I preached on this not long ago,
but I want to work our way down to the last verse here, Mark
8.22. The Lord came to Bethsaida, and
they bring a blind man unto him, and besought him to touch him. And he took the blind man by
the hand, and led him out of the town. And when he had spit
on his eyes, and put his hands upon him, He asked him if he
saw ought. And he looked up and said, I
see men as trees walking. After that he put his hands again
upon his eyes and made him look up. And he was restored and saw
every man clearly. Whenever Brother Don was here
in July, he told me about one of the men in his congregation
that read this scripture one night and made these comments. He said that when God gives a
man spiritual sight, the believer sees every man clearly. He sees
the first man, Adam, clearly. And he sees the natural man that
he is, clearly. And he sees Christ Jesus, the
God-man, clearly. And he sees the new man, clearly. That will be our headings this
morning. Seeing every man clearly. One man that we're made to see
clearly is Adam. Let's look over at Romans 5.
I keep repeating this scripture to you, and I'm hopeful that
one of these days you that don't know our Lord may begin to hear
Christ teach you this instead of me. Look here with me at Romans
5. If you miss what happened in
the garden, if we miss what took place with Adam, we're going
to not understand why we need a substitute. We're not going
to understand why we need a Redeemer. Adam is the first man. Now what
Adam does is going to affect everyone that Adam represents. And that is, he represents all
mankind. All mankind is coming from him.
So he represents all men. Now out of eight of that forbidden
fruit, he had one law. He was in a perfect environment
with a perfect heart and perfect innocence and God let him do
what he would. And he ate that fruit. Now that
will tell you and me something that being in the wretched state
we're in, in this body of death, we're not going to be able to
keep God's law. We need somebody to do it for us. Now look here
at Romans 5 verse 12. Wherefore, as by one man, that's
Adam, sin entered into the world, and death by sin. And so death
passed upon all men, for that all have sinned. For until the
law, sin was in the world. The sin didn't come when the
law came at Mount Sinai. Sin was already in the world.
Sin is not imputed where there is no law. Nevertheless, death
reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned
after the similitude of Adam's transgression. who is the figure
of him that was to come. Now hold your place right there.
We see Adam here is a fallen, sinful, spiritually dead man
because he ate of that fruit. And when he did that, representing
all mankind, being the federal head over all men, All men died
in Him, judicially, legally. We died in Him. We died in Him. Death passed upon all men. The
curse passed upon all men. So that legally, we're guilty
before God right then when Adam sinned. Now that's the first
man we've got to see clearly. We've got to see Him as a representative
man. Now here's the second man God's
going to make us see clearly. He's going to make us see our
natural man. He's going to make us see what we are. Look there
again in Romans 5. When He makes us to see Adam
as our representative man and makes us to see clearly that
all men died in Adam, He makes us to see, I'm that man too. I'm in that number. Look at Romans
5.12, Wherefore as by one man sin entered into the world, and
death by sin, and so death passed upon all men, all men, for that
all have sinned. Turn over to Psalm 51. Psalm
51. And I want you to read this Scripture.
Psalm 51 and look at verse 5. Behold, I was shapen in iniquity,
and in sin did my mother conceive me. Now listen carefully. That does not mean that David's
mother was in some kind of lewd situation or something when he
was conceived. That's not what it means. It
means that whenever Adam's seed was passed along, we were conceived
in sin in our mother's womb. And so as we were being shapen
in that womb, we were being shapen in iniquity. We were conceived
in sin and we were being shaped in iniquity in that womb before
we ever came forth. Look at Psalm 58 verse 3. See, we didn't only fall under
the curse judicially. We did because Adam is our federal
head. But when his corrupt seed was
passed on to us, all the way down the line to me and you.
We were conceived in sin. You can read this in this Word,
but unless the Spirit of God makes you see this is you it's
talking about, it'll go in one ear and out the other. It'll
just go in one ear and out the other. We need God to teach us
in our heart this. Now look at Psalm 58, verse 3.
