Old Man/New Man

Q: What does the Bible say about the struggle with sin in believers?

The Bible, particularly in Romans 7, describes the inner conflict believers face as they struggle between the old man and the new man. In Romans 7, the Apostle Paul articulates the profound struggle that every true believer experiences with sin. He contrasts the 'old man,' representing our sinful nature, with the 'new man,' which is our regenerated self after coming to faith in Christ. Paul writes, 'I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing,' revealing that believers are not free from sin even after they are saved. This struggle manifests as a desire to do good, contrasted with a tendency to sin, which brings about an ongoing internal conflict. True Christians feel this tension as they desire to obey God's law while being hindered by their sinful flesh.

Q: How do we know the doctrine of original sin is true?

The doctrine of original sin is grounded in the biblical teaching that all mankind is born with a sinful nature inherited from Adam, as stated in Romans 5. The doctrine of original sin asserts that all humanity inherits a sinful nature from Adam due to his transgression. This is clearly articulated in Romans 5:12, which states, 'Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.' The Scripture indicates that this inherent sinfulness makes everyone guilty before God from birth, as echoed in Psalm 51:5 when David states, 'Behold, I was shapen in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.' Thus, this doctrine highlights our shared guilt and need for redemption through Christ.

Q: Why is the new birth important for Christians?

The new birth is essential for Christians because it signifies spiritual regeneration and the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, enabling them to live righteously. The new birth, as discussed in John 3, is crucial for all Christians as it represents a work of the Holy Spirit that transforms a spiritually dead person into a new creation. Jesus declares that one must be 'born of water and of the Spirit' to enter the Kingdom of God. This process of regeneration not only cleanses believers from their sin but also imparts new life, equipping them to overcome their sinful inclinations. The new birth is fundamentally an awakening to spiritual realities, empowering believers to strive for holiness and live in accordance with God's will.

Q: How does the Holy Spirit help believers in their struggle with sin?

The Holy Spirit assists believers by providing guidance, conviction of sin, and empowerment to resist sinful desires. The role of the Holy Spirit in a believer's life is integral to their struggle against sin. As described in Romans 8, the Holy Spirit dwells within and empowers the believer to live according to God's will. He convicts us of sin, leading us to repentance and deeper reliance on Christ for righteousness. Furthermore, the Holy Spirit guides believers into all truth, helping them discern right from wrong in a world full of temptations. Through His sustaining power, believers can overcome the dominion of sin and live lives that reflect their new identity in Christ.

