I wanted to read some scriptures
this morning in reference to something the Lord has laid very
heavily on my heart in this last week or so, and that is the glorious
doctrine of the two natures of man. As we saw last week, Peter is beheld, he's brought
to the Lord Jesus in verse 42 of John chapter 1, he's brought
to the Lord Jesus, and when Jesus beheld him he said, Thou art
Simon the son of Jonah. Thou shalt be called Cephas,
which is by interpretation a stone, a rock. And as we saw, and as
I trust the Lord will show us again today, While he was Peter, he was still
Simon, and while he was Simon, he was still Peter. And such
is the nature of all of God's children. All of God's born-again
children are people who live in this world possessing two
natures, two natures and one consciousness. But two natures,
you might have remembered, recalled, it's remarkable, the psalm we
just read a little while ago. It says, the psalmist said, and
it's David's prayer. He says, bow down thine ear,
O Lord, and hear me. He says, I'm poor and needy.
And he says, preserve my soul. And then he says, for I am holy.
And if you're holy, if you're holy, to be saved. See, once again, this is one
of the scriptures that is only understood by the understanding
of the two natures of man. It is the reality that David,
like Peter and all of the saints of God, they are holy. So I wanted
to look at some scriptures and I wanted us to see that this
is something that's throughout the Word of God from the very
beginning. until, and it is not only throughout
the Word of God, but it is the testimony of God's saints in
the scriptures, and we'll look at Paul's evidence of that in
Romans 7 and John in 1 John and others, but it's also the testimony
of the saints throughout time, all of the children of God. can bear testimony to this. If
you turn with me to Genesis chapter 25, we'll just look at some of
these scriptures and then Lord willing after with some I can
come back and we can look at some of it in more detail. And Isaac was 40 years old when
he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel the Syrian,
of Paddan Aram, the sister of Laban the Syrian. And Isaac entreated
the Lord for his wife because she was barren. And the Lord
was entreated of him and Rebekah his wife conceived. And the children
struggled together within her. It means that they are in serious
conflict, it's not a light word, that word struggle, they're warring
against each other. And she said, if it be so, why
am I thus? 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. And the one people shall be stronger
than the other, and the elder shall serve the younger. It's a glorious picture, isn't
it, that Rebecca had gone 20 years as a barren woman, and
all of the ignominy and the pain that that must have brought her,
and here after 20 years, the Lord having been entreated by
Isaac, she finally has life. And as soon as she has life,
life from God, life from above, there is a struggle that begins.
It's a struggle that all of the Lord's people bear witness to,
but it's a struggle with a promise. The elder will serve the younger. Turn with me again to that familiar
passage that we love to look at in Ezekiel 36. The Lord promises to sanctify his great
name. He promises to make his name
holy, his name which was profaned, verse 23, in the midst of them.
And they shall know that I am the Lord, saith the God, when
I shall be sanctified in you before their eyes. For I will
take you, verse 24, from among the heathen, gather you out of
all countries, and I will bring you into your own land. And then
I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you shall be clean.
From all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse
you. A new heart also will I give
you, and a new spirit will I put within you. And I will take away
the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of
flesh, and I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk
in My statutes, and you shall keep My judgments and do them.
What a glorious picture of what God does in regeneration, in
the new birth. He puts a new heart, He takes
a heart of stone out of people, a heart that is unfeeling, uncaring,
unable to be moved by God or man. A heart of stone can be
moved by God, of course that was wrong, but it can't be moved
by the entreaties of God because it is dead. He puts His Spirit
within you. And then he says, verse 28, and
you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers and you
shall be my people and I will be your God. What a glorious
promise. I will also save you from all
your uncleanness and I will call for the corn and increase it
and lay no famine upon you and I will multiply the fruit of
the tree and increase in the increase of the field that you
shall receive no more reproach of famine among the heathen.
Then you shall remember your own evil ways and your doings
that were not good, and shall loathe yourself in your own sight
for your iniquities and for your abominations. Not for your sakes
do I do this, saith the Lord God, be it known unto you. Be
ashamed and confounded to your own ways, O house of Israel.
What that remarkable passage is teaching us, of course, is
that the Lord having given a new heart, the Lord having put His
Spirit within you, the Lord having declared His people to His own,
it is then and then only that people are aware, the people
of God are aware of what they are. It's only then that they
actually loathe themselves. They are. regenerated, they are
named and called of God and at that point they still find themselves
struggling in a way that they had never struggled before. Let's
turn to Romans chapter 7. Let's begin in verse 5, although
we ought to start in verse 4. Wherefore, my brethren, you also
become dead to the law by the body of Christ that you should
be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead,
that we should bring forth fruit unto God. And this is the fruit
of God in the hearts of his people. For when we're in the flesh,
the motions of sin which were by the law did work in our members
to bring forth fruit unto death. But now we are delivered from
the law that being dead wherein we were held, we should serve
in newness of spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.