The wicked are estranged from the womb. They go astray as soon
as they be born, speaking lies. We didn't sin to become sinners. We sin because we are sinners. Understand? We're shaping an
iniquity. So what we come out doing is everything contrary
to God, everything opposite to God. We come from our mother's
womb sinners. And so what we do is what sinners
do. We sin. That's all sinners do. The heart, the nature, is to
pray. It's wicked. It's enmity against
God. Look at Jeremiah 17. Turn to
your right there, Jeremiah 17, and look at verse 9. See, the hardest thing to do
is to get somebody dead. Is to get somebody to see themselves
as really a sinner. Get somebody to see that they
can't do anything to please God. That's the hardest thing to do.
That's the hardest thing in the world to do because most people,
we think we're alright. And that's part of this defilement.
That's part of this wickedness. We don't agree with God when
He says these things. We say, no God! But that's part
of the wickedness. That's proof of it. Jeremiah
17, 9. The heart. This is the nature.
This is the spirit that's in a man when he's born the first
time. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately
wicked. Who can know it? Who can know
it? Genesis 6, 5 said, God saw that
the wickedness of man was great in the earth. Now listen to this. and that every imagination of
the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. Not even one good thought toward
God, nothing good at all. Can the Ethiopian, look back
at Jeremiah 13. I want you to read this now.
Well, maybe I just need to reform myself just a little bit. Maybe
I just need to do something and get some morality about me and
that will straighten everything up. Look at Jeremiah 13, 23. Can the Ethiopian change his
skin? Are the leopard his spots? Then
may ye also do good that are accustomed to do evil. We can't... I'll show you another scripture.
1 Corinthians 2.14. I'm trying to close every loophole
I can possibly close for you. I want you to be shut up in a
corner, painted in a corner, and unable to move or breathe
or say anything, but I'm a hell-deserving sinner. That's where I want you.
Alright? 1 Corinthians 2.14. The natural
man. That's you. That's me as we come
into this world the first time. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God. You hear the preacher stand up
and preach and think, man, that's the same old junk over and over
and over. Same old garbage over and over
and over. I wish he'd go on to something
else. God help me, I'm not going on to something else. I'm going
to stay right here. There are foolishness under him.
Neither can he know them because they're spiritually discerned,
the things of God. God's got to reveal them to you.
That's why we can't change our spots. That's why we can't do
anything. Who can bring a clean thing out
of an unclean thing? You ever tried to just take a
dirty rag and clean it with that dirty rag? That's impossible. You can't take a dirty, filthy
rag and clean it with that dirty, filthy rag. You can't bring a
clean thing out of an unclean thing. It just can't be done. That's our case now, brethren.
That's why in John 3, the Lord told Nicodemus, he had a bunch
of things outwardly. He had religion. He had tradition. He had his... Man, his denomination
was the denomination. If you weren't in his denomination,
you wasn't anybody. And God told him, God stood there
face to face, Christ Jesus the God man, and he said to him,
you're blind as a bat, you're dead as a hammer. You can't see
the kingdom of God till you be born of the Spirit. You can't
know me, who I am, till you be born of the Spirit of God. That's
what he told him. A man must be born of the Spirit
of God. That which is flesh is flesh,
and it doesn't profit anything. We can't do one thing of ourselves
to bring ourselves to God. We can't do anything. Now everybody
that's born of the Spirit of God and taught of God, they're
going to see that I sinned and became a sinner because of that
first man Adam. And then I came forth already
a sinner and did what it was my nature to do. I went around
boasting how free my will is. And all the while I was Brother
Scott used to say I was a frog in a snake's belly. He can hop
around all he wants to, but he can't get out of the snake's
belly. And that's where you are. You can hop around all you want
to, you can move around, but all you can do is what your nature
dictates that you'll do. That's all we can do. Alright, so first He's going
to make us see Adam clearly. And when He does, He's going
to make us see our natural man clearly. Depraved, lost, condemned,
without Christ, without hope. This is where we've got to be
brought to. This is where we've got to be brought to first. And
then there's something else we see. Now when we're just desperately
lost, hopelessly lost, no hope, and can't look at ourselves and
find any way to save ourselves. Now then, now then, remember
he made that man look up. He made him look up, and then
he was restored. He gonna make us look now to
this third man, and that's Christ Jesus, the God. He's going to
make us see Him. Now go back there to Romans 5
again. And He's going to make us to see that Adam was a figure
of Christ. He was created in the image and
likeness of Christ Jesus the Lord. And He was a figure in
that federal headship as a representative man. He was a figure, a type
of Christ to come. Look at the end of verse 14.
