Would you turn to Luke 24? Luke 24. Now this is
the response of the 11 after they heard the report of the
resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 11. And their words seem to them
as idle tales and they believe them not. Verse six, this is the angel
speaking to the women. He's not here, but is risen. Remember how he spake unto you
when he was yet in Galilee. Now, on at least three different
occasions, maybe more, but on at least three different occasions,
the Lord told his disciples he would suffer, die, and rise from
the dead. You can read about it in Matthew
chapter 16, Matthew chapter 17, and Matthew chapter 20, those
three different occasions. He said to these men and others,
I'm going to be mistreated, by the Pharisees, I'm going to be
put to death by crucifixion. And the third day I'm going to
be raised from the dead. Now one would think that they
would have been waiting at the tomb. His enemies knew about
it. Remember in Matthew chapter 27,
turn with me there, Matthew chapter 27. Verse 62, this is after his death
and before the resurrection. Now, the next day that followed
the day of the preparation, the chief priests and Pharisees came
together into Pilate saying, sir, we remember that that deceiver
said while he was yet alive, after three days, I'll come again.
His enemies knew it. He told this to his disciples.
So why were they not waiting at his tomb? Why did this message
seem as an idle tale? Why did they believe them not?
Actually, this is very interesting. All four gospels present the
unbelief of the disciples. You remember in John chapter
20, how Thomas said, except I see the print in his hands and the
print in his side and stick my hand in his side, I will not
believe. You remember that. Turn to Mark
chapter 16. Beginning in verse nine. Now, when Jesus was risen early
the first day of the week, he appeared first to Mary Magdalene
out of whom he had cast seven devils. And she went and told
them that had been with him as they mourned and wept. And they,
when they had heard that he was alive and had been seen of her,
believe not. They didn't believe the message
she brought. Verse 12, after that, he appeared to in another
form unto two of them as they walked and went into the country.
This is talking about the two on the road to Emmaus in Luke
chapter 24, that beautiful story. And they went and told it unto
the residue. Neither believe they did. Afterward, he appeared
unto the 11, as they said at meet and upbraided them with
their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they believed
not them, which had seen him after he was risen. Turn to Matthew
chapter 28, verse 17. And when they saw him, they worshiped
him. And that's what people do when
they, by the grace of God, see who he really is all the time. They worshiped. But look at the
next phrase, but some doubted while they were looking at it.
Now, let me say this. That doesn't mean some doubted
and some did not doubt. I don't know why some is in there
in the first place. It reads literally. They saw
him. They worshiped him and they doubted why they're looking at it. They
saw him. The evidence was right there in front of their
face. They worshiped him. What else would you do when you
see him? They worshiped him. And they doubted him. In his very presence, they were
still doubting. Now, I don't have a hard time
understanding this. You know why? because there's
never been a time in my experience when I have not had to pray,
Lord, I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. In my experience, I have never
been delivered from that confession Lord, I believe, and I do, I
believe the gospel. I believe he's the son of God.
