Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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I'd like to speak this afternoon about a subject that perhaps is quite familiar to many of us, and that is the truth of the two natures in the Believer.
And we'll turn to different scriptures, starting with a third chapter of John.
John's Gospel chapter 3. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles, that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.
Nicodemus said.
To him, how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, He must be born again.
The wind bloweth where it listeth, and now hearest the sound thereof.
But canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth? So is everyone that is born of the Spirit.
Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, we speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen, and you receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things?
And no man hath ascended up to heaven.
But he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man, which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, Even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Well, here in this passage we have brought before us the necessity of new birth. We all know that according to God's word, when we were born to this world we were born in sin. Now that is, we were born with sinful fallen natures, natures that delighted in what was evil nature's that turned us away from God and everyone born into this world, with one exception, the Lord Jesus himself.
For it tells us at His birth that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. But every other one born to this world was born in the same way. From Cain downward we were born with fond natures. And so in the Old Testament God was testing man, testing and showing.
That there was no fruit for God from that fallen nature.
Didn't matter what God did, whether he gave him the finest of laws, whether he gave him a grand building, whether there was the finest of music, whether there was good singing, all those things didn't change the fallen nature of man. And last of all, when the Lord Jesus came into this world, it only proved that that the very root of man's nature was bad.
They saw in him one who always did what was pleasing to his father.
Father and yet they rejected him, they wouldn't have him. And So what the Lord is telling Nicodemus is that what a man needs is not good teaching, because surely the law was wholly just and good. The Lord Jesus taught us no other. But what man needed was a new life. It wasn't to improve the old nature because it couldn't be improved.
And so a Nicodemus came and said to the Lord, we.
Know that thou art a teacher, come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. The Lord answers him almost abruptly and says he must be born again. Or as we have it here, except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God. So we can see here that it's not teaching that man needs, but it's a new life.
And so the Lord Jesus.
Jesus is the one who can impart new life, and there's no fruit for God from that first nature, the nature we receive by our natural birth. But the Lord is bringing before Nicodemus that what was necessary was new birth.
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So Nicodemus couldn't understand. He knew how a person was born into the world. No doubt he knew all about how a baby was born into the world, but he couldn't understand how new birth took place. And so the Lord speaks of that in this chapter here and shows us that it's by the Word and the Spirit or the Word of God applied by the Spirit of God that a person is born again.
He uses the figure of water.
Because in the Scripture water is often used as a figure of God's Word. It says in Ephesians 5 that he might sanctify and cleanse it by the washing of water by the Word tells us in James Being Born again.
By Peter rather being born again by the word of God, which liveth and abide us forever, says in James of his own will.
Will be got to us by the word of truth. Now this shows us very clearly that what God uses for the new birth of a soul is his word. But he says the word and the spirit because it's the Spirit of God applying the word of God that gives new life to a dead soul. That's why it also says in Romans, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
As man reads the word of God.
God, the Spirit of God, can take that word and apply it. And as it's applied, then God works that miracle. He gives new life. And so he said, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. And we'll see as we go on.
That that fallen nature which we receive.
By our natural birth never improves, never gets any better. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. But when we're born of the Spirit, when we receive a new life, that is eternal life, that is the what is we'll see later is the very life of Christ, for it tells us in John's epistle in speaking about the Lord Jesus.
It says our hands of handled of the word of life.
For the For the Word was manifest and dwelled among us, and we beheld His glory. Or perhaps I should turn to it, because I'm not just calling this correctly. First Epistle of John and the 1St chapter. First verse. That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon in our hands of handled of the word of life. For the life was manifested, and we have seen it.
And bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us. Here we can see that that eternal life which was with the Father was none other than the Lord Jesus Himself. And so when one is born again, he receives a new life, and that life is the very life of Christ.
Well, as I said, Nicodemus didn't understand this and.
In the eighth verse it says The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth. So is everyone that is born of the Spirit. Now, you know, many people would like to see some miraculous kind of an experience, and we find a great deal of this sort of thing in Christendom today, that people want something miraculous that they can see.
So that they can talk about some experience, that experience that they are.