What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin but
by the law, for I had not known lust, except the law had said
thou shalt not covet. But sin taking occasion by the
commandment wrought in me all manner of concupiscence, which
means lust or ardent longing. For without the law, sin was
dead. And this is Paul's testimony. This is Paul's testimony as a
mature believer. almost at the end as we've studied
in Acts, wasn't it? He'd written this from Corinth
and he was on his way back to Jerusalem and then on his way
to Rome. And so this is a very, very mature
believer. For he says, for I was alive
once without the law. He thought he had spiritual life. He thought he had a life of righteousness
before God once. And you can read about that in
Philippians 2 where he says, according to all of the understanding
and all of the religion of that time, he was blameless before
the law. He says, I was alive once without
the law, but when the commandment came and sin revived and I died,
and the commandment which was ordained at life I found to be
unto death, for sin taking occasion by the commandment deceived me
and it slew me. When did that happen? on the
Damascus Road in Damascus itself. Wherefore, the law is holy and
the commandment holy and just and good. Was then that which
is good made death under me, God forbid, but sin, that it
might appear sin, working death in me. By that which is good,
that sin, by the commandment might become exceedingly sinful. For we know, see all of the children
of God, Paul is a pattern to us. We know that the law is spiritual,
but I am carnal, sold unto sin. For that which I do, I allow
not. For what I would, that I do not. But what I hate, That is the testimony of all
of God's children, all of God's born-again children. If then
I do that which I would not, I consent unto the law that it
is good. Now then, it is no more I that
do it, but sin that dwelleth in me, for I know. I know that
in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing, for to will is
present with me, but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would, I
do not, but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not,
it is no more I that do it. but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law that when I
would do good, evil is present with me. For I delight in the
law of God after the inward man. But I see another law in my members,
warring against the law of my mind and bringing me into captivity
to the law of sin which is in my members. a 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 serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin. There is therefore now no condemnation. to them which are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. your testimony. Romans 7 is the
testimony of all the children of God. Romans 7 is the testimony
of all the children of God. It is something that is throughout
the scriptures, this doctrine of the two natures, and it's
extraordinary for something which is so evidently and clearly on
the surface of It is not just God's truth, but
it is a vital truth. It's a vital truth for us as
we walk in this world before our brothers and sisters. It's
a vital truth to encourage one another with. It's a vital truth
with which we can be honest before God and honest before men and
honest before ourselves about what we are. rather than running
around as this religious world and acting in all sorts of ways
to get people to look like they're Christians and for them to progress
in their sanctification. John, and we'll finish here in
John chapter 3, I just want to have these verses before you.
I want you to see that this is the testimony not just of the
Old Testament and it's throughout the Old Testament, it's the testimony
throughout the New Testament. Verse 5 it says, and we know
that he was manifested to take away our sins, and in him is
no sin. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth
not. God says, whosoever abideth in
him sinneth not. Whosoever sinneth hath not seen,
neither has known him. Little children, let no man deceive
you. He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous. He that committeth sin is of
the devil, for the devil sinneth from the beginning. For this
purpose the Son of God was manifested, that he might destroy the works
of the devil. Whosoever is born of God does
not commit sin. Whosoever is born of God does
not commit sin. Why? Because for his seed remaineth
in him and he cannot sin. Because he is born of God. In this the children of God are
manifest, and the children of the devil, whosoever doeth not
righteousness is not of God, neither he that loveth not his
brother. You've got to remember that John,
at the beginning of this epistle, has spoken about sin, isn't it?
In verse 8 of chapter 1, he says, if we say we have no sin, Is
John confused? He just says you cannot sin.
If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth
is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is
faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us
from all unrighteousness. If we say we have not sinned,
sin there is a verb, the earlier one in verse 8 is a noun, we
make him a liar. His word is not in us. There
is only one possible way all of this can be put together.
