PREACHING OF THE WORD OF GOD

Paul Johnson

Psalm 51: 5; Ecclesiastes 7: 20; 2 Peter 1:16,17; Acts 2: 36; Acts 10: 38; 2 Corinthians 12: 2; Ephesians 1: 6

"Behold, in iniquity was I brought forth, and in sin did my mother conceive me." This speaks of the condition in which one is brought into this world. Of itself, this does not speak of sinfulness – that is, it does not speak of sins committed so that one is guilty – but it does speak of the condition in which man is found, man born of a woman, born of natural generation. This would include everyone. What I wish to bring out here is not the thought of guilt, but the fact that one is born as mortal. Mortal is the condition of man because of sin. Death was brought in by sin. I want to distinguish between sin as a condition and sin as guilt. Sin as a condition applies to infants as it is said, "in iniquity was I brought forth." That is human nature, which is fallen, but it is not guilt. I think we need to consider man in both ways, as born of a woman and mortal and then also as being guilty.

I think Ecclesiastes would help us in that. "Surely there is not a righteous man upon earth, that doeth good and sinneth not." Here it is not a question of being born in sin; it is not a question of the nature; but a question of the deeds: "... there is not a righteous man upon earth, that doeth good and sinneth not." Romans tells us the same thing: "for all have sinned", chap 3: 23. It is not merely that all are born in sin and shapen in iniquity, but "all have sinned" and "there is not a righteous man upon earth, that doeth good and sinneth not." That could not be said now nor could it have been said when the Lord was here because there was a righteous Man on earth. But apart from the Lord Himself, what is written is "all have sinned". There is not one exception.

So we see man, not only mortal, but now we have sinful man. We have man as a sinner, and as a sinner, he is guilty. I am sure that we all have passed this way. It is necessary to do so. I do not think anyone will lay hold of the glad tidings until He sees that man is not only a sinner but he is a helpless and a hopeless sinner. That is his nature. I have just been impressed recently that it does not make any difference what colour of skin and what features outwardly that human beings have. They are the same all over the world. You will find violence and corruption everywhere. One would think that one might find some race of persons somewhere who are all righteous, but you can travel the whole world and never find any such race, even though they have different cultures. Many want to blame evil on the culture. They point to a race of people who were deprived and did not have this or that, but you can go to the most privileged and most prosperous country and you will find violence and corruption, regardless of where you go, and what the race, what the background. One can scan the whole world and he will find such a variety of cultures, even in the same country where persons are reared after a certain fashion and others in an altogether different way, yet all turn out to be sinners. All have their part in violence and corruption in some way, though we cannot say all do so to the same extent. We can be thankful that it is so as God has in human government given a restraint on violence and corruption. Where governments are legitimate, that is, they are governing according to God's intent, there is a certain restraint, for which we can be thankful, but violence and corruption is still there. So there is none righteous and the whole world, as we read in Romans, becomes guilty before God. This is man as mortal and sinful.

I would like to turn to some passages that speak of another Man! We read in 2 Peter 1, verse 16: "For we have not made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, following cleverly imagined fables, but having been eyewitnesses of his majesty." I read this to bring before us the Person. This verse has in view the future, but verse 17 refers to the past: "For he received from God the Father honour and glory, such a voice being uttered to him by the excellent glory: This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight." This was said to Him at His baptism when the heavens were opened and this voice said, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I have found my delight", Matt. 3: 17. It is wonderful to think that God could finally look down on a man on this earth with delight. We only touch a little of the evil which is going on in man here and frankly I do not wish to take in the evil of the world. But God takes in the whole scene of man in this world. He finds One on whom His eye could rest with delight. I may have mentioned this but I am going to mention it again that it is remarkable that this delight was expressed when the Lord was not in public service. This was given at the beginning of His public service. He had been here for thirty years but He was not involved in public service. Sometimes persons get occupied with service as if that is all that God is looking for, but here was a Man after God's own heart. He was a Man who was everything that God ever desired in man. That question, "What is man...?" (see Ps 8 :4) is answered in this Man. Consider this Man who even though He was not in public service, everything He did all of His thoughts, His desires and His interests were centred in God. He had no other object before Him; He had no other desire than the word of God.