Had. But here it shows us that when God imparts that new life, it is seen by the result. Did you ever see the wind in your life? Well, I never did, but I have often seen the results of the wind. Even out in the street today we see the results of the wind, the branches that have come down. We often see the snow flying, the dust flying, but we don't see the wind.
And so you know, there is a quiet work that goes on.
Operation of the Spirit of God in the soul when he takes the word of God, brings it home to the soul in power, and then what happens? God imparts new life and immediately he imparts new life, we begin to see the result of it.
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Here's a man that perhaps didn't care anything about his sins before and now.
He's burdened, He feels the weight of those sins. Why? God has begun a work in his soul.
And then as he learns more of the truth of God's precious Word, he sees how the Lord Jesus bore his sins in his own body on the tree. He has peace with God, and we see the result of it. Now there's a desire, because he possesses a new life to please the Lord. He wants to find out more of the will of God. He wants to feed upon the precious Word of God.
Why? Well, he possesses.
Life. And so just as we see the results of the wind blowing, so we can see the results in a person's life. I say this because some have been brought up in Christian homes. And perhaps if someone said, well, when were you born again, you might have to say, well, I really don't know. I know I love the Lord Jesus. I know I've trusted in him.
God does the work and the result is seen in the.
Person's life and so there's such a thing as believing in your head and there's such a thing as believing in your heart. When a person believes in his head, why he just believes in Christ in a historical way. Now that is, there are many people that believe that Christ was born in Bethlehem. They believe that he lived in this world, they believe that he died, they believe he rose again, but it's just history to them.
It has no personal meaning to their own.
Souls. But then when God does the work in the soul, we see that the Lord Jesus left heaven to save me. Just if I might illustrate it like this, supposing there is a swimming pool and there's a good lifeguard there and he has saved many lives, and I tell how he has saved perhaps 5 lives during the season. And I speak well of this lifeguard. But you say, did he ever save you?
Oh, no, I say. But I.
Know that he did save many but there's something very different if I was the one that he jumped in to save and he saved my life now he means something personally to me and so when 1 believes in his heart the Lord Jesus means something to you personally. It says unto you therefore which believe he is precious. Another verse says we know that we have passed from death unto life because.
We love the brethren. There is love for the Lord, there is love for his people. Where there is divine life in the soul. Faith works by love, the Scripture tells us.
So Nicodemus asked still more How can these things be? Well, the Lord told him that he should have known something about this from the Old Testament Scriptures, because God spoke of a day in Ezekiel the prophet, when he would sprinkle clean water upon his people and when he would take away the Stony heart out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh. Nicodemus ought to have known that there wasn't going to be any blessing for Israel.
Israel until God imparted a new life, He ought to have known that from the Old Testament Scriptures. And so the Lord speaks to him of how being a master in Israel, he should have known it. And I'm afraid there are many preachers today that are just preaching, trying to tell people to change their lives and improve and do better, and they don't realize the necessity of a new life My father used.
To sometimes say a lot of the preaching was just like standing in front of a flock of ducks and saying, now don't get wet. Why? If the ducks could answer, they'd say, but we love to get wet. That's our nature. The only way you could change is to give them a new life. And so this is exactly what the Lord is saying to Nicodemus. It's not teaching a man needs, it's a new life.
And the Lord Jesus is the one who is, the Scripture says the first.
Man Adam was made a living soul, the last Adam a quickening spirit or a life giving spirit. He's the one who can impart that new life.
So Nicodemus asked, how could these things be? Then the Lord spoke of two.
Very important things here. First of all in the 13th verse.
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And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man, which is in heaven.
Here we find in this verse a simple statement of the deity or the Godhead glory of the Lord Jesus, and that is while He was talking to Nicodemus, He was on earth and in heaven at the same time. I remember one time I was speaking about this verse to some children. I called their attention to the fact that the Lord was talking to Nicodemus.
And he said that while he was talking to Nicodemus, he was in heaven.
