Bibles to John chapter 3. John chapter 3. John chapter 3 verse 1. 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. He can't understand spiritual
things, he can't believe spiritual things, he can't worship Christ
the King, he can't enter the kingdom of God, except he'll
be born again, born from above. Verse 4, Nicodemus saith unto
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, Amen and Amen. I the Amen say Amen. I say unto thee. This is Christ
preaching this message. It's got to be important that
Christ is preaching it. He said, I say unto thee, except
a man be born of water and of the Spirit. Except he be born
of water and of the Spirit. You remember when they pierced
the side of our Redeemer on the cross, water and blood came out? Except a man be born of water
and the Spirit. You have to be born of the washing
of water by the Word, by the Word of God, the incorruptible
seed and the Holy Spirit, by the washing of regeneration and
renewing of the Holy Spirit. Except a man be born of water
and 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. Now notice, that which is born
of the flesh is flesh. And that which is born of God
the Holy Spirit, capital S, the third person in the Trinity,
God the Holy Spirit, is small s, Spirit. He doesn't say that
which is born of God the Holy Spirit is God the Holy Spirit.
He says that which is born of God the Holy Spirit is Spirit. God the Holy Spirit causes a
new man to be born within these bodies of death. He causes a
new man to be born in His child. And that new man is Spirit. Small s. God the Holy Spirit
causes an inward man to be born and that new man is Spirit. He is spiritual. Now, verse 6
is teaching us here that like begets like. Like begets like. He says there that which is born
of the flesh is flesh. Flesh generates flesh. What is it to be born of the
flesh? To be born of the flesh is to be born of Adam's corrupt
seed. to be born of Adam, to be born
of his corrupt seed by natural generation. When the Apostle
Peter was speaking about believers being born again, he said, we're
not born again, he said, not of corruptible seed. And he was
saying, we're not born like we were by our first birth. That
first birth was by corruptible seed. This is why David said, Behold,
I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive
me. I was born of corrupt seed in
my mother's womb. To be born of flesh is to be
born of Adam with Adam's fallen sinful image. Not with God's
perfect image, with Adam's fallen image. Remember, Adam lived 130
years and begat a son in his own likeness after his image. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh. And he begat a son after his image, after that fallen
image of Adam. To be born of the flesh is to
be born in sinful flesh governed by sinful lusts. Like begets
like. That's why Paul said, we all
had our conduct in time past in the lusts of our flesh, in
that old sinful nature, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and
of the mind. And we were by nature. the children
of wrath, even as others. That's what our sinful nature
was that we got from Adam. The natural man, that man who
has that sinful nature, the natural man receiveth not the things
of the Spirit of God. Why? Because they're foolishness
to him, because they're spiritually discerned. He can't hear them,
he can't know them, they're spiritually discerned. But he that is spiritual
discerneth all things. He hears, he knows, he understands.
That fleshly man doesn't. Now what does God the Holy Spirit
beget? God the Holy Spirit begets spirit
like begets like. God promised to put in His people
a new heart or a new spirit. A new heart, a new spirit. Listen to this. He said, I will
sprinkle clean water upon you and you shall be clean. This
work is done through the blood of Christ. He is our justification
and our sanctification. We have to have that clean water
sprinkled upon us. that blood of Christ, that washing
of regeneration, that washing of the water by the Word. I will
sprinkle clean water upon you and you shall be clean. From
all your filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse
you. I will cleanse you, God said, a new heart. Also will
I give you and a new spirit will I put within you. A new spirit. And I'll take away the stony
heart out of your flesh and I'll give your heart a flesh. I'll
give you a new heart. A spiritual heart. A new heart. I'll put my spirit within you.
And I'll cause you. to walk in My statutes, and you
shall keep My judgments and do them. When I tell you, this is
My beloved Son in whom I well please, believe ye Him, you shall
believe Him. When I command you, love one
another, you are going to love one another, because you will
be born of My Spirit, the Spirit I put in you. That new Spirit
is one with the Holy Spirit. Now I want you to get there.