Man was intended to be for God. Man would never have been created if it were not that God desired to have man for Himself and, He desired to have One who could delight Him. Angels did not satisfy the heart of God in this regard. I think I am right in saying that angels were created before man, but they did not satisfy the heart of God. If they had, He would not have created man. But angels did not and could not, only man could. What was in the heart of God, the desire that He had for man, we can see fulfilled in the Lord Jesus. I think we can see this more and more as we go on – that His delight was in man. David raised the question, "What is man...?" The answer is God's man, Christ Jesus. He is the One of whom God could say, "in whom I have found my delight."

In the book of Acts we have some very interesting expressions concerning God's thoughts of Christ: "Let the whole house of Israel therefore know assuredly that God has made him, this Jesus whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ.” We can say that the Lord Jesus is God's accredited man. The world discredited Him: "whom ye have crucified", but God has given Him the highest place. As God's accredited man He is, "both Lord and Christ"; the One "whom ye have crucified", the One that man rejected. He is not only the One who was for the delight of God but He is the One whom God now accredits and to whom gives the highest place, "both Lord and Christ."

The verse in Acts chapter 10 verse 38 reads "Jesus who was of Nazareth: how God anointed him with the Holy Spirit and with power; who went through all quarters doing good, and healing all that were under the power of the devil, because God was with him." Here is a Man that God can be with. We know that when Adam was turned out of the garden, it was not only that he could not be in the garden, but God could not be with him. Before sin came in God was, in a measure, with him. He could speak with Adam but now God was not with him. Now we have a Man here in this world of whom it says, "God was with him." God could not be with sinful man, He could not be with mortal man; but here is a Man in whom He is delighted. Here is a Man whom He has accredited and here is a Man that He can be with because He is everything that God ever desired in man. He filled out the thought and the desire that God had for man, thus God could be with Him, as He was here in this world. We read that He had power; "healing all that were under the power of the devil, because God was with him." I do not think that could be said of any man other than the Lord Jesus except, those who are now "a man in Christ". But this was said of Him personally.

In Acts chapter 13 there is another verse I would like to refer to in this regard, that He was a Man in whom God found His delight and a Man accredited of God; a Man with whom God could be. In this reference we see what He has accomplished! Note verses 38 and 39: "Be it known unto you, therefore, brethren, that through this man" – (emphasis on "this man") – "remission of sins is preached to you, and from all things from which ye could not be justified in the law of Moses, in him every one that believes is justified." He accomplishes what no other man could ever accomplish. Regardless of how great a man Moses was and others used of God, there was no man who could do what “this man” has done. So it says: "that through this man" (and this man only) "remission of sins is preached". How wonderful this is! This is the glad tidings. The glad tidings are associated with “this man”, not sinful man, nor mortal man, except as they are the subjects of God's grace. The glad tidings are connected with “this man”, the Man who was for the delight of God; the Man whom God accredited, the Man with whom God was. All of this is fulfilled in Him!

I read this verse (see 2 Cor 12: 2) because I wish to make the transition from God's Man, Christ, to "a man in Christ" because that is the way man can be viewed too. We have had mortal man, sinful man and God's man and now "a man in Christ". You could never have "a man in Christ" apart from the work of Christ on the cross. You could never have "a man in Christ" until there was remission of sins, justification and sealing of the Spirit, and it applies to "every one that believes." I want to emphasise the expression “every one that believes” because of what applies to "every one that believes". They are justified, their sins are remitted. They are sealed with the Spirit and they have a place in Christ. This enables us to make the transition from God's man to "a man in Christ". God's Man is Christ Jesus Himself but "a man in Christ" are those who believe.

I might turn to Ephesians chapter 1, verse 6 “to the praise of the glory of his grace," – I emphasise that word "grace" because the place we have “in Christ” is all of grace – and we read "wherein he has taken us into favour in the Beloved:" He has taken us into His favour in the Beloved One. We stand in all the favour of that One who is beloved of God. It is "to the praise of the glory of his grace". It is all of grace. Often we preach that one can be delivered from the wrath to come; delivered from sins and the power of sin – but this is an aspect of the glad tidings that perhaps is not often brought out, that God has, "taken us into favour in the Beloved." This is more than meeting a need. It goes beyond that. We were mortal persons, but God removed our sins by the work of Christ. Not only are our sins forgiven and we are justified, but we are taken into His favour in the Beloved One, in the Lord Jesus Christ.

