THE HIDDEN MAN OF THE HEART
1 Pet. 3:4 “But let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price.”
I want us to consider the Words of the Holy Spirit through Peter, “The hidden man of the heart.” There is great help for us in this dispensation to understand some things about the hidden man of the heart. Let us consider first of all,
THE CREATION OF THE INNER MAN
Where does the inner man come from? Are we created two men through procreation? I believe the Bible teaches plainly that God created Adam personally and directly. He is the Sculptor who formed man of the dust of the earth. He put the nose on the face in a way that we would not drown when we walk out in the rain. He created man with a knee joint where he could bow his knee to Him and walk without problems. Had he created man with a universal joint for a knee, it would be a greater feat for him to walk than it is for one to balance himself on a unicycle. God created man Personally and perfectly but with the power to choose. The story can be read of his fall from that perfect state into the state in which we find ourselves today in Genesis chapter three.
God then moved to save Adam and Eve. He provided A covering for man’s sins through the death of an innocent animal and clothed Adam and Eve with the skins of that animal (Gen. 3:21). This is a picture of Jesus dying for our sins and our being clothed in His righteousness (2 Cor. 5:21). Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord (Gen. 6:8). We are told that Abraham was justified by faith (Gen. 15:6; Rom. 4:9). So we have in the Old Testament the substitutionary atonement, grace, and justification by faith.
But we have nothing said of the inner man. This came with the coming of Christ. Jesus is doing something new in this dispensation of the church (I am reluctant to call this the dispensation of grace because that implies that the dispensation of law was a time when God had another way of saving man. Let me say this very emphatically. God has never had but ONE plan of salvation. It has always been by faith in Christ. It is either faith in the PROMISED Christ or the HISTORICAL Christ). The plan of salvation hasn’t changed. It has always been by grace ( Rom. 4:16). But how God works it out in our lives is different. When God saves today it is by THE CREATION OF AN INNER MAN. Eph. 4:24 says, “And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.” Every saved person has an inner man created at the point of the New Birth. Next,
THE IDENTIFICATION OF THE INNER MAN
How do you identify the inner man. You ARE the inner man. When God saved you, He put you IN CHRIST. 2 Cor. 5:17 says, “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” The words “if any man” simply mean that every saved person is described by the words that follow. If one is in Christ, Paul says by inspiration of the Holy Spirit, “he is a new creature.” The word “new” translates “kainos” and means, “recently made, fresh, recent, unused, unworn, as respects substance, of a new kind, unprecedented.” That is quite a definition isn’t it? There is nothing in that definition that suggests making over what is already there. Salvation does not take place on the natural man. Paul says in 1 Cor. 15:50, “. . . flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God . . .”
The inner man is who you are after you are saved. Before you are saved you are simply a natural man (called the old man after salvation; Eph. 4:22). After you are saved you are a new man (Eph. 4:24). If you want to see yourself today, you go to the mirror and look. You may not be pleased with what you see when you look! When you want to see yourself as you are in Christ Jesus you go to the mirror of God’s word and look (2 Cor. 3:18; James 1:22-25).