He doesn't say the Son of Man which was in heaven. He says the Son of man which is in heaven. Well, I asked the children, how could this be? I said I can only be in one place at one time. But here was a person talking to Nicodemus who said he was in heaven. While he was talking to Nicodemus, well, one of the children gave a very nice simple answer. Now this little boy held up his hand. He said, because he's God, and so he is the Lord. Jesus is God. I couldn't hold.
A man as being a Christian who denies that Jesus is God. The Lord said that he, while talking to Nicodemus, was not just a great teacher. He wasn't only come from God, he's God the Son. He is the one whom the Father sent, and yet being God, he was in heaven at the same time.
So he brings before him first the glory of his person, then he brings before him his work, he said.
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, Even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. And that was at the cross. The Lord Jesus was lifted up, and there it tells us He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Now that precious Savior who was lifted up on Calvary's cross was.
Made sin now that is.
He not only bore my sins, but as it tells us in another place, He died unto sin. And that is His death was not only the putting away of my sins, but before God it was the end of my position as a child of Adam. I was born into this world as a child of Adam, but when I was born again, I was born into the family of God, and God sees me in a new relationship.
And so the Lord is speaking to Nicodemus of the necessity of that work of Calvary's cross, and then he makes it very simple in this well known verse. John 316. God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Oh, how blessed it is to know that in such a simple way.
A person can know for sure that he has everlasting life. He can accept God's testimony. And so in this passage it shows us the necessity of new birth. For as one is often said, there are two things that we need to understand in connection with God's salvation, and that is the putting away of our sins. That's through the precious blood of Christ.
And the washing of.
Regeneration, which is a new order of things entirely brought into our life because we're born of God. And so those are the two things actually that were typified in the fact that from the Lord's side flowed the blood and the water. The blood puts away sin as before God and the water.
As a figure of that cleansing by which a person is brought into an entire.
New position before God. That's why the Lord speaks of it in this way here. Born of water and of the Spirit.
Perhaps I could put it simply like this, that if I did something wrong to you and you kindly forgave me, that wouldn't make me feel at home in your presence. I would appreciate the forgiveness, but I'm sure every time in your presence I would feel sort of ashamed of myself. I I just couldn't feel totally relaxed. But if you not only forgave me, but you also assured me that I I was now.
Going to be in your presence as though I had never done that thing, and that you were going to look upon me with all the favor and love of your own Son. Now I not only have the knowledge that my sin is forgiven, but I also know that I am in a new position before you, more wonderful than if I had never done the wrong thing at all. And so God not only forgives, but He brings the believer into a new.
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Understanding the children of Israel were not only sheltered from the judgment of Egypt by the blood, but in crossing the Red Sea they were brought into a new position. And so I want to assure each one here.
If you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, not only are your sins put away so that you can say thank God my sins are forgiven, but you can also say I am in a new standing before God. God sees me in an entirely new position before Him, but this chapter shows us that that which is born of the flesh is flesh.
And this is what I would like to speak about.
Particularly this afternoon, that when God gives to you a new life, the old one is still there. The old nature by which I was born is still here. And I often say that my body now is like a house with two tenants, that one with which I was born by my natural birth, which is so bad and so corrupt, and that which I receive by new birth, which is the.
Life of Christ. Let's turn to a few scriptures that speak of this. Let's turn first of all, to Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4, verse 22.
That she put off concerning the former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Let me turn over to Colossians in the 3rd chapter verse one. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ.
Sitteth on the right hand of God.
Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth, for ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.
One more passage and the first Epistle of John, the 3rd chapter and the ninth verse. Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God.
Now here in these verses, I believe God has shown us the character of those two natures called the old man and the new man. Sometimes we speak of it as the old nature, the new nature. Sometimes the Scripture speaks of it as the flesh, and then that God has given us eternal life. Well, what does God say about that old nature, that old man?
He says it's corrupt according to the deceitful lust.
He says that which is born of the flesh is flesh. And God, I say, shows us the true character of that old nature that we have by our natural birth. But what about the new life that He's given to us? Well, we noticed before that that eternal life is the very life of Christ. It tells us in Ephesians there that the new man is created in righteousness and true holiness.
It tells us in.