Come shed abroad a Savior's love,
and that shall kindle howl. Alright, go back to Romans 7
now. Romans chapter 7. Most of you are very familiar
with Romans 7. The Apostle Paul describes the
inner conflict of every believer in Romans 7. And the reason you're
familiar with it is because you probably read it because you
find find yourself, you feel the same
things that he says there. It's a terrible struggle we have
with the old man. Now, this is not so much a how-to
message, how to do this or that, how to deal with sin, but simply
a why. Why? Why does sin dwell in us?
Why are we the way we are? Why? And I think that we will
get some peace and comfort and assurance from the why of it. The fact that we do struggle.
If you do, then you will find some peace. Let's read verses
18. Let's just start in verse 18 and start reading again. 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. 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. O wretched man that I am! Who
shall deliver me from the body, or this body of death? I thank God through Christ through
Jesus Christ, our Lord. So then with the mind, I myself
serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. Now you could enter into that,
I believe. The word law here is used in a couple of different
ways. The word law That means a regulating principle. Something
that causes you to do what you do, be what you are, do, think,
act the way that you are. I find a law, he said, a regulating
principle. Something that makes me do what
I don't want to do and so forth. Alright? Law. Paul says, I find
in me, that is in my flesh, no good thing. No good thing. I find, he said, a principle,
this law that's always with me, a regulating principle that won't
let me do what I want to do, which causes me to do what I
don't want to do. Is that you? And he says, Oh,
wretched man that I am. But now wait a minute. He says
there's another law. I find another law. Another principle
within me that delights in the law of God, loves it, that desires
or that wills to do good, that loves the Word of God, that loves
the truth, that wants to, that desires to do what is right,
what's holy, what's just and what's true. So he says there
are these two laws within That's struggle. Only true believers
know what this is talking about. Only true believers know what
this is talking about. Only true believers have this
struggle. Because only true believers have
these two principles within them. Alright? Now, we don't completely
understand this. And I'm not by any means going
to completely expound this. I may, like the young preacher
said, I may confound the Scripture. But it's so. We know it's so. The world, and
we're going to talk a little bit about the conscience in a
little while, but the world only, the unbelieving world has conscience. But that's all they have. And they quickly and easily quiet
their conscience. Religious people, many if not
most religious people, actually think they quit sinning when
they get saved, get saved. You run into them all the time.
They actually think, and I've watched them and I've talked
to them, and I don't believe they have the struggles that
I do, that believers have. I told you that time of me spying
on that fellow at work one time. Oh, he's a preacher, and I kind
of spied on him a little bit. He thought everybody was out
of the room, and there was a bunch of illicit stuff on the table
that men like to look at. And he thought everybody was
gone, and I kind of spied on him to see if he was going to
take a look at that stuff. He didn't. He didn't even glance
at it. I don't think they have the struggles
that believers do. I really don't. I think, well, Satan sends strong
delusions. He can delude people into thinking
that they're holy, that they're righteous when it's nothing but
self-righteous. Only believers, only true believers struggle
with sin because believers have these two laws within them, these
two principles within them. If you've got two opposite principles,
you've got to struggle. If you don't, you don't. You
don't have to struggle. Does that make sense? Paul over
there in Romans 7 said, I was alive without the law of war.
No problem. I had no problem. Paul was a religious man. He
thought he was blameless. He was one of those religious
people that thought he did not sin. He had no trouble with sin. He had no struggle with it. But
then when God sent the word of God and the law, then the fight
started on this new principle. And those who live in the gutter
of sin, they don't have any trouble with sin either. They love it. They don't have any conscience.
They don't have any struggle. None whatsoever. I know this
well. I know it well from experience. Nothing bothers me. No conscience
really. But believers do now. They've
got this constant struggle. What's Paul talking about? Go
over to Romans chapter 5. Romans chapter 5. Romans 5. All mankind is born in sin. All mankind is born with this
principle of sin within. All mankind. It's what makes
