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.