Would you turn with me to Second
Peter, chapter one? Simon Peter, a servant and an
apostle, of Jesus Christ to them that have obtained like precious
faith with us. All faith is the same. Like precious
faith, the gift of God's grace which every believer obtains
has given unto him through the righteousness of God and our
Savior, Jesus Christ. Grace and peace be multiplied
unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord,
according as his divine power hath given unto us all things. that pertain unto life and godliness
through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory
and virtue, whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious
promises, that by these you might be partakers of the divine nature. Having escaped the corruption
that's in the world through lust. Partakers of the divine nature. Now that word partaker means
having in common. Having in common. having in common
with God the divine nature. That sounds scary, doesn't it?
That sounds scary, and we wouldn't say that, wouldn't even think
it, unless it said this in this word. Partakers of the divine
nature, not merely believers in the divine nature or admirers
of the divine nature, but partakers, sharers having in common the
divine nature. When God saves someone, they
are born of God, born of His Spirit. That which is born of
the Spirit is Spirit. To as many as received Him, to
them gave He the power to become the sons of God, even to them
which believe on His name, which were born which were born, not
of blood, not of the will of the flesh, not of the will of
man, but of God. This is called a new creation. The hidden man of the heart,
which is not corruptible. The inward man. The mind of Christ. Christ in you. the hope of glory,
partakers of the divine nature. If God has done something for
me, I am a partaker of the divine nature. Now this is not the old
nature changed, improved, or even influenced, but a new divine
nature that was not there before. Peter said, being born again,
not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word
of God, which liveth and abideth forever. The old nature is still
there. It has not been eradicated. It
does not become better. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh. And it will never be any better
than that. And it cannot rise above that.
But thank God, the new nature is stronger than the old because
it's the nature of God. Greater is He that's in you than
He that is in the world. Now, here's my question. How
can I know if I have this new nature? This is mysterious, isn't
it? How can I personally know if
I actually am a partaker of the divine nature? It's one thing
to say, I think I have it because I fear the consequences of not
having it. But it's another thing to see
from the scriptures what it is and see that I do possess this
new nature. Christ in you, the hope of glory. Now, if the Lord blesses this
message to our hearts, We can leave here knowing whether or
not we are partakers of the divine nature. Wouldn't that be something
if I can leave here knowing that I am a partaker of the divine
nature. And would you turn with me to
Hebrews chapter eight beginning in verse six. But now have he obtained a more
excellent ministry by how much also he is the mediator of a
better covenant, which was established upon better promises. For if
that first covenant had been faultless, then should no place
have been sought for the second. For finding fault with them,
he said, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, when I make a
new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of
Judah, not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers,
in the day when I took them by the hand." I took them by the
hand to lead them out of the land of Egypt because they continued
not in my covenant And I regarded them not, saith the Lord." Now,
being taken by the hand has nothing to do with the new nature, does
it? I can take a two-year-old by the hand, and I can make them
go anywhere I want them to go. I've heard people say about their
children, I can't do anything with them. I can. I can make them
do what I want them to do. I'm stronger than them, and I
can make them do. If it's a wild animal, as long
as it can't you know, hurt me if it's small enough and I can
handle it. If it's a wild animal, I can make it do what I'll, make
it go where I want it to go. I can get, I can take it by the
hand and I can leave it anywhere. I can take a two year old by
the hand and make sure they do what I want them to do. But does
that have anything to do with the heart? Has absolutely nothing to do
with the heart. God says they continued not. So I regarded them not. If the
Lord simply takes me by the hand, what happens if He lets me go? I will fall away. Not maybe. I will fall away. That's for sure. If all He does
is take me by the hand, it will do me no good. If He took me
all the way up into heaven and didn't give me a new heart, a
new nature, If all he did was take me by the hand, I'd be miserable
up there and I'd want out. I'd want out. I wouldn't even
want to be there and I would fall away. Taking by the hand
does not work. Now he says in verse 10, For this is the covenant that
I'll make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord,
I will put my laws into their mind. and write them in their
hearts. And this is the new covenant.
I'll put my laws into their minds and I'll write them in their
hearts. And let me say this. I used to
fear, greatly fear, believing in my head what I didn't believe
in my heart. I'm sure all of us have had that
fear, but let me say this. Anything you really believe in
your head, if you really believe it, you believe it in your heart.
