A Man Approved Of God

"Study to shew thyself approved unto God." -- 2 Timothy 2:15 There is a verdict the world cannot give and cannot take away. Every soul longs to be approved -- to be seen, weighed, and found acceptable. But the applause of men can never satisfy: the crowd cannot see the heart, and what it praises today it forgets tomorrow.

Scripture sets before us a higher and unshakable ambition -- to be approved unto God. Taking as its key the Greek word dokimos -- the tested coin that rings true, the gold that comes forth from the refiner's fire -- A Man Approved of God traces the biblical theology of divine approval from Genesis to Revelation.

In four unhurried movements it opens up: The meaning of divine approval -- what God's verdict is, and why it is unlike any other. The making of an approved man -- the refiner's fire, the rightly divided word, holiness, faithfulness in secret, and the fear of God.

The portraits -- Abel, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Joseph, Moses, Job, David, Daniel, and Paul -- and, above them all, the Lord Jesus Christ, the beloved Son in whom the Father was well pleased. The life and reward of the approved -- their suffering, their service, and the crown that does not fade. Yet this is no counsel of self-made righteousness.

The approval of God is grounded first and last in His free grace, in the One in whom every believer stands "accepted in the beloved." Here is a book that calls the reader away from the fear of man and the love of applause to the single verdict that will still stand when all others have passed away: "Well done, thou good and faithful servant." Written in the King James tradition and rich with Scripture, this is a searching, pastoral study for every Christian who would set the approval of God above the approval of men.