them do what they do. Sin. It's a regulating principle. It's law. We're born sinners
because we got it from our father, the first sinner, Adam. We're sons of Adam, and we act
like our daddy. We're not naturally born sons
of God. We're not born sons of God. We're
sons of, well, sons of Adam. Now look at this, what the Scripture
says, Romans 5 verse 12, Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into
the world, and death by sin, and so death passed upon all
men. But wait a minute, I don't want
to get the blame for what Adam did. You don't. You get the blame
for what you did. Read on, it says, For all have
sinned. Nobody can blame Adam, they can just blame themselves.
And they start early, start about, well, maybe two months. Just as soon as they can cry
without a reason, that's sin. As soon as they can fake it,
you know, that's lying. And so on and so forth. Born
sinners, that's what David said, I came forth from the womb speaking
lies. He said, in sin did my mother
conceive me. All are born sinner. Romans 3.
Turn back to Romans 3. Now here's the depth of our sin.
Romans 3. We're not just talking about
stealing a watermelon here. I ask my dad. My dad always says
that. Old, old, old preachers say that.
We're not just talking about stealing a watermelon. Nobody
steals watermelons anymore. Do they? I don't think so. I
said, why do y'all? I said, that's about all the
meanness y'all could get into back then, wasn't it? Stealing
watermelons. Anyway, we're not talking about
stealing watermelons or, you know, what man calls smoking
cigarettes, drinking beer, things like that. We're talking about
an evil nature. We're talking about what is in
us to make us want to kill somebody. Have you ever wanted to do that?
Oh, come on. Sure you have. I mean, at the drop of a hat. And look at it. Romans 3, this
tells us the extent of this evil nature. Verse 10, there is none
righteous. No, not one. Not one. There's
none that understand it. There's none that seeketh after
God. They're all gone out of the way. They're together. Put
them all together, they're unprofitable. There's none that do us good.
No, not one. Look at this. Their throat is
an open sepulcher. Is it easier to say nice things
or cuss? Throat's an open sepulcher. Man
easily spews out vile words, you know, with their tongues
they've used to deceive. Is it easier to tell a truth
or tell a lie? Buddy, if your skin's on the
line, lies come easy. Read on. The poison of asps under
their lips, whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness, feet
are swift to shed blood. Human beings are bloodthirsty
creatures. People love nothing more than
tragedies. This is the reason news and magazines
and so forth is big business. People, they'll say, oh, isn't
that sad? But they love to read about it.
People love it. Mankind is a bloody creature.
Read on. destruction and misery in their
way, the way of peace, have they not known no fear of God before
their eyes? Verse 19, and we know what things,
soever the law sayeth, it sayeth to them that are under the law
that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become
guilty before God. Now, the law of God doesn't stop
everybody's mouth. What the law says should stop
the mouth. It does stop the mouth if anybody
has anything to say. It will shut them out. They can't
answer the law. And all the world is guilty before
God, but they don't think so. The world doesn't think they're
guilty before God. They don't even believe God. But now God's people do when
the law comes. When the Word of God comes, that's
the first thing it does. It shuts their mouth. Paul goes
on in Romans 7 and says it reveals sin. The exceeding sinfulness
of sin. And you become guilty before
God. Alright, go back to Romans. No,
go to John chapter 3. The Gospel of John chapter 3. So, and you know this is so.
You believers, you know that this is in us, isn't it? It's
still in us, isn't it? Is it still easier to tell the
truth or tell a lie? Which is it? There's a law in
there. It's still in there. We're natural
born sinners. We're sons of Adam. That's why.
We've got sinful genes. Blame it on, you want to call
it genes? Okay. They're all bad. Bad genes. Right? What must happen? You can't change
this old man. You can't reform him. You can't make him better. Try
as you may. You can't do it. What must happen? We must be
born again from above. Alright, look at this. John chapter
3, this is what our Lord is saying to this religious leader who
didn't have a clue what he was saying. He had no struggle with
sin. Verse 5, our Lord says, Verily,
of a truth, of a truth I say unto you, except a man be born
of water. That means born the first time.
You come out of your mother's water breaks and then you're
born. Alright? Except a man is born of water
and of the Spirit, the Holy Spirit. He cannot enter into the Kingdom
of God. In other words, the only ones that are going to be in
the Kingdom of God are sons of Adam who are born again. Read on. Verse 6, that which
is born of the flesh is flesh. That's all it ever will be. That