I believe that he accomplished salvation. I believe right now
he's on the right hand of the father. I believe his gospel. I do, I believe. Help thou mine
unbelief. Now, this word, some doubted,
is actually only used one other time in the New Testament. It's
used when Peter had been walking on the water toward the Lord,
and the Lord had shown his control of the laws of physics. I love
that, they're his laws. So he walked on the water. Peter's
looking at him, Lord, if it be thou, bid me come to thee on
the water. The Lord said, come, and Peter
got out of that boat and walked down, walking on the water to
go to the Lord Jesus Christ. But you know the story. When
he saw the wind boisterous and the waves, he began to sink. And he cried out, this is one
prayer that I prayed even more than that prayer. Lord, I believe,
help my unbelief. This is my top prayer. Lord,
save me. How many times do I pray that
prayer? Lord, save me, I'm going down. Save me. And the Lord reached
forth his hand and grabbed Peter and pulled him up. And he said,
O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt? Why were you
doubting? Now this word, like I said, it's
only used twice in the New Testament. It means to duplicate, to waiver. To doubt and the etymology of
this word, it's taken out of the word that is twice. Twice. Two things going on. Faith and unbelief. Worship and doubt. And I've been looking at this
passage of scripture. I'm looking at Luke right now, had been for
several years, and I've been looking at that passage of scripture,
trying to know what the significance of this is. And here it is. In this passage of scripture,
we have the teaching of the two natures, the two men. One believes, the other does
not believe. Some worshiped, what does it
take to worship? The Spirit of God, the new nature. They that worship Him must worship
Him in spirit and in truth. We are the circumcision which
worship God in the spirit. rejoice in Christ Jesus. Here's
what somebody does who worships God in the spirit. They rejoice
in Christ Jesus and they have no confidence in the flesh. Anything that has anything to
do with my flesh, I have absolutely no confidence in it. How about you? Is that the way
you view your flesh? The new man always believes. Lord, I believe. The old man never believes. Help thou mine unbelief. Now somebody, if I was not a
believer and somebody came up to me and said, I'm two different
men in the same person. I have two natures. You know
what I think? I think they're probably mentally ill. You probably think that
too. What's wrong with them? That's
strange. Why would they think something like that? And one
of the reasons that is so foreign to anybody's way of thinking
is because while there are two men, the old man and the new
man, the spirit and the flesh, they all come out of only one
consciousness. Not two different consciousness.
Well, there's the new man acting, there's the old man acting. No,
they come out kind of like when you go home and turn, if you
take a bath tonight, if you turn the hot water and the cold water
on, they just come out of one faucet, don't they? I know sometimes
they used to come out of two, but now most of the time they
just come out of one. You got the hot and cold coming out of that one
consciousness. So that makes it difficult to
grasp, I realize that. But someone that God has not
saved only has one nature. And he cannot possibly comprehend
this thing of having two natures. But if God has saved you, you
know you have two natures. You don't have to be talked into
this. You know it from your own experience. And if you say, I
don't know it, well, it's because you only have one nature. That's
the only explanation for that. I believe, help thou mine unbelief. Now, the sinful nature is the
one we were born with. This goes along with the new
birth. The sinful nature is the one we were born with. That which
is born of the flesh is flesh. The new nature is that which
is born of the spirit. That which is born of the spirit
is spirit. Now I've entitled this message,
the teaching of the two natures. What do the two natures have
to say from the scripture? But the first thing I want to
say before I try to get into that, is this in fact what the
scripture teaches? That's what counts. Is this in
fact what the scripture teaches? I've heard many objections to
this and people have fear of the dangerous implications of
this. And they say, it doesn't make sense. Well, does the Bible
teach this? Is it actually the teaching of
holy scripture? It is the uniform teaching of
both Old Testament and New Testament. And I believe I'll be able to
show you that from the scriptures. In Ezekiel chapter 36, verse
26, God said a new heart, one that was not there before. A
new heart, not a changed heart. Somebody says, give Jesus your
heart. What would he want with it? It's
desperately wicked and deceitful above all things. That's the
best thing that can be said about that heart. What would he want
with it? You ask him to give you a new heart. Be like David
who said, create in me a clean heart. Oh God. Now the heart is desperately
wicked, deceitful above all things. It's the fountainhead of all
sin. And understand this, God doesn't change your heart. Your
old heart is just as bad as it ever was. Amen. It hadn't improved. It hadn't
got better. It hadn't become less sinful
and more holy. It's just as bad. The old man
is just as bad as it ever was, but you have a new man. One that
was not there before. A new heart. A new heart also
will I give thee. The same as in Jeremiah 31, when
he says, I'll put my laws within your heart. I'll write them in
your mind. Now, when he's talking about
these laws, he's talking about spiritual life. You know, when
you have physical life, you have certain, well, you've got a respiratory
system, you've got a circulatory system, you've got all these,
I think there are 10 different systems, all in all, when there's
life, and all these systems are operating. Well, when you have
spiritual life, God places his laws. This is not talking about
the Ten Commandments. Somebody that's never heard the Ten Commandments
is born with the Ten Commandments written in their heart. They're
born knowing the difference between right and wrong. The scripture
says that in Romans chapter two, verse 16. All men, Unbelievers
have this law written in their heart. This is talking about
the new man, the new nature, the law of the spirit of life
in Christ Jesus. Now, wherever you have that law
of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, you have the law of righteousness.
