Would you open your Bibles with
me to the book of Romans chapter 8. Romans chapter 8. Last week I preached on the subject
of man's inability and Christ's ability. And I'm going to continue
that subject today. Man's inability. man's inability
to save himself, man's inability to even desire salvation in God's
way by nature, and Christ's ability. The salvation that is of the
Lord, based upon not our abilities, but upon Christ's ability. He is able. Give you just an idea of what
gave rise to these messages. I mentioned last week that we
got a phone call from a TV listener about this subject of the will
of man. Does man have a free will and
all of that? I talked a little bit about that.
I'll say some more about it today. And, you know, I often say, well,
man's free to choose anything he wants to choose. But his will
is not free from his nature. I often use the illustration
with our children of a wolf and a sheep. If you built a pen in
a green pasture, and you put a sheep in that pen, and the
sheep gets hungry, what's the sheep going to eat? It's going
to eat the grass. Why? Because of his own free
will, he chooses to have grass today? No, because he's a sheep.
That's the nature of a sheep. What is it? Omnivores? No, that eats everything, doesn't
it? Herbivores, that's it, alright. But now you put a wolf in there
with the sheep and he gets hungry, what's he gonna eat? He's gonna
eat the sheep. Not because of his own free will,
he's a wolf. That's what wolves do. That's
how wolves are born. And what about man? Why does he sin? Because he's
born dead in trespasses and sins. We'll talk about that. But let's
look at Romans chapter 8 concerning this. Incidentally, another reason
that I got on this subject is I've been preparing a series
of messages that I'm going to be preaching here on the new creation. If any man
be in Christ, he's a new creature or creation. And I've been studying
in the scriptures, well, you know, if I'm a believer, if I'm
a sinner saved by grace, if that's what you are, then what's new
about me? What's new? And I've been looking
up in the scripture, everything that the scripture says is new
about God's people. I want to know something about
that. One of the things that's new is that we're given a new
will by the power of God's grace. And we'll see that in just a
moment. But let's look at Romans chapter eight. Look at verse
1, it says, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which
are in Christ Jesus. Isn't that a glorious statement?
No condemnation. Christ has taken our condemnation. And he describes them this way,
who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit. What is
it to walk after the flesh? What is it to walk after the
spirit? And then he says, for the law of the spirit of life
in Christ Jesus. Now that's the gospel. The gospel
of God's free and sovereign grace in Christ. Hath made me free
from the law of sin and death. That's the law that pronounces
sinners condemned based on their character and conduct. And look
at verse three, for what the law could not do in that it was
weak through the flesh. Now you have to ask yourself
this question about that. What is it the law cannot do? Well, you remember last week,
if you were here last week, if you weren't, you'll understand
this too, but look over at Romans chapter 3, that was my text last
week, beginning at verse 9. And I talked about what we call,
or what sometimes theologians call, the total depravity of
man. And what the total depravity
of man, the total depravity of man is not just part of some
man's system of theology. Some people call it Calvinism.
It didn't start with John Calvin. It started back in Genesis chapter
3, really where it started. But the total depravity of man
just simply is a term used to describe the biblical doctrine
of sin. Now we need to know and understand
the biblical doctrine of sin. The Bible says if we're saved,
we're saved from sin. Jesus Christ came into the world
to save sinners of whom I am chief. His name shall be called
Jesus for he shall save his people from their sins. What have I
been saved from? The doctrine of total depravity
is sometimes called the doctrine of total inability. They're one
and the same. Which states that man by his
fall into a state of sin, and that's our fallen Adam, ruined
by the fall, that man has wholly lost, totally lost the all ability
of will to any spiritual good. Spiritual good, and we have to
say it this way, according to God's standard of good. And any ability to attain the
righteousness he needs for salvation. We just can't make it. All have
sinned and come short of the glory of God. We fell in Adam,
as by one man's sin entered into the world, and death by sin.
For death passed upon all men that all sinned. Romans 5.12.
