Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nyvert. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 1030 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
945 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nyvert. In Matthew chapter 26, we read
where the Lord said to Peter, beginning in verse 40. This is
during his time that we considered last week in Gethsemane's garden. Verse 40, and he cometh unto
the disciples and findeth them asleep. You'll remember that
he said, can't you watch one hour with me? Well, evidently
they couldn't. They were asleep. And he saith
unto Peter, why not the rest of them? What was the Peter who
boasted, though all the rest of this bunch deny you, I'll
never do it. He says to Peter, he saith to
Peter, what? Could you not watch with me one
hour? Watch and pray that you enter
not into temptation. Now, if we have any understanding
of ourselves, we know that if we enter temptation, we'll fall. That's our experience. And we're
taught to pray on a daily basis, lead us not into temptation.
And the disciples should have had enough understanding about
themselves that they knew if they did enter temptation, they
would fall. So he tells them to pray, watch
and pray that you enter not into temptation. And then he makes
this statement, the spirit indeed is willing. But the flesh is weak. I've entitled this message, Spirit
Willing, Flesh Weak. And this is what the Lord said
to Peter when he comes back from his prayer and finds him asleep. And I believe he said this not
with annoyance or bawling him out. I think the Lord said this
with compassion. I know he said this with compassion. The spirit indeed is willing,
the spirit that you have given to you by God. The spirit indeed
is willing, and the flesh is weak. Now what does the Lord
mean by the flesh and the spirit? The spirit indeed is willing,
and the flesh is weak. What is meant by flesh and spirit?
Body and soul? Is this speaking of Two separate
natures, a fleshly nature, a spiritual nature? Is this giving some form
of dualism? What is meant by flesh and spirit? Peter indeed had them both. What does the Lord mean by flesh? What does the Lord mean by spirit? And notice he said the spirit
is willing. That's the testimony with regard
to the spirit. Paul said in Romans chapter seven,
when he was talking about those two natures within a believer,
he said, to will is present with me. I would be without sin. I would never sin again. I would never be proud, vengeful,
spiteful, self-righteous, self-seeking. I would never be that way again.
To will is present with me. But he went on to say, how to
perform that which is good, I find not. I might desire to be that
way, but I never reach that ever in my own experience. The spirit
indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. That word weak doesn't
mean weak in the sense of it can only pick up one pound as
opposed to 10 pounds. It's talking about without strength. Romans chapter five, verse six,
the same word is translated without strength. The spirit indeed is
willing, but the flesh is without strength. Now what is meant by
the flesh and the spirit? Now, let me read you a verse
of Scripture that I think will make this very clear. In John
3, The Lord is talking about being born again, being born
from above. Except a man be born again, he
cannot see the kingdom of God. Except a man be born of water
and the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. And then
he makes this statement in verse six of John chapter three, that
which is born of the flesh is flesh and that which is born
of the spirit is spirit. Now sometime in the end of 1958
I was conceived. I wasn't consulted about it.
It was a miracle of God. I was conceived in my mother's
womb. Some nine months later, I came out into this earth, but
my life happened just like that when I was conceived. The same is true of you. This is talking about being born
of the flesh. Now, everyone that's born of
the flesh has a common ancestor. Adam. Now, when Adam ate of the
fruit, the Lord said, in the day you eat thereof, you shall
surely die. Now, he didn't die physically, but he died spiritually. He died spiritually. And as in Adam, the scripture
says, all die. Therefore by as one man sin in
the world, and death by sin, so that death passed upon all
men, me and you, in that all have sinned. When Adam sinned,
we sinned. He became dead in sins, and we're
born into this world spiritually dead. Oh, we're alive. We're alive to sin, but we're
spiritually dead. David said, Behold, I was shapen
in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me. The wicked
are estranged from the womb. They go about as soon as they
be born speaking lies. That's why it's natural for your
children to lie. You don't have to teach them
to lie. It comes natural because that's the way they are born.