There's only one possible way that God wants us to see all
of this, that in all of the children of God, our two natures, in all
of the children of God, is Christ who cannot sin, is Christ who
makes us holy, and in us, in our Adam flesh, is all of what
Adam always was. I trust that by the end of our
time this morning we might find this not just a truth that God
has brought to us, but a truth that we can hold very dear in
our hearts. It is the testimony of Scripture
about us. It's the testimony of Scripture
about Peter. And like all of Scripture, it's
given so that we might be comforted, that we might have faith, that
we might be comforted. We're going to sing number two,
thanks Tom. Number 33 would be most likely. Come to that sound. come thou fount of every blessing
to my heart to sing thy grace streams of mercy never ceasing
call for songs of loudest praise teach me some melodious sonnet
sung by flaming toms above Christ the mount I've fixed upon it,
mount of thy redeeming blood. Here I raise mine Ebenezer, hither
by thy help I'm come. And I hope by thy good pleasure,
safely to arrive at home. Jesus sought me when a stranger,
wandering from the fold of God. He, to rescue me from danger,
interposed His precious blood. Oh, to grace how great a debtor
daily I'm constrained to be. Let thy goodness, like a fetter,
buy my wandering heart to Thee. Prone to wander, Lord, I feel
it. Prone to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, oh, take and
seal it, seal it for thy courts above. Heavenly Father, thank you that
your Christ is truly amazing. He declared us to be incurable,
and yet what's impossible for man is possible for God. You
have what I have, Father. Thank you that you show us I don't know why it's so big. Just take us through these truths,
Heavenly Father, in such a way that you change us and that you
cause us to rest, cause us to know something more wondrous
about our Saviour, about the One who is Saviour. I pray, Heavenly
Father, that in the midst of it all, you will just grow us
more and more in the grace and knowledge of your great Kingdom. Peter, you thou art Simon, son of Jonah,
thou shalt be called Cephas. We looked last week at Peter's
the ups and downs of Peter's life and the great comfort I
trust it is to believe as you might recall that in Luke chapter
5 the Lord Jesus Christ came to them when they were beside
the Sea of Galilee and they were He commandeered their boat in
Luke chapter 5 and he put the boat out from the shore and preached
to them and then he said to them, take your boats out further and
cast down your nets. And Simon says in verse 5 of
Luke 5, he said, Master, we've toiled all night and we've taken
nothing. Nevertheless, at thy word, I
will let down the net. And when they had done this,
they enclosed a great multitude of fishes in their net break,
and they beckoned unto their partners which were in the other
ship, that they should come and help them. And they came and
filled both the ships, so they began to sink. Simon Peter saw
something that day. At this stage he had met the
Lord Jesus, as we see in John chapter 1, but he hadn't been
called into apostleship. But something happened that day,
didn't he, when he met the Lord Jesus in a way which he hadn't
seen before. He revealed himself to Peter. Verse 8's remarkable, isn't it?
And Simon Peter saw it. He saw it. He saw, it says, the
it's in inverted commas. What did he see? He saw something
of the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. He saw something of his
omnipotent power. He saw something of the efficaciousness
of his word. He saw something. That's why
John the Baptist is saying, behold, to see the Lord Jesus Christ
in his glory is to be like Peter. What did he do? He fell down
at Jesus' knees and saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man,
O Lord. For he was astonished, and all
that were with him at the draught of fishes which they had taken,
and so also was James and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were
partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear
not, from henceforth thou shalt Peter, wasn't it, to be an apostle,
to be sent out? And when they had brought their
ships to land, they forsook all and followed him. At Peter's
commissioning, he has to realise two things, doesn't he? He has
to realise who he is and who the Lord Jesus Christ is. And
yet we find Peter in so many remarkable ways with
a word from the same Lord and a word as efficacious and as
strong from the same Lord. In verse, in chapter 22, you'll
remember before Peter fell, Before he fell asleep in the garden,
before he fell before a maid at Caiaphas's court, he says
in verse 33, when the Lord says, Satan has desired to have you,
Simon, Simon he is here, Satan has desired to have you that
he may sift you as wheat. What happens if Satan gets a
hold of you and sifts you as wheat? pray it doesn't happen. And he
says, this is the difference between Peter and Judas, it's
the difference between all the children of God and all the children
of the devil, all the children of Adam, he says, but I have
prayed for you. That's all that's needed isn't
it? I have prayed for you. that your faith fail not, and
when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." The Lord Jesus
Christ knew what Peter was going to go through that evening. He
knew it with absolute perfect clarity, which is why when he
looked at him later on, he looked at him with a look of knowing
and knowledge and understanding of the weakness of him. He knows
that we are but dust. And listen to Peter, in the midst
of all of that, he says, and he said unto him, Lord, I am
ready to go with thee both to prison and to death. Two names, two natures. and one glorious comforting thing,
because when thou art converted, strengthen thy brethren." Strengthen