which is born of the Spirit now is Spirit. It's something different
altogether. It's something separate. It's
not flesh. Stay with me. Verse 7. Don't
marvel, he said. Marvel not. Don't be amazed,
as I said, until you must be born again. And the word again
means from above. From above. Now go back to Romans
8. Romans 8. People, I'm told as a pastor
to feed you. Our Lord said He would send pastors
who shall feed you with knowledge. And I'm not going to give you
any fast food on Wednesday night. Some little sermonette. We're
going to do an in-depth study of God's Word. Something that
you, because we need to grow in grace and knowledge. And this
will help us. It really will. I know you're
tired, but I know this is going to help. Alright, Romans 8. All
right, now God Almighty chose, God elected some of these sons
of Adam. God predestinated them to be
conformed to the image of His Son. He chose, He elected some
of these people. All right, some of these no good
sinners. They all deserve to be damned. There's none good,
no not one. None righteous, that includes
nothing. They're no better than anybody. We ourselves are still
no better than anybody. All right? God elected some of
these sons of Adam to be sons of God from before the world
began. And He gave these ones He foreknew,
it's called. He foreknew. or love. He gave them to Christ in a covenant. He and the Son, God and the Son
and the Holy Spirit, made an agreement together, a covenant.
It's called covenants throughout the Scripture. Covenant. And
Christ agreed to become flesh and blood. He made lichen to
sinful flesh, but without sin. to come to this earth and save
these no-good sinners, to save them from the certain consequences
of their sin, which is judgment and death. They're going to live
as sinners. Christ is going to have to come
here and live sinless and earn heaven as a man. The only way you and I can get
to heaven by doing It's got to be perfect. Thought, word, deed. All our lives, not one jot or
tittle of the law broke. Not one. We can't do that. Christ did. He came to
this earth as a man. And we call it, or the Scriptures
call it, established righteousness. The righteousness of the law.
Perfect. God said it from heaven twice.
I'm well pleased with this man. He's well pleased for his righteousness.
He earned heaven as a man. But he didn't do it for himself. He left heaven. He's not trying
to earn heaven. He left there to come here to
do a job. What's he doing? He's doing this
for those elects who can't do it. And this is the mystery. Somehow or another, God He transfers
all this that He did, this righteousness, on them and takes all their sin
and guilt and lays it on Him. And when He went to the cross,
God Almighty saw every one of His elect, sinful sons of Adam,
they were in Christ. He was their substitute. And
God poured out His wrath upon Christ. God, the soul that sinneth
must surely die. He poured out His soul unto them.
And God Almighty punished His sin for what you and I did. Punished
His Son for what you and I did. In Him is no sin. In us is nothing
but sin. This is the mystery. God switched. Switched places with Christ and
I. And we're made righteous. Now here's the new birth, alright?
That's what Christ did in that covenant. That's what he agreed
to do. And all the elect, before the world began, they were considered
by God as in Christ. They were in Christ. They never
were under the wrath of God. They were always in Christ. Considered
by God in Him. And when Christ came down, when
He lived, they lived. When He died, they died. Like a pregnant woman. This is
a good illustration. A pregnant woman. Wherever she
goes, that baby goes, right? Whatever she does, that baby
does. Whatever she eats, whatever she says, she says it on behalf.
These two are one. As he is, so is it. Right? As he is, John says, so are we. We're in Christ. Right now. All right, right now, as he did,
so did we. As he is, so are we. He's holy,
unblameable, accepted, loved by the Father, so are we. All
right, what about the new birth, though? The new birth. Christ
said you must be born of the Spirit, born above. All right,
this is the Holy Spirit's work. Christ did that. The Holy Spirit's
work is to to perform this new birth. That's what Christ said. You must be born of the Spirit,
the Holy Spirit. All right? All right? The Holy
Spirit comes looking for every one of those sheep that Christ
died for. Every one of them. How does He
know them? They've got blood on them. He knows them, too. The Holy Spirit's God. He elected
them, too. Father, Son, Holy Spirit. These
three are one. They all elect. They know them.
The Holy Spirit comes looking for everyone. They're lost. They're
dead. They're dead. But the Holy Spirit takes seed, seed, and plants it in that human
being. That dead center. C. What's a
C? Huh? Peter said the incorruptible
C. We're born, he said, of incorruptible
C. The Word of God which liveth
and abideth for ever. And in God's time, according
to His time, His purpose, He sends the Gospel. And Peter went
