus died to pay the penalty of God's broken Law which is broken by every man: For all have sinned and all fall short of the glory of God.
The wall of partition that had been erected between God's chosen people Israel and the pagan Gentile nations, who were dead in their sins and without God in the world, was removed so that Christ might create in Himself one new man from these two groups of people.
He was the eternal Son of God Who had become the perfect Son of Man Who had lived a perfect life and died a sacrificial death for the sin of mankind, for which He alone was qualified.
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son - the Son of His love, to be man's sin offering.
And in that day, Israel will greatly rejoice in the Lord – proclaiming, He has cleansed us of our sin, covered us in a robe of righteousness for His name's sake, and turned our desert into a garden - where every man will sit under His fig tree and the earth will be filled with the glory of God as the waters cover the sea.
Many Jews were prepared to add 'believing in Christ' to their religious rites, but very few could accept the gospel Paul taught - that faith alone in Christ alone was sufficient for salvation and that no man living would be justified by works of the Law.
Paul insisted that faith in Christ is the one and only way to be justified before God and in chapter 1, he even pronounced a curse on anyone who taught a different gospel: If we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! - and I say again now, if any man is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed!
Although this scarlet thread in the book of Joshua is not identified as a true, Old Testament 'type', with its New Testament 'antitype', it has often been used in Christian circles to represent the cleansing life-giving blood of Christ, which atones for a man's sin - and through Whom a justified sinner is declared to be righteous in God's sight - by faith.
Christ was born as part of God's eternal plan for man.
The birth of Jesus shows Him to be both true deity and fully man.
It was this point in time when God the eternal Son, became Jesus the perfect Man, Who took upon Himself a human nature.
When the human nature of the Lord Jesus Christ was united with the divine nature of God the Son, He became Jesus, the God-Man.
What an incredible privilege was given to this righteous young man, who became the adoptive father to the Son of God.
The Lord suddenly appeared to this man in a dream, saying, Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary as your wife, because what has been conceived in her is by the Holy Spirit. Joseph, as the head of his family, was instructed to call this Child JESUS, God's Salvation, the name that is above every other name, for there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to people by which we must be saved.
And 2000 years ago, a young man called Joseph the carpenter, was entrusted with the earthly parentage of Jesus, sent by God to save His people from their sins.
Paul could see that Festus was considering handing him back to the Jews for trial in Jerusalem and so he declared boldly, If I be an offender, or have committed anything worthy of death, I refuse not to die: but if there be none of these things whereof these accuse me, no man may deliver me unto them (the Jews).
Paul probably planned to travel to Rome as a free man with other evangelists.
He had been a secret disciple of Christ for some time – but was now ready and willing to declare in Whom he had believed.Joseph was a wealthy man whose tomb had been hewn out of the bed-rock, as prophesied by Isaiah.
Luke explains that even the women who had come with Him out of Galilee, followed and saw the tomb, and how His body was placed.But strict Sabbath Day regulations prevented these heart-broken, Jewish women from visiting the tomb the following day, which was a Sabbath and so from Friday, through Saturday, and into Sunday, the stone-cold body of the Lord Jesus Christ lay in silence – and alone - in the borrowed tomb of a wealthy man.No doubt copious tears were shed and many hearts bitterly grieved, as these loyal ladies fulfilled the requirements of the Sabbath Day – for we read that they rested on the Sabbath, according to the commandment.No doubt, they started preparing spices and perfumes to anoint His body, throughout that evening and into the night-time once the Sabbath was over.
The temporary, old covenant was to be replaced with a new, everlasting covenant, and the symbols of earthly worship (the man-made Temple and the old priestly order), were to be exchanged for the kingdom of heaven, where Christ was to reign supreme.
Although the Lord Jesus Christ was fully God, He showed us how to live our lives as God intended every man to live, in spirit and in truth.
But as the Son of Man Himself walked this earth in humble dependence upon His Father, He could also proclaim that now is the time when true worshipers would worship the Father in spirit and truth.
From the beginning to the end of His life, the Man, Christ Jesus, was the perfect example of a worshipper.
He lived as God intended man to live; delighting in the Lord, walking in spirit and truth, living in total dependence upon the Father, and in willing submission to the Spirit - for the man who worships God in spirit and truth is the man who is willing to say, Thy will not mine be done.
