The Man of God

All thoughtful students of Scripture have noticed the striking contrast between the two epistles of Paul to Timothy. In the first, we have the called-out Assembly presented in its order, and Timothy is instructed how he is to behave himself in that Assembly. In the second, the called-out Assembly is presented in its ruin. The house of God has become a great house, in which there are vessels of dishonor, and where, errors and evils abound – heretical teachers and false professors, on every hand.

It is in this epistle of individuality, that the expression “Man of God” is used with much force and meaning. It is in times of declension, ruin and confusion that the faithfulness, devoutness, and decision of the individual man of God are specially called for. For such a one knows that in spite of the hopeless failure of the house of God as a responsible witness for God's anointed one, it is the privilege of the individual man to tread a holy path, to taste deep communion with Yehovah.

For such a man as Timothy was Paul says: 1 Timothy 3:14: ...continue you in the things which you have learned and have been assured of, knowing of whom you have learned them; that from a child you have known the holy scriptures, which are able to make you wise unto salvation through faith which is in God's anointed one Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all good works.

Here we have “the man of God” in the midst of all the ruin and confusion, the heresies and moral depravities of the last days, standing forth in his own distinct individuality, “perfect – ready, complete, well fitted, thoroughly furnished unto all good works”.

It is a great encouragement from Yehovah for anyone who desires to stand for Him, in a dark and evil world, filled with error and confusion, that he possesses that which can make one wise unto salvation, and make a man perfect – ready, complete, well fitted and thoroughly furnished onto all good work.

Notice: There are three aspects in which man is presented in Scripture: in the first place, we have the natural man, the Adam man, secondly a man in God's anointed one, and third a “man of God”. One must be a man in God's anointed one before he can be a “man of “God”; they are not interchangeable terms.

The natural man, the Adam man gravitates between two extremes; the highest point of civilization and the lowest point of degradation. The natural man, the Adam man is unconverted and without God's anointed one.

To the man of Adam, we preach “Repent and be converted”. “Believe on the lord Jesus God's anointed one, and you shall be delivered – as Paul said to the Jailer and those of his house. We notice he followed up with a complete explanation of what it means to be committed to believing in the lord Jesus before he baptized him and those of his house.

To the man of Adam's nature, we say: “Believe on the son of God and receive new age life”. For if you don't have this, you have nothing and are still in your condition as a man of Adam. We know that “they who are in the flesh cannot please Yehovah.” As long as you are unrepentant, unconverted and unbelieving, you cannot do one single thing to please Yehovah, not one thing! You must be born from above – unregenerate nature is unable to see, and unfit to enter, the kingdom of God. One must be born of water and of the Spirit; that is by the living word of God, and of the Holy Spirit. There is no other way to enter the kingdom of God. It is not by self-improvement, but by new birth that we can enter into the kingdom of God. “The flesh profits nothing”, “for they that are in the flesh cannot please Yehovah.”

It is an intensely individual matter. “You must be born from above.” Jesus died that you might live. He was condemned, that you might be declared not guilty in God's court. He drank the cup of wrath, that you might drink the cup of salvation – deliverance. So the natural man must believe that Jesus has satisfied on your behalf all claims of justice before the throne of Yehovah. See all your sins laid on him – your guilt imputed to him – your entire condition represented and disposed of by him. See his atoning death answering perfectly for all that was or ever could be brought against you: See him rising from among the dead, having accomplished all that Yehovah gave him to do!

Believe in him and be committed to obeying him, and you will receive remission of sins and receive the gift of new age life, the seal of the Holy Spirit. You no longer will be a man of Adam, you will be “a man of God's anointed one” an man of the second Adam. You will be a new creation; no longer in the flesh but in the spirit.

Realize that no improvement of our old man is of any value as to our standing before God. We must do so as a new creation in His anointed one Jesus. “They that are in the flesh cannot please Yehovah.” There must be a new standing, and this new standing cannot be reached by any improvement of the old nature. Do what you will with the old nature and it stands still without improvement. “That which is born of the flesh is flesh”; and do what you will with it you cannot make it spiritual. There must be a new life – a life flowing from the new man, the last Adam, who has become in resurrection, the Head of a new race!

How can we have this new life? “Truly, truly, I say unto you, he that hears my word, and believes on Him that sent me, has new age life and shall not come into judgment; but is passed from death unto life” (John 5:24).

