THE history of man repeats itself, for every man living today is but a reproduction of the man who lived before him.
There is no real originality in any man except in a few details of his life. Nothing proves this more than the fact that all men alike are born away from God. Their ways may differ, but their hearts are all the same. Man, being away from God, his case has one particularly bad feature: he has no desire of himself to return to God.
About three thousand years after Adam sinned the Holy Spirit of God wrote, through David, “There is none that seeketh after God” (Psa. 14 and 53.). What a proof that Adam’s children had not changed, but were like their parent.
When Paul wrote by the same Spirit to the Romans, he quoted David’s testimony as being still true (Rom. 3:1111There is none that understandeth, there is none that seeketh after God. (Romans 3:11)), although another thousand years of man’s history had elapsed. The still further term of nineteen hundred years, with all the light of the gospel, has not changed man, so that if left to himself he must die in his sins, at a moral distance from God.
Thus it is clear that man will not seek after God, but the miracle of grace which the gospel proclaims is, that God has become a Seeker after lost man.
God sought Adam in the Garden of Eden, found him, and clothed him. And every believer, during either Old or New Testament times has been brought into blessing through God acting as the Seeker.
The history of Jesus on earth was the great demonstration of this truth. He stated, “The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:1010For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. (Luke 19:10)). Since the death and resurrection of Jesus this testimony has become much clearer and louder, because having ascended to the right hand of power, He has sent the Holy Spirit down on earth to produce desires after God in the hearts of men; so now wherever there is any real desire, the Holy Spirit has produced it. This is very important for believers to understand.
But there is even a worse feature of man’s heart, and that is, he is opposed to God being a Seeker, and does all he can to hinder this work of God. The gospel of a seeking God is unpalatable to him; God is not in his thoughts, and he does not wish to have Him.
Every man by nature is opposed to the gospel and to the God Who sends it. Some persons may be indifferent to it; others may speak against it, and even try to hinder it by craft or violence. A few may patronize it until its claims thwart them; then they may become its bitterest opposers. But one and all are by nature opposed to God seeking for man.
However, God continues to act in this way, and nothing can hinder His work of grace proceeding to its glorious result. All the persecutions of His witnesses, beginning with the murder of righteous Abel, and continued in Israel till the murder of Christ and His servant Stephen, and since then by other wicked hands, does not hinder God’s work. It only brings out more clearly that God is intent on blessing for nun. This is brought about by the Holy Spirit’s invisible work and the testimony of the gospel producing “repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20:2121Testifying both to the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ. (Acts 20:21)). The hearts of men are thus wrought upon and a vital change within is the result. Now “whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever” (Eccles. 3:1414I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him. (Ecclesiastes 3:14)). The manifestation of God’s work, seen in the outward ways of any believer, may be sadly disfigured, for he may get under the influence of the god of this world, and for a time may be a reproach on the gospel; but all who have been really converted, and know what God has done, could never suppose that His work could possibly be undone by the enemy.
Persons have often professed conversion when there was no work of God in them, and, therefore, their profession soon withered away, while God’s work must stand, for it is intended for eternity.
It is the desire of God, as expressed in the Scriptures, that His work in the soul should be seen in the outward life of each believer, so they are exhorted to “have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them” (Eph. 5:1111And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather reprove them. (Ephesians 5:11)), and also to “shine as lights in the world” (Phil. 2:1515That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; (Philippians 2:15)).
Man thus wrought upon by the grace of God is not an improved or reformed man, but a new man―a new creature in Christ Jesus (2 Cor. 5:1717Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. (2 Corinthians 5:17)). This new moral condition belongs to a new moral sphere, and so we are exhorted, “Put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof” (Rom. 13:1414But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof. (Romans 13:14)). This new sphere of authority under which the believer is brought is called the Kingdom of God, and the Lord has been placed at the head of it. So we are called to take His yoke on us and learn of Him, and thus to display the new sort of man by our ready submission to His will.
As to our outward man, that is, our bodies, they are not materially changed, but are to be controlled by the new inward man. This is of great importance to believers, because the relationships of life and the toil to obtain daily bread have to be continued, because no change has been affected in these natural things. They have to be carried on in the fear of the Lord, and regulated by the new man. The second coming of Christ will forever close up these natural conditions by changing them to entirely new and heavenly conditions (1 Cor. 15:4949And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. (1 Corinthians 15:49)).
While this is patiently waited for we have to abide here in a somewhat strange condition, but which is amply provided for by Christ on high and the Holy Spirit below.
In a few words, the condition is this: something entirely new has been introduced into every believer which by faith has become himself. The old still remains in him, but is no longer himself (Rom. 7:1717Now then it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. (Romans 7:17)). Thus the body is not outwardly affected, but is controlled by the new instead of the old. This is blessed liberty from the old, and liberty to serve the Lord. All this necessitates exercise of soul in order to enjoy the new and refuse the old. May the Lord give us understanding in all things.
G. W. GY.