And all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. That's
Romans 3.23. We've missed the mark. What that literally means in
verse 23, look at that, for all have sinned and come short of
the glory of God. To come short of the glory of God means to
miss the mark. And what that says is that no
matter how improved we become in our efforts to be holy or
to be righteous, no matter how high we attain as human beings,
sinful human beings, we still miss the mark. Man's religion cannot equal what
we need to hit the mark. We'll always fall short. And
that's why Brother Joe reads Psalm 39. Man at his best state
is altogether what? Vanity. So the best that man
can attain. Now it's easy for a preacher
to stand up in a pulpit and talk about the dregs of society. the
lowlifes, the criminals, the perverts, all of that. That's
pretty well said. By nature, man knows that these
things are wrong. These acts of immorality, acts
of criminality are wrong. That's what Paul wrote in Romans
2, even about the Gentiles who didn't have the law. They had
a conscience. Now granted, some people spend their lives trying
to squelch and salve over that conscience with different things.
Even to the point that they come, as Paul wrote in Romans 1, to
have a reprobate mind. That's a mind void of understanding. A mind void of a conscience. But you see, here's what the
Bible teaches about sin. It teaches that even the best
of us, the highest, the most admired, the hardest working,
the most religious, we still miss the mark. Now, if you start
there, you'll get an idea of what this doctrine of total depravity
is all about. Man is not able to attain righteousness. That's the first part of that
depravity. Look at Romans 3 and verse 10. As it is written, there
is none righteous, no, not one. Now, remember we read back in
Romans 8, 3 there. For what the law cannot do, Well,
here's what the law cannot do. Here's one thing it cannot do.
It cannot pronounce or judge a sinner to be righteous based
on that sinner's works. Can't do it. Because no sinner
ever comes close to meeting the mark. Look down at Romans 3.19. Now we know that what thing soever
the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every
mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before
God. Therefore, by the deeds of the
law there shall no flesh be justified in God's sight." That means to
be justified is to be not guilty and to be righteous in God's
sight. For by the law is the knowledge of sin. See, all the
law can do is tell me I'm a sinner. It cannot pronounce me righteous. If it did, it would be a lie.
That is based on my character and conduct, based on my works,
alright? And you remember last week, I
mean, look at verse 9 of Romans 3. Paul writes, what then, are
we better than they? What he's doing is comparing
Jew and Gentile here. Jews who had the law, Gentiles
who didn't have the law, but they had conscience. He said,
are we better than they? Are the Jews better than the
Gentiles in this matter of attaining righteousness? Because they had
the law of Moses. You know, the Jews boasted of
three things as the ground of their relationship with God,
their physical connection with Abraham, their circumcision,
and their law keeping. And so now here's the Jew who
had the law. They were the chosen people of
God in that old covenant. Now, here's the Gentiles. They didn't have the law, but
they had conscience. They had civil laws. They had moral laws. They had religion. You know,
it says there's none righteous, no not one. Doesn't say there's
none religious, no not one. Man by nature is religious, read
Ecclesiastes. That's what that's really about. Man's religious by nature. But
he says, are we better than they? And the answer is no, in no wise
or no way. For we have before proved both
Jews and Gentiles that they are all under sin. Now, whatever
he's talking about, it covers all human beings. fallen in Adam,
Jew and Gentile. And remember I said, when I read
a lot of these scriptures, ask yourself this question, when
whoever he's talking about, are we better than they? Verse 10,
as it is written, there's none righteous, no, not one. Now who's
he talking about? Talking about Jew and Gentile. If you think
he's talking about somebody else, then ask yourself this question,
am I better than they? Well, what does religion tell
you? What do your friends tell you?
Doesn't matter really, does it? I tell you the only thing that
really matters is what does God say. God says no and no why. So the total
inability of man lies in the inability first to be righteous
or to work out a righteousness. You can't do it. I can't do it. Now, if you've been convinced
of sin by the Holy Spirit, that makes sense to you because you
know you need a righteousness you can't produce. You need mercy. You need grace. And remember
I said this comparison here that he makes is given in light of
the revelation of the righteousness of God. Over in Romans 1, 17,
the gospel is the revelation of the righteousness of God.