Every true believer is a “man in God's anointed one.” God's anointed one is the life of every believer. If we are not in God's anointed one, we are still in our sins, but if we are in God's anointed one, we cannot possibly be higher, as to our standing!

Notice: The first man Adam has been entirely set aside, as a ruined, guilty, outcast creature. We speak of Adam as the federal head of the human race. Personally, Adam was saved by grace, but if we look at him from a federal head standpoint, we see him as a hopeless wreck.

The first man is an irremediable ruin. This is proved by the fact of a second Man, for we can say of the men and of the covenants. “If the first had been found faultless, then no place would have been found for a second.” But, the very fact of a second Man being introduced demonstrates the hopeless ruin of the first man. If our old Adam nature was, in any way, capable of being improved, there would not be reason for something new. But “they that are in the flesh – old Adam nature – cannot please God.” “For in God's anointed one Jesus neither circumcision avails anything, nor circumcision, but a new creation” (Romans 8; Galatians 6)

So we ask: What is Christianity? It is something entirely new; heavenly, spiritual. It is based on the stake of God's anointed one, in which the first man came to his end, where sin was put away, a judgment borne, the old man crucified and put out of God's sight forever, so far as the believer is concerned. The stake closes, for faith, the history of the first man. “I am crucified with God's anointed one,” said the apostle Paul. And again, “They that are God's anointed ones have crucified the flesh with all its affections and desires.”

We see that the entire set of the first man, as utterly worthless and condemned. It is emphatically, a new creation in which there is not so much as a single shred of the old thing – for in this “all things” are of God.” And if “all things are of God, there can be nothing of a man.

The very thing that I was trying to improve, has been forever set aside – that God is not looking for any improvement in it – that He has condemned it and put it to death in the stake of His son!

Notice what Paul says as a new creation in God's anointed one: “For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live to God. I am crucified with God's anointed one; nevertheless, I live; yet not I, but God's anointed one lives in me.” Mark this: The old “I” is crucified. “And the life which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the son of God, who loves me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:19-20).

This and nothing else is Christianity. “I” is not “the old man,” the first man, becoming religious. No; it is the death and burial of the old man – the old “I” - and becoming a new man, a new creation in God's anointed one. Every true believer is a new man, a new creation in God's anointed one. He has passed clean out of the old creation standing; the old state of sin and death, guilt and condemnation; and has passed into a new creation-standing; a new estate of life and righteousness in a risen and glorified Messiah, the Head of the new creation, the last Adam.

Such is the position and standing of a believer in God's anointed one. There is no other standing for any Christian. I am either in the first man Adam or in the Second man, the last Adam. There is no middle ground. I am either in God's anointed one or I am in my sins. But, if I am in God's anointed one, I am as he is before Yehovah. “As he is, so we are, in this world.” The believer is viewed by Yehovah as one in His anointed one – the second Man, in whom He delights! He rose from the dead and is now the Federal Head, the Representative, and only true definition of a believer before Yehovah.

What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we, who are dead to sin, live any longer in sin? Do you not now, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus God's anointed one were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as God's anointed one was raised up from among the dead by the glory of the Father, even so, we also should walk in newness of life. For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection: Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin. For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with God's anointed one, we believe that we shall also live with him: Knowing that God's anointed one being raised from among the dead dies no more; death has no more dominion over him. For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he lives, he lives unto God. Likewise, reckon you also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus God's anointed one our Lord. (Romans 6: 1-11)

The real teaching of Roman 6 is little understood. Most do not see the crucifixion, death, and burial of the old man; the destruction of the body of sin; the condemnation of sin; the entire setting aside of the old system of things belonging to their first Adam condition; in a word their perfect identification with the dead and risen anointed one of God. Here lies the very base of all true Christianity, and forms an integral part of the truth of the good news message of the lord Jesus!

Let's look at further evidence of this point:

Wherefore if you are dead with God's anointed one from the rudiments of the world, why, as though living in the world, are ye subject to ordinances, (Touch not; taste not; handle not; which all are to perish with the using;) after the commandments and doctrines of men? Which things have indeed a show of wisdom in will worship and humility, and neglecting of the body; not in any honor to the satisfying of the flesh. IF you then be risen with God's anointed one, seek those things which are above, where God's anointed one sits on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For you are dead, and your life is hidden with God's anointed one in God. (Colossian2:20 – 3:3)

The true Christian is one who has died out of this present evil world, although in it he is not of it. He has no more to do with it that God's anointed one. “Like as God's anointed one.... even so, we.” He is dead to the law; dead to sin: alive in God's anointed one; alive to Yehovah; alive in the new creation. He belongs to heaven. He is enrolled as a citizen of heaven. His religion, his politics, his morals are all heavenly. He is a heavenly man walking on the earth, and fulfilling all the duties which belong to the varied relationships in which the hand of God has placed him, and in which the word of God most fully recognizes him, and amply guides him, such as a husband, father, master, child, servant, etc. He is, to repeat, a heavenly, spiritual man, in the world, but not of it. He is like a foreigner, so far as his residence is concerned. He is a man in God's anointed one!