thy brethren. These two natures, which are
so evident throughout the scriptures and so evident in all, of the
children of God. We find them soul comforting
because they explain our circumstances in this world, but mostly we
find them comforting because it's the truth that glorifies
the wonder of the Lord Jesus Christ. It magnifies his glory
in salvation. These two night natures, we struggle
with them, don't we? We read about the struggles of
Paul in Romans 7, we read about Rebecca's struggles. The two
natures operate through one consciousness. You might recall that James says
that out of the same mouth with the same tongue we praise God
and then we condemn men who are made in the image of God. The
best illustration I can think of is that hot and cold water
flow out of the same faucet, don't they? You can turn on a
hot tap and hot water comes out and you turn on the cold tap
and cold water comes out. And that's the struggle that
the children of God have because they can be rejoicing in the
glory of God and almost instantly be sinning grievously. Not publicly,
but in their own hearts. And so throughout the scriptures,
these two natures are revealed, aren't they? It's the heart of
stone, it's the heart of flesh. It is the new man and the old
man. It's the inner man and the flesh. It's the inward man. It's the
carnal mind. The hidden man of the heart. It's the new creature, it's the
new creation that's created in righteousness and true holiness,
says Ephesians 4. It's Christ in you. And yet the Christ in you is
in that old man, it's in that flesh. It is wrestling with that
carnal mind. It is. The new man is the new
man that reveals the sin that dwelleth in you. Paul didn't
know that he was a sinner. Paul didn't realise he was a
lawbreaker until the Lord Jesus Christ came along. And when Paul
had the new man, automatically he understood that an old man,
it's the wretched man that Paul spoke of. It is the body of this
death. The reality is that those that
have two natures will find themselves strangers to themselves. It's
the only way we can understand the lived reality of God's people. I love what I think Chris Cunningham
said, that men will object to the doctrine of two natures until
they have two natures. Religion deals with man as if
he has one nature. And it's a nature that they,
together with the work of the Holy Spirit, it's a nature which
they are proking and prodding and trying to get to be more
and more holy until ultimately it's ripe for heaven. And all
of the burden that's placed upon people throughout this world
is a burden that comes because all they have is to operate with
one nature. But God's children, for God's
children this is a great comfort. Like all of the truth of God,
it sets us free. Like all of the truth of God,
it reveals the glory of God. We are free, God's children. It's the glorious liberty of
the children of God. A liberty from that bondage of
making ourselves look better. of owning and nurturing and nourishing
a non-existent righteousness. It's the bondage, sets us free
from that bondage of the confusion. How confusing is modern religion? God loves everyone. And Jesus died for everyone.
And God is absolutely sovereign. And there is a great division
at the end of time between heaven and hell. But that division and
that decision is the work of man and not the work of God.
Once they start with their foundations confused, all they end up with
is confusion. There's a sign down on the Presbyterian
church in town. I can name it. You can go and
talk to them about it if you like. But the Presbyterian church has
a sign there saying, I may not be perfect. But Jesus thinks
I'm to die for. The reality is that without an
understanding of this, there isn't an understanding of the
character of God, there isn't an understanding of the character
of man in this world, and there isn't an understanding of the
character of God in the salvation of his people. We're free from
the bondage of making ourselves better than we really are. We're
free from telling lies. Don't lie to one another, says
Colossians 3. Don't lie to one another. Just
own what you are. We're free from the fear of being
seen as less holy than we ought to be. We are able, as Peter
was, after his great fall, the Lord says, you comfort your people.
You'll strengthen your brethren. How do you strengthen your brethren
when you've fallen as badly as Peter has? Well there's one simple
way, isn't it? Salvation is all of grace. Salvation
is all of the Lord Jesus Christ. And salvation is taking people
who are wretched men and rescuing them and delivering them, as
Paul says. Let's go back to Romans 7.22,
and I'll just read these verses. Paul says, for I delight in the
law of God after the inward man, but I see another law in my members,
warring against the law of my mind, bringing me into captivity
to the law of sin which is in my members, And he calls out,
doesn't he, this mature believer. He says, a wretched man that
I am. Not a wretched man that I was. Modern theology, the Bible colleges
of this land, if you go to them, they will teach you that that
was Paul speaking of his experience prior to his conversion. Nothing
could be further from the truth. And if you see the gymnastics
that they have to go through to get that conclusion out of
what is something a very, very simple passage of scripture,
which is full of present tenses, to make them all past tenses
is a serious work. There's a gold medal in gymnastics
for these theologians as they get this sorted so that they
can then put people under a bondage of their own works. It's the
experience of every believer. Not only is salvation a rescue
and a deliverance from a wretched man, that man now who is wretched,
who is crying out for deliverance is a man who has now no condemnation,
no condemnation. The scriptures make it plain,