on to say, this is the seed, this is the Word which by the
Gospel is preached unto you. Not just Bible, but it's got
to be the Gospel. It's got to be the truth. It's
got to be Paul's Gospel, our Gospel, the truth. The Holy Spirit takes the Word
of God in His time, in His good time. Nobody knows when this
happened. but him. Just like when conception in
a woman began. She doesn't know it. The man
doesn't know it. God knows. Doesn't he? And so it is. And this is a sovereign
word. Our Lord went on to say, The
wind bloweth where it listeth. You cannot tell the sound thereof.
So is everyone that's born of the Spirit. He knows who he's
going to operate on. And he takes this gospel, this
seed of God. This is the seed of God. This
is the seed of God. And it's also the same name for
the word. It's the same name for Christ,
because the seed is the gospel of Christ. It's the word of Christ. It's Christ in you. It's the
gospel in you. It's the faith of Christ in you.
It's all one and the same. All right. He takes this gospel
seed and plants it in a dead sinner. Plants the living word. The life is in the seed. It's
not in the human being. They're dead. Like putting a
seed in the ground. The life is in the seed. A dead
sinner. And in the fullness of time,
he impregnates us. Life begins. You know, the old
Puritans used to call the gospel the pregnant gospel. The word
pregnant means full of life. When a woman's pregnant, she's
full of life. I mean, full of life. And of
His fullness have we received. Grace for grace. He impregnates
us. Life is conceived. Spiritual
life. Something altogether different
from flesh. A new heart, He said, I'll give
you. A new heart. A heart that actually, affection
that actually is on things above. He wasn't there before. That
old dead, stony heart doesn't care a flip about God or death
or, you know, not even... But a new heart that actually
thinks about God and desires God. Eyes, new eyes. This is
a new birth, spiritual. Eyes that see things for the
first time. See things as they are. that
God is. Look at me. Look at there. Look at the Christ. Ears. They hear things that they've
never heard before. Repentance. What happens when a baby is first
born? What's the first thing the physician does? He inflicts
a little pain on that baby. Doesn't he? Why? Why is he inflicting? They used
to Just whack them on the bottom of the fish, you know. Slap them.
Probably slapped you, me, in the face. Or slapped our mothers for having
us. But now they flick them. I watched that position, Hannah's
little feet. Oh, man. That was just yesterday.
Why is he doing that? Why is he causing pain? Poor
little thing. He's got to cry. That's how you
know it's alive. And plus, it's got to start breathing.
Those lungs got to start breathing. And the way they breathe is... And the blood's got to start
circulating. They're blue. They come out blue. They look
dead. They're horrible looking things. But then they start crying and
the oxygen starts flowing through their bloodstream. They turn
red in the face. Red. Cry. What happens when God Almighty
plants the Word of God in the heart of a dead sinner? Inflicts
pain. Over what? Sin. What do they
do? Cry. God be merciful to me, this
sinner. What happens? The blood starts
flowing. The blood of Christ starts coursing
through their veins. The breath of life. The Holy
Spirit. They're alive for the first time
ever. Ever. New creature. Faith. The
Holy Spirit gives faith. I mean real faith. Not just facts
with heart faith that the heart man believe in. They really believe
from the heart that God is God. That they are no good. That Christ
is their only hope. They really do believe from the
heart. Not here. The heart. That's where
life is. the issues of life. God gives
a new heart. He gives faith and love. They
don't just believe the truth. They don't just hear it. They
love what they hear. A new creature, you see, has
been formed. A new creature has been formed
in us in the image of Christ. Christ in us. The hope of God. A new creature. Now, but now,
wait a minute. This new creature dwells with
that old one. That old one's still there. Isn't
it? It's still there. That old body
of flesh. This new man dwells in an old
hibernacle. It's the same old body that he
used, that the man has been in all his life. But there's this
new creature in there. And now there's two in there,
a new man and old man, and they both reside in the same body. And they don't get along. It's
a fight. It's a constant fight. Somebody
said it's like two men living in a three-story house. One lives
on the top floor, one lives on the first floor, and every now
and then they cross each other's paths on the middle floor and
they duke it out. They're opposites. And they hate
each other. One's full of sin. The other
one cannot sin. This is what John's talking about
in 1 John 3, John. This is what he's talking about.
He cannot sin. That which is born of God. That
which is born of God. This is what John is saying.
He's not saying that believers are totally without sin. This