Now the question many will ask: Can a Christian fall, Indeed he can if he/she is not watchful and diligent in following the lord Jesus he/she can fall to a low moral condition. There is no depth of sin into which a Christian is not capable of plunging, if not kept by the grace of Yehovah. Paul after being in the third heaven need to thorn in the flesh to keep him humble, from being exalted above measure. We all need to realize that the branch – a believer that is attached to the vine – God's anointed one that does not bare fruit will be cut off and cast into the fire! We need to hold fast to the end, and we can only do so by the power of God's spirit enabling us to walk along the narrow path that leads to entrance into the kingdom of God.

It would be a great mistake to believe that every Christian is a man of God. In second Timothy we have what we may call ample provision for the man of God, in the day in which he is called to live; a dark, evil, and perilous day, most surely, in which all who will live godly must keep the eye fixed on God's anointed one and be fully committed to keeping his word faithfully. When the general condition of things is low, when the majority prove faithless, when old associates are dropping off, it is then that personal grace and true affection are especially valued. The dark background of general declension throws individual devotedness into beautiful relief.

It is utterly impossible to over-estimate the importance of keeping a pure conscience before Yehovah, in all our ways. It leads us to refer everything to Yehovah. It imparts stability and consistency to the entire course and character.

We need to seek God, with a pure conscience. Let us live in the light of His presence, in the light of His countenance, in personal communion with Him, through the power of His Spirit. This is the true secret of power for the man of God, at all times.

“If we walk in the light, as His in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus God's anointed one cleanses us from all sin. (1 John 1:7)

We can only have fellowship with one another as we walk in the immediate presence of Yehovah. It is when we are individually walking with Yehovah, in the power of personal communion, that we really can have fellowship with one another, and this fellowship consists in real heart enjoyment of God's anointed one, as our one object, our common portion.

The man of God has to work on amid all sorts of difficulties, obstacles, questions, and controversies. He has his niche to fill, his path to tread, his work to do. Come what may, he must serve. The enemy may oppose; the world may frown, the called-out Assembly may be in ruins around him, false brethren may thwart, hinder, and desert; strife, controversy, and division may arise and darken the atmosphere; still the man of God must move on, regardless of all these things, working, serving, testifying, according to the sphere in which the hand of God has placed him, and according to the gift bestowed upon him.

The gift of God's anointed one is the gift of God. It is the gift of God communicated to the man of God to be used by him notwithstanding the hopeless ruin of the professing church, and spite of all the difficulty, darkness and discouragement of the day in which his lot is cast. He knows that God has not given us the spirit of fear, but the power of love, and of a sound mind.

The man of God has to brace himself up for all occasions. He has to endure hardness; to hold fast the form of sound words; he has to keep the good thing committed to him; to be strong in the grace that is in God's anointed one Jesus; to keep himself disentangled – however he may be engaged; he must keep himself free as a soldier; he must cling to God's sure foundation; he must purge himself from the dishonorable vessels in the great house; he must flee youthful lusts, and follow righteousness, faith, love, peace, with them that call on the lord out of a pure heart. He must be thoroughly furnished for all good works, perfectly equipped through a knowledge of the holy scriptures. He must preach the word; be instant in season and out of season. He must watch in all things; endure afflictions, and do the work of an evangelist.

Where is the spiritual power to be had for such things? It is found in earnest, patient, believing, waiting upon the living God, and in no other way. All our springs are in him. We only have to draw on him. He is sufficient for the darkest day! We must look out of the ruins to the place where our lord Jesus God's anointed one has taken his seat, at the right hand of God. To realize our place in God's anointed one, and to be occupied in heart and soul with him, is the true secret of power to carry ourselves as men of God.

May the lord stir us all up to a more thorough consecration of ourselves, in spirit, soul, and body – all we are and All we have – to His service!