This is my point of the whole message. The New Spirit is one
with the Holy Spirit. But it is a new spirit distinct
from the Holy Spirit. He puts in us a new spirit. Now the Holy Spirit begets a
new spiritual man. And He causes us to put on the
new man and put off the old fleshly man with his deeds. Go to Ephesians
4. Ephesians chapter 4. This is
all done in the Spirit. This is not done in our flesh,
in our old nature. That old nature is what it is. It is going to be what it is
going to be until we go back to the dust. This is a new thing
God is doing in His people. Ephesians 4.21. done through the incorruptible
seed, the gospel of Christ crucified. He says, verse 21, If so be that
you've heard Him, if you've heard Christ, speak through this gospel
and have been taught by Him through the gospel, as the truth is in
Jesus. When you hear the gospel, you
hear Christ who is the gospel. And we have to be born of this
incorruptible seed of Christ, the Word of God. Verse 22, And
when you heard, when you were taught of Him, you put off concerning
the former conduct the old man. See, to put off the old man is
to put off his conduct. That's what he's talking about
here. That's what the Holy Spirit made you do. We could not receive
spiritual things. That old man wouldn't receive
them. He made us put that old man off. We wouldn't believe
on Christ. He made us put that old man off.
He subdued that old man. Only the Spirit could do it.
Watch. They put off concerning the former conduct the old man
which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts. That's what
he still is even though the Spirit made us put him off. He's still
corrupt. In you and in me, still corrupt.
And He renewed you in the spirit of your mind and made you to
put on the new man which after God is created in righteousness
and true holiness. Now compare this. Look at this.
The old man is flesh after Adam. The new man is after God. He
says here that new man is after God, that new spirit is after
God. The old man of flesh is born
of natural generation. This new man is created. He's entirely new of the Spirit
of God born of supernatural regeneration. Something we could not perform.
Something we could not do. Now notice this. The new man
is created. You see that? This new man is
created. He's created. Now Christ formed in you is indeed
one with that new Spirit. Christ formed in you is indeed
one with that new Spirit. And the new man is of the Spirit
of Christ. We're one with that new Spirit.
But Christ is not created. Christ is not created. The new
man spoken of here can't be Christ only. That new man is that new
man created in you when Christ is formed in you. We are talking
about that new man, this new spirit when Christ is formed
in you. Christ is not created. The new spirit, the new man is
created within us. Christ is not created. And so
though Christ and the new man are one, even though Christ and
this new man are one, inseparably one, The new man is a new spirit
which is created of the spirit and is distinct from the spirit.
I'm going to tell you why this is important when we go. I just
want to lay this foundation first. The old man, look here now with
me, it says here, he's corrupt according to the deceitful lusts. Where did those come from? We
got them from our father Adam. See, he's showing, he's offsetting
the old man with the new man. Alright? The old man is corrupt
according to deceitful lusts, and he says this new spiritual
man is after God, created in righteousness and true holiness.
See? He's created in the righteousness
of Christ, our righteousness, and in the holiness of Christ,
our sanctification. That's how he's created. But
he's a new man created by Christ. But he's distinct from Christ. Then go with me to 2 Peter chapter
1. This new man, just like the old
man was a partaker of Adam's sinful nature, Adam's fallen
image, this new man is a partaker of the divine nature. He is a
partaker of the divine nature. He is recreated in God's image.
That's what it means. He is recreated in God's image.
Look here in 2 Peter now, 2 Peter 1.4. Peter's been talking
here about the divine power of God and what God did. He's talking
about the new birth. And he says in verse 4, "...whereby
are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises." that
by these you might be partakers of the divine nature, having
escaped the corruption that is in the world through lusts. And the Apostle Peter is saying
here what he said in the first epistle he wrote. In that first
epistle he said believers are born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible by the Word of God. That's what
those exceeding great precious promises are. That incorruptible
seed by the Word of God which liveth and bideth forever and
this is the Word which by the Gospel is preached unto you.
Peter's saying, by God's divine power, by His power and regeneration,
we're born again of these exceeding great and precious promises.
We're born again of this incorruptible seed, Christ the Word, the incorruptible
seed by the gospel being preached unto you. And he says, and by
that incorruptible seed, by that Word, by these promises, we're
made partakers of the divine nature in the new birth. Now
this is the only way, he says, that we escaped the corruption
that is in the world. And you know what that corruption
is? It's the corruption of our sinful flesh. It's the corruption
of that old man which corrupts the world. That's the only way
we escaped it is because because of what Christ did for us on
the cross, and redeeming us from all iniquity, and by Christ sending
the gospel to us, and by His divine power, He has made us
partakers of His divine nature. He has made us partakers of God's
image, recreated us in His image in that new man, in that spirit.