Abraham is the supreme example of a man of faith whose life bears witness of the never-failing faithfulness of our good and gracious God... and whose life experience encourages us to maintain the hope we have in Christ - our sure and steadfast anchor, on Whom to secure our soul.
Christ's act of coming into the world as a Man, was a vital step He took in bringing salvation to mankind.
Only a perfect Man could pay the price for the sin of fallen humanity.
Our Saviour had to be God AND Man, and Christ Jesus was God incarnate, He was God in the flesh.
Without the forgiveness of sin, fallen man could never be reconciled to a holy God, and the first step Christ took towards the forgiveness of our sin, was to come into the world as a tiny babe, in order to die for our sin.
This not only displeased Samuel, but caused the anger of the Lord to rise up against the disobedient king: You acted foolishly, and have not kept God's commands, Samuel thundered, so now your kingdom shall not endure. The Lord has sought out for Himself a man after His own heart and the Lord has appointed him as ruler over His people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.
The Lord was going to replace him with a man who trusted His Word and obeyed His commands.
Saul was to be replaced with a man after God's own heart.
The Bible gives us all the tools we need to be a man or woman after God's own heart.
Today, the Son of Man is seated on His Father's throne in heavenly splendour, but the day is coming when the Lord Jesus Christ will return in the clouds astride a white horse, accompanied by thousands upon thousands of His holy angels together with His faithful Church-age saints - all dressed in fine linen, clean and white.
The day is coming when the Son of Man will return in heavenly glory to judge the Gentiles, to fulfil His promises to Abraham, to set-up Israel at the head of the nations, and to establish up His millennial rule on earth.
On that day, the Son of Man will sit upon His own glorious throne in the city of Jerusalem at the beginning of His thousand year 'Millennium' reign of peace and prosperity on earth.
The heavens will open and every eye will see the Son of Man riding on a white horse.
This wonderful Second Coming is when the Son of man shall come in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him.
The foundational truth in these early verses in John's Gospel steers our minds back to the creation in Genesis where the Triune God spoke the universe into being by His mighty Word and formed man from the dust of His own creation, breathing in His own Spirit of life and light.
At an appointed time, He was clothed in flesh, becoming the perfect Son of Man so that sinful humanity might not perish but be redeemed from sin's eternal destiny and be restored into a right relation with their Creator.
It is when we have come to that point where we simply trust in the truth of His Word and believe all that He has told us in Scripture, that the natural progression of every Christian should be to say with utter confidence, THE LORD IS MY HELPER WHAT CAN MAN DO TO ME?
What can man do to me?
When the historical facts of Scripture, the immutable character of God, the great crowd of witnesses who lived a life of faith that was pleasing to the Lord, and our own experiences of God's grace are all combined, then we too should be able to confidently say, The Lord is my helper, what can man do to me?
But in a world that is at enmity with God and has, in general, rejected the good news of the glorious gospel of Christ, this is no easy matter – and we are likely to come up against much resistance to our message of hope and personal rejection from our fellow-man... and even hatred, abuse, or death.
He appeals for us to renounce fleshly lusts, worldly ways, unclean thoughts, and greedy attitudes, while clothing ourselves in a new and godly morality where we put off the old sinful man and put on a new Christlike nature by being renewed each day in the spirit of our mind.
He was also angry and grieved at the hardness of men's hearts in Mark 3, when He healed the man with a withered hand on a Sabbath day.
For millennia, man has sought to create Utopia and bring in a time of peace and prosperity for all.
But this ideal can never be achieved, for man is imputed with sin and is innately a sinner.
Despite having rejected the God Who created them and having refused His gracious offer of salvation by grace through faith in Christ, man has continued on his foolish quest to establish his own form of peace into this world at war.
A worldly hope is founded on irrational thinking, empty vanity, a humanistic philosophy, and man's deceitfully-inspired prospects, resulting in disappointments, frustration, confusion, and shame.
But Paul was an apostle chosen of God and not by man.
How we praise God that Paul was set apart for God, even from his mother's womb and that God was pleased to reveal His Son in and through Paul's ministry so that Jew and Gentile alike may be saved by grace through faith and together become part of the one new man in Christ - to His praise and glory.