don't they, that all men are dead in sins. And dead means
dead. It doesn't mean a little bit
alive. Lazarus is the perfect example,
isn't he? We'll come to Lazarus in John
chapter 11 again. But Lazarus was dead. It's a
typical picture, isn't it? It's a picture of what it is
for the Lord to say, Lazarus, come forth. And after he'd come
forth, then you release his grave clothes. How did he get out of
that tomb? He didn't walk out of that tomb. The Lord brings
him out of that tomb of death and darkness and sin. And God,
in salvation, creates a new life that wasn't there before. There's
nothing short of a new creation in salvation. It's the spirit
that quickens, the flesh profits. How much? Nothing, nothing. See, the flesh has nothing to
do with this new man. It's a new creation. It's a new
creation that wasn't there before. The old man is still there, but
now there's a new man. We go back to what we looked
at in Genesis chapter 25 regarding Rebekah. See, when Rebekah conceived,
she now had life in her. And she asked that question with
her struggling twins inside her, why am I thus? Why this struggle? Now that I
have life, now that I have life from God and as a promise from
God, there are two manner of people within you. If you only have one, you'll
never understand the struggle. There is just a struggle that
is particular and personal to the children of God. It's a humbling
struggle. It's a Christ-exalting and honouring
struggle. It is the new creation. In Mark
chapter 2, you might recall, the Lord spoke that parable Mark
chapter 2 verse 22 and verse 21 he says no man soweth a piece
of new cloth on an old garment else the new piece that is filled
it up taketh away from the old and the rent is made worse and
then in verse 22 and no man put his new wine into old bottles else the new wine doth burst
the bottles, and the wine is spilled, and the bottles will
be marred. But new wine must be put into
new bottles." That wine is the gladness, isn't it? The gladness,
the hearts of the people of God. It is, the new wine is put into
the new man of regeneration, in the new creature. And it requires
a new creation in us, a new man, that inner man of the heart in
us, that'll hold, as the new wine skins, it'll hold his grace,
it'll hold his gospel, it'll hold his name, his love, it'll
hold his salvation, it'll hold his truth. It'll hold all of
the character of God. That's what he's told them in
John chapter one, hasn't he? You're not born of blood, nor
of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but born
of God. He gave them power to become
sons of God. In this inner man, it's the new
wine that's poured in, the new wine of his grace and his glory. And in the new man, the new man,
enables us to see the old man. So the old man believes he's
righteous. The old man believes he can do
some righteousness. The old man believes what Satan
told him in the garden, you shall be his gods. You'll determine
good and evil. I love what David said in Psalm
36 verse one. He says, the transgression of
the wicked saith within mine heart. that there is no fear
of God before his eyes. For he flattereth himself in
his own eyes until his iniquity be found to be hateful. The words of his mouth are iniquity
and deceit. The new heart sees the old man. And it's the new man's testimony
regarding what we are. The Lord told his disciples,
didn't he, on that night in the garden, when the one time he
called upon them to watch with him and pray, he says, the Spirit
is willing. That's what Paul was saying in
Romans 7, to will is present with me, but how to perform that
which is good I find not. Spirit is willing, but the flesh
is weak. Is that your testimony? God's children can be honest
with God. No wonder if Paul says in Ephesians,
put off the old man and put on the new man, Ephesians 24. The
new man's created in righteousness and true holiness. It's created
by God. Peter says in 1 Peter 3, 4, it's
the hidden man of the heart. It's not corruptible. It's the
hidden man of the heart. And it's the hidden man of the
heart that delights in the law of God after the inner man. It's
that inner man that we read about in 1 John Whosoever abideth in him sinneth
not. Whosoever sinneth hath not seen
him, nor neither known him. Whosoever abideth in him sinneth
not. That's the testimony of God.
And let the theologians play all their games with it and talk
about not sinning habitually. Have you got a sin that you've
stopped? Is there not a sin that you do habitually? That's what
they're saying, aren't they? They don't practice sin. Verse
9, whosoever is born of God, it's the new man, isn't it? It's
the inner man, it's Christ in you. Whosoever is born of God
does not commit sin. Does not commit sin. That's God's
testimony about this inner man. He goes on in verse 18 of chapter
5 of that same epistle. We know, 1 John 5, 18, we know
that whosoever is born of God sinneth not. Isn't that a remarkable
statement? Isn't that a remarkable statement
to make about the children of God? It's God's truth about his
people. It's God's truth about the perfection
of the work and the accomplished work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Whosoever is born of God sinneth not, but he that is begotten of God
keepeth himself that the wicked one touches him not. The Lord
Jesus Christ said the wicked one, he's got nothing in me,
he's got no sin in me to work with. He's got plenty of sin
to work with in our flesh, but in the hidden man of the heart,
in that new man, that new man that's kept alive by the creative
and sustaining work of God. We're kept by the power of God
through faith. Satan can do much with our flesh,
but he can't touch God. That's why I love what Colossians
says, isn't it? Lie not one to another. Lie not
one to another. Don't lie about your righteousness.