Now the same word translated, go to Hebrews chapter 2, the
same word that's translated partakers is used right here in Hebrews
2. You want to know what partakers mean, here's what it means right
here. In fact, right here God's declaring. that it behooved Christ
to be made one with His brethren. That's this point. It behooved
Christ to be made one with His brethren, that He might be a
merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God,
to make offerings and sacrifices to God for us, and that He might
be touched with the feeling of our infirmities so that He might
be a faithful and merciful high priest to you and me, because
He knows what we suffer. But look what it says here now.
For as much then, Hebrews 2, Let me find it. Verse 14, For
as much then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood,
you see there? As much as they are partakers
of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same. We were partakers of flesh and
blood, he partook of flesh and blood. that through death He
might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil,
and deliver them who through fear of death were all their
lifetime subject to bondage. That was in that old man. Because
all we were were sin and self-righteous. And the devil used that to his
advantage. Keep us in bondage. For look,
verily He took not on Him the nature of angels, but He took
on Him the seed of Abraham. Brethren, how much of a partaker
of flesh and blood are you? Well, now you know what it means
to be a partaker. You're one with flesh and blood.
So am I. That's what it is to be a partaker,
to be made one. We're one with flesh and blood
by our first father Adam, by that natural generation. Well,
the Son of God partook of flesh and blood. Look there at Hebrews
2 and look at Verse 11, both he that sanctifieth and they
who are sanctified are all of one. That's what it means. He
came and became us. He took flesh and blood right
here where we are and became the God-man. And He was made
flesh that He might be made sin, so that He might be made a curse,
so that by doing so He might make us the righteousness of
God in Him and deliver us from the devil. and His power and
His bondage. And that's what He did. And now,
the Apostle Peter says, by His divine power, by His divine power,
by Him being the head over all things, being able to rule everything
in this earth and send this incorruptible seed to you and me, the Word
of God by which the Gospel is preached unto you, He entered
in by the Spirit of God and He has now created in you a new
spirit. and made us a partaker of the
divine nature. We are made partakers of His
divine nature. That means the Spirit, that His
divine nature is Spirit. We couldn't worship Him in Spirit
because His divine nature is Spirit. God is Spirit. And for
us to worship Him, we have to be made spiritual, aren't we?
And so He made us a partaker He made us of that divine nature
in the same oneness as He became one with us. That's what it means.
Listen to this. Know ye not that he which is
joined to a harlot is one body? For two saith he shall be one
flesh. But he that is joined unto the
Lord is one spirit. He made us one. Partakers of
the divine nature. Now be sure to understand this.
God gets all the glory for this work. God gets all the glory
for this work. It's not until you're born of
this new spirit or given this new spirit and made to be a partaker
of the divine nature that we will actually stop looking within
us and actually look out of us and have our affection set on
Christ. That's what this work causes you to do. So this is
all of Him. The work of Christ for us and
the work of Christ in us. Both are absolutely necessary.
Both give Christ all the glory. We don't dare diminish the work
Christ did for us by speaking of the work He did in us, and
we don't diminish the work He does in us by speaking of the
work He does for us. Both are absolutely necessary,
and both are of Him, and He gets all the glory for both. He's
making this new creation. When He gets done with us, everything
is going to be the new creation that He's made. Body, soul, and
spirit. All of Him. And so this is the
only way, he said here, that we have escaped the corruption
of our old lustful fleshly man which corrupts this entire world.
He said, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through
lust, that's the lust of our flesh, that old man, that's the
only way we escaped it. That's what he just said. He
came to set you free from that bondage. And that's how we escaped. We walked out of that prison.
through faith in Christ because He gave us a new spirit. Go with
me now to Galatians chapter 5. Galatians 5. It's in that new
spirit now, the new man, that the Holy Spirit produces his
fruit. He doesn't produce this fruit
in the flesh. He produces it in that new spirit. Now that's important. The Holy
Spirit does not produce anything in our flesh. He produces it
in the New Spirit. Look here. Galatians 5.19 Now
the works of the flesh... Let me go back while you're there.