Romans 5, 14. It says, We talked about Adam there, and
it says, who is the figure? He's the type of him that was
to come. Christ who was to come. He's
the last Adam. He's the second representative.
He's actually the first representative. But he came in time secondly,
as we know it. But look at verse 15. But he's
a better representative than Adam was. Now, watch this verse
15. Not as the offense, so also is
the free gift. There's some differences here.
If through the offense of one, many be dead. All Adam did was
commit one trespass. That's it. And the whole mankind
perished spiritually when he did that. Much more. The grace
of God. See how much more the grace of
God abounds. Watch this. And the gift by grace. What's a gift cost you? The one
it's given to. What does it cost you? It costs
you nothing. But it cost Him dearly. It cost Him dearly. And
He bought it. He made the purchase. He did
everything that had to be done. Much more the grace of God and
the gift by grace, which is by one man Jesus Christ, hath abounded
unto many." Now watch this, and not as it was by one that sinned,
so is the gift. In other words, it wasn't just,
he didn't have to come and just put away one sin that was committed. Look here though, the judgment
was by one to condemnation. One offense brought us into condemnation,
but the free gift is of many offenses unto justification. You think of all the sins that
you have committed against God, and I have committed against
God, just us. And you think of every elect child of God throughout
all time that God gave to his son. Christ was made sin for
us who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of
God in Him. He was made what He hated. He
was made what He abhorred and stood before God with all this
heap of iniquity laid on Him. stood there and he had to be
made before God to be the guilty one in the place of all of the
sinners that he represented. He had to be because the whole
reason he came to this earth was to declare God righteous.
And God's not going to pour righteousness out on somebody before that one
has been made to become the guilty one in place of his people. He
was the spotless Lamb. He died just for the unjust.
He knew no sin. He did no sin. He's holy, perfect,
spotless, undefiled, separate from sinners. And being that
spotless Lamb of God, He was a fit substitute for God Almighty
to put all the sins of His people on Him. And He bore our sins
in His own body on the tree. Not one transgression. All our
sins. For if by one man's offense,
verse 17, death reigned by one, much more, they which receive
abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness, can't
be worked for, can't be earned. You see where we were? We're
just dead. That's all we are, dead. It's all a gift. The gift of righteousness shall
reign in life by one Jesus Christ. It shall. No possibility that
it won't. Therefore, asked by the offense
of one, judgment came upon all men to condemnation. Adam represented
all men. He represented all men. All who
Adam represented, which was all men without exception, Death
came upon all of them. Even so, by the righteousness
of one, the free gift came upon all men unto justification of
life. Does that mean all men without
exception? No, it does not. Christ's death
is not a miscarriage. Christ did what He came to do.
He accomplished what He came to do. He put away the sin of
His people. He purged the sin of His people.
He accomplished eternal redemption for His people. When He had by
Himself purged our sins, that means they're gone. Then He sat
down. While He sat down, there wasn't
anything else to do. He finished the work. He said,
it is finished. Now, Everybody he represented,
everybody he represented has got to be called to faith in
him. Everybody he represented has got to be made alive by him.
Everybody he represented has got to be brought to bathe in
this sin-cleansing blood and see that the work is accomplished,
that they might glorify God for the work he's done for them.