Our 'Old Man' as the Bible calls it, which is part of our old Adamic nature, is riddled with sin.
When our old man tries to carry out the Law through self-effort, it tries to reform itself - but this is a self-righteousness that is unacceptable to God, for all our righteousness is as filthy rags to Him.
And God has given us all that we need for that new life to grow in grace and in a knowledge of Jesus, but we must do it God's way and not man's way.
The Bible is God's wonderful plan of man's redemption from start to finish.
The heavens and earth, which was created, fashioned, formed and filled by God, was cursed because of man's sin - and the icy fingers of death continue to strangle and suffocate all the good things that God has made.
But it is to be replaced with a new heavens and a new earth where death's destructive grip has been severed forever and the curse that pronounced man's eternal separation from God will be fully and finally removed.
But as God brings His plan for man's redemption to its glorious and climatic conclusion, there will be no need for the sun to shine by day nor moonlight to guide our steps at night, for the Lord Himself will be our Light.
In the beginning, the accumulated waters on the first earth were called 'the sea' and for whatever reason we are told that there will be no sea in the new earth: Eye has not seen, nor has ear heard, neither has entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those that love Him.
The Bible is a record of God's wonderful plan of man's redemption, and the amazing grace that caused God to send His only begotten Son to die on the Cross to pay the price for our sin will be brought to its final conclusion when God makes a new heaven and a new earth: For the first heaven and the first earth will pass away.
Would he choose what is right and eschew what was evil, or would he reject the worthy things of God and cling to the praises of man and the worthless spoils of Sodom?
In the beginning, the Lord made man in His own image and likeness, yet only a few short chapters later, we see that the wickedness of man was very great upon the earth.God made everything perfect.
All that He had created was very good, yet only 10 generations after Adam sinned, we discover the shocking, moral decline of the human race, for every intent of the thoughts of man's heart was only evil continually and God was grieved in His heart.This shocking and disturbing indictment against the human race in the antediluvian age, and the exponential increase of wickedness in the heart of men, demanded humanity's total termination.The giants, or 'nephilim' named in the previous verses, were the unnatural offspring of fallen angels and human women – a race that was totally contrary to God's order – man was to reproduce after his own KIND.
And this mingling of the angelic with the human, was Satan's attempt to corrupt the DNA of humanity and eliminate the Seed of the woman Who was prophesied to destroy the works of the evil one.Although the vile influence of these fallen angels certainly aggravated the degenerate, pre-flood conditions, it was the unrelenting wickedness in the human heart and man's obsessive preoccupation with evil which was identified in this verse and demanded the destruction of mankind, through the flood of Noah.The sin nature that so corrupted the human race at the time of the flood, is the same evil disposition that is inherited from our fathers and imputed into the heart of every man who has descended from Adam – for the natural man is a sinner who is born under sin and is at enmity with God.The LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great on the earth and that every intent of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually... and yet God, in His grace, purposed to redeem mankind and to destroy the works of the evil one.Although God's judgement rained down on the antediluvian world, and will do so once again during the Great Tribulation, it was at Calvary where complete victory was gained against mankind's unrelenting enemy.It was at the Cross, when Christ's blood was shed to pay the price for sin, that our Saviour triumphed over the evil enemy of our soul, and Satan's defeat will be fully realised when he is finally thrown into the fiery lake of God's everlasting judgement, after which, God will make a new heaven and a new earth.
God the Father was examining a scroll which was sealed-fast with seven seals, and John wept because there was no man who was sufficiently worthy to open the scroll.
Jesus alone, Who is man's only Mediator before God, is worthy to open the scroll - because He humbled Himself and became a Man so that by faith in Him we might be exalted as sons of the Most High God.
Imagine his joy when John was informed that the perfect Man was the Lion of the tribe of Judah.
Jesus was identified as the perfect Man Who overcame sin and death - and He alone was worthy to open the book and its seven seals.
Every man and woman has a free-will choice to trust in Christ for salvation - because the wrath of God against their sin and ours was paid at Calvary.