You can't be satisfied with anything but a perfect righteousness before
God that honors his holy law. Your confidence, your conscience
can't be satisfied with anything but that. You're gonna have to
be perfect before God. We read of the law of faith.
You cannot not believe. The new man always believes.
We have the law of liberty. I must have liberty. If you put
me under works, I can't handle it. I have to have the law of
liberty. We read of the law of love. I love the Lord, the way
he's revealed in scripture. That's the new man that does
that. This law's put in the heart,
this new man, this new nature. The law of sin, I can't see myself
in any way but this. I find a law that when I would
do good, evil is present with me. Now this is spiritual life. And we're given such a powerful
illustration of this in the Old Testament. Would you turn with
me to Genesis chapter 25? Now what I want us to remember
about the Old Testament, everything in here is given to illustrate
gospel truth. Everything. I know that this
passage of scripture talks about Jacob and Esau. And the first
thing we think about when we think about Jacob and Esau, we
think about Jacob and Esau. I hate it. We think of God's
sovereignty and salvation. And indeed that is taught here.
But look at this passage of scripture with me. Verse 20. And Isaac was 40 years old when
he took Rebecca to wife. The daughter of Bethuel, the
Syrian of Pedanaran, the sister to Laban, the Syrian. And Isaac
entreated the Lord for his wife because she was barren. She had
no life within her. And Isaac entreated the Lord
for his wife because she was barren. And the Lord was entreated
of him. And Rebekah, his wife, conceived. There's now life. And the children
struggled. together there was a fight that
was going on within her now she didn't know she had twins she
had no idea all she knew that now that there was a life there
was a fight that was not there when she didn't have life now
let's go and read him and she said if it be so why am i thus
and she went to inquire of the lord and the lord said unto her
two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall
be separated from thy bowels. You're now two men, two men. And the one people shall be stronger
than the other people, and the elder shall serve the younger. In the New Testament, we read
in Galatians chapter five, verse 17, The flesh lusts against the
spirit. And the spirit lusts, wars against
the flesh. And these are contrary one to
the other so that you cannot do the things that you would.
I would be without sin. I would be perfectly obedient.
I would be just like Christ. I can't. I can't. I've got a sinful, evil
nature that's always there and that always prevents that. I
would be as bad as Satan himself. Satan's got nothing on me and
I really believe that I would be as bad as Satan himself, but
I can't. The spirit will not allow that. Second Corinthians 5, 17, if
any man be in Christ, he's a new creature. He's somebody that
was not there before. This is the teaching of the new
birth. Something has birthed, a man,
a person that was not there before. If any man be in Christ, he's
a new creation. He's a new creature. Old things
are passed away and behold, all things have become new. God has
created something. that was not there before. Then there's that very familiar
scripture in Romans chapter seven. Would you turn with me there? Romans chapter seven, beginning
in verse 14. I love the we knows of the scripture,
don't you? For we know. Sitting up for debate. This isn't
something we wonder about. We know, and Paul is speaking
as the representative of all of God's elect. We, all of God's
people, know that the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold. under sin, sold as a slave to
sin. For that which I do, I allow
not. For what I would, that do I not. But what I hate, that do I. If then I do that which I would
not, I consent to the law that is good. Now then it's no more
I that do it. It was him, the sin that dwelleth in me, that
evil man. For 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's no more I the good,
but sin that dwelleth in me, I find then a law. that when
I would do good, evil is present with me for I delight in the
law of God after the inward man. That's the new man. But I see
another law in my members warring against the law of my mind and
bringing me into captivity to the law of sin, which is in my
members. Oh, wretched man that I am, who should deliver me from
the body of this death. And he's talking about the old
man right there. I thank God. through Jesus Christ our Lord.