Because that blood's precious and that blood's the blood of
God's own Son. That blood is the blood that
he deems more valuable than anything else there is. And He's going
to see to it that that blood was not shed in vain. His child is going to be made
to bow to Him. Bow to Him. For as by one man's
disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall
many be made righteous. Do you get that? It's not our
obedience. It's His obedience. By the obedience
of one shall many be made righteous. Moreover, the law entered that
the offense might abound, that we might see just what a wretched
mess we are, that we might see how badly we sinned when we sinned
in Adam, that we might see everything that we thought was righteousness
is God hating enmity against God. The law entered that the
offense might abound, but where sin abounded, grace did much
more abound. That is, sin hath reigned unto
death. Now let me ask you this. Sin reigned unto death. Was sin
successful? Was it successful? Did it reign
over all men unto death? It did. It was successful. Even so, by grace reign through
righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord. Even
so, the grace of God shall not fail. Christ Jesus successfully
established everlasting righteousness for His people, and He is that
righteousness for His people. And for all whom He represented
by His doing and dying, this grace is going to reign. It's
going to reign through His righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ
our Lord. Now, He forms Christ in us by
quickening us by His Spirit and making His redeemed children
to see Christ and to lay hold of Him by faith. Now look over
at 1 Corinthians 15-22. This is speaking of the second
resurrection particularly. I mean, when you're raised from
the grave. But this applies too to our being
raised to newness of life the first time by this Spirit of
regeneration. But 1 Corinthians 15-22 tells
us It tells us, for as in Adam all
die, all that he represented, even so in Christ shall all be
made alive. All that he represented. Look
down at verse 45. Verse 45. So it is written, the
first man Adam was made a living soul. The last Adam was made
a quickening spirit. Howbeit that was not first which
is spiritual, but that which is natural. Just as Adam came
forth first, that natural man, so you and I came forth first,
that natural man. But that which is natural, afterward
that which is spiritual. Just as Christ came forth afterwards,
Those that He died for, they're going to be born of Him after
we're born into this natural flesh. The first man is of the
earth, earthy. The second man is the Lord from
heaven. That first man Adam is of the earth, earthy. The last
man is Christ, the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such
are they also that are earthy. And as is the heavenly, such
are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image
of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly."
He's talking to believers here. He's talking to men who have
been regenerated by His grace. Now, when He does this, He speaks
good news into our heart. You know what He does when He
makes us look up and see Christ, truly see Him with the eye of
faith? You know what He does? Colossians 2.9. This is what
He speaks into our heart. Here we sit just in that dungeon
of death. Here we sit just seeing that
in our flesh dwells no good thing. And then He makes us to see Him
and what He's done and this is what He speaks to us, Colossians
2.9. He speaks to us and He says, And in Christ dwells all the
fullness of the Godhead bodily. You see that word, fullness? I can't even get my mind around
that, can you? The fullness of the Godhead? of God the Father, God the Son,
and God the Holy Spirit is in Christ Jesus, that God-man Christ
Jesus, the fullness of the Godhead. Think of how much fullness that
must be. Think of how full that is. The
fullness of the Godhead bodily. Now look at the next thing. And
you are complete in Him. You see that word complete? It's
translated from the same word as fullness. The same word that
fullness was translated from, this word complete is translated
from. As fully as Christ is the fullness of the Godhead bodily,
that's how complete His people are in Him. Can you add anything
else to full? Can you perfect perfection? Can
you add anything else to the work Christ has done? If there's
one little thing that can be added to what Christ did, Christ
failed. God failed. God Almighty failed. If you have
to add one thing or me have to add one thing to what He did.
That's good news to the sinner. That means Christ becomes all
to us. Of God, we see we're in Christ. Of God, Christ has made unto
us wisdom. We thought we were really smart.
Now God showed us who wisdom really is. Righteousness. We thought we were righteous.
We were going around boasting about all the good benevolent
deeds we've done. Now we see him who's righteous.
We see righteousness requires a man to come to where we are.
And he becomes our sanctification. We see that he's got to be holy.
He was that holy thing formed in the womb, not born of that
corruptible seed of Adam. And He came forth from the womb
speaking truth. He came forth from the womb doing
that which pleased the Father only. So that everything He did
outwardly, which is what righteousness is, every thought He had, every
deed He did, every word He spoke was righteous because the fountain
was holy too. It was holy, so everything, you
see, you and I might do some deeds that are what we would
call righteous deeds, right deeds, they're good deeds in themselves,
but they're filthy because we're polluted in our heart by nature. He came forth in everything,
so when you read the word righteousness, be sure you recognize it includes
sanctification, it includes holiness too, because if he wasn't holy,
nothing he would have done would have been righteous. Everything
He did is holy and righteous. So now we see that what righteousness
demands is holiness of heart, holiness of thought, holiness
of word, holiness of deed, and it requires us... This is the
law, brethren. The end of the commandments love
out of a pure heart and a good conscience. They're none so pure
and good as Christ. and faith unfeigned. He came
into this world and as the servant of God, He's the faithful one.