That future time of wrath is very near, and we need to recognise that it is by grace that we have been saved and not of works, lest any man should boast, but one of the hundreds of benefits that is given to all who believe on Christ is that we are NOT appointed to wrath.
But how like the world in which we live today, where Jesus is hailed as a great teacher, a moral man, a charismatic character, a good influence, a person to be emulated, and a even prophet from God.
But when hailed as God incarnate, the resurrected Son of Man, the only Way to Father, the non-negotiable Truth, the singular One through Whom alone we can receive eternal Life, and the righteous Judge (before Whom every knee will bow and every tongue will confess Him as Lord), the world despises, scorns, derides, and rejects Him.
From the fall of Adam, every man inherited an empty life, a life that is devoid of all that is good and pure, perfect and holy, a life without hope and a life without God.
Although God created man in His own image and likeness and bestowed upon him everything that relates to life and wholeness, because of Adam's sin our privileges were forfeited and handed over to Satan (who holds every man that comes into the world under the evil power of sin and death and hell).
We were created by God and belonged to Him, but we sold ourselves into slavery through man's disobedience to God's commands.
Multiplied acts of benevolent charity, bountiful giving, or altruistic deeds, however admired by man are also rejected by God, and are not complete before the Lord, unless they flow from a life of faith and fellowship in Him. No wonder we see such an urgent appeal for watchfulness and eager attentiveness, for although the Christians as Sardis demonstrated an outward facade of godliness, there was a deep.
As the Son of Man, the Word made flesh, His deity is not diminished although He set aside His glory to live as God intended all humanity to live - in total dependence on the Father.
There no deceit is in this man.
No doubt, Nathanael was a man who desired to follow God and wanted to live a life that was dedicated to Him.
Others may have called Jesus, 'King of the Jews' in a derisory manner or to sneer at His Messianic claims, but Nathanael's heart was open to the truth and he was rewarded by being a man who walked with Jesus for the three and a half years of His earthly ministry.
We do not hear much about Nathanael in the Gospels or the early Church, but he was recognised, by God, as a man in whom there was no guile and we recognise him as a man who was ready and willing to learn of Christ and place His trust in the Son of God Who is co-equal with the Father; co-eternal, consubstantial, co-essential, omniscient, and omnipotent.
May we be man and women of faith in whom there is no guile.
May we have ears that are ready and willing to go and see Jesus and develop an eternal relationship with the Son of Man Who is equally God the Son.
Romans is the book that systematically exposes the sinfulness of fallen man, in order to reveal the perfect righteousness of our eternal God.
From the middle of chapter 3, we are led through a treasure trove of God's infinite righteousness which is revealed through a single man – the Lord Jesus Christ.The earlier chapters lay a trail of man's sinfulness, and establish many reasons for the eternal condemnation of all men – for all have sinned and all fall short of God's glory and perfect righteousness.All men are condemned according to divine standards which are laid out in the Law.
And although man attempts to keep the Law in order to meet the righteous standard of the Lord, Paul reminds us that perfection is impossible for imperfect man.
The Law accuses man of being a sinner.
The Law CONTRASTS man's sinfulness with God's perfect righteousness, which silences any foolish protests of innocence and makes every sinner fully accountable before God – and we are all sinners!A sinner's inability to keep God's perfect Law reveals man's sinfulness and makes him accountable before the Lord.
Breaking the Law exposes man's inability to keep the Law – so that no one has any excuse.
Man is born a sinner and his guilt is identified when man breaks God's Law – which shuts the mouth of everyone, and makes all the world accountable to God.
Christ is the full expression of the Almighty God and has become God's true Representative to man, and yet He is also the perfect Mediator Who, by grace through faith in Him, represents man to God.
Christ speaks from God to man while Jesus represents man to God.
He is the One who has broken down the sin-barrier that separated man from God, and He is the One Who has made His Heavenly Father known to the human race.
He is a God like no other god for He was born into His own creation and became a man, yet without sin.
He is a Man like no other man, for He is God incarnate Who identified with our human weaknesses, and is the Word made flesh.
As he contemplated the vast expanse of God's glorious creative handiwork where, by the might of His power and His wisdom, God spoke time, space, and matter into being (from nothing), the Psalmist utters words that confound all God's children: What is man, that thou art mindful of him? Who am I, David asks, that God should care for me and who are you that God should take note of you?
