Man Without God

Narrator: Chris Genthree
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Man is without God and is himself lost. Such is the sad and awful consequence of his sin and turning away from God. What could be more terrible for the creature than to lose the knowledge of God? But such is the case with man in his natural condition. He is without God and without the knowledge of God in this world. “God is not in all his thoughts.” And when His claims are pressed, how often does man exclaim,” Depart from me, for I desire not the knowledge of thy ways.”
Man was not created thus. Ah, no; man’s present condition is not the handiwork of God, or the fruit of His work as Creator. God created man “upright,” in “his own image, in the image of God created he him.” (Gen. 1:2727So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. (Genesis 1:27).) All was perfect, and the Creator pronounced it “very good.”
Whence, then, comes the change, the ruin, the curse, the fall, the darkness and distance, from God by man? Alas! man, the dependent, responsible creature, the head of the lower creation, has turned away from God, has followed Satan, believed his lie, and despised the word and goodness of his Creator and God. Sin in all its corrupting, devastating, separating power, has come in, and broken the peace and blessing of Eden, separated man from God, and made him a guilty wanderer in the earth without God; and so fully is he without God, that apart from the teachings of His Spirit, he does not like to retain God in His knowledge: he desires that his mind should not be burdened with the thought of God. He says, “I desire not the knowledge of thy ways.” Oh, reader, how terrible is this! How awful is the power and results of sin! And you are a sinner. May God in His almighty power give you to awake to the fact. A sinner, without God, and yourself on the road to judgment. What could be more sad?
Not only this, but man has become the enemy—the active enemy—of the One to whom he is indebted for every blessing that he enjoys. God makes His sun to rise upon the evil and the good. Man takes the blessings and despises the One who sends them. Man by subjecting himself to Satan has imbibed the spirit of Satan—he is hostile to God. “The carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God.” (Rom. 8:7,87Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. 8So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. (Romans 8:7‑8).) “Whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world, is the enemy of God.” (James 4:44Ye adulterers and adulteresses, know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world is the enemy of God. (James 4:4).)
But let it not be supposed that man has lost his responsibility or accountability. It is written, “That every idle word that man shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment and God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.” (Matt. 12:3636But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. (Matthew 12:36); Eccles. 12:1414For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil. (Ecclesiastes 12:14).) At the Great White Throne, those who stand there will be judged, “every man according to their works.” (Rev. 20:11-1511And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 12And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. 13And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. 14And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. 15And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. (Revelation 20:11‑15).)
But how can man be reconciled to God? If man is guilty and defiled, and separated from God—a poor lost being—how can he be saved?
For man to know God, and to be restored to Him, there must be a revelation made of Himself, and the putting away of man’s sins. There is cause and effect. Sin is the cause, and man being without God and become a guilty being, are the effects. Sin, the cause, must be put away, and that by Him who is the perfect revelation of God to man. Man knows not God; Christ the only-begotten of the Father, the Incarnate Word, has revealed Him. God has come near man and revealed Himself in the Person of His beloved Son. “No man hath seen God at any time; the only-begotten Son which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him.” (John 1:1818No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him. (John 1:18).) How infinitely blessed that God has thought fit, in matchless grace, thus to reveal Himself to man when without God, and who himself was lost in his sins! It is not “by searching” that man finds out God, but by God revealing Himself to him.
Cannot we bless God, beloved reader, for thus making Himself known; coming out, notwithstanding man’s unclean and rebellious state, and displaying Himself in the blessed character of love and grace in the Lord Jesus? How this subdues and wins the heart of man to God! Man’s confidence in God was lost through his belief in the lie of Satan; it is established again, as he beholds God thus revealed, not as his enemy as Satan would have him believe, but as a Friend.
How precious are the words of Christ! “All things are delivered unto me of my Father; and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him” (Matt. 11:2727All things are delivered unto me of my Father: and no man knoweth the Son, but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him. (Matthew 11:27).)
There are two classes: “The wise and prudent” (self-satisfied sinners), and “babes” (those who confess themselves ignorant, helpless, and undone). This wondrous revelation of God in Christ is hid from the “wise and prudent,” but, blessed be God, it is revealed unto the “babes.” The self-wise, and therefore the self-deceived sinner, is rejected, while the trembling babe, the conscience-smitten one, the helpless, weary, heavy laden one, is accepted, and learns and receives God in His blessed and adorable Son.
The knowledge of God and confidence in Him thus is rest, sweet and blessed rest. To the latter class, Christ addresses Himself in Matt. 11:2828Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. (Matthew 11:28): “Come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Ah, yes; to get back to a forsaken yet gracious God is indeed rest. The unrest of man’s heart is the sad consequence of having got away from God. “Come unto Me”—the revelation of God— “and I will give you rest.” said Jesus. This knowledge of God as a Savior brings rest and deliverance from that which caused the separation and loss—sin and guilt.
But sin must be put away. How wonderful! He who revealed the Father and declared God, because He was God, though become a man, has put sin away; and therefore has a right to say, “Come unto me and I will give you rest.”
How wonderfully clear is scripture on this point. May our souls listen with deep reverence to the following declarations: “God, who at sundry times and in divers manners, spake in times past unto the fathers by the prophets, hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds: who being the brightness of his glory and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand, of the majesty on high” (Heb. 1:1-31God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, 2Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; 3Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; (Hebrews 1:1‑3).)
Here, then, the One who is declared to be “the brightness of God’s glory and the express image of his person,” has “by himself purged our sins” and having done that,” sat down on the right hand of the majesty on high.”
May all who read these lines know the joy and the eternal blessedness of coming to Christ, and knowing Him as the Revealer of God, and the Purger of our sins.