What is that righteousness of God? Well, he tells us it's the
merits of Christ. It's the obedience unto death
of the Lord Jesus Christ. It's not my obedience. It's not
my suffering. It's not my death. It's Christ's
obedience, Christ's suffering, Christ's death. He is that righteousness. In Romans 4 he tells us it's
a righteousness that's imputed, charged, accounted to us. Just
as David said it in Romans 4, 6-8. Blessed is the man to whom
the Lord imputeth righteousness without works. Man can't be saved
by His words, can't be righteous by His words. Christ worked it
out, it's charged to me. My sins were charged to Him.
2 Corinthians 5.21, He was made sin. That means my sins were
charged to Him. That's what that whole context
is about there. He took my debt, paid my debt,
and gave me the value, the merits of His righteousness so that
I can stand righteous before God. And then it's a righteousness
we receive by God-given faith. That's the new birth. For Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believe it.
Now, so man's inability. And then, look there at Romans
3 now. Now what the law cannot do, it
cannot pronounce you righteous, judge you righteous, because
it deals in truth. God judges according to truth,
not to what we imagine or want or what. It cannot do it. It cannot make you righteous.
It cannot make you holy. It cannot remove sin. It can
only look at things as they are and make the judgment. The second
thing the law cannot do is it cannot give you spiritual life. It cannot bring you to new birth,
regeneration and conversion. It can't give you a will, a new
will. that desires the things of God.
You see, man's inability secondly lies in the inability to choose
righteousness according to God's standard. Put it this way, the
inability to choose that which glorifies God, that which exalts
Christ, that which excludes boasting within himself. Look at verse
10 or verse 11 of Romans 3. There's none that understand
it. The law cannot give you an understanding of how God saves
sinners. It can show you your sin. He
says, there's none that seeketh after God. Now notice, you know
Brother Mahan, when I hear him preach on this, he'd always say
this, he'd always say, now notice it doesn't say there's none that
seeketh after a God. As I said, men are religious
by nature. The flesh has its religion. All kinds of them,
really. So, to seek after God means to
what? It means to seek after Him according
to His Word as He reveals Himself in the salvation of sinners by
Christ. And that's what man doesn't want.
We don't want that by nature. If you have a desire, a true
desire for that, that's a God-given desire. The law cannot do that
for you. It takes the Spirit of God to
do that for you. The Spirit of God enters in and
brings a sinner to faith in Christ and repentance. Verse 12, they
are all gone out of the way. Who is the way? Christ said,
I'm the way, the truth and the life. Man will go every other
way but the one way. If left to his own will, his
own fallen will, if you're left to your own fallen will, you'll
go every way but the one way, the right way. You'll go the
broad way but not the narrow way. You'll go the way that leads
to death. There's a lot of ways that lead
to death. But you won't go the way of Christ. Not truly now.
And then he says, they are together become unprofitable. There's
none that doeth good, no not one. Now am I better than they?
No. That's man by nature. That's total depravity. Look
back at Romans 8, verse 3. Now listen to it, for what the
law could not do, can't do it for you, can't do it for me.
It cannot pronounce me righteous. It cannot give me a heart to
believe Christ. It cannot regenerate me. It cannot
convert me. Now why cannot the law do that? Look at it, in that it was weak
through the flesh. He's talking about sinful flesh.
He's talking about man there in a fallen state. You see, there
was no weakness in the law. There is no defect in the law.
The weakness and the defect is here. It's in us. We're sinners. And so what happened? Well, for what the law could
not do and that it was weak through the flesh, God sending His own
Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, God the Son incarnate, the Word made
flesh, in the fullness of the time, God sent forth His Son
made of a woman. That's His incarnation. He's
God-man. made under the law. He was made
under the law. What does that mean? That means
all that God requires of His people, His elect, chosen in
Him before the foundation of the world, whose names are written
in the Lamb's Book of Life, all the salvation of the elect was
conditioned on Christ, not on them, on Christ keeping the law. satisfying its justice. He was
made under the law. So God sending his own son in
the likeness of sinful flesh, that's his human nature without
sin. Christ had a full, listen, Christ was every bit, is every
bit God in every attribute of deity and he's every bit human
being in every attribute of humanity without sin. He's God-man. That's the kind of person that
it takes to save sinners like us. And it says, and for sin. Now you might see in your context,
in your concordance there, if you have a sinner concordance
or an end concordance, it says by sacrifice for sin. And that's
what he's talking about. Christ died for sin. He died
because of our sin. He died as a substitute. He didn't
die as a martyr. He didn't die even as an example.