new creature is. And I can't really explain this,
except I'm trying. It's this new creature. He cannot
sin. He's a new spiritual creature.
He cannot sin. That old man, that's all he can
do. All right? That's what Paul says. It's not
me. It's that sin that dwelleth in him. Now, Paul's not taking
the blame. Paul's not saying, well, this
gives me an excuse to go do what I want. No, he says, that's me
doing that. But he says, if anything good comes out, it's not me,
but Christ that dwelleth in me. Is all this becoming clear now? If there's two creatures, God
beholds a new one. He's going to kill that old fellow.
That old fellow, He's going to kill him. He's already dead.
God considers him dead. When we crucified Christ, we
were crucified with Him. Were we? I'm still living, but
it's not me, it's Christ. God considers that old man. But there's this new man, alright?
One loves sin, the other one hates it. Loves righteousness. One loves and believes a lie,
the other one cannot believe a lie. Cannot. One hates the liar and cannot
but believe the truth. Believers, people, believers
have to believe the truth. That which is born of God, if
it's of God, I have to believe the truth. Is it necessary to
believe the truth? You can't. God doesn't believe
a lie. Well, if what's in you is of
God, it has to believe the truth. Does that make sense? Does everybody
that's born of God believe the truth? They sure do, or they're
not born of God. Christ said they shall know the
truth, didn't He? Half of it? No, the truth. He
said when the Holy Spirit comes, He'll lead you and guide you
into how much truth? All truth. Alright, now this is the effect
of the new birth. All right, this is the work of
the Holy Spirit. He leads, He guides, He teaches, He restrains,
He constrains the new man. The old man is not improving,
he's just dying. He's just dying. Romans 8, verse
1, He said, Now there is no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit. People,
He's just stating the fact of it. We walk after the Spirit. Because he goes on to say that,
verse 9, you're not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be,
if the Spirit of God dwells in you. If he does, you're in the
Spirit. If there's this new creature,
how do you know he's there? Are you frightened? Is there
a fight? Is there a struggle? Do you love the gospel? Do you want to do what's right?
Do you hate a lie? Do you love the truth? There's
another law in there then. I told you this would give you
some hope. I'm just telling you why it is, but it'll still give
you some hope. Verses 5 through 9, he says,
They that are of the flesh do mind the things of the flesh.
There was a time, and Paul wrote about this in Romans, he said,
there's a time past where you didn't give a thought to God
or a thing to God, and you had pleasure in unrighteousness,
and that's all you thought about. Is that all you think about now? Well, if it is, you're lost. But they that are at the Spirit
do mind the things of the Spirit. They've got their mind on other
things. Not all the time, because there's
this fight. To be carnally minded, verse
6, is death. These preachers, these idiots,
like to talk about those carnal Christians and their spiritual
Christians. They don't have a clue. If your carnal mind is damned,
your Christian mind is a liar and a thief. Now, in verse 10, look at this.
Look at this. He says, If Christ be in you,
the body is dead because of sin. You're carrying around a dead
body. You're an eagle in a worm's body. You just long to mount
up on your wing, which you can't fly. You cannot fly. Your mind flies. Your spirit
soars. Boy, you're bound by this flesh. We were down at the lake the
other day. Kelly was, he had a concrete
block. He was going to give John an
anchor for his boat. He had a concrete block with
it. It had sunk his boat if he'd have put it in. He was just kidding.
But he had this rope over his shoulder with his concrete block
on it, dragging it. I said, that's us, isn't it? That's us. We're dragging around
this old dead body. We can't get it out. We can't
do what we want to do. We can't run. We can't fly. But now our Lord said
this, for our comfort. Our Lord said, Sin shall not
have dominion over you. Didn't He say that? In Romans 6, through Paul, He
said that. Sin shall not have dominion over
you. What does that mean? It means you won't have dominion
over you. That the new man, greater is he that is in you than he
that is in the one. That's talking about the Holy Spirit. Those who are led by the Spirit
are sons of God. The Spirit's going to teach us,
lead us, guide us, going to restrain us, constrain us, going to convict
us. The only reason we don't do what
we're capable of doing is the Spirit of God. And anything good comes out of
us, that's that new creature. The Holy Spirit. Let me ask you
this. What's the difference? And I
want to close this up. What's the difference between
the natural conscience that people have and the Holy Spirit dwelling
in a person? What's the difference between