In Colossians 3, that Christ himself is our life. And then in John's epistle it says, Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin, and he seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God. Oh, perhaps you save it. I I thought I could sin. Yes, but when we looked upon as children of God, when we looked upon.
As possessors of that new life, why the character of that new life?
His righteousness and true holiness and that it cannot sin. And why? Well, because it's the life of Christ himself. And so I say again, my body is like a house with two tenants, one that can't do anything else. But what's wrong? For it says in Romans chapter 8, they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
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It says without faith it is impossible to please him, so that's the character of that light.
My natural life, but rather the old nature that I received at my first birth. But now, isn't it wonderful that you as a child of God, possess a life that can't sin? It not only doesn't sin, but it cannot sin because when we get to heaven, we're not going to have a different new life than what we already possess right now. Isn't that a wonderful.
And all that we possess right now, the very same nature and life that we're going to have in heaven now. That's why the Christian finds his delight in the things of God and looks forward to having, because heaven is our home. That's really the force of that passage in Jude where it says looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Unto eternal life.
That is, as things get worse in this world, for Jude brings before us the apostasy.
We become more and more conscious that this world is not our proper element.
The new life that God has given to us is a nature, a life that is going to be fully relaxed, going to be.
Fully in its enjoyment, in heaven. Let me put it like this, If you took a fish out of the water and set it there on that nice Chesterfield, it wouldn't feel at all comfortable. It doesn't have a life that suited to this element. And if the fish could speak, it would say, please put me back in my element.
My element is not a place like this, it's the water. And so as we see evil increasing in this world, it makes us long more and more for the place where we're going to be able to relax, where the new life that God has given to us will find its fullest expression and enjoyment. And so the coming of the Lord is spoken of as looking for that time when we will be in the.
Enjoyment of the life that we already possess, without any hindrance forever.
Well, we've noticed then that God has told us about the old nature. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. He has shown us that it's corrupt according to the deceitful lust. He has also shown us that the new life that He gave to us is created in righteousness and true holiness, and it cannot sin. But we still have a conflict, don't we?
Because we still have that old nature within us. Chapter 6 What God has done about this.
Romans chapter 6 Now perhaps you'll begin at the first verse. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?
Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death, therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death, That like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, Even so we also should walk in newness of life.
For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection.
Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him.
That the body of sin might be destroyed, That henceforth we should not serve sin.
For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him.
Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead, dieth no more death, hath no more dominion over Him. For in them he died. He died unto sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lust thereof, neither ye.
Your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law, but under grace. What then shall we continue? Shall we sin because we are not under law?
But under grace, God forbid.
Well, here in this chapter God tells us what He has done with that old man. That old nature that we had within us, we have within us as the result of our natural birth.
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For on the cross of Calvary, the Lord Jesus not only bore our sins, but here it tells us our old man was crucified with him. Now that is in the death of Christ, in God's sight. There was an end to that position that we were in as children of Adam. Oh, it's a wonderful thing to know.
That God himself has taken up the question not only of our sins.
But of the nature that produced those sins. And you know, This is why many dear Christians don't have peace, because when they're saved, they know their sins are gone. But afterwards they find out that the old nature is still there, and they don't know what God has done about that old nature. So they have a struggle the rest of their lives, just like poor John Bunyan.
In his book called Pilgrim's Progress, which some may have read, John Bunyan got trouble.
About his sins. And so he was shown by the evangelist that he should go to the cross, and he had this great bundle of sins in the story on his back. And he came to the cross, and he saw the Lord Jesus dying there for his sins. And as he looked by faith at the Lord Jesus dying on the cross, the burden of his sins rolled off his back and rolled into the sepulchre. Oh, he was so happy that his sins were gone, but if.
The life of John Bunyan, you'll find out that he wasn't really a happy Christian, and I'll tell you why, because he knew that his sins were gone, but he never really entered into this. What I'm trying to bring before you, the end of the nature that produced those sins, as one person has put it. And I thought he put it very well.
He said if when John Bunyan had come to the cross and seen the Lord Jesus by faith.