We're justified by the faith of Christ. I didn't say faith
in Christ. I said faith of Christ. His faithfulness,
His fidelity. Now the righteousness of the
law is manifest without the law, but it's witnessed by the law
and the prophets. Even the righteousness of God
which is by faith of Jesus Christ. We're justified by the faith
of Christ. And we believe in Christ that
we might be justified by the faith of Christ. His faith is
what justified us. His faithfulness to the Father.
His trusting the Father complicitly. His faithfulness. And that faith
that He gives to us lays hold of Him who is the faithful one.
And He's the one who justifies us. And we see that that faithfulness
requires Him not only to live perfectly in this life, which
we've never done, but then perfect love, perfect love, perfect love
that willingly out of love for the Father and love for His elect
children went to that cross. and bore was made when he hated
before his father so that the father he loved with all his
being turned his back on him and poured out the divine justice
upon him. And this was faith and love,
brethren. This was mercy and justice kissing
each other so that you and I We want to talk about some kind
of righteousness in us. We want to talk about some holiness.
We ought to shut our mouth and put our hands on our mouth. This
one is the righteous God-man. He's holy in what He did. That's
why when God makes you to see Him, you see He's my righteousness
and He's my sanctification. That holiness without which no
man should see God, He is my Redeemer. When I'm chasing, when
I'm turned out of that way, when I'm to run the race set before
me, looking to the author and finisher of my faith, He's the
one I've got to have to enter into glory. And when I turn out
of the way, God corrects me and chastens me like a faithful father
does his child, that I might be partaker of His holiness. And not be left over here to
myself, walking around, patting myself on the back and trying
to convince somebody that I'm just getting so much more. My
holiness is Him, brethren. It's Him. I'm growing in grace
and knowledge of Him. I'm growing in faith. I'm growing
in wisdom. I'm growing in understanding
of Him and what He's done. But the thing about growing in
grace is the more you grow to see Him, you don't go around
boasting about your own holiness. Paul went from being a sinner
to the chief of sinners to the least of the sinners. He just
kept saying, I'm worse and worse. He must increase, I must decrease. And that's how grace works. The
more you see Him, the littler you're going to become. The more
you see how holy and righteous He is, the less we're going to
stop talking about our righteousness and our holiness. That He let
Him, glory is glory in who? In Christ. That's where we're
going to be brought to glory. Alright, so we see Him. Now do
you see Him? See Him? This God-man came to where we
are? See Him in His obedience? See Him in His death? See Him
in His resurrection? He's not in the grave anymore.
He's not. He sat down at the right hand
of the Father. That means He... God's satisfied. God's well pleased with His Son
and only with His Son. He's pleased with him. Do you
see him there now? Brethren, we got a high priest
in the holiest of holies. When that veil rent from top
to bottom, whenever he said it's finished, there wasn't an ark
in there anymore. There wasn't any Shekinah Gloria
in there anymore. There was a priest in there trying
to deceive people and act like he was somebody and still doing
something under the law. And God just exposed it all and
said, here's my ark. And Christ went to the Father
and sat down. The Lamb in the throne. He's
the one that the cherubim stand on each side of and say, holy,
holy, holy is the Lord God. We have an advocate with the
Father. If, and that should be when we sin, we have an advocate
with the Father. Jesus Christ the righteous, and
He's the propitiation for our sins, brethren. Not just for
the Jews, but for His delect among the Gentiles as well. That's
right. The only reason God didn't consume
us from the beginning, and doesn't consume us now, is we're complete
in Christ. Alright, when He does that, He's
going to make you see something else. Turn to Ephesians 4.24,
you're going to see another man You're going to see another man.
Ephesians 4.24. You're going to see the new man. Now just like we were born that
first time of that corruptible seed, we've got to be born a
second time of incorruptible seed. By the Word of God, by
the living Word, Christ formed in us. His seed forming in us,
creating us anew. When that happens, brethren,
here's what the Scripture says, Ephesians 4.24. We put on the
new man. This is that fourth man we see,
the new man. We put on the new man which after
God is created in righteousness and true holiness. I don't see
this about myself. And we're not going around saying
this about ourselves, boasting of this and that. In fact, the
Lord said in the Day of Judgment, when He said to the sheep on
His right hand and the goats on His left, the goats are going
to be saying, when did we not do all these things you're talking
about? And the sheep are going to say, Lord, when did we ever
do these things? But there is a new man created
within the believer. Everything God creates is righteous
and holy. Everything He creates is right.