So then with my mind, I myself serve the law of God, but with
the flesh, that's the new man and the old man, the law of sin. Now, this is so beautifully illustrated
in the parable of the wideskins. You remember that parable? God
said he's not going to take new wine and put it into old wine
skins. Your old heart, it'll burst.
It won't hold the wine of his grace. It won't hold this new
man. He puts a new heart in, a new wine skin to hold the wine
of his grace. Now this is without doubt what
the Bible teaches. It goes on with the new birth. Um, As many as received Him,
to them gave He power to become the sons of God, even to them
which believe on His name, which were born, which were birthed. That's a living being. That's
a person. Which were born, not of blood,
not of the will of the flesh, not of the will of man, but of
God. Now, If somebody says, well, this
is, I just don't see what the Bible teaches this. Well, sorry,
sorry. If you have a new man, you will
believe that. If you have a new man, if you don't have a new
man, you will disagree. And you won't, if you only have
one man, you can't understand what it is to have two men. That
would be the problem. Now, what do these two natures
actually teach us? I think we've seen from the script,
this is the scriptural teaching. What are the implications of
this? What does this actually teach us? Well, number one, this
teaches us we really are totally depraved. This only lines up with the doctrine
of total depravity. God saw that the wickedness of
man was great in the earth and that every imagination of the
thoughts of his heart was only evil. Continually, non-stop. The old man is unreformable. You don't use the old man. God
doesn't use the old man. Like, that's why I'm saying,
somebody says, give Jesus your heart. He doesn't want it. He'll
give you a new heart. That's what you need, a new heart. And this just lines up with the
teaching of total depravity. And you hit the quick and you
were dead in trespasses and sins. The only, God doesn't use any
part of our flesh in salvation. You believe that? He doesn't
use any part of our flesh in his salvation. That which is
born of the flesh will never be anything more than that flesh. That which is born of the spirit
is spirit. Now, if I do not believe in two
separate natures, in reality, I am denying the doctrine of
total depravity. I'm believing the flesh can be
used in salvation in some way. If I do not believe in two separate
natures, I believe in only one nature and God is working with
the old nature to make it better. enabling that nature by grace,
that old, perverted, dead nature. He is giving it the grace to
make it better, to make it believe, to make it repent, to make it
love. It's a denial of the new heart. It's a denial of the new
creature in Christ Jesus. It's a denial of the new birth.
This is how serious this is. It's actually a denial of the
new birth. It's a denial of total depravity
and it's a denial of the new birth. Now, the old man is not
helped out. The old man is not improved.
When God created the universe, what did he have to work with? Nothing. Nothing. He brought something
from nothing. In the new creation, what does
God have to work with? Same. nothing he brings something
from nothing i repeat that which is born of the flesh is flesh
and that which is born birth of the spirit is spirit not only
do the two natures line up with total depravity, not only do
the two natures line up with the new birth, the two natures
also show us the teaching of not merely total depravity, but
total grace. Total grace. And listen to me,
I don't need help. I don't need assistance. I need a miracle of grace. I
don't need my heart cleaned up. I need a new heart. I'll tell you what, if you ever
see the sinfulness of that old man, how, oh, election is essential
to you. Christ's effectual atonement
is essential to you. It's not just something you agree
with. It's something you have to have. God's irresistible, influenceable
grace is essential to you. Now, a denial of the two natures
opens the door for progressive sanctification. That's all that
can happen out of that. If you deny two natures, you're
saying the old nature can progressively become better through God's grace
operating on that old nature. And if you believe in progressive
sanctification, go ahead and take it to the next level. You
believe in perfection in this life because it can get that
way if you can become progressively better. But a denial of two natures,
you're saying something in the old man actually becomes better
and better. Two separate natures. explains
to me why sin is still such a struggle with me. The flesh lusts against the spirit
and the spirit lusts against the flesh, and these are contrary
one to the other, so that you cannot do the things you would."