Dying there, if he himself had fallen into the sepulcher, sins and all, and come out a new man, he would have been a delivered Christian, a happy Christian, because he would have known that not only at the cross did God put an end to his sins, God put an end to the nature that produced those sins and.
So although the old nature within us is not actually God.
This brings in what we often speak of as a new standing in which we are in the presence of God.
When I speak of a standing, perhaps the simplest illustration is citizenship. When we cross the border to come into the United States, they said, what is your citizenship? We told them that we were citizens of Canada, and that is the standing that we have in the eyes of the United States government. We are citizens of Canada visiting in the United States, but let us suppose that.
We decided that we would become American citizens, and we were accepted by.
As American citizens, we're the same people. But when we crossed the border, we would have a new standing, wouldn't we? We wouldn't have to say that we're Canadian citizens. We would say we're naturalized Americans. And if the officer said, well, what happened to your old citizenship, we could perhaps say, well, as far as the United States is concerned, there's no such person anymore as Gordon Hayhoe and Mrs. Hayhoe, the Canadian citizens as far.
The United States is concerned they're dead. The only people that are alive are Mr. and Mrs. Hale, naturalized Americans. Well, do you know, dear friends, that that is what happened at the cross? God put an end to my old standing, and that's why it says our old man is crucified with him. Well, it's a wonderful thing to know that. And so you don't have to spend the rest of your life trying to fight with that old nature. You see what God?
Did with that you see that he not only put away your sins in the precious blood of Christ, but through the death of Christ?
God tells you our old man is crucified with him.
Now there are three things in connection with it.
In the 8th chapter of Romans it says God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.
And then it tells us in this chapter that our old man is crucified with him.
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And then it tells us that in baptism we are buried with him by baptism into death. So what did God do with the old nature? Did he attempt to improve it? No, He condemned it. When you have a pile of rotten lumber, do you attempt to improve it? No, you say it's no good, you condemn it. So God condemned sin in the flesh. He condemned that old nature.
Then what did he do? He put an end to it in the death of Christ.
And we recognize that in baptism. What do we do when we bury a person? We recognize that he's dead, and we bury him because we have recognized that he's dead. And that's what baptism is. It's a sign of burial. And so we have condemned.
Crucified and buried, and that is the end of our old position as children of Adam.
Now we haven't actually died ourselves, and as long as we're here in this world, then we're told likewise. Reckon ye yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin. Gordon Hayhoe, the Canadian citizen didn't actually die, but he reckons himself in a new position. And so isn't it a wonderful thing that when.
One is brought into the family of God. He has a right to reckon himself in a new position.
And now I said that my body is like a house with two tenants but.
Before I was born again, why these hands did what the fallen nature wanted to do. These eyes looked at what the fallen nature wanted to look at. These feet took me where the fallen nature wanted to go. But God says, now yield your members unto God. He says, I have given you a new life.
A life that wants to please me. And now, he said. Yield your hands.
To that new life that wants to please me. Healed your feet to go to the places the new life wants to go. Healed your ears to hear the things the new life wants to hear. And so he's saying that just as in the past, we once yielded our members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin. And isn't it true in our unsaved days, that's just what we did.
We just yielded our the members of our body to do what our fallen nature wanted to do.
And nothing people like better, as it says in the 53rd of Isaiah, than to go everyone his own way. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. Some people follow intellectual pursuits. Some people follow religious pursuits. Some people follow immoral pursuits. But they go the way they want to go, and they use their members just as they themselves, through the fallen nature, want to do.
But something wonderful happens when God imparts a new life. There's a new tenant in the body. And God said, now yield yourself to God. And so now that's what it really is, dear friends, to own Jesus as Lord, as one is often said. You'll hear people say, nobody's going to tell me what to do. Oh, I say yes.
There's some person who has a right to tell me what to do from morning to morning till night.
And who is it? It's the one whom I own as my Lord. Oh, you say that's the loss of liberty? No, that's true liberty. What is the liberty of the new life? You know this, dear friends, The Lord will never ask you to do anything that the new nature that he has given you doesn't want to do. That's why James speaks of it as the law of liberty. If my boy.