Don't lie about your sin. You don't need to show them to
me and nor do I need to show them to you. But God's children
are humbled. They're humbled. The new man
has humbled the old man. The new man is served by the
old man because the new man causes us to cling to the Lord Jesus
Christ. He says, don't lie to one another,
seeing you've put off the old man with his deeds. See, the
new man has something he believes. With all of his heart, he relies,
he trusts. He looks at the scriptures and
he looks at God through transformed eyes, completely transformed
eyes, the new eyes of faith. He sees that Christ is all. Christ
is all that God requires of me. Christ is all I want. Christ
is all I need. Christ is all in the scriptures.
He's all in salvation. He's all in getting all the glory
for the salvation of sinners like us. He's made these glorious
promises. He speaks as a sovereign monarch. And let me remind you that when
God speaks, he creates reality, just as he created reality in
the first creation. And he has a promise, hasn't
he? He shall see his seed, he shall
see the travail of his soul, and he'll be satisfied. He's
perfectly satisfied. always. A seed shall serve him
and he says he will establish his seed forever and he will
make his people willing in the day of his power. Christ gets
all the glory, he paid it all. See there's no room in the covenant
of grace There's no room, thankfully, in the covenant of grace for
the lie of man's ability. It's not by might and not by
power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord. God has made him, has
made him sin for us that knew no sin, that we might be made
the righteousness of God in him. He says, I love this verse, but
of him are you in Christ Jesus, 1 Corinthians 1.30, you're in
Christ Jesus who of God is made unto us. He's all of our wisdom,
he's all of our righteousness, he's all of our sanctification,
he's all of our redemption, he's all of those things. That as
according as it is written, he that glorieth. Let him glory
in the Lord. He is all and God's children
by this work of grace in the new creation, seeing the old
creation, which is caused to cling to the Lord Jesus Christ
and what he's done. And we have this struggle. Galatians
5.17 is a glorious picture of us, isn't it? Paul says, For
the flesh, verse 17 of Galatians 5, for the flesh lusteth against
the spirit and the spirit against the flesh. And these are contrary
one to the other so that you cannot do the things that you
would. Is that your testimony? It's the
testimony of the pattern, isn't it? The Lord has made Paul a
pattern. It can be seen both in two ways,
that amazing verse of scripture, isn't it? How bad could you be? What remarkable restraints of
God are upon the natural evil of our hearts, and we can't and how frustrating it is for
you children of God. If you could have what you wanted,
child of God, what would you want? You'd want never to sin
again. You would want never for there
to be broken communion with the Lord Jesus Christ. You would
love never to have another evil thought. You would love never
to have another evil deed. You'd love to just be like Christ,
to walk with him and commune with him, but you just can't. And that's the wonder of what
it is for us to be in this flesh. I want us to be reminded as we
go through this that the older will serve the younger, will
serve the younger. But before we get there, we've
got to remember that the new man is stronger than the old man.
The new man is renewed day by day by the grace of God. The new man is sustained by a
power from outside of us, sustained by the very power of God. That's
why John can say in 1 John 4, greater is he that is in you
than he that is in the world. That's why sin doesn't have dominion
over us as it might. And that's not how we see it,
but that's the reality of it. And it's because of the new man. So the old man, as we saw earlier,
can't see. man created in him. It's only in conversion, it's
only in regeneration, it's only when there's that baptism of
the Holy Spirit, it's only when that heart of flesh is removed
and the heart of stone is removed that we will see what our old
man is. So that's the problem, isn't
it, for people in this world? And it's particularly the problem
for the religious people in this world. They have absolutely no
idea of what they are. They have three huge problems,
don't they? And three huge problems are solved
by the new man. of the character of God. They
are completely and utterly ignorant to the real character of God
as a lived experience before them. They might write things
about it and say things about it, but they are continually
in the process of denying the very character of God by their
religious activities, and they have no idea. They have no idea
of what they are in themselves. Otherwise they wouldn't go around
boasting, otherwise they wouldn't go around putting the whip of
the law onto the saints of God. They wouldn't go around stirring
up the flesh of men. God is in the business of killing
the flesh of men, not raising it up to higher levels, not progressively
sanctifying it. I wonder Paul in the very next
verse in Galatians 5.17 says, but if you are led of the Spirit,
if the Spirit of God has worked in you, you're not under law. There is a glorious liberty for
the children of God. What freedom there is in the
truth. Rebekah was told by the Lord
that the elder will serve the younger. The old man which beats us up
all the time, the old man that causes us to cry out that we're