Let me go back up and show you this. See where it says in verse
16, walk in the Spirit. Walk in the Holy Spirit. And
you shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh. For the flesh lusts
against God the Holy Spirit that's in you. And God the Holy Spirit
against the flesh. And these are contrary the one
to the other. And so is that little s spirit
that He's created. It's contrary to the flesh. It's
not of the flesh. It's contrary to the flesh too
because it's of the Spirit. And he says, so that you cannot
do the things you would. It's the Spirit of God that keeps
us from doing the lustful things our sinful flesh would. That's
what he's talking about right here. That's why he's saying
walk in the Spirit. He'll keep you from doing what
your flesh wants to do. And then he says, but if you're
led of the Spirit, you're not under the law. Now here's what
I had you turn here to see. The works of the flesh are manifest,
which are these, adultery, fornication, uncleanness, verse 21, drunkenness,
revelings and such, they which do such things should not inherit
the kingdom of God. All that stuff there that he
said, that's of the flesh. That comes of you and me. The
Spirit of God don't have a thing to do with that. God has nothing
to do with that. That's what Paul, that's the
flesh that Paul was speaking about when he said, in me, wait
a minute, that is in my flesh. dwells nothing good. He's talking
about that old man that's in you and in me still. That's all
He produces. Alright, but now watch this,
verse 22. But the fruit of the God the Holy Spirit and love,
and joy, and peace, and longsuffering, and gentleness, and goodness,
and faith, and meekness, and temperance. Against such there
is no law." Well, does He produce that in our flesh? No. They that
are Christ's have crucified the flesh. with the affections and
the lusts. That's what He's made us to do.
That flesh was crucified in Christ on the cross and by the Spirit
of God dwelling in you, He subdues that old man. He makes him for
you to treat him like he's dead by His power. That's what He
does. And if we live in the Spirit, God the Holy Spirit, let us walk
in God the Holy Spirit. He's saying to us what He said
in Colossians 3. Set your affection. on things above where Christ
sits. Not on these fleshly things below. Flesh and spirit. Now here's what I'm showing.
Flesh and spirit in a believer are two separate things. Two
separate things. Our spirit is one with the Holy
Spirit, but it's distinct. It's that which He's created
this fruit in. You see that? You see, what I'm
getting at is God the Holy Spirit doesn't love for you. God the
Holy Spirit doesn't believe for you. God the Holy Spirit doesn't
do... He produces these fruit in the
Spirit and they come from that new Spirit. And you couldn't
produce them without God the Holy Spirit. But I'm saying God
the Holy Spirit don't do these things for you. By Him we do
these things. That's what fruit is. By Him
these things come forth. Get that? That's not of the flesh
though. Absolutely not of the flesh.
And by the same promises, by the same gospel, He not only
does this in the beginning, go to Colossians 3. He continues
this work through the same incorruptible Word. He continues by the same
exceeding great and precious promises given in the gospel
In other words, through the preaching of the gospel, he renews that
inward man. He keeps renewing that new spirit,
that new man, daily. And he does it in the knowledge
of Christ, by preaching Christ. Now, somebody might say, well,
you're not preaching Christ tonight, you're preaching what the Holy
Spirit does in you. I beg to differ. I am preaching Christ
to you. You can't separate God the Father,
God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit in Christ Jesus. This
work wouldn't be done in His people if Christ hadn't done
that work for His people. This is as much Christ doing
this work in His people as the Spirit doing this work in His
people. In fact, the Spirit is called the Spirit of Christ in
Romans 8. Yes, I am preaching Christ. Watch, I'll show you
why. When He renews us, He makes us persevere in faith, following
only the Word of God, looking to Christ alone for all. Watch this, Colossians 3.9. He told us there to set our affection
on Christ, not on this earth, because you are dead, your life
is hid with Christ in God. So he is telling you now, you
died with Christ and now that old man is dead and you are risen
in Christ and your new man, your new life is in Christ at God's
right hand. Now by this spirit of Christ
dwelling in us, He has given us a new man, a new spirit. Now
watch this. Verse 9. He says there, ìLie
not one to another, put off the old man.î He says, ìAnd you have
put off the old man with his deeds.î That's not by us, it's
by the Spirit of God. We've put off the old man with
his deeds and have put on the new. We've put on the new man. Now watch this, which is renewed. That's a word that's done and
is being done and continues to be done. This new man is renewed
in knowledge after the image of Him that created him. Again,
God the Holy Spirit, the new man, by God the Holy Spirit,
the new man, the spiritual man, the inward man, he's renewed
in the knowledge of Christ. You see, that new man can't be
Christ because he's renewed in the knowledge of Christ. You
get what I'm saying? I'm saying even though Christ
in you and you in Christ are inseparable, I'm saying this
new man is a distinct new man, a distinct spirit created. And
this new man is renewed in the knowledge of Christ. Now look
at this, after the image of Him that created him. Whose image
is that? Christ. Christ, that's God's
eternal purpose. He said whom He did foreknow,
He also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of His
Son. Christ is the one who gave the
work. He gave it all into His hand to create this new creation.