What is man, that God should visit him and bestow on him such grace and favour?
The indescribable greatness of our Heavenly Father finds stark contrast with the insignificant and inconsequential role of sinful man who is dead in his sin, at enmity with God, and without hope in the world.
It was man that God created in His image and likeness.
It was man that God formed from the dust of the earth, and it was into man's lifeless body of clay that the Spirit of God breathed the breath of life.
It was man and not animals, angels, or any other created being to whom God gave dominion over the works of His hand, and it was when man had been finally fashioned and formed by the hand of his Creator, that God pronounced that everything He made was very good.
But man sinned and disqualified himself from his privileged position as God's chosen representative on earth, and the effects of sin continue to reverberate around the universe to this day.
No wonder the Psalmist cried in astonished amazement: What is man, that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man, that thou visitest him?
But God in His grace had purposed that man should rule and reign over His creation, and nothing can hinder the decree of the Almighty.
The first man (the first Adam) was of the earth, and disqualified humanity from God's sovereign purpose.
The second Man (the last Adam) is the Lord from heaven, and by death He conquered the one that had power over death.
Soon, the Lord Jesus Christ will return to take up His God-ordained dominion over the works of God's hand, which were forfeited by they first man but which will be fully restored by the Second Man.
What is man, that the eternal Son of the living God became the Man Christ Jesus?
For a time, He made Himself a little lower than the angels so that He could take upon Himself the form of a man and die to pay the price for our sin - and in so doing became our precious, Kinsman-Redeemer.
What is man that God should care for us?
What is man that God Himself should die so that I might live?
There are two distinct creations of humanity, two categories of people, and though we are all born into the first creation where the first man Adam was physically made from the dust of the earth, there is a second Man - the last Adam.
He is a heavenly Man Who existed as God from all eternity, but Who was also born into this world as the second Man.
And although He was fully God, He remained a true, physical descendent of the first man, Adam.
The first man, who became the federal head of humanity, was a natural man made of the dust of the ground.
In every sense of the word, this first man was earthbound.
But praise God that the second Man is a heavenly Man with a spiritual nature, a godly character, and a life-giving Spirit.
The Lord Jesus is the federal head of the new creation and the very personification of love, for the Man Christ Jesus was also the eternal Son of God united in one human body.
God spoke animal and plant life into being, but the Spirit of God also breathed 'the breath of lives' into the nostrils of Adam, and man became a living soul.
Because of His life, the people that walked in darkness have seen a great light for He is the light that lights every man that comes into the world, and the life that He bestows on all who believe on Him, disperses the cruel darkness that has entrapped the children of men and blinded their eyes to the wonderful gospel of God's grace.
In the beginning, God breathed the spirit of life into the empty shell of the man He had formed from the dust of the earth and man became a living soul.
Firstly, does my conduct or choice glorify the Lord and secondly, could my action or attitude negativity impact my Christian testimony or have a detrimental effect on my fellow man.
Jesus met with Moses and Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration, not long before He was to face Calvary's Cross and bear the full weight of man's sin on His shoulders.
The work of the Law and the Prophets was to point sinful man to Christ, Whose authority was to supersede that of Moses and Elijah.
Jesus was the final Mediator between God and man.
As the vison subsided, Jesus returned to his three disciples who were instructed to remain silent about all that they had seen: Until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. It was as they descended the mountain slopes that Peter, James, and John were given strict instructions not to speak about this to anyone until after the Son of Man rose from the dead.
When Peter penned his instructions about the corresponding conduct of husbands towards their wives, the beautiful order that God instituted when He created man in His own image, becomes clear, You husbands, he wrote, in the same way, live with your wives in an understanding way, as with someone weaker, since she is a woman.
When a Christian man honours his wife as a fellow heir of grace, he will manifest godly love and will show understanding, patience, kindness, and honour to his spouse.
He explained that such a great God does not dwell in temples which are made by men – such as the many pagan temples that lined the streets of their city.He pointed out that the God of heaven and earth does not dwell in places that are constructed by man, nor is He served by human hands.