wretched, the old man that causes us to cry out who's going to
rescue me, the old man reveals the new man, is revealed by the
new man and the old man forces me to love a God of all grace. makes me know that there is nothing
good in me, that I am like the rest, the wicked are estranged
from the worm, going astray, speaking lies. The old man, the
old man drives the children of God through the storms of this
life onto the rock who is the Lord Jesus Christ. And he is
all my righteousness. And we love We love the fact
that our God saves by free and sovereign grace. Free and sovereign,
effectual, efficacious grace. And it looks to Christ And my
old man, my old nature, makes me see my need of the Lord Jesus
Christ. It causes me to despair of any
achievements, of any righteousness of myself. It causes me to cling
to Him. cling to the Lord. Our God alone
brings good out of evil and causes his Son to be glorified. It's
like Peter walking on the water, isn't it? Lord save me. How often do you be prayed that
prayer? People might say that this is
an encouragement for the children of God to sin. In fact, unless
we've heard the Gospel in light of the glorious freedom that
salvation is entirely of the Lord Jesus Christ, and all that
God requires of me he finds in his Son, and all that I have
before him is the Lord Jesus Christ, We don't excuse sin, but unless
people have seen that the Gospel is the Gospel of the glorious
liberty of the children of God, they'll be like these people
that Paul spoke of in Romans. He says, But if our unrighteousness
commend the righteousness of God, man and his activities commend
the very righteousness of God and exalt it and magnify His
glory. What shall we say then? Is God
unrighteous? Who taketh vengeance? I speak
as a man. God forbid. For then how shall God For if the truth of God hath
more abounded through my lie unto his glory, why am I yet
also judged as a sinner? And not rather as we be slanderously
reported and as some affirm that we say. I'm sure he's being slanderously
reported by the religious people. The people who slandered him
most were the Judaizers. And what was their statement? Let us do evil that good may
come. If salvation is entirely free,
then I can go and live as I like. Or salvation is entirely free
and the child of God would love to live as he likes. But not
to love sin. Let us do evil, they say. They'd
heard the gospel. They'd heard it in truth. And
Paul says their damnation is just. Just briefly I want to note the
importance of it. This doctrine is true and therefore
it needs no defence. It needs proclamation. God's
truths are the comfort of God's people and it's what the Bible
teaches. All scripture is God breathed,
and whether men agree or not, it doesn't matter. This is what
God says. We just read what God says. But there are some serious
things that are missing when this doctrine is not understood.
The first one, of course, is the notion of total depravity. The religious world is denying
the total depravity of man because they don't have a new man and
they don't see the total depravity of the old man. They don't realise
the depths of what Paul says in Romans 8, the carnal mind
is enmity against God. For it is not subject to the
law of God, neither indeed can be. So they that are in the flesh
cannot please God. The old nature is not helped
or influenced by grace. The old nature is nothing but
evil and can't be improved. See, total depravity is the doctrine,
isn't it? The total inability of man to
do anything to save himself. It is that fight between flesh
and spirit. What does the flesh give birth
to? It just gives birth to flesh. It might be religious flesh,
it might be moral flesh, and it might be popular flesh, but
flesh gives birth to flesh and spirit gives birth to spirit. You see, if you don't believe
in the two natures, all you can have is what religion has in
this day, and that God is acting on the old nature, and that's
all he's doing. And he's trying to pour his grace
into that old nature, and he's failing again and again and again.
It's saying, without the two natures, religion is saying that
man is not dead as one Church now and alas says the
Holy Spirit helps us to grow in our holiness and the exhortations
of that church week by week are an encouragement to get people
to grow in their holiness. because they deny the two natures,
they deny the very clear teaching of God. And so a denial of the
total gravity of man, again, is a denial of the glory of God
in the new birth. It is a new creation. God is
a new creation. create something that wasn't
there before. And when he created the first
creation, what was there? When he said, light be and light
was, was there anything there? There was nothing. So when God
creates afresh, he creates something out of nothing. It's called grace. again says Peter, not of corruptible
seed but incorruptible by the word of God which liveth and
abided forever. See God's children don't need
assistance and they don't need help. They need life from the
dead. They need a new creation. We need God to do Salvation, as we've seen on several
occasions, is not a changed life. There are millions and billions
of people who are changing their lives. And there are billions
of people who are seeking to live good lives. Dear Ash Barty
won Wimbledon last night and in the press conference she wants
to say, well, my endeavour every day is to live as good a life
as possible. And I'm sure she jolly well does.