And this new creation is Him creating you and me anew by this
work right here. That new city He saw coming down
is His people created anew. Now watch. This new man is one
with Christ, but the new man is not Christ. He is not Christ
alone. You see what I am saying? The
new man is created in Christ's image who created Him. Now, He
does this work through the gospel. That's where we behold Christ,
through the gospel. That's why it's through these
exceeding great and precious promises that we're made partakers
of the divine nature. It's by these exceeding great
and precious promises that we're renewed in the knowledge of God
after Christ's image who created us. And then listen to this now. We all with open face beholding
as in a mirror the glory of the Lord. That's what we see when
we hear the gospel preached. And you know what happens? We're
changed into the same image. My flesh is? Absolutely not. Nothing happens to your flesh.
But that new man, that new spirit is changed into the same image
from glory to glory by the Spirit of the Lord, by the Holy Spirit
of the Lord. That's not in our flesh, that's
in the new man. This is why Paul said, you know,
we go through all this trouble preaching the gospel and we suffer
and we're persecuted, he said, and you know, we would die. But
he said the life of Christ is manifest in us. What do you mean
by that? This is why we faint not. For
which cause we faint not? Why? Though our outward man perish,
yet the inward man is renewed day by day. Christ continues
to renew this new man daily. Yet in that new man, even though
that new man is distinct, Christ is all in that new man and Christ
is in that new man. Look here in Colossians 3.11.
There is neither Greek nor Jew in this new man. Now all things
have become new. Old things are passed away. We
are not judging now based on Greek and Jew, what your race
is. Circumcision nor uncircumcision.
We are not looking at whether you were born under the law or
you weren't born under the law. Not barbarian, Scythian, bond
or free. Not whether you are educated
or uneducated or free born or born a slave. That doesn't matter.
But Christ is all. Where did he say that? In that
new man. In that new spirit. Christ is
all. Why would we diminish the work
Christ does in making this new spirit when in this new spirit
Christ is all? Christ is all. And He's in all. That's how we have the life in
this new spirit. Christ said this in John 17,
22. He said, ìThe glory which Thou gavest Me, Father, Iíve
given them, that they may be one even as We are one. I in
them, I in them, and Thou, Father, in Me, that they may be made
perfect in one.î You see, Christ in you makes you to be in Christ
and to be perfect in Christ. That's where you find your perfection,
in Christ, by Him being in you. That's when you're made alive
and where Christ has made all to you, when He's in all. And He says, "...and that the
world may know that thou hast sent Me and hast loved them as
thou hast loved Me." Now, the Spirit tells us in Romans 8,
go there with me, The Spirit tells us in Romans 8 that if
the Spirit of Christ is in you, you're not in the flesh, but
in the Spirit. And get what it means there.
Now He just said, I in them, that they may be made perfect
in one, meaning that they may be made perfect in Me. Now here
in Romans 8 He says, He says things like this. He says, verse
1, There is now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. Because
the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free
from the law of sin and death. Christ came and fulfilled all
the law for me. He went to the cross, justified
me of all my sin, past, present and future, of all His people,
and now we're being born of the Spirit, we're not living after
that old law anymore. We're not going after the old
way we thought we were going to be saved. Now we're walking
after the Spirit. And he goes on to say this, look,
he says this, verse 5. They that are after the flesh,
that is, they that are just born of flesh, they're flesh. And
so what do they do? They mine the things of the flesh.