And there's a new man created in a sinner that He creates in
righteousness and true holiness. This man is called the new man
that's renewed in knowledge. after the image of Him that created
Him. We lost that image when Adam
sinned. He's got to make us conform to His image, make us to see
Him and be like Him. It's called Christ in you, the
hope of glory. Now look at 1 John 3. I want
to show you something. You may have never looked at
this this way, but I want you to see this. 1 John chapter 3. Look at verse 9. Whosoever is born of God doth
not commit sin. Now that's a bold statement. He just
said before that if any man says he does not have sin, he's a
liar and the truth's not in him. What's he mean here? If a man
is born of God, he doesn't commit sin. For his seed, Christ's seed,
that incorruptible seed, that new man, Christ in you remaineth
in him. And he cannot sin because he's
born of God. Does it mean that we just can't
run headlong into sin? It does mean that, brethren.
But how often do you find that we do run headlong into sin?
But this man we're talking about here cannot sin. This is that new man within us.
He cannot sin. Listen now, in this the children
of God are manifest and the children of the devil. Now watch this,
whosoever doeth not righteousness is not of God. Neither he that
loveth not his brother. Now there's two things he said
that this man, this new man, this is what he's going to do.
He cannot not do this. He cannot stop doing this. He's
going to do righteousness and he's going to love his brother.
That's what this inner man is going to do. This new man is
going to do. What is that doing righteousness? What is that?
Preacher, I see myself all the time wanting to do righteousness. I desire to do righteousness,
but everything I do is mixed with sin. How can you say this
man does not sin? He does righteousness. Look down
at verse 23. This is how we do righteousness. This is His commandment. Here's
the first part. This is how we do righteousness.
That we should believe on the name of His Son, Jesus Christ. And because He did righteousness,
and He established the law, and He filled full the law in every
jot and tittle, through faith in Him, we have done righteousness. That man that He's created new
in righteousness and true illness has done everything the law requires. And He's thoroughly justified
of all sin. And here's the second part. And
we love one another. We love one another. As He gave
us commandment. He that keepeth His commandments.
He just told us what that commandment is. He that keepeth His commandments.
You know, I know unbelief makes for what we do. And I know sometimes
it seems like we're more full of unbelief than we are of faith.
But He's faithful. He won't let us stop believing
Him. Can you stop believing the Lord
Jesus Christ? You just can't do it. Since he's written this
law of faith in our hearts, brethren, I cannot not believe him. And
I don't, I can't brag about that. It's he, it's him that's done
the work. It's him that gave the faith. It's of grace. That
not of yourself, it's the gift of God, as we would boast about
it. He did it. And he, he keeps that which he's
begun in us alive and thriving. He's the life within us, brethren,
so that he won't let us not trust him. That's what He said. When we cannot sin, it's not
that everything we do with these members is sin, and this old
flesh is still what it was. But brethren, in that new man,
we can't stop believing Him. And that's our righteousness.
He's our righteousness. And I can't part, if I hear somebody,
I don't even know who they are. I don't even have to know them.
But I hear them glorifying this one and glorifying my Redeemer,
my heart's knit together with them. Because the Spirit that
dwells in me dwells in them. And we're just like moths to
a flame. We just come together around
the same light. I can't help it. And that's what
he said. This is why that's so. It's because
this person that's doing this dwells in Christ and Christ dwells
in him. And hereby we know that he abideth
in us by the Spirit he's given us. Do you believe it? Lord,
I believe, help my unbelief, but I believe you, Lord. By your
grace, I believe you. And he, by this, he's given us
exceeding great and precious promises that we might be partakers
of that divine nature, having escaped the corruption that's
in the world through lust. Didn't you love that message
Brother Todd and I preached when he told us about the laws of
the new nature? I'll write my laws on their inward
parts. Just like Paul said in Romans 2, you've got the law
of Moses on your heart by nature. He said the Gentiles that have
not the law, they either accuse or excuse one another. They know
not to steal and commit adultery. You've got that law by nature.