You can't separate the mind and the heart. If you really believe
that you're, I don't mean you just give a sin to the doctrine
of total depravity, but if you really believe you're totally
depraved, God's taught you that. And you need God to elect you. You need Christ to die for you.
You need God, the Holy Spirit, to invincibly and irresistibly
bring you to himself and give you a new nature. You need what
you believe in your mind. If you really believe it, you
believe in your heart, too, and you rejoice in it, don't you?
He says, I put my laws into their minds and I write them in their
hearts. God put something there that
was not there before in the minds, in the dispositions. And what
he puts in the mind, he writes in the heart. He writes, as it
were, a new DNA. Now, I want you to think about
this. You have in your cells a DNA
that was passed on to you from your parents. and it causes you
to be the way you are. I love to watch somebody, they
act just like their dad. How come? What's in their dad?
That's why. And his DNA has been passed on
to them. Now, God says, I'll put my laws,
plural, within your minds. I'll write them in your minds
and I'll put them in your hearts, your understanding, your will,
and your affections so that it controls your nature, a new nature. Partakers of the divine nature. I put my laws in their hearts. I write them in their minds so
that they'll be partakers of the divine nature. Now what does
he mean when he's talking about he's going to write his laws
in their minds and put them in their hearts. What's meant by
that? Is he talking about the moral law of God? Well, turn
with me to Romans chapter 2 for a moment. Hold your finger there
in Hebrews chapter 10 and turn to Romans chapter 2. Verse 14. For when the Gentiles,
which have not the law, they have no copy of the Bible, they
never heard the Ten Commandments. But when the Gentiles, which
have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law,
these having not the law, or a law unto themselves, would
show the work of the law written in their hearts." That's a natural
man. Got the work of the law written
in their hearts. You know, preachers like to say,
well, we need to teach people how to live. People already know
how to live. You're born that way. You know it's wrong to commit
adultery. Everybody in here knows that.
You know it's wrong to steal. You know it's wrong to murder.
You know all these things. We're born with God's law written
in our hearts. We're born with that. Now it's
true that some people can become so hardened and desensitized
that it doesn't seem like sin bothers them. I realize that.
But still, everybody born into this world is born with God's
law written in their hearts and they know the difference between
right and wrong in that sense. They're born with that. And here's
what the law does, verse 15, which show the work of the law
written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness,
and here's what happens, their thoughts the meanwhile accusing
or else excusing one another. Here's all it does. You've got
a guilty conscience accusing you or you're trying to vindicate
and justify yourself and make excuses. That's all God's law
does for anybody. But everybody's born with the
work of God's law written in their heart in that sense. Now,
the word law or laws in the New Testament doesn't always refer
to the written law of God, does it? Remember when Paul said,
for the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made
me free from the law of sin and death? That's not a reference
to the Ten Commandments. What about, by what law? Works?
Nay, but by the law of faith. Paul said in Romans 3, 27, I
find in a law that when I would do good, evil is present with
me. Now, a law of nature, if I've
been given a new nature, a law of nature is that which must
be obeyed. You know, you just obey your
nature. That's what we do. We act according to our nature. And you don't choose to not obey
your nature. If you fall off a building, you
don't say, well, I'm going to choose for the law of gravity
not be in effect right now. No, you're going to hit the grass.
A cow doesn't choose to eat grass. I think I'm going to have grass
today. No, it's his nature. A pig doesn't make a choice to,
I'm going to get in the mire today. No, it's his nature. It's
its nature to do that. A cat, it's its nature to want
to be clean. Your nature is what you follow. That's partakers of the divine
nature. Choice really is not involved. It's natural. You act according
to your nature. Now somebody thinks, well that
doesn't sound right. I mean, it seems like we'd be better
if we were doing things because we're choosing to rather than
just acting according to our nature. You know, Satan used
that argument with Eve. He surely did. You're just obeying
your nature. There's no moral virtue in your
obedience. But here's what you need to do.