Now let me make that clear. Christ is the greatest example
of holiness and righteousness and love that you'll ever find
in the annals of history. He is. He's a great example.
He is the example. He's the prime example. He didn't
die as an example. And let me say this. Christ on
the cross is the greatest expression of the love of God for his sheep
that's ever been. But he didn't die just as an
expression of love. He died as a substitute. He took
my place. He died as a surety. He put my
sin away. He paid my debt. He established
righteousness to ensure and guarantee life for his people. He didn't
try to save anybody. He didn't make salvation a possibility. He didn't die to bring out some
blanket pardon or general amnesty that would only go into effect
if you receive it or accept it or believe it. No, sir. He died
as a surety. He's the surety, the sinner's
substitute. The whole Old Testament, every
bit of animal blood that was shed under that old covenant
was a picture and type of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of
God. And what did He do when He died
for sin? Look at it. He condemned sin
in the flesh. Here He is, the God-man. God
in human flesh. What did He do? He condemned
sin. Daniel put it this way in Daniel
9 and verse 24. He finished the transgression
and made an end of sin and brought about everlasting righteousness.
He condemned sin. Now that's something. Don't let
that pass by you. You know what? If He didn't condemn
sin, you know what would happen? Sin would condemn us. But by
His death, put it this way, by His condemnation under the law
based on our sins imputed, charged, accounted to Him, He drank damnation
dry. He condemned sin. So that we
can say there is therefore now no condemnation to them who are
in Christ. Not condemned. Not even condemnable. Because
Christ died. Now look at verse 4. Now He did
all that that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit. Now
what does that mean the righteousness of the law? fulfilled in us. Well, is that talking about,
does that mean that he enables us now to keep the law perfectly?
No, read Romans 7, 14 through 25 and a myriad of other scriptures. What are we to, if I'm saved,
what am I? I'm a sinner saved by grace.
I still cannot claim righteousness based on anything I do or don't
do. Can't do it. I still fall short in my best
efforts to keep the law. Well then, how can you have righteousness? In Christ. God made Him sin. Christ who knew no sin for us
that we might be made the righteousness of God. What's the last two words?
In Him. I'm righteous. Not in myself.
One day I will be. When I go to be with Him in glory,
I'll be righteous in myself. But not today. That day's not
today. We've had several of our brothers
and sisters who have passed away in these last few years and months. And right now, they have no sin
within them. They were righteous in Christ,
holy in Christ, before they left this earth. But they weren't
righteous and holy themselves. Now they are. No tears, no sorrow,
no thought. Can you imagine an hour of your
life where you have no sinful thoughts? You can't do it. If you think you can, you're
just lying to yourself. You say, well, when I'm asleep, no. I
don't believe that. I believe you probably have some
dreams you've just forgot about them if you don't remember. I
dream all the time but don't remember what I dream. But I
know it's not holy. No. The only way we can claim
righteousness today is in Christ. So the righteousness of the law
fulfilled in us doesn't mean that we're enabled now to be
perfect in our character and conduct. Well, that the righteousness
of the law might be fulfilled in us, is that talking about
what they call imparted righteousness? That there's some perfection
within me that vies for control? I contend that if you have perfection
in you, it does not have to vie for control. Nothing can bring
perfection down. Because if you have perfection
in you, it's the perfection of God, and nothing can touch or
contaminate that. That's right. You say, well,
Adam was perfect, and he was brought down. Well, Adam had
human righteousness, even in the garden. He didn't have the
righteousness of God. You see, in salvation, by the
grace of God, we have the righteousness of God. That's Christ. Adam had righteousness, he did,
but it was human. And therefore, it couldn't last.
But we have an everlasting righteousness of infinite value, cannot be
contaminated, cannot be controlled by anything outside of itself.