Born after the flesh. Listen to this scripture in Romans
chapter 8. This explains what this is in
Romans chapter 8 beginning in verse 5. For they that are after
the flesh, they're products of the flesh, Do mind the things
of the flesh, but they that are after the spirit, the things
that are of the spirit. For to be carnally minded, now
that word carnally means fleshly, the way you were born into this
world. To be carnally minded is death, but to be spiritually
minded is life and peace because the carnal mind, the fleshly
mind, is enmity against God. And that's the way you were born,
that's the way I was born into this world. Enmity, hatred, dislike
against God. Now somebody says, I don't hate
God, I love God. Well, it could be that you've
never really heard the true character of God. People find out they
hate God when they hear of His true character. You don't hate
a God that you're comfortable with. You don't hate a God that
you've made up, that you feel good about. But the God of the
Bible, that is the God that natural man hates. The carnal mind is
enmity against God, for it's not subject to the law of God. Neither, indeed, can be. It lacks
the ability to be. Now, what this is talking about
is being dead in sins. You ethic Wiccans who are dead
in sins. That's, that which is born of the flesh can't rise
above that. Sinful. There's none righteous. No, not
one. There's none that understands. There's none that seeketh after
God. They've all gone out of the way. They've together become
unprofitable. There's none that doeth good.
No, not one. Now, what that means is, if I'm
spiritually dead, I cannot do the functions of spiritual life.
I can't believe. I can't love God. I can't repent. I can't persevere. I lack the
spiritual nature to do these things. I'm born into this world,
according to the scriptures, dead in trespasses and sins. And that which is born of the
flesh is flesh. It cannot rise above that. But that which is born of the
Spirit is Spirit." Now, in the context, he's talking about the
new birth. That which is born of the Spirit,
being born again, is Spirit. It's not flesh. It's something
that was not there before. Spirit. It's a new nature, a
new creation. John said, As many as received
Him, to them gave He the power to become the sons of God, even
to them which believe on His name, which were born. Not of
blood, not of the will of man, not of the will of the flesh,
but of God. I'd like to read you a verse
of scripture from 1 John 5, verse 18. John says, For we know that
whosoever is born of God sinneth not. Now I think it's interesting
there are other translations that say he doesn't practice
sin or he doesn't continue in sin or he doesn't keep on sinning
Now, I've never met that man of you. A man who doesn't practice
sin. If you sin, you practice sin.
Or a man that doesn't continue to sin. If you sin today, that
means you're continuing in sin. A man that doesn't keep on sinning. Well, you keep on sinning, I
keep on sinning, and you know that's so. You know what I'm
saying is true. There's no man that doeth good and sinneth not. That's what the wise man said
in Ecclesiastes. If thou shouldst mark iniquities,
O Lord, who should stand? Men are sinful, but this passage
says, we know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not. But
he that's begotten of God, born of God, keepeth himself, and
that wicked one, speaking of Satan, toucheth him not. Now, that's what the word of
God says. There's nothing for him to work with in this new
man, in this new nature. You know, the Lord said, the
prince of this world has come and found nothing in me. Now
in your old nature, if you're a believer, he can find plenty
to work with and he won't have any problem with it. But if you
have a new nature born of God, that which is born of the spirit
is spirit. That which is born of God, birthed
by God, fathered by God, he sinneth not. The new nature does not
sin. Now that's talking about two
separate natures in a believer. Now the old man, the man that
is not saved, he only has one nature, the nature he's born
with. The one who has been born again has two natures, the one
he was born with and the one he was born again with. Now, let me ask you a question. Think about this. Does God sin? No. Can Christ sin? No. He's God. I've heard people
say, well, he could have sinned. No, he couldn't have. He's God.