So this is "a man in Christ". We have had Christ, the Man of God's delight and pleasure and approval and who has finished and completed God's work, but now we have "a man in Christ", and we have it again in the second chapter in verses 4 – 6: "but God, being rich in mercy," – so we have two things, grace, the glory of His grace, and then "rich in mercy" – "because of his great love wherewith he loved us." Think of all these terms that are used: grace, mercy and love! Wonderful, are they not? What a contrast with violence and corruption that fills the earth! What a contrast with what is in the heart of sinful man, and what is filling this earth with it! Wonderful to read of these expressions of grace and mercy and love: "because of his great love wherewith he loved us, (we too being dead in offences,) has quickened us with the Christ, (ye are saved by grace,) and has raised us up together, and has made us sit down together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus." Think of that expression, "in Christ" – at the end of verse 4 of chapter 1 we read "that we should be holy and blameless before him in love."

Well, "a man in Christ" is not only a position as we read, "raised us up together, and has made us sit down together in the heavenlies...", but it is also a condition "that we should be holy and blameless." This brings us into accord with God so that we are not only "in Christ", but like Christ, holy and without blame. Such is "a man in Christ”. Someone might ask, how can I be "a man in Christ"? You cannot develop it. It is what belongs to every believer on the Lord Jesus Christ. One who comes to God through Christ, receives Christ as Saviour so that he is justified and sealed with the Spirit of God, he is brought into all of this so that he is now "a man in Christ", and "a man in Christ" is before God, as it says here, "holy and blameless."

Notice at the end of chapter 1 verse 5 we read, it says, "according to the good pleasure of his will." It is not according to our need. What a believer has as "a man in Christ" is not just meeting our need, it is according to His good pleasure. It is in accord with what God wanted. Not only did He have a Man in whom He could find His delight, a Man with whom He could be and whom He could accredit and a Man who would do all His will, but He desired that we should be in Christ as “a man in Christ”. It was "the good pleasure of his will", His great desire, that man should be in Christ before Him; taken into all the favour of that One and in accord with Him as, "holy and blameless before him in love." These expressions are almost overwhelming when you think of them: love and grace and mercy and holy and blameless and favour; what wonderful expressions! One would marvel that every one who hears the gospel would not be anxious to receive it.

We know that apart from a divine work in each soul, none would receive the gospel, but the gospel goes out to all and the blessing is available to all those that believe. The place that God has given us so that we have this wonderful setting out of the grace of God, "a man in Christ”, belongs to every one of us who believes. What an upgrade it is from mortal and sinful man to be "a man in Christ". This is the answer to the question raised, "What is man...?" Our focus would be on God's Man, the Lord Jesus, and to "a man in Christ". This is God's great thought in regard to man. It was never God's thought that man should be mortal. Sin brought that in: "...even as by one man sin entered into the world, and by sin death...", Rom 5: 12. It was never God's thought that man should be guilty and lost, but His great thought for man is seen in the Lord Jesus Christ. As one thinks about it one can understand why God delights in man, not sinful man, but delights in that Man. Those who are now in Christ Jesus before God, are in divine favour as “a man in Christ”. How blessed to be in the favour of the One who is the beloved One and the One who is the delight of the Father.

Our Lord Jesus has the pre-eminence – we would never take that away – in divine favour, but we are in the favour of Christ. We read, "taken... into favour in the Beloved." This is the measure of the favour into which we are brought before God. It is in the Beloved. We could not be in divine favour in any other way than in the Beloved. Man could not be in divine favour apart from being in Christ. He is the One who stood in the favour of God, He is the One who was to the delight of God. As to those who are now in divine favour, it is "in the Beloved" and it is through His work by the grace of God and the mercy of God. All of these expressions would impress afresh upon us that to make the transition as it were from mortal and sinful to be "a man in Christ" required not only a Man here to the delight and pleasure of God, but a Man who would complete the work of atonement. One who would make it possible to take those who were mortal and those who were sinful and give them a place of acceptance; a place in divine favour. It could only be through His sufferings, the bearing of our sins, the putting away of sin, and then going into death and coming out as being raised up and taken up into the glory. As to those of us who are in Christ we read that He, "has raised us up together, and has made us sit down together..." While this is a collective thought, we can enter into it individually as well, knowing that every believer has part in this and is open to all today in the gospel. The glad tidings, would announce this. It is not only that our sins are put away and guilt is absolved and we will never go into judgment, but this is what we are brought into so that we can be "a man in Christ". It is all of grace and all of mercy and all of God's work. May He bless the word!

DENTON

18 April 1999