Sin cannot mar it because it's the righteousness of God. Well,
what does it mean that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled
in us? Well, look what he says afterward, who walk not after
the flesh, but after the spirit. The righteousness of the law
fulfilled in us is when the Holy Spirit brings us in the new birth
under conviction of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment to lay hold of
Christ from our hearts and proclaim and submit to him as the Lord
our righteousness. That's when the righteousness
of the law is fulfilled in a sinner, saved by grace. When he lays
hold of Christ, And he says, just like the apostle Paul said
it in Philippians 3 verse 9, that I may know him and be found
in him, not having mine own righteousness which is of the law, but that
which is through the faith of Jesus Christ, even the righteousness
which is of God by faith. It's believing in Christ. That's
the new birth. You know, look at verse, and
this walk after the flesh. Now look at verse 5, he says,
for they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh. Now what can the flesh attain? The flesh here refers to how
we are born naturally, born by nature. Paul wrote about that
over in Ephesians chapter 2 when he described it this way in verse
1. He says, and you hath he quickened
who were dead in trespasses and sin, walking dead, spiritually
dead. wherein in times past you walked
according to the course of this world, that's the world in opposition
to God, according to the prince of the power of the air, that's
satanic, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience,
that's unbelief, among whom also we all had our conversation in
times past in the lust of our flesh, fulfilling the desires
of the flesh and of the mind, the carnal mind we're gonna look
at. and we're by nature as we're born naturally, children of wrath
even as others. If you're one of God's elect,
you're never a child of wrath. God chose you in Christ before
the foundation of the world. But when you're born dead and
trespassed as sin, there's no difference between you and a
child of wrath. Now, all that description, it's
like back over here in Romans 8. You walk after the flesh.
What do you think of when you hear somebody walking after the
flesh? Do you just think of, as I mentioned
before, the dregs of society, the criminals, the guys who all
end up in jail, the drug pushers, is that who you think of? Well,
they do walk after the flesh, don't they? That's sinful human
behavior and it deserves damnation. But when you see a man like the
Apostle Paul used of God to write these words, think of him before
he was saved. His name was what? Saul of Tarsus. What was he doing? What was his
lifestyle? He was a religious Pharisee,
wasn't he? You can read about it in Philippians
chapter 3. He was a Hebrew of Hebrews. He was circumcised the
eighth day. It's touching the law of Pharisee.
Think about the false preachers that Christ exposed in Matthew
7. Haven't we preached in your name? cast out demons. Haven't we done many wonderful
works? Think about the Pharisee and the publican. The Pharisee,
I thank God that I'm not like other men. I'm not an extortioner.
I pray and fast twice in the week. All of that. Do you realize
that that's who the Bible includes when it talks about people walking
after the flesh? Think about the preacher standing
behind the pulpit preaching salvation by the works of man. You know
what he's doing? He's thinking after the flesh,
he's walking after the flesh, and his message is a message
of the flesh. He's preaching after the flesh.
That's right. But what is it to walk after
the Spirit? It's to walk by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, looking
to, resting in Him for all salvation, for all righteousness, for all
forgiveness, for all glory, and serving him motivated by love
and grace and gratitude. That's what it is. Look at verse
five. He says, again, he says, for
they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh,
but they that are after the spirit, the things of the spirit. Now
you know what's happened here? Somebody's been given a new mind. They that are after the spirit,
they mind the things of the spirit. Now here you are, in the flesh. But something's happened in your
life. Sometime. And now you mind the
things of the Spirit. Now what made the difference? You say, well, I accepted Jesus
as my personal Savior. Or I walked an aisle. Or I got
baptized. I joined the church. I made a
choice. Well, there's your Savior. Right
there. That's your Savior. Are we better
than they? Here's the Jews back in the Old
Covenant. They didn't bow to the commandments. They didn't
seek after the Lord. What happened? Well, they were
born that way. Look at verse 6. He says, for
to be carnally minded is death. What is the carnal mind? That's
the fleshly mind. How do you get a carnal mind?