The pagan deities that the Athenians worshipped, needed human beings to build their temples and bring them things, whereas the great God of the universe needs nothing from men – since He Himself gives life and breath to all people and all things.There is no correct way to introduce the gospel of grace to unbelievers, but there does need to be willingness to tell others about Jesus and bring God's message of salvation to the lost – and many missionaries have found that a good starting point is to give others a correct understanding of the God of creation Who made heaven and earth and everything in it, and of man whom God created in His own image, but who sinned and needs to be redeemed from sin and death and hell.May we, who have been saved by grace through faith, make ourselves available to the leading and guidance of the Holy Spirit so that lost sinners may be given the opportunity to hear the gospel and believe, through our ministry – for how shall they hear if no one is willing to tell them?
The Law is the tool that God used to show fallen man that they are lost sinners in need of salvation, but the Law can never correct sin which only comes by grace through faith in Christ.
Don't you see that the Law is man's accuser and not man's saviour?
Those that seek to place believers back under the Law do not understand the purpose of the Law, which is to get man to see that he is a sinner who is under its curse but is incapable of doing anything about it.
It is a wonderful truth that confounds our understanding and belies the credibility of man, that God in the Person of the Lord Jesus Christ should come to earth and die on the Cross to pay the price for our sins.
It staggers the mortal mind to realise that for our well-being He was despised and rejected of men, and for our sake became a man of sorrows and fully acquainted with grief.
For our benefit, He was born in the likeness of man and lived a sinless life so that He could be made sin for us and take the full force of God's wrath upon Himself - in our place.
Throughout His earthly life, the Lord Jesus grew-up in favour with God and man and was compared with a root that sprang forth from a dry, dusty, and arid land.
The majority of Israel found fault with the faultless Son of Man at His first advent, and only the eyes of the faithful remnant of Israel were opened to recognise His beauty and worth.
The vast majority saw no beauty or majesty in Him and considered Him a very ordinary and simple man.
The glory of the Lord is displayed in the heavens giving irrefutable evidence of God's creative hand, and yet fallen man rejects this vast and wonderful display of His majestic, creative power.
Yet sinful man rejects this undeniable Truth.
From the very beginning, man was given clear and incontrovertible knowledge of his holy and righteous Creator, for Paul tells us that man was created in righteousness and true holiness.
Within His inner being, man was made with an innate sense of justice and an understanding of right from wrong, for we read that man was created: In the image and likeness of God.
Everything He did and everything He created was good - very good, and He chose to make man in His own image and likeness and to make man His personal representative on earth.
It is reasonable to imagine that when man sinned, God would rearrange His plan and install a different regent to govern His creation, but God is gracious.
The same God Who created man, chose to redeem him.
The character of God remains the same throughout time and into eternity and He chose to make the man who failed... into a victorious Conqueror.
May we never forget the far-reaching impact of Paul's ministry, because he was a man whose confidence was in God and considered that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us.
It extinguishes the inner light of Christ's love and grieves the indwelling Spirit of God.Hatred towards a brother is so detrimental to the believer, that it causes him to stumble around like a blinded man who is encased in thick darkness.
One is a poverty-stricken man who is disheveled and dressed in rags, while the other is elegant, well dressed and obviously wealthy.
while the poor man is quickly pushed into a corner, denied a seat and treated in an inferior manner, lest his presence might cause the rest of the congregation some embarrassment.
The superabundant blessings that God gives to all who simply trust in the divine Person and atoning work of Lord Jesus Christ are ours according to the power that works within us. That inner power is not of ourselves but the supernatural workings of the Holy Spirit - for He is continuously working in the inner man (that new life in Christ that we received at salvation), in order to transform us from glory to glory into the person and character that befits a spiritual man, a child of God, a joint-heir with Christ, and a citizen of heaven.
He is forming and transforming, fashioning and refining our inner man.
The Lord Jesus is the heavenly Man Who came to reveal the Father to a lost and dying world.
Salvation is indeed from the Lord, for God planned and purposed that His only begotten Son would be born as a Man, that His name would be called Jesus, and that He would save His people from their sins: For there is no other name given under heaven whereby we must be saved.
Let us worship the God who ordained from the beginning His glorious plan of man's salvation by grace through faith in the death, burial, and Resurrection of our Saviour Jesus Christ.