What makes a man go to this book? You know, you tell him such good
news that Christ is all and He is the completion of His people
and all His people need to be saved. And yet, what would make
a man still go to this book and look for something for himself
to do to be saved? That's minding the flesh. What
makes him do that? Fleshly. Fleshly. Those that
are of the flesh, mind the flesh. But they that are after the Spirit,
mind the things of the Spirit. The natural man doesn't receive
the things of the Spirit of God because they are spiritually
discerned. They are foolishness to him. But the spiritual man keeps his
mind on them because he discerns them. He knows them. For to be
carnally minded is death, to be spiritually minded is life
and peace. Because the carnal mind is enmity against God. It's
not subject to the law of God. Neither indeed can be. So then
they that are in the flesh cannot please God. That means if you've
just been born of the flesh, you can't please God. But now,
we've been talking all this time about the Spirit being in you
and creating this new Spirit in you. But now here's the good
news. Verse 9. You are not in the flesh,
but in the Spirit. If so be that the Spirit of God
dwell in you. Do you see that? When He dwells
in you, He makes you dwell in Him. This is the good news of
the Gospel. Now, if any man have not the
Spirit of Christ, he is none of His. And if Christ be in you,
the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because
of righteousness. But if the Spirit of Him that
raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He that raised
up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies
by His Spirit that dwells in you." One of these days, brethren,
this new creation, this work that God the Father has given
into the hands of Christ is going to be finished. And when it's
finished, we're going to be with Christ, one with Christ. That doesn't mean we are going
to be Christ. We're going to be distinct from
Christ, but we're going to be one with Christ. And we're going
to praise Him for making us this entirely new creation in body,
soul, and spirit. He's going to get all the glory.
We're going to praise Him for the whole work from beginning
to end. Why then would anybody want to speak lightly of what
He's already done within us? He's already created a new man
and a new spirit. Why not rejoice in the fact that
He's done that now? I'll tell you what it is. I don't
dare want to say anything to you that makes you think you
have a reason to rejoice in your flesh. I don't want you to think
that anything of this that I'm talking about came of you or
came of your flesh or by your works or your will or anything.
None of it did. But I think that some are so
afraid that that's what's going to be conveyed, that they won't
talk about this work Christ has done in His people. But this
is a work of God and it has to be done. This is entirely of
God making a new spirit in His people so we can actually worship
God and have a union with Him that will never be broken. That
flesh is going to go back to the dust. but He's going to quicken
even that flesh. But what He's saying, you remember
1 Corinthians 1.15? It's going to be our body, it's
going to be a new body, but it's not going to live like it lives
now. We're not going to be running
around getting hungry and worrying about food. Although we'll eat,
but we're not going to be a slave to our flesh like we are now.
It's going to be a spiritual body by that quickening spirit
named the Lord Jesus Christ who was raised a quickening spirit.
It's going to be a new body. But He gets the glory for the
work then and the glory for the work now. But here's what I want
you to see. Verse 16. This is why I had you turn here.
I want you to see this now. Romans 8.16. The Spirit, capital
S, Holy Spirit, Itself, or it should be Himself. The Holy Spirit
is not an It. The Holy Spirit is a He. It's
a person. The Holy Spirit Himself beareth witness with our spirit. You see that? They are distinct
from one another. They are the Holy Spirit bearing
witness with our spirit that we are the children of God. He's
telling us we've been conformed to the image of Christ, which
he says right on over the... For he did foreknow, he predestinated
to be conformed to the image of his Son. He's bearing witness. You're a child of God. He bears
witness to that in that new spirit. And that new spirit is the only
way I worship God. Now here's what I'm getting at,
and this is so important. I keep pointing out to you that
the Holy Spirit of God and the new spirit that He puts in us
are one, but they're distinct. And here's why. The New Spirit
is not our fleshly old man. The New Spirit is not our fleshly
old man. The New Spirit is not to be confused
with the flesh by saying all we are is flesh. Now, we've got
the Holy Spirit in us. No. No. We're spirit. We're spiritual. And we're in
the Spirit, if the Spirit of God is in us. That flesh is still
what it was. And God hadn't done a thing to
it. And it's going to be that till it dies. It's the new spirit
in which we worship God. That's why Paul made that distinction
and said, I know that in me, that is in my flesh. Well, it's no good thing. Because
he wasn't going to discredit God with the work God had done
in him in putting a new man in him and a new spirit in him.