You know what's right and what's wrong by nature. Thing is, you
don't know that you've never done righteousness. So he makes
you to see you haven't. But here's the thing, then he
comes and that new man, he writes the law of faith, the law of
love, the law of liberty, It's the law of Christ which makes
us bear one another's burdens. Next time some log yoking, some
Pharisee wants to try to lay a charge to you, if you love
that brother that he's laying charge to, do what Paul did whenever
Philemon ran away. Onesimus ran away. Onesimus ran
away from Philemon. He said, whatever he owes you,
you charge it to me. That's loving as Christ loved
us. He stood in between and said,
charge it all to me. That's the law of Christ. I can't
remember the rest of them. There was four or five more,
but that's the law he writes on our hearts, the law of the
new nature, the new man, where we walk in newness of spirit,
not the oldness of the letter. All right. We're going to end
here now. Let's look over at Galatians
5. I want to show you one more thing.
And you hold your place in Galatians because our message is going
to be out of here in a moment. Galatians 5 and verse 16. He just said there in verse 15
You know how he refers to those who want to be under the law
as dogs, as the concision. Because what dogs do is they
bite and they devour one another. You've seen two bulldogs get
in a fight over a piece of meat. They'll eat one another up. That's
what happens if we turn to the law. That's what's going to happen.
We'll bite and devour one another. Look what he said. This I say
then, walk in the spirit. and you shall not fulfill the
lust of the flesh. The lust of the flesh is to be
a logger. The lust of the flesh is to exalt
ourselves to the judgment seat of Christ and try to start pouring,
crying down fire on one another. That's the lust of our flesh.
And that's spiritual adultery. That's spiritual drunkenness.
That's spiritual fornication. That's spiritual envying and
striving. That's evil. It's evil. God's
got to save us from that. But walking in the Spirit, you're
not working in the realm of the flesh. You're in the realm of
the Spirit. You believe Him and trust Him
and you walk in Him. Look at this now. The flesh lusts
against the Spirit and the Spirit against the flesh. There's a
warfare that just wasn't there before. And these are contrary,
the one to the other, so that you cannot do the things that
you would. I delight in the law of God after the inward man.
I can't do what I'd like to do. But if you be led of the Spirit,
you are not under the law. Now the works of the flesh are
these. And this was the spiritual thing that was going on there
in Galatia. Whether they were actually doing this physically
or not, I don't know. But spiritually, by turning to the law, this is
what they were doing. adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness,
idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath,
strife, seditions, heresies, envying, murders, drunkenness,
revelings, and such like, of which I tell you before, as I've
also told you in time past, they that which do such things shall
not inherit the kingdom of God. But now listen to this. But the
fruit of the Spirit, The fruits of righteousness which are by
Jesus Christ to the praise and glory of God, here's what they
are. Love, and joy, and peace, and
longsuffering, and gentleness, and goodness, and faith, and
meekness, and temperance, and against these things, there is
no law. That's the new man, brother.
That's that righteous man. They that are Christ have crucified
the flesh with affections and the lust. When Christ died, Paul
said before, I'm crucified with Christ. I know that old man's
still with me, and I know that old man still wants to pull out
that whip of the law, and I keep trying to bury that thing and
hide it and get away from it, and it keeps somehow appearing
up back on my doorstep again. That old wretched man that wants
to try to yoke, and bind, and whip, and exalt, and self-exalt,
and brag, and boast, and all that. But that old man's dead. You say, well, he's still alive.
He's just sitting there saying he's alive. No, he's dead. God
says he's dead. God said he died when Christ
died, and he was buried when Christ was buried. And I'm risen
with Christ now. My life's hid with Christ in
God. And this is my new man. This is my inward man. So let's
remember that about one another. Remember that about one another.
Next time, that's what I love about being in a church family.
We get to act up and act. act mean, and our brothers and
sisters had to put up with it. They had to bear our burden and
help restore us and comfort us. You know what all that does?
It teaches us patience. It teaches us to trust the master
who's able to make them stand. It teaches us to bear their burden.
It teaches us to be long-suffering. It teaches us to be gentle with
one another. People that aren't in a church
of God, they miss all that. They miss all the thorns. If
you miss the thorns, you don't ever get to smell the rose. Gotta
have the thorns to smell the rose, to see what you are, to
keep you humbled by his grace. So live in the spirit. If we
live in the spirit, let's walk in the spirit. Amen.