You're born with it. That's how you get it. That's
what you're born with. That didn't come because of your
own free will. In fact, your will is in bondage
to carnality. Now, you can be religious, and
many are. You can even be moral as to society's
standards. You can be a good person as far
as man's judgment of that is concerned. Isn't that right? But then he says, but to be spiritually
minded is life and peace. There's a spiritual mind. You
say, now I have a spiritual mind. How did you get the spiritual
mind? Well, I made the right choice. Well, what about those
who didn't? Are you better than them? There's
a lot who don't make the right choice. You see, remember I told
you last week, man's will, the free will of man and this thing
of total depravity and inability, man's inability doesn't mean
that he can't make choices. Yes, you make choices every day.
I make choices every day. We make bad choices. We make
responsible choices, even good choices in this life. There are
consequences to the bad choices. You get out here and you choose
to put the pedal to the metal and the lights show up, you've
made a bad choice, friend. And usually you'll pay the penalty. You chose to come to worship
today and to listen, that's a good choice. I hope it'll do you some
good. It does me good. So the inability
is not that we don't make choices. The inability is that we won't
and will not and do not want to choose Christ for all salvation. We want some credit. When it
all comes down, when it's all over but the shout, we want to
say, we made the difference. whether it's just a choice or
whether it's working all your life or beating yourself on the
back with a whip or whatever, whatever makes that difference,
it's got to come down to man. There's where man's inability
lies, right there. So you say, this carnal mind,
look at verse seven, because the carnal mind is enmity against
God. Now the word enmity, what does
that mean? I'll tell you exactly what it is. It means you're an
enemy. It means hatred. Somebody said one time, said,
well preacher, I don't, I don't, I don't hate God. I just don't
believe what you preach about him. I said, well, you hate the
God I preach. You don't want him. You don't
love him. You don't submit to him. You
don't believe in him. To his mind, that's hatred. Now
what he said, if you're not for me, you're what? against me? There's no neutrality here, folks.
It's just not there. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. Look over at John chapter 3. Remember last week I read in
1 Corinthians 2.14, it says, The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God. Neither can he know them, for
they are spiritually discerned. Now you hear that? That's 1 Corinthians
2.14. You turn to John 3. The natural man. Who's the natural man? That's
what we are by nature. That's how we're born in Adam.
Dead in trespasses and sins. The natural man receiveth not
the things of the Spirit of God. Neither can he know them. That
means saving the understand them. for they're spiritually discerned,
they're spiritually valued and estimated and judged. Well, look
at what Christ told this religious man, Nicodemus. In verse 3, he
says, Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say
unto thee. John 3 and verse 3. Verily, verily,
I say unto thee, except a man be born again, literally born
from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God. Now a lot of
times when I'm preaching, I'll ask the question, do you see
what I'm talking about? What I mean by that is do you understand
what I'm saying? It's not just do you see it with
the physical eye. And what he's saying here is
except a man be born again, he cannot understand the kingdom
of God. Because the natural man receiveth
not the things of the spirit of God, neither can he know them.
And then look down at verse Well, look at verse five. He says, Jesus answered, Verily,
verily, I say unto thee, except a man be born of water and of
the spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. The new birth
is the entrance by experience of the king. You see, having
been ruined by the fall, what has to take place for our salvation?
Number one, we've got to be redeemed by the blood. Isn't that right?
Because the law cannot pronounce me righteous. The law cannot
cleanse me of sin. The law cannot make me justified
before God. And so because the law can't
do it because it's weak through the hood, God sent His Son to
do what? Made of a woman, made under the
law, to redeem them that were under the law. Redemption by
the blood. It's not redemption by your will
or my will, it's redemption by the blood. Secondly, we've got
to be regenerated by the Holy Spirit. You must be born again. Now here's Nicodemus walking
after the flesh. He was a member of the Sanhedrin.
He was in the high office of the Jewish religion. Why is that
so? Look at verse 6. That which is
born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit
is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee,
you must be born again. I'll not amaze you. What is the
state of the natural mind, the carnal mind, the unregenerate
mind? Look down at verse 19 of John
3. This is the condemnation that light has come into the world
and men loved darkness rather than light because their deeds
were evil. Now does that include Nicodemus
or is that just talking about the immoral criminals? No, it includes Nicodemus. Does
it include Cain? What did Cain do that was so
bad? He brought his works to God. That was spitting in the
face of God. That was a loud proclamation
that Christ, whom Cain knew as the seed of woman, the Messiah,
did not have to come for him. I can do it on my own. And so his deeds were evil. Cain's
offering was evil. Because it denies God. It denies
Christ. It gives the flesh room to boast.