It's a certain job. We'll say I asked him to bring in some wood for the fireplace, and that's one job we'll say he hates. Well, I'm asking to do something he doesn't want to do. But if there's something he likes very much, we'll say he likes to play ball. And I say, well, go out now and play ball. Well, that's not hard, is it? He loves that, and I'm just telling him to do what he likes to do.
And that's what God does. He gives me a new.
Life, He tells me that life delights in pleasing Him, and now in his word I find out those things that are pleasing to him, and the new life says, oh, that's what I want to do. I want to please my Lord and he's told me how in his word.
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So the Bible to the Christian is a revelation of God's will. You want to give a gift to somebody and you have a real desire to get something they like. If the person tells you something they like, now it's just a pleasure to do what they've told you they like. And isn't this lovely that God has given to us a new life and his word tells us what he he likes us to do?
And the new nature said, well, that's what I like to do too. I like to do what's pleasing to my Lord. And he won't rob you of anything. It says no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. The world will rob you. And if we were placed under law, why, we might be robbed of a great deal, but under grace.
Its true liberty, it's doing what's pleasing to the Lord because we want to do it. And the new life, as we noticed, is created in righteousness and true holiness. Well, God has shown us then what He has done with that old nature, how He has brought us into this new position. And so He's put an end to my position as a child of Adam. He looks upon me as a child of God.
Shows me what he has done with that old nature which is so distressing and causes so much grief. Now when we come to the 7th chapter, I believe he sets before us Deliverance.
7th chapter of Romans in the 18th verse.
For I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing, for the will is present with me. But how to perform that which is good I find not. I want to particularly call your attention to three things in the end of this 7th of Romans.
In this verse we just read, we hear one who is a true child of God speaking here. And what does he have to say about that old nature, the flesh? Has it improved since he's been saved? Can he say now I'm saved? I find that I have a that my fallen nature has really improved and much better, no.
Because I know that in me that is, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing.
Did you ever have a thought come into your mind as a Christian? And then it was such a horrible thought that perhaps you said to yourself, oh, I didn't think a Christian could ever think something like that.
And then you began to perhaps even wonder if you were a Christian when such a thought as that came into your mind. Well, here's the Apostle Paul telling us, In me, that is, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing.
I'm not surprised at any thought that might come into my mind. What concerns me is what I do when it comes, because that old nature hasn't improved since I've been saved. If you had a bad dog and you tied it up for six months, don't boast to your neighbors that you've changed the nature of your dog. Don't tell your neighbors it hasn't bitten anybody for six months, because it'll just tell you, well, that's only because you tied it up.
You didn't change the dark, and I've been saved, but the old nature is still the same. In me, that is, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing.
Now we come to the 20th verse. It says, Now if I do that, I would not. It is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. Now notice in this chapter.
But all through the chapter there's a terrible conflict going on, and I might say this, and I think it's good for us to bear this in mind.
It isn't normal that a believer should remain in the experiences described in the 7th of Romans. We have to go through it. But God didn't intend that we would stay in the experiences that are brought before us in the 7th of Romans. He brought them before us to show us the way of deliverance and so.
Here we find discovering that in me, that is, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. Now through the chapter you'll notice if you read it carefully, that in one breath he's calling the old nature eye, and in another breath he's calling the new nature I.
In other words, he realizes that there are two tenants in his body, but he still doesn't understand or hasn't entered into what God has done about it. And so he says, I delight in the law of God after the inward man. But he said, I do that I would not. You can see that in one breath. He is Speaking of the old nature as I.
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In another, he's Speaking of the new nature.
As I but you know, there's only one lawful tenant in my body. If God put an end to that old nature, why then?
I'm in a new position before him and notice this 20th verse.
If I do that, I would not. It is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. Isn't that a wonderful thing to get hold of? That God having put an end to that old nature, as before Him, I can say well, that desire, that sinful desire, is no more I.
It's sin that dwelleth in me. Oh, that's a blessed thing for us to realize that before God we are seen in this new standing as having a new life, and that all of nature it is no more. I.
