No Man
Nov 2023
(Excerpt from the book Miracles Of The Lord Jesus Christ) |
When we think of false prophets now, we normally think of the strange and bizarre, but that’s not what we are warned of in Scripture. The Bible describes these individuals as disguised in sheep’s clothing. In other words, they look like the real thing, and they sound like the real thing. They all say the right words that make them seem plausible, palatable, and pleasant. But Jesus said inwardly they are “ravening wolves” (Matt. 7:15-23).
Sadder still is when it’s realized that most Pentecostals and charismatics who boast of believing all of the Word of God (or at least they once did) seem to be the most deceived and deluded of all. There seems to be little, if any, spirit of discernment left.
Not long ago, on a “Pentecostal” program, a particular “spiritual” teacher demeaned the power of God and upheld humanism by telling the people, “Whatever god you start with is satisfactory—be it the Muslim god, the Hindu god, the Buddhist god, or the Christian God. It’s a good start, and you can build from there.”
He was speaking of people being rehabilitated respecting alcohol. Incidentally, the word rehabilitate, is not even in the Bible.
Someone in the audience stood up and mentioned the power of God to deliver the oppressed. The teacher admitted that this was possible, but he said it was highly unlikely. Then the host of this Pentecostal program turned, held up this teacher’s book, and recommended it to those viewing the program.
My answer to this is, “And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch” (Matt. 15:14).
The gospel of the hour is, “Do not offend.” It’s about unity and conformity; everyone is accepted for “what he is.” Every message is judged by “take the good in it and leave the rest alone.” This is a prescription for disaster.
The victorious, overcoming Christian life is little mentioned anymore, especially considering that psychological therapy has become the thruway to modern spiritual results. Consequently, the altar is ignored and even ridiculed, especially considering that it is a place on which one must “die.”
Few modern preachers speak of “dying to the flesh.” How can they when they are constantly promoting the flesh?
But through all the fads, falseness, and shams, if you listen carefully, you can hear the voice of the illimitable Son of God ask, “Wilt thou be made whole?”
When all else fails, and fail it must, Jesus Christ and Him crucified is the only answer. As it was then, so it is now.
But what does it mean to be whole? The Greek word that Jesus uses here is hugies, and it has reference to the sick being made well or whole.
The man mentioned in John 5 was sick and had been for many years; he desperately needed healing. But what this episode represents also pertains to the spiritual and, consequently, speaks of a spiritual wholeness.
Represented here is the contention between God and man. Man knows he is not whole but disagrees with his Creator as to what it will take to remedy the situation. Man thinks that money, entertainment, wealth, education, achievement, place, and position will make him whole, so he pursues these things even though the acquisition of such does not bring wholeness, and the examples are abundant.
Jesus said, “For a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth” (Luke 12:15).
What the world calls success can be heard in statements such as, “He made it,” or, “She is a success,” and we hear these from all walks of life. But the questions could be asked, “Made what? A success at what?”
The truth is, there are far more suicides among those who have “made it” than those of their counterparts who did not reach those rarified heights.
Man’s real problem is not a lack of things, education, or a hundred and one other things that could be named. Man’s real problem is a spiritual one.
Along with being a physical and mental being, man is also a spiritual being. And it is this spiritual part of man that is unsatisfied. The spiritual pertains to God, his Creator, which Satan or things can never satisfy.
Consequently, the only way that man can be whole is to return to union with his Creator. But due to the manner in which man fell, there is no way that he could return to God, at least according to his own efforts and ability. Therefore, all of the initiative had to be (and has to be) on God’s part.
The fall of man was so severe and its results so final, that even though God could decree worlds into existence by the words of His mouth, He could not decree salvation into existence and still be true to His nature. He had to literally become man, which is called the incarnation, for this great thing to be accomplished.
In the garden of Eden, the price for disobedience was spiritual death, separation from God, which resulted in the death of all else as well. So the price for life, the cost of making of man whole again, was death—the death of a perfect sacrifice.
Man could not provide that sacrifice because man was fallen, so what he presented to God was unacceptable. Neither could angels provide the sacrifice because they were of another creation. Only in man, albeit a perfect Man, could the claims of heavenly justice be satisfied. Therefore, God’s Son became that Man and did for man what man could not do for himself. Christ became our substitute, and upon identification with Him, the perfection that Jesus was and is, and the wholeness He purchased, can now be given to all who believe (John 3:3, 16). Identification with Him is brought about by faith because this is the only way that it can be brought about.
Only God can make one whole, and He does so without exception on the merit of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ and what Christ did for us at the cross. That’s the reason the Holy Spirit through the apostle would say, “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great salvation…?” (Heb. 2:3).
The only answer to man’s dilemma, and I emphasize only, is the cross of Christ. Jesus Christ is the source of all things that man receives from God.
Man cannot reach God and can have no correspondence with God unless he goes through Jesus Christ and what He did for us at the cross (John 14:6).
It is the cross of Christ and what Jesus there did that makes everything possible. There, the Lord atoned for all sin—past, present, and future—at least for all who will believe (John 3:16).
Sin provides the legal means for Satan to hold man captive, but with all sin removed, he has no more legal means to hold anyone captive. If he does so—and, regrettably, he does so for all who are unredeemed—it is because they will not accept what Jesus Christ has done.
When it comes to the believer, if he looks to anything but Christ and the cross, he will find bondage as a result, which means the sin nature is ruling him in some way.
Again, the cross of Christ is the means and the only means by which the Lord gives good things to His children. In other words, it is the cross—what Jesus there did—that makes everything possible. When the believer’s faith is placed exclusively in Christ and the cross, this gives the Holy Spirit the latitude to work within our hearts and lives to bring about what is necessary, which He alone can do.
The believer must understand that what he is facing in the spirit world is so far beyond his capabilities that he cannot hope to overcome by any other method than God’s method, which is Christ and the cross.
Article continues in the December issue of The Evangelist.
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