And he says, verse 20, For everyone that doeth evil hateth the light,
neither cometh the light, lest his deeds should be reprieved.
Turn back to John 1. Christ said you must be born
again. Or you cannot see, you cannot know, you cannot enter
the Kingdom of Heaven. Look at verse 11. of John 1. The He there is Christ. The Word
made flesh. It says, He came unto His own
and His own received Him not. Now listen to it. He came unto
His own and His own received Him not. Now ask yourself the
question before we go any further. Am I better than them? Are we
better than they? Well, look at verse 12. But as
many as received him, now some received him, to them gave he
power. That word power there means right.
It's not talking about ability there. The word power that means
ability is the word we get our English word dynamite from. The
gospel is the power of God unto salvation. This is another word.
It means right. We have the right. What gives
me the right to say I'm a child of God? That's what he's talking
about. To them, as many as received him, to them gave he the right,
the privilege, you might say. What gives me that right? Well,
I've received Christ. Now my receiving him didn't make
the difference. He made the difference. But look on, to become the sons
of God even to them that believe on his name, look at verse 13,
which were born, not of blood. That's physical heritage. He
said that specifically because the Jews imagined that because
they were physical descendants of Abraham that that made them
automatically children of God. No you're not, that kind of birth
won't help you. It doesn't matter whether you're
Jew or Gentile. It's not of blood. Nor of the will of the flesh.
That refers to the works of man. That's what it's talking about.
That will of the flesh is the will of the flesh to work our
way unto God. That's what we will. That's the
bondage of the will right there. The will of the flesh. Our wills
are in bondage to the flesh. It's not free. And by nature, in the flesh,
what are we going to want to do? Someway, somehow, we're going
to want to take credit for our salvation. That's what you want
to do by now. That's what I want to do by now.
That's what, listen, that's what so offended me when I first started
coming here back in the late 70s and hearing Brother May him
preach. I used to tell my mother going
away, we'd be driving now, I'd say, Mom, I'd say, he's crazy. I told her one time, I said,
I bet he doesn't believe anybody and that church is saved but
him. The way he talks. But see, that's the carnal mind
talking. Reasoning. So he says, it's not of the blood,
it's not of the will of the flesh, it's not of works of the flesh.
Now look, nor the will of man. That's the desire. That's the
natural desires of man. But of God. If you truly believe in the Lord
Jesus Christ, my friend, your salvation is of the Lord, not
of you. Not of you. And we could go to
so many scriptures that talk about that. As I said, natural
man, he can make choices. His will is free in the sense
that it is not controlled by any force outside of Himself.
The old writers used to call that a free moral agent. But
within, what is man controlled by? What is man by nature controlled
by? Sin, selfishness, pride, self-love. And I am going to tell you something,
left to yourself, left to myself, we cannot get away from it. Cannot. You must be born again. Let me show you one more scripture
and I'll close. Look at Romans 9. Romans 9. Verse 13, he talks about Jacob
and Esau. He said, Jacob have I loved,
but Esau have I hated. You know how people look at that.
Somebody says, I can't understand why he hated Esau. I can. What
I can't understand is why he loved Jacob. We're all Jacobs by nature. But he says in verse 14, what
shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with
God? Is God unfair and unjust? God forbid, for he saith to Moses,
I'll have mercy on whom I will have mercy. I'll have compassion
on whom I will have compassion. So then, it is not of him that
willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy. Now my friend, every sinner whom
God saves, He sends His Spirit under the
preaching of the Gospel. And you know what He does? He
makes you willing in the day of His power. And here's the
question you need to ask, or you need to consider. Here's
the way we need to think. Am I willing to receive this
Christ God's way? Am I willing to submit to His
righteousness, His way? Because if you are, It's the
Spirit of God that made you willing. Now you come to Christ. You seek
Him, believe in Him, and receive Him. And just like I said last
week, you'll be a walking, talking miracle of grace of God's sovereign
mercy. All right.