the natural conscience? People out there have a conscience that
convicts them of wrong. Right? Even a native in the jungle
knows it's wrong to steal another man's basket or knife or something. Why? How does he know that? He's
got a conscience. It's something of the law of
God written on the heart of every human being. All right, there's a conscience.
But a conscience, all a conscience can do is convict a wrong. It
can't grant you repentance. It can't grant faith. It can't
give you love of the truth, the fruit of the Spirit. Conscience
is the law of God to make every person accountable to God. Let me say it again. Conscience is the law of God
in everybody's heart to make every human being, whether it's
a native in the jungle or a corporate executive, accountable to God
for breaking His law. They know it's wrong, but they
do it anyway. Do people listen to their conscience? No. Not generally. All right, let
me ask you this. What about some people out there
that seem to be real, real nice people? What about people out there in
the world that don't believe the truth, that seem to be real
sweet, real kind, real loving, consider it thoughtful sacrifice. You know some people like that.
What about them? Well, thank God for that. Thank
God for that. That's God Almighty restraining
and constraining. Right? Or we'd all kill each
other. Thank God for that. But now, wait a minute now. That
person we were talking about just then. You tell them the
truth. You bring the truth up, and you
watch them turn into a devil. That sweet, nice person you think
is the most wonderful, you bring up the truth and say, God Almighty
elected people before the world began, irregardless before they
ever said God elected people. You watch the veins pop out on
their cute little necks. When the truth of God, the law
of God, really comes out, then the sin comes out in a man. I
don't care how sweet and how nice that person may seem to
us. When the truth is confronted with the truth, a natural man
is enmity against God. Try it. Try it. It's so. It's so. They hate it. Too bad, but they do. Well, what's
the difference between conscience and the Holy Spirit? All right,
the Holy Spirit convicts of sin. That's what
Christ said. When He comes, He'll convince
of your sin. Those sweet, nice people don't
believe they're sinners. Try to tell them they are. They'll
get mad at you. But the Holy Spirit takes, He'll
take a real sweet, nice, and may I use one of you? Well, I'll
not call any names, but there's some in here who was like that
before the Lord saved you. You didn't lie in the gutter
like some of us did. You were nice, sweet, kind people,
civil, moral and all of that, were you? Let me ask you now
that the gospel comes, what do you think about yourself? Ask
them. Ask that person when the gospel
came, ask them, what were you really like? Rotten to the core. One of those formerly sweet ladies
is saying rotten to the core. No good. The Holy Spirit convinces
of sin in light of God's perfect holiness. That's the standard. We don't measure whether or not
a person's good by man's goodness, but by God's goodness. And the
Holy Spirit convinces of sin, of righteousness, that we don't
have it. And the Holy Spirit grants repentance. Repentance means to turn. Repentance
means to turn. Everybody's got something they
hope in. Most people, it's their goodness,
their religion. their profession, something they
hope that they've done to appease God. Even a jungle native, he
cuts himself, he does something to appease an angry God. Why does he know that? But he
tries to do things. And he's got something he's done
or quit doing that he or she thinks This is it. Now that I've done this or not
done this, quit doing that. I'm okay with God now. And there's
hope in that. Repentance, more than anything
else, is to turn from that. It's to renounce that false refuge
and hope. Renounce your righteousness.
And it's to turn from idols to the living God. The Holy Spirit
causes us to grow in grace and the knowledge of Christ. You
see, Christ is everything. I mean everything. True believers
that are indwelled by the Holy Spirit, it doesn't make them
talk like idiots. It makes them talk in the language
of Christ. Everything that comes out of
their mouth has something to do with Christ. You know what? You ask them their
hope. For the hope that's in them,
they'll say, Christ is all. And they see, the Holy Spirit
opens their eyes, they begin to see Christ everywhere. Everywhere. All right, in closing, let me
ask you a question. This will interest you. You've
asked this question. Why doesn't God completely take
the old man out of you? Why didn't he do that when he
saved us? Why do we have to dwell with that old fellow? Why didn't
he get rid of him? Have you ever asked that? Sure you have. Well, I told you,
he is dead as far as God's concerned. God's not on a time known unto God or all his work,
but let me give you a couple of reasons. If there was no old man in us,
if there was no sin in us, we couldn't live in this world. We couldn't live