Well, perhaps we could just give a simple little illustration of this, supposing that before I was saved, there's some particular sin that's a snare to me, something that really is like a besetting sin in my life.
After I'm saved, I'm so happy. I know my sins are forgiven. I know Christ is my savior, and I say to my friends, I don't want to do those things anymore.
But then perhaps through coldness or neglect of my Bible, neglect of Christian fellowship and the meetings, my heart begins to grow cold. And a friend comes along and says, wouldn't you like to do this? And names the very thing that I used to do before I was saved. And I say, no, I'm a Christian now. I don't want to do that. And after my friend is gone.
The devil comes along and says you're told a lie. You did want to do it, you wanted to do it, and you said you didn't want to do it. And then he gets you wondering if you're even a Christian at all because first of all, why should you want to do it, and 2nd, you told a lie when you said you didn't want to do it. At least that's what he said. But no, I can say.
I can say to Satan when he comes like that and say, no, I don't want to do it. The new tenant in my body wants to please the Lord. But it's the old nature that wanted to do it, and it's no more I.
Is not blessed that we can know this and so instead of being distressed.
That I told a liar that I'm not saved. I know what God has done. I know that he put my sins away and he has brought me into a new position so that I can say it's the new tenant that's answering. There's only one lawful tenant and the new man says no, I want to please the Lord.
And so here we find, if I do that, I would not, it is no more I than do it but sin. What did God do with that sin, that fallen nature? He crucified it, and in baptism I recognized that it was dead. And so I have the right to say it's no more I but sin that dwelleth in me.
Well now we see another thing here in the 24th verse. O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death, I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind, I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.
Even though he has laid hold of these things that we are Speaking of, that there's nothing good in the old nature and that it's no more I, he says I'm still wretched. I'm still wretched because he said I don't know how to get deliverance. And it isn't until he comes to this point.
And many Christians have been brought to this point and it's a blessed thing when we realize that all wretched man that I am notice here, he doesn't say how shall I get deliverance, but he says who shall deliver me? In other words, he sees now that deliverance comes from outside of himself. It doesn't come by a struggle with him. There are many people, as the saying is trying to lift.
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Themselves by their shoe, by their shoe straps. But that doesn't work. And so you know.
There is. We don't overcome the fallen nature by having a struggle with it because as someone has said, you get just as dirty fighting a chimney sweep is hugging him. Why? If you try to fight away bad thoughts, what happens? Have you ever tried it? Well, I've tried it. I've sat in the meeting and tried to fight a way of bad thought. It was just like fighting with a with a chimney sweep. We just got all dirty. You just felt terrible because you tried to fight it away.
But what would you?
Would you hug them? Oh no, you still wouldn't hug him. What would you do? You'd get away from him, wouldn't you? And how does the believer get deliverance? Why he's entitled to look away to another who has accomplished the victory for him at the cross, who put an end to the nature that is suggesting those things. And so when that evil thought comes, I have the title, since God has not only put away my sins, but.
Has put an end to that sin that dwelleth in me, and I can look away to Christ and know that God sees me. As the first verse of the next chapter says, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. Let me put it simply like this. Are you condemning yourself for having an old nature? God says I don't condemn you for having an old nature. I put an end to that at the cross.
And I see you.
In Christ. And so when that thought comes, I am entitled now not to be wretched trying to fight it away, but to look up and say, Oh, thank God.
That thought came from the fallen nature that God put an end to, And he entitles me to know that he's brought me into a new standing, that he's given me his Holy Spirit so that I might be occupied with Christ, so that I might turn from this to be occupied with Him. Sometimes used in illustration. Perhaps it bears repeating here.
Supposing that you are going to build a garage in the back of your home, and we'll say that you have saved a pile of lumber which you intend to use to build this garage. And so you hire a Carpenter and you say now I'd like to use up this lumber. It'll save some money if you use this lumber for the garage and.
So the Carpenter goes out and he looks over your pile of lumber.
And after a while he comes back in and he says, well, I guess I have bad news for you. That lumber's no good. That's all rotten. We can't use that number at all. What did he do? He condemned it, didn't he?