And I'm sure that there are many people out in this world who
live in ways that are so good that they embarrass the children
of God. Salvation is not a changed life.
You can reform. You can reform the old Adam into
most remarkable things. Just ask Paul and Peter and John. Salvation is a new creation. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creature. A new creation. It's not a changed
heart, but a new heart. It's a new creation, it's not
a changed life, but it's a new life. It's not a changed man,
it's a new man. God comes as a sovereign monarch. We know those verses in 2 Corinthians
chapter four well, don't we? God comes as a sovereign monarch. For God, 2 Corinthians 4, 6,
who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in
our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ. What a treasure! What a treasure
for God to come and to shine in your heart. What a treasure
for God to come and reveal himself to you. And we have this treasure. What's the treasure in? An earthen
vessel. You are that the excellency of the power
may be of God and not of us. It's all His work. It's not man's
decision, it's God's decision. It's not man's will, it's God's
will. It's not man's work, it's God's work. It's not man's wisdom,
it's God's wisdom. To deny the two natures is to
deny the excellency of the power is of God. And it explains the
struggle. explains the struggle of all
the children of God. Rebecca's struggles began when
life was conceived. Paul's struggles began when he
met the Lord Jesus Christ on the Damascus Road. He was doing
fine in religion before that. It is a comforting doctrine to know John. We don't lose an advocate
for the Father, we have an advocate with the Father. Believers do
sin, as we saw with Peter and we see with Paul and we know
from our own hearts. We sin grievously, we sin repeatedly. But this truth causes us not
to despair because it causes us to look away from ourselves
and say that Christ has done it all. All that God requires
of me, he looks to his Son for. Man in religion are continually
looking at themselves. They spend their lives nasal-gazing.
They spend their lives saying, look at all the things that I've
done to make myself more righteous, and you can do them as well,
and come and join with me in doing them. We've all done it,
those of us who have been in religion and been anxious about
that. We used to call it fruit-checking.
We used to call it hitting each other up, didn't we, Simon? Hitting
each other up. And we used to have Bible studies,
and it was all about it, wasn't it? So there's no assurance. There's
no assurance without this understanding, because you'll always be looking
to how you're performing for your comfort before God. And
God's children, by the old man serving the new, are looking
away from themselves and say, here I am, I'm just a sinner,
Lord. I'm sinking beneath the waves, save me, you The other glorious aspect of
this truth is that one day soon, we'll have one nature. And when
that one nature is revealed, we'll know that that was the
real me. The real me. The real me before
God is created in righteousness and
true holiness. The real me. lived before God
and before man and under the law of God 2,000 years ago in
this world. The real me loved God with all
of his heart and all of his soul and all of his mind and all of
his strength and he loved his neighbour as himself and he perfectly
obeyed all of God's. The real me is Christ in me. The real me is the one given
to Christ. The real me is the one loved
with an everlasting love. The real me is the one for whom
the Lord Jesus Christ shed his blood on Calvary's tree. That's
what Paul says, didn't he? You might think that he's being
obtuse or excusing his sin. When he says, Now if I do that,
I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin dwelling in me. God's children delight in the
fact that God has revealed this truth to them. It honors his
son. It honors his word. It comforts
his people. It gives them the joy and the
peace of believing in the midst of a fallen world and their own
sins on display. Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father,
we pray that you would be the teacher of your people and you
would teach us to profit, Heavenly Father. You would teach us about
the glory of your Son. and that the result of all this,
Heavenly Father, that your dear and precious Son would receive
something of the glory that is due Him in the lives of your
people here on this earth. Bless your word to the hearts
of your people, Heavenly Father, and cause your Son to be raised
up and seen as glorious. in saving us by his precious
blood on Calvary's tree. We pray in his name and for his
glory's sake, our Father, and for the good and comfort of your
people in this world. Amen. On my great and sovereign God,
I cast my soul and rest. My Father can controls the world,
and what He does is best. So be still, my heart, and doubt
no more. Believe and find sweet rest. God's wisdom, love, and truth,
and power combine to make thee blessed. In raging storms and
fiery trials, He keeps me from all harms. He walks with me and
holds me in His everlasting arms. So be still, my heart, and doubt
no more. Believe and find sweet rest. God's wisdom, love, and truth,
and power combine to make thee blessed. I, God with skill infallible
and great designs of grace, with power and love that never fail,
shall order all my ways. So be still, my heart, and doubt
no more. Believe and find sweet rest. God's wisdom, love, and truth,
and power combine to make thee blessed. My life's most minute
circumstance is ordered by my God, who promised that in all
things He will ever do me good. So be still, my heart, and doubt
no more. God's wisdom, love, and truth, and
power, combine to make thee blessed.