If you eat this fruit, You're going to know the difference
between good and evil, and you're going to choose the good over
the evil. You're going to have a free will,
and that's what will make you like God. Same argument. Now, there's something very significant
with the fact that the word laws is in the plural. Sometimes laws
refers to the Mosaic Law or the Pentateuch, but here the word
refers to the laws of the new nature. When God says, I'll write
my laws in their hearts and place them in their minds. Now, has
God written in my heart? That's what I want to know. Has
God placed his laws in my heart and in my mind? Now, in the New
Testament, we read of six laws that comprise the law of the
spirit of life in Christ Jesus. And you can know And I can know
whether or not we have this new nature, whether we've actually
been made partakers of the divine nature. We read of the law of
righteousness. We read of the law of sin. We
read of the law of faith. We read of the law of love. We
read of the law of liberty. And we read of the law of Christ. And these are the laws of the
new nature. You obey your nature. Now, let's consider these. I
hope this will make sense. First, in Romans 9, 30 and 31,
we read of the law of righteousness. The law of righteousness. Now,
the law of righteousness, here's what this is. A believer cannot
be satisfied with anything short of perfect righteousness before
God's holy law. I can't get any satisfaction.
I can't get any comfort. I can't get any rest. I can't
get any peace from anything short of a perfect righteousness before
God's holy law. Now we know that God is righteous. He doesn't choose to be righteous.
He is righteous. That's his nature. To imply that
he chooses to be righteous would imply that he could choose to
be something else. And that would take away from his immutability.
I mean, there's just all kinds of problems with that. Obviously,
God is righteous. It's his nature to be righteous.
And a believer can only be satisfied with that which God is satisfied
with, a perfect righteousness before God's holy law. And the gospel reveals the righteousness
of God. Paul said in Romans 1, 16 and
17, I'm not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. For it, the gospel
of Christ, is the power of God and the salvation to everyone
that believe it. For therein in the gospel is
the righteousness of God revealed. Now, here's what I'm satisfied with.
Here's what a believer is satisfied with. The great glorious truth
in the scripture of justification. a perfect righteousness before
God's holy law. You said it last night, just
as if I never sinned, won't get it. He won't get it because it's
just as if I never sinned. That means I really sinned. No,
I never sinned. And that is what the justifying
work of Christ. I never sinned. My sin became
His sin. That means it's no longer mine. It became His. And His righteousness
is mine. And I stand before God perfectly
righteous, not just as if I never sinned. I never sinned. And you know, that's the only
thing I find any peace in. That's the only finite thing I can find
any comfort in. The perfect, justifying work of Christ on
the cross, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption
that's in Christ Jesus. Now that's what a believer finds
comfort in, the justifying work. There's a law. I can't be satisfied
with anything else. That's my nature. I cannot be
satisfied with anything but a perfect righteousness before God's holy
law. And I have it. Every believer has it in the
gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, secondly, turn to Romans
7. At first, if I've been given this
new nature, I cannot be satisfied with anything short of the righteousness
of God. My righteousness, the righteousness
of God. Now look here in Romans 7, Paul
says in verse 23, 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. The law of sin. Now remember, when God gives
someone the new nature, and they're made partakers of the divine
nature, they still have the old nature. But it takes the new
nature to see the old nature. If you only have one nature,
two natures make no sense to you. But if you have two natures,
you know you have two natures. And you know something about
this law of sin. Now, it's the new nature that
sees and owns the sins of the old nature. And do I understand
that? No. I don't need to. Don't need to. I believe. But
at no time can I say in my experience, even though I have this new nature,
this holy nature, partakers of the divine nature, at no time
can I say in my experience, I'm without sin. As a matter of fact,
look what Paul says in Romans 7 beginning in verse 14. Romans
7 beginning in verse 14. For we know, we know that the
law is spiritual But I am carnal, sold, enslaved, sold under 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 unto the law that it's good. Now then, it's no
more I that doeth it, but the sin that dwelleth in me. For
I know that in me, that is in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present with me,
I would be without sin. I would be perfectly conformed
to the image of Christ and never sin again. I would be perfectly
obedient. to will is present with me. But how to perform that which
is good? What's he say? I find not. He doesn't say sometimes
I mess up. He says sometimes I fail. He
says 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
what I would not, it's no more I that do it but the 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, but I see another law of my members warring
against the law of my mind and 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 of this death? I thank
God through Jesus Christ our Lord, so then with my mind I
myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of
sin. Now I feel sinful all the time. And you know why? Because I am
sinful all the time, because I always have this old nature. Proverbs 24, 16 says a just man
falleth seven times. Why seven? Why not six? Why not five? Why not eight?