here. Christ could only live 33 years. He was a man of sorrows and acquainted
with grief from his youth up and struggling with his sweat
and blood. We couldn't live here. You understand that? We couldn't
live here amongst all these sinners. Does that make sense? We couldn't
live here. We'd want to kill ourselves.
We couldn't do that because that's sin. You understand? on dry land or
an animal in the water. Couldn't breathe, we couldn't
cope. Our Lord was God and he could
live here as a man amongst this sinful, but it was so repulsive to his nature. Understand? Everything you heard,
everything you saw, everything you dealt with, we coiled at
it. Understand? Secondly, the world would kill
us. It'd kill us. What happens to these alien creatures?
Hollywood, you ever thought about this? Hollywood makes a movie
of some some creature from outer space and they make him innocent.
Like E.T. I saw another movie, Starman. You see that Jeff Bridges? Starman. He was an innocent creature from
outer space, what do people try to do? They kill him. Christ said that. He said, I
have no sin. I come, I expose your sin. And
what do they try to do? They try to get rid of him. He's
showing us that. I was okay before he came. You
understand? The world kills. That's one reason. I'm sure there are many others,
but that's all I can come up with. Someday God is going to
kill this man, this old man, this body of death. He's going
to lay it in the ground. That old man, Paul Mahan. When you put this body on the
ground, he's done with it. He's dead. I mean dead, dead. The old man, he'll never raise
his ugly head again, and the new man is set free. Fly. Be with God. And Paul, this is
a mystery. He said, Behold, I show you a
mystery. We're going to be chained. He's going to raise these vile
bodies. This corruptible must put on incorruption. This mortal
must put on immortality. He's going to raise us in a sinless
body. There's nothing wrong with this
body. The problem is not the body. It's this principle. It's
the sin nature that we inherited from our father in heaven that's
there. God's going to put that. There's
nothing wrong with the body. You understand? We don't blame
it on our bodies. It's this law. It's this nature,
sin nature. God's going to kill that. And this body, He's going to
raise it sinless. And you know, we're going to
do the things God created man to do. God's going to create
a new heaven and a new earth, and we're going to do things
that man was created to do. We're going to eat. We're not
going to get fat. We're not going to be gluttonous,
but we're going to eat. We're going to drink. Why? We're not
going to get drunk. We're going to laugh. We're going
to sing. We're going to play. We're going to enjoy things.
There's nothing wrong with these things. It's just sin that dwelleth
in it. There are going to be once and
for all, finally, holy sons of God without sin. Oh, Paul said,
I long for that. Don't you? And like I said, I
didn't give you a how-to for just a while. And it's just a
fact. If you struggle with this, if
all of that means something to you, be of good cheer. Christ
said, I've overcome the world. I've overcome your sin. The old
man, he's dead and dying, soon to be eradicated. But that new
creature that's in you, It perfects that which concerneth us. What
God has begun, He'll finish it. We're created and He's predestined
us to be conformed to the image of Christ. Someday we will be
just like Him in every way, without sin. All right, that's the best
I can do. As old Scott would say, that's
the best I can do. Stand with me. Our Father, thank You for Your
Word, even that which convicts us, that which tells us how guilty
we are. Thank You for it. Thank You for
opening our understanding of Your Word. We might see clearly. We dare not trust our own righteousness. We repent of our sins. We have hope that You've done
a work in us. And we pray for that day to be
hastened. We look forward to it, a day
when we'll be totally without sin. Until then, take not thy
Holy Spirit from us, but lead us and guide us, we pray, into
all truth. Restrain us, restrain the old
man, mortify those members, and constrain us, we pray. Cause the newsman to grow in
grace and knowledge of Christ. It's in his name we pray. Amen. you

Old Man/New Man

What does the Bible say about the struggle with sin in believers?

How do we know the doctrine of original sin is true?

Why is the new birth important for Christians?

How does the Holy Spirit help believers in their struggle with sin?

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About Paul Mahan

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Old Man/New Man

What does the Bible say about the struggle with sin in believers?

How do we know the doctrine of original sin is true?

Why is the new birth important for Christians?

How does the Holy Spirit help believers in their struggle with sin?

Sermon Transcript

About Paul Mahan

Comments

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