So often as Paul draws his epistles to a close, he gives a list of wise instructions on godly living with the view to developing a Christ-like nature, where the man or woman of God may learn to grow in grace and mature in the faith, in the power of the Holy Spirit.
To separate ourselves from all sorts of evil does not only refer to worldly activities like the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh, the pride of life, and the pursuit of the ungodly works of darkness, but also to refrain from those supposedly Christian activities which are carried out in the flesh, for the praise of man, the gratification of self, or which fly in the face of the Word of God.
Our religious activities should not be for the praise of man, or for self-elevation, but so that our heart and mind is nourished and enlivened by His Word.
When the man or woman of God seeks to abstain from all appearance of evil for the right reasons, our times of worship will not only glorify God, but also rejoice our heart.
But the sin nature in man that was imputed to the human race when Adam disobeyed God, caused man to walk in enmity towards God, in disobedience, and to place self on the throne of his life, instead of the Lord.
The Man on Whom he saw the Spirit of God descending and remaining, would be the Lord's anointed - and when the Spirit of God descended and rested on Christ at His baptism, John began to boldly testify that JESUS is the Son of the living God.
Both John and his loyal followers had to come to terms that Jesus, and not John, was the Man to follow.
But we also rejoice for the wonderful way that God used Esther and her uncle in bringing good out of evil, and forwarding His plans and purposes, despite the evil ways of man and the compromises of His children.
It mingles with the blood-red stream that flows from the veins of God's only begotten Son Who alone could pay the enormous price for the sin of the world by shedding His lifeblood on our account.But first, the eternal Son of God must be born into the human race as the perfect Son of Man.
God the Son, must first set aside His glory and be born into the race that He created – yet He was to be born without Adam's imputed sin and man's inherited, fallen nature.Only the shed blood of a sinless Man would satisfy God's fierce wrath against the evils of humanity's sin, and Israel was chosen to be the one nation through whom this Saviour – the Son of God, would come.
Through this heavenly Person, the glory of the LORD was revealed when Jesus, Son of God and Son of Man, was born into the human race to save His people from their sin.The glory of the Lord was revealed at Christ's First Coming, which resulted in His death, burial, and Resurrection from the dead, through which He made purification for our sins.
The foolishness of God is wiser than human wisdom, and the weakness of God is stronger than human strength, and when Paul proclaimed the gospel message it was not some convincing figment of man's imagination..
Paul was a highly educated and well-respected man who was well versed in the Law and the prophets, having been taught by the best rabbinical teacher of the time.
The love of God must never be disconnected from His righteousness, His holiness, His goodness, and His perfect nature, for to do so is to reduce God to a figment of man's imagination.
Only as perfect Man and undivided Deity could Christ become God's true Vine.
Only as perfect Man and undivided Deity could Christ die and rise again, for He has life in Himself and that life is freely available to all.
God the Father is the husbandman, and He it was Who gave His only begotten Son (the eternal Son of God Who was born as the perfect Son of Man) to be the true Vine.
In His infinite wisdom and power, God the Father planted the true, life-giving Vine into the sinless life of the Man, Christ Jesus.
The Father then nurtured and tended the true Vine Who grew in favour with God and man.
God chose Israel to be the nation through whom He would save man.
At Pentecost, we once again discover the apostles calling on God's chosen nation, the men of Israel, to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ Who is God's Messiah, God's appointed Man, God's Servant.
Until that time, all who believe in the Lord Jesus, whether Jew or Gentile, become part of the One New Man in Christ, where there is no differentiation between Jew nor Gentile, bond or freeman, male or female, young or old, for we are all ONE in Christ.
Early in man's history, the sad tale of 'paradise lost' is told in Genesis 3, when the shrewd serpent beguiled Eve.
She questioned the Word of God, altered it to fit her own desires, and influenced her husband - which caused sin to enter the world and man's fallen nature to impact every subsequent generation.
However, God placed one restriction on the man created in His own image - to test him: You are free to eat from ANY tree of the garden, Adam was told, but you must not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, for on the day you eat from it, you will certainly die. Adam was made with a 'mind' to think and a 'free-will' with which to make choices - but he was also given one command to follow, to test his fidelity: Do not eat from the tree of the knowledge.