Now, this doesn't give me an excuse for sin, nor does it cause
me to give in to sin. Say, well, I can't help it. That's
my old nature. But it gives me an explanation as to why I presently
am so bad. The two natures are the only
explanation for a whole lot of scriptures. What do I mean by that? David
said, I am holy. There's only one nature that
could say that, a holy nature. One without sin. David said in
Psalm 119, blessed are the undefiled in the way. They also do no iniquity. Now is that the sinful man and
the Holy man in the same person? No, that's the new nature that
does no iniquity. They walk in his ways. This is
the only explanation for the Lord when he said, blessed are
the, what? Pure in heart. The only explanation for that
is a pure heart, a chaste heart, a holy heart, one given by God,
the new heart that I give. Whoso abideth in him sinneth
not. Now that somebody says, I mean,
you don't practice it. No, it doesn't mean you don't
sin. You don't sin period. The new man does not sin. Whosoever is born of God does
not commit sin. That's what Peter's talking about
when he's speaking of being made a partaker of the divine nature,
the new man never sins. And the only way that those scriptures
can be understood and dealt with honestly is through these two
separate natures. The old man cannot sin and that
which is born in the flesh, it's never gonna be anything but that.
Now let's go back to Genesis 25 for just a moment. Genesis 25. Like I said, this
is, the Lord gives us such a powerful example of this in the story
of Jacob and Esau. Two manner of men are in you.
Two nations are in thy womb. But look at this promise. And
I think this is so amazing. Verse 23. And the Lord said unto
her, two nations are in thy womb. Two manner of people shall be
separated from thy bowels. And the one people shall be stronger
than the other people. Don't miss that. One is stronger
than the other. And the elder, Esau, the firstborn,
shall serve, shall be a slave to the younger. That old nature, is a slave to
the new nature. That old sinful nature is made
to serve the new nature. Now how can that be? How can
that be? I know one thing that my old
nature does to me. It drives me to Christ as my
only righteousness before God. My old nature makes me see the
reality that Christ really is all in my salvation. He's all. And I know myself enough
to know that if I, if I didn't sin, And I look forward
to that time when I won't sin so earnestly. That's why I look
forward to dying. I look forward to dying. To be like him, to never sin
again, to never have an unbelieving thought again. I look forward
to that. I look forward to putting off this old man. but he serves
me here because he causes me to know that Christ is all my
righteousness and I have nothing else and I don't want anything
else. So in that sense, this old man,
it doesn't excuse my sin. I'm not looking for an excuse
for my sin in any way, but this old man serves the new man. It makes me truly see that Christ
really is all. and that everything that God
requires of me, he looks to his son for. One day soon, we'll only have
one nature. Don't you look forward to that?
One day soon. This is what I find so amazing The holy nature I'm going to
have in heaven, I have right now. It won't be any more holy. There's no such thing as holier.
There's only holy. Holy. The holy nature that I'm
going to have in heaven, I possess right now. It's not going to
be different. It's not going to be better.
But what this does, This lets us know just how much this old
man drags us down. Because we sure don't feel that
way, do we? I don't feel as holy as I'll be in heaven. I don't
feel that way at all, old wretched man that I am. Who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? But one of these days, it's gonna
be put off. And I love that scripture in
Matthew chapter 13, then, not before then, but then shall the
righteous shine as the sun. We look forward to that day. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. How we thank you for the new
man you've given us that was and is eternally united to Christ.
Lord, that's such a mystery. The new man is eternally older
than the old man. And Lord, how we look forward
to that time where the old man will be gone
and there'll be nothing but worship and likeness to thy dear son. Bless this message for Christ's
sake. In his name we pray.