That which is of the flesh is of the flesh. That would show
the Spirit, show the Spirit. And he wasn't going to deny the
glory that goes to God for doing that. In our flesh dwells nothing
good. Absolutely nothing. Christ is
preaching we must be born again of the Holy Spirit. Like must
beget like. The Holy Spirit must put a new
little s spirit in you. That's spiritual. So we can worship
Him because that's the only way you'll worship Him. We only worship
God in the new spirit by God the Holy Spirit. By God the Holy
Spirit, we are renewed in the knowledge of Christ in the new
spirit through the gospel. Christ said, it's the spirit
that quicken us. The flesh profits nothing. The
word I speak unto you are spirit in their life. Now to say that
all I am is sinful flesh with the spirit of God dwelling in
me, making me believe, is to either say that the spirit believes
for me, which is not so, or is to say that my flesh believes,
which cannot be so. If I say that all I am is just
an old, sinful, fleshly man, the Spirit of God dwells in me
and makes me believe. Well, either that is saying the
Spirit of God is believing for me or my flesh is believing. What I am saying to you is there
is a new man He puts in you and in that new man you worship God.
by the fruit of the Spirit. Now how it cometh, Christ said,
and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit,
little s, and in truth. For the Father seeketh such to
worship Him. God is a Spirit, capital S, and
they that worship Him must worship Him in little s, Spirit, and
in truth. That's what Christ said to Nicodemus.
I say unto you, you must be born again. That which is born of
flesh is flesh and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
Now listen to this. This is why Paul said, he said,
now the love of Christ constrains us. Where? In that new spirit. Because we thus judge, if one
died for all, then we are all dead. Our old flesh died in Christ. It's dead now. It's gone. It's
crucified. And that they which live, we
rose in Christ, now we live in Him, so we should live not unto
ourselves, not to our flesh, but unto God. That's what Paul
said in Romans 8. Oh, you're not a debtor to live
after the flesh. The flesh didn't have a thing to do with any of
this. We live unto Christ who loved us and gave Himself for
us. died for us and rose again. Now wherefore? Now listen to
this, this is important. Henceforth know we no man after
the flesh. We don't know any man now after
the flesh. What does that mean? I'm not
looking at you and your flesh, anything about you or anything
about my flesh to try to find some evidence that I'm a child
of God. I don't even know any of you
after the flesh anymore. When I see you, If you cuss me
out tomorrow, I just know that's not my brother, that's their
flesh. I don't know that man. But the new man, I know who that
is. That's Christ in you, that new
spirit He's put in you. And the fruit of that new man
is love and faith. That comes from the Spirit of
God. It's not created by the new man. It comes from the Spirit
of God. It's faith in Christ and love. And so that's what
He means when He says here, If any man be in Christ, he is
a new creation. The only way you are in Christ
is if Christ is in you. He creates this new spirit and makes you
worship Him, puts you in Him, makes you to be united in Him. That is the only way. And when
he does that, old things are passed away. We don't look at
each other, we don't judge by the flesh anymore. I don't look
at myself and say, well, old things can't be passed away because
I see so much sin in my flesh. No, I have a new spirit now that
looks at my flesh and says, you're crucified with Christ. Because
that's what God said. Impute it that you are dead with
Christ. That old man is dead with Christ.
And your new man is risen with Him and seated at God's right
hand. See, old things are passed away.
I'm not going to try to come to God in the law. I'm not going
to try to come to Him in my works. I'm not going to get down because
of my sinful flesh anymore. Everything I am is in Christ
and of Christ. And when this old man is gone,
everything that Christ has made will remain. All things are of
God who has reconciled us to Himself and given us this ministry
of reconciliation. So now I am going to tell you
what he said. Be reconciled to God. The work is finished. The
work is done. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
If you are sitting here and you never believed on Christ, believe
on Him. Believe on Him. You say, well you said I had
to be born of God to do it. This is how He does it, through
this Word. It comes into you and you find yourself, I believe
Him. I believe He has made me new. I have righteousness and
sanctification and redemption and wisdom all in Christ. Everything
I need I have in Christ. Christ is all. And if you find
yourself believing on Him, give Him all the glory and the praise,
because you didn't do any of it. I didn't do any of it. It
wasn't my Word that did it. Christ said, the Word I speak
to you. There is spirit in your life. That's where the spirit
comes from. That's how you're renewed. And if we're renewed
now and see what He's done for us and see Him all over again
and are renewed in the knowledge of Him and grown a little bit
by Him in the knowledge of Him and by His grace, give Him all
the glory because He did it all. You see what I'm saying? I'm
not telling you to look at you. I'm not telling you to glory
in you. I'm not saying you're a little god now because you
partake of the divine. He don't make you partake of
His essence. He makes you have a new spirit
whereby you're one with Him and you can worship Him. And He gets
all the glory for that. I pray God will clear that up
in the hearts and minds of His people and make us go on worshiping
Him and forget anybody that says anything different. Amen.