Alan Redpath - The Making of a Man of God: Lessons from the Life of David

1962 by Fleming H. Revell

Renewed 1990 by Mrs. Marjorie Redpath

Published by Fleming H. Revell

a division of Baker Book House Company

P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287

www.bakerbooks.com

Ebook edition created 2013

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meansfor example, electronic, photocopy, recordingwithout the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

ISBN 978-1-58558-079-8

Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture is taken from the King James Version of the Bible.

Scripture marked ASV is taken from the American Standard Version of the Bible.

Scripture marked ERV is taken from the English Revised Version of the Bible.

Scripture marked WEYMOUTH is taken from WEYMOUTHS NEW TESTAMENT IN MODERN SPEECH by Richard Francis Weymouth. Published by special arrangement with James Clark & Company, Ltd., and reprinted by permission of Harper & Row Publishers, Inc.

Dedicated

to

the beloved President, Faculty, and Student Body

of

Columbia Bible College, Columbia, South Carolina,

whose fellowship in recent years has been such an

inspiration to me personally

Foreword

T he Bible never flatters its heroes. It tells us the truth about each one of them in order that against the background of human breakdown and failure we may magnify the grace of God and recognize that it is the delight of the Spirit of God to work upon the platform of human impossibilities. As we consider the record of Bible characters, how often we find ourselves looking into a mirror. We are humiliated by the reminder of how many times we have failed. Great has been our stubbornness but greater still has been His faithfulness. Nowhere is this more true than in the story of the life of David, which is the subject of these chapters.

I can but testify to the fact that my own heart has been searched to its depths as I have been brought face to face with my own frailty and the abundant mercy of my Savior. It is my earnest prayer that something of the impact which the Holy Spirit made upon my own life in the preparing of this book might be made upon yours in the reading of it.

The conversion of a soul is the miracle of a moment, the manufacture of a saint is the task of a lifetime. It is the matchless marvel of the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ to take a life from the dunghill and set it among princesto replace the bias of degeneration by the bias of regeneration, and to cause a man who has sunk to the depths to cry to God, Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.

May the Lord be graciously pleased to use these pages, inadequate though they be, to help many into a deeper understanding of His making of a man of God.

I want to express my deepest appreciation to Miss Arline Harris for her skillful preparation of manuscript and to my wife for her patience in transcription.

Alan Redpath, Moody Church
Chicago, Illinois

Part I

The Man of God

Tested in Training

The Basis of Gods Choice

(1 S AMUEL 16:113)

T hese are days of immense significance to the Christian church. Any of us with discernment cannot but believe the truth of the Word of God, that the Lord Jesus Christ is coming back soon to take His people home and thereafter to establish His kingdom. Yet how few of us relate our lives to this significant truth!

The machinery of the church is put to very severe strain and is working overtime, but that which the machinery produces so often lacks evidence of heavenly reality. The mass production of modern industryall kinds of goods which attract the eye but have little lasting qualityis too often evident in the Christian church. In days like these I believe that it is quality and not quantity that is going to count.

The Lord is still looking, as He did in Davids time, for a man after His own heart. I believe it to be the priority responsibility of any ministry so to proclaim Gods Word that such a quality of Christian man, by the grace of God and the power of the Spirit, may be the result. Not only is it such a life alone which can stand the fiery trials that are bound increasingly to attack our Christian faith and principles, but also through the life of a Spirit-filled man of God is the fastest and most effective method of evangelism.

We begin by considering the basis of Gods choice of such a man. In the selection of everyone who enters the service of the King of kings there are always two sides: on the one hand there is the election of God in eternity, accompanied by His heavenly summons in the course of time to take up the cross and follow Him; on the other hand, there is the human response in commitment of life to Jesus Christ as Lord.

It is not my task or yours to guess who are among Gods elect. This is a secret hidden in the heart of God from before the foundation of the world. Yet by the preaching of the Word of God there will be unmistakable marks revealed in the lives of a great multitude which give evidence that they belong to Gods chosen people. We preach the gospel to every creature under heaven and say, Look unto Jesus and be saved. That gospel is like a fan that drives away the chaff and leaves the wheat. It removes the worthless and reveals the precious. We discover before long the elect of God by their conduct and their conversation, which have been transformed by the convicting power of the Holy Spirit.

You and I become assured of our own election by the witness of the Holy Spirit with our spirit that we are indeed the children of God, and we discover within ourselves a new heart, a new creation in Christ, far from perfect and yet, by His grace, hungry for the Lord. Thus we know that our names are written in the Book of Life.

Concerning the principles of Gods choice, I use the illustration of the anointing of David here to point out three basic truths. In the first place, Gods choice of a man is contrary to human reason.