Why not nine? What's seven? It means all the time. All the
time. A just man falleth all the time,
seven times, but riseth again, but the wicked shall fall into
mischief. Now I realize that some will
use this doctrine to excuse or even justify their sin. God forbid
that any of us do that, but it's still true. My sin is
ever before me. Someone that doesn't experience
that only has one nature. Let me show you a passage of
scripture in first John chapter one. Verse 8, if we say we have no sin, now
there the word sin is a noun. What it's talking about is a
sinful nature at all times. If we say we have no sin, what? We deceive ourselves. And the
truth is not in us. We've lost all credibility. We're
liars. If we confess our sins, verse nine, he is faithful and
just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say we've not sinned, and
they're the words of Herb regarding anything I do, I don't care what
it is. If I say, well, I didn't sin there. I'm telling a lie. I'm not being honest because
if I did it, it's sin. Now that's the experience of
the believer. We have a new nature, a holy nature. that can't be
satisfied with anything short of perfect righteousness, the
righteousness of God. And in our experience, all we
see in ourselves is sin. Now it takes a new nature to
see that. You see that about yourself? The law of sin. Turn to Romans
chapter 3. Partakers of the divine nature. Romans chapter 3 verse 27. Where
is boasting then? It's excluded. By what law of
works? Nay, but by the law of faith. The law of faith. The new nature, now listen to
me. The new nature cannot not believe. Can't do it. Can't do it. I know that man said, Lord, I
believe. Help thou mine unbelief. The
old nature never believes. The new nature always does. Lord, I believe. Help thou mine
unbelief. Try to not believe. Try to not
believe the Bible is the Word of God. If you're a believer,
you know this book is the inspired Word of God. It isn't because
you figured it out. It isn't because you weighed
the evidences and came up with the conclusion. Yeah, it must
be the prophecies are true and all that kind. I believe it.
No, you believe it because it is. That's why you believe the
truth. You believe the truth because
it's true. You don't believe the truth because you choose
to. You believe it because it's the truth. That's the new try
to believe. that Jesus Christ is not enough
to make you perfect before God. Try to add something to Him.
You can't do it, can you? You won't do it. You can't do
it. Try to believe that He doesn't have the ability to save you.
It's impossible. You know that leper? He said,
Lord, He didn't have any doubt about His ability. He wasn't
all that sure about His willingness, but He was sure about His ability.
Lord, if You will, You can make me clean. Abraham staggered not
at the promise of God through unbelief, but was strong in faith,
giving glory to God, being fully persuaded that what God had promised,
he was able also to perform. It's the law of faith. You see, you, you believe, you
believe. If you're, what do believers
do? They believe. They rely upon the Lord Jesus
Christ. You know, I can remember trying
to believe. Did you ever try to believe?
I try to believe. What's it mean to believe? I
want to believe. I tried to believe. I tried hard to believe. One day I found myself believing. One time I found myself trusting.
It's when God gave me a heart to believe. Don't anybody take
this and say, well, I need to wait for God to give me a new
heart to believe. No, you're commanded to believe. You're commanded
to believe. You're commanded to believe right
now. Well, what if I'm not elected? You don't need to worry about
that. You're commanded to believe the gospel. It's a command. It's what believers do. They
believe the law of faith. You see, if you have a new nature,
you You got this in you. God will not be satisfied with
anything less than perfect righteousness. Neither will you. If you've got a new nature, you
see what that old nature is. Not before you have this new
nature. I mean, it doesn't make sense to you. But when you have this
new nature, you see that the old nature is nothing but sin. You find
a law that when you would do good, evil is present with you.
And if you have this law of faith, you believe. You believe. You can't not believe. Not the
new man. And then in James chapter 2 verse
8, we read of the royal law of love. The royal law of love. Everyone, John said, that loveth
is born of God and knoweth God. It's the nature of a believer
to love God. I love Him as He is. I love Him
as He's revealed in His Word. I love all of His attributes.