But he says I also brought good news for you. I brought you a new pile of lumber.
And every piece in this new pile is good sound lumber. It's not going to cost you anything. And we'll use this new lumber to put up the garage.
Oh, when he first told you the old lumber was no good, you just felt so badly. But now you're giving thanks. Can't you see here? Oh, wretched man, that I am. Why? Well, you're trying to find a good peace in the old pile, but now you're giving thanks that God has brought you into.
A new position and he doesn't find any bad lumber in you at all because he sees the new pile. That's the way you stand before him in Christ. And that's just exactly what he's telling us here. And so there are many Christians and they're just miserable because they're always looking for a good piece of lumber in the old pile. And there are other Christians. They're full of thankfulness, not because the old piles improved.
They've got just as rotten a pile of lumber as you have, but they're giving thanks for the new pile. They see that God has brought them into a new position, and so that is what we're giving thanks for. And just like Israel, they were told to stand still and see the whole of Christendom is occupied with doing something, first for salvation and afterwards to try and have some kind of spiritual attainment. But what God?
Telling us is it's all done, the question of your sins and the question of the nature that produced those sins was all taken up and settled at the cross. And God has brought us into this position like Israel were told, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. And so we stand still, we listen, we hear what God has done.
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And we learn that now we can give thanks for what God sees.
Jesus, now supposing the next day after the carpenters gone, I go out into that into my yard and I start pulling apart this old pile and the Carpenter comes along and he says, what are you doing? Well, I say, you know, I, I thought I might find some good pieces in there. I really can hardly believe it that there's no good lumber in that pile. I was counting on. Well, he said, you just making yourself unhappy for nothing.
He said. I told you there was no good lumber.
There come down, he says, off that pile of lumber and he, I come down, he throws A tarpaulin over the top. He says just consider it's not there. Now does it improve under the tarpaulin? No, but you see what God has done. He's put an end. And if I was to go when he was building the garage and pull an old piece from that pile and nail it into the garage, I'd have to tell him I was sorry. I'd have to tell him I'm sorry every time you let the old.
Nature act you have to come to the Lord and get restored because he told you it was no good. He told it was condemned. And so I I didn't intend to particularly speak of that side of the truth, but just to show how that God sees us in this new position. And so this first verse. There is now therefore no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.
And just a little word on this second verse before we close for the law.
Of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. You know here the the word law here is not is used in the same way that we speak of the law of gravitation a certain rule. And so if I could illustrate this second verse something like this.
How could I set that book free from the law of gravitation without changing the law of gravitation and without changing the weight of the book?
Oh, you say. I don't know how you could do that. Well, just forsake of illustration. Supposing I attached a balloon with helium gas to this book and you saw the book start to go up. Have I changed the law of gravitation?
Have I changed the weight of the book? No. I brought in a new law. Now this is what he's telling us. What is the ruling principle of the old nature? Every time it acts, it sins.
The law of sin and death, the wages of sin is death. Every time the old nature acts, just like me dropping a book, down it goes. And that's the way the old nature acts. But God says, and I'll tell you how you're set free, allow the Spirit of God to occupy you with Christ, and the old nature hasn't been changed, but you'll be set free from it. And so that's the secret of the Christian's deliverance. He is able to go on through life.
And even though he has that old nature within him so bad, so wicked, isn't it blessed that God has given me a new life? The Holy Spirit of God is now come and taken up his abode as power for that new life that God has given to me. And now the Spirit of God wants to occupy me through the new life with Christ and set me free so I don't live in *******. I don't wonder what's going to happen about this old nature. I see exactly what God has done that He has.
Told me how he has taken up this whole question and settled it, and so I can rejoice. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. Hell, May God grant that we live in the liberty of the position, as it says in in Galatians. Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of ******* if we.
Realize this blessed liberty and walk in it. It's a happy, delightful Christian life because it was. It's all through what Christ has accomplished by His work at the cross, made good to us, by the Holy Spirit of God dwelling in us and occupying us through the Word with Christ. What a place of blessing we've been brought into. And it's all through that finished work.
Of Calvary's cross.