He's impeccable. He doesn't even have the potential
to sin. Somebody says, well, what kind of virtue was there
in obedience if he couldn't sin when he was tempted? Because
he's God. If you could say he could sin,
you'd deny his immutability. You could say he could go from
one state to another. No, he couldn't sin. Can God
the Holy Spirit sin? No. He's the Holy Spirit. Holiness
can't sin. Can that which is born of God? the Holy God. Can that which
is born of God sin? Can God's Father, can God produce
something that can sin? The answer is no. Whosoever is
born of God sinneth not, the scripture says. He cannot sin
because his seed, the seed of God, remains in him. Now, Peter even said, being born
again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word
of God, which liveth and abideth forever. And the Lord acknowledged
at this time, these two natures, as he saw Peter and the rest
of the apostles asleep when they should have been awake. He said,
the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak. Every believer has two natures
operating through one consciousness. And that's important. Every believer
has two natures operating through one consciousness. Now, this
is clearly taught in the Scripture, and I think it's amazing that
so many preachers deny this, when it's so clearly, evidently
taught in the Scripture. I was talking to a preacher.
I said, do you believe a believer has two natures? He said, yes,
I do, flesh and spirit. I said, does the spiritual nature
of sin? He said, yes, because I sin.
And I shared with him the scriptures I'm giving to you. And he said,
well, I don't want to leave anybody an excuse for sin. As if you
believe that you have a sinful nature, that would excuse your
sin. That doesn't excuse sin in any way. Now, maybe somebody
with only one nature will use it as an excuse for sin, but
a believer won't. It's just the facts. A believer
has two natures, and you know that if you have two natures. Nobody has to prove that to you.
Now, you think of Romans 7. I would challenge you to go and
read that. particularly verses 14 through 25, where Paul talks
about this struggle of the two natures. And he says clearly
that this was after he was saved. Somebody says, well, that was
before Paul was saved. No, it wasn't. It was after he
was saved. And really, this description of Romans 7 is the description
of the healthy believer. struggling with his two natures,
the flesh lusts against the spirit, the spirit lusts against the
flesh, and these are contrary one to the other, so that you
can't do the things that you would. Now that's what the scripture
teaches. You know, I've even heard preachers
acknowledge the two natures, and they say the one that you
feed will be the one that has the upper hand. Now, that's foolishness. That's like somebody saying,
well, I see a good angel on one shoulder and a bad angel on the
other, and I've got to choose which one I'm going to obey. And that's taking out of the
equation the fact that all this comes through one consciousness.
You don't make some kind of conscious choice. I'm going to feed the
new nature, or I'm going to feed the old nature. No, it does not
work that way. And that is foolishness. Peter
says, we're partakers of the divine nature. In II Peter 1.4,
somebody says, well, are you saying we're little gods, saying
we're partakers of the divine natures? No. But I'm saying we're
partakers of the divine nature, like the Bible does. I don't become God, I don't become
Christ, I don't become the Holy Spirit, but I'm the product of
their work being birthed of God, and every believer has a new
nature. It's called a new creation. It's
not a changed nature. It's not God coming to my old
man and improving it. That old man is dead and will
never be anything but dead. It's God giving me a new nature
that comes through this one consciousness. Now, every doctrine in the New
Testament is illustrated in the Old Testament. And let me show
you how this is illustrated in the Old Testament in Genesis
chapter 25 with regard to Jacob and Esau. Now, beginning in verse
20 of Genesis 25, and Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebekah
to wife. The daughter of Bethuel, the Syrian of Paddanaram, the
sister to Laban the Syrian, and Isaac entreated the Lord for
his wife because she was buried. In her womb, there was no life. And the Lord was entreated of
him, and Rebekah, his wife, conceived. There was now life. Thing of it is, She didn't understand
that she had twins. And the children struggled. They fought. That word is a strong
word. They fought together within her. And she said, if it be so, if
I have life, why is it thus? Why am I having this struggle
within? And she went to inquire of the
Lord, and the Lord said unto her, Two nations are in thy womb,
and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels. Two different types of people,
two nations, kind of like the Shulamite woman said in the Song
of Solomon, two companies of armies are within me. Same thing. And we have this promise, the
one people shall be stronger than the other people. And the
elder shall serve the younger. Now Esau was the elder and he
represents our old man. He's older by way of years than
the new man. He's the man we were born with. And he is going to serve the
younger. He is going to serve the new
man. Now while a believer has two
natures, the old nature is a servant to the new nature. Sin shall
not have dominion over you, for you're not under law, but under
grace. Now, how is this old man a servant,
a slave to the new when the old man is nothing but sin? How can
he serve my new nature, my holy nature that does not sin? Let
me tell you what this old man does for me. It keeps me continually
aware that the only hope I have is that Jesus Christ died for
me and put away my sins and gave me his righteousness, and I never
graduate past that because I always have this old man with me. Paul said, O wretched man that
I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I am
not excusing sin in any way, but I know this, my old man,
And you know, it's the new nature that owns the sins of the old
man. It's the new nature that sees the sins of the old man.
A man without a new nature really doesn't have any comprehension
of what sin really is. He thinks of it simply as acts.
He doesn't see it as a nature. But the new man sees sin for
what it is, and that old nature causes me to know continually
that the only ground of acceptance I ever have at any time is who
Jesus Christ is and what he did. I can't look to myself and my
personal conquest over sin and my obedience and say, yeah, I'm
a Christian. I must be saved. Look at me.
No. My old nature keeps me looking to Christ only. And in that sense,
my old nature is serving my new nature. It's causing me to continually
look to Christ, and what a blessing that is. Now, we're talking about
natures, natures. You've got your old nature, you've
got your new nature. And really, it's your nature
that determines everything else. Tigers eat meat. It's their nature. Cats clean themselves. It's their
nature. Pigs love to get in the slop.
It's their nature. Your nature will determine what
you are. You know, when you hear preachers
talk about free will, That's foolish. Your will is controlled
by your nature. There's no such thing as a free
will. God doesn't have a free will
in that sense. His will is controlled by His holy nature. That's why
He can't sin. It's against His nature. He's got a holy nature. Now, a believer has been given
a new nature. And in a new nature, there's
laws that you follow. And I want to finish this message
by giving you what the Scripture gives as the laws of the new
nature. Now, first of all, we read in
Romans 7 where Paul talks about the law of sin, which is in my
members. If you have a new nature, you
see this law of sin that makes you realize that in and of yourself,
you personally are nothing but sin. Have you ever seen that? Somebody says, I haven't seen
that. Well, then you don't have a new nature. If you had a new nature,
you would know that you are the chief of sinners and that you
can't look down your nose at anybody for anything. Now, we
also read in Romans 9.31 of the law of righteousness. If you
have a new nature, you cannot be satisfied with anything but
the perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ. You can't look
to your own righteousness. You see its filthy rags, and
the only thing that you can find satisfaction in is knowing you
have his righteousness, the righteousness of Jesus Christ, as your personal
righteousness. You've seen from the law of sin,
which is in your members, that you don't have any personal righteousness.
And the only righteousness you can be satisfied with is the
righteousness of Jesus Christ. And then we read in Romans 3
to 27 of the law of faith, the new nature cannot not believe. There's a law within their nature
that causes them to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son
of the living God, that caused them to believe that everything
God requires of me, He looks to Christ for, and I'm satisfied
with that. I'm resting in Christ. That's
the law of the new nature. And then we read in James 2,
verse 12, of the royal law of love. It's a believer's nature to love
the God of the Bible, to love Him as He is in all of His glorious
attributes. And then we read of the law of
liberty in Galatians. I mean, in James chapter 1, a
believer has to have liberty. If you put him under law, he
cannot deal with it. He has to have stand fast in
the freedom wherewith Christ hath made us free and be not
entangled again in that yoke of bondage. And then we read
of the law of Christ in Galatians 6, verse 1, if a man be overtaken
in a fault which are spiritual, restore such a one in the spirit
of meekness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted, bear
ye one another's burdens, put up with one another, and so fulfill
the law of Christ. Now, a new nature. How important is this? To deny
two separate natures is to deny what regeneration is in the first
place. It's saying that God takes the
old and improves it, and that's not the case at all. He gives
a new heart, one that was not there before. It's not a changed
heart. It is a new heart, a new creature
in Christ Jesus, and heaven will be being rid of that old nature
and beholding His face in righteousness. Now, we have this message on
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