I love His sovereignty because I love Him. I love His power
because I love Him. I love His holiness because I
love Him. Every attribute of God we love. We wouldn't change
Him if it were in our power to. We love Him just the way He is
as He's revealed in this Word. Oh, we love His Son. We love
His Spirit. We love His Word. We love His
worship. We love His people. We love our
enemies. We love our enemies. If we have
a new nature, we love. He that's born of God loveth. He that loveth not knoweth not
God, for God is love. I've been given a new nature
that actually loves. And it's the fruit of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is what?
Love. Love. It's the nature of a believer. And then we read, you can write
these down, look them up in your leisure, we read in James 1.25
and James 2.12 of the law of liberty. The law of liberty. Where the Spirit of the Lord
is, there is liberty. Now, what is liberty with freedom?
It's freedom. Okay, what is freedom? Well,
two things that I think of being involved in freedom. Number one,
I can't owe anything. If I'm in debt, I'm not free. What a burden it is to have debt. What a liberating thing it is
when you pay off a debt. I can still remember the first
time I paid off my first debt. I felt like I was so free. I
bought a 1967 Mustang for $600. And I owed $67 a month at the
bank. And I remember that was a horrible
burden to me. And I remember when I finally
made that last payment, oh, I was so free. If I owe anything, I
have no freedom. Stand fast in the liberty. The
freedom wherewith Christ hath made us free and be not entangled
again in the yoke of bondage. I owe nothing. It's liberty. Liberty. I don't know. Free. Oh, the freedom that's in Christ
Jesus. When you're free, that means
you get to do what you want to do. You can't handle bondage. You can't handle being made to
do. You do what you want to do. And there is in every believer,
this is a must, this is in their nature, this is in their spiritual
DNA, they must have freedom. They must be without debt and
they must do what they want to do. That's their nature. Oh,
the law of liberty. Thy people shall be willing,
volunteers, doing what they want to do. in the day of thy power."
I want to believe on Christ. I want to bow the knee to Him.
I want to bow at His feet. I want to serve Him. I want to
have Him as my all in all. That's the desire of every believer. They've been given a new nature.
Partakers of the divine nature. Galatians 6. Paul says, Brethren. Brethren. Isn't that a precious
word? Brethren. Brethren in Christ. Brethren, if a man be overtaken
in a fault, Now can't you understand how
that can happen to you? How easily you can be overtaken,
I can be overtaken, overcome, just fall before some fault,
some sin, that's what that's talking about. If a man be overtaken
in a fault, can you look down at somebody for that happening
to them? Can you sit in judgment on that person and think it wouldn't
have happened to me if they would have just Resisted that temptation? No. What's he say? Brethren,
if a man be overtaken in a fault, you which are spiritual, restore
such a one. In the spirit of meekness, considering
thyself, lest thou also be tempted. What will happen to you if you're
tempted? You'll fall. Our Lord taught us to pray, lead
us not into temptation. Because I know if I'm tempted,
I know what's going to happen. So Lord, don't let me be tempted.
Don't let me be tempted. Put a hedge about me. Don't let
it happen. You which are spiritual, restore
such a one in the spirit of meekness, considering yourself. Lest you
also be tempted, no, you'll fall just as bad as that brother if
you're put in the same position. Bear ye one another's burdens. Now that doesn't mean I want
to tell you what my burden is. It doesn't mean that. Your brother's
sin is a burden to him. It's a burden. And your sin is
a terrible burden to you. Bear ye one another's burdens. Put up with one another. Don't
cut each other off. No, love beareth all things. Love covers with silence. all things. Have fervent charity
among yourselves, for charity shall cover the multitude of
sins. Bear ye one another's burdens,
and so fulfill the law of Christ. Now here's Christ's law right
here. It's what it says, isn't it? So fulfill the law of Christ. For if a man think himself to
be something, When he is nothing, he deceiveth himself. Partakers of the divine nature. If I'm a partaker of the divine
nature, if God has given me the new birth, He's made it to where
I can't be satisfied with anything but perfect righteousness before
His law. And the only way I have that
is in the Gospel. He's made it where I've got this
law of sin working in my members. And I'm not excusing sin in any
way, but He's made it to where I don't have anywhere to look
but Christ. At no time can I have any hope
but in Christ alone. Because of this law of sin. in
my members. And He's given me this law of
faith. I believe. Help out my unbelief. I believe. I am relying on the Lord Jesus
Christ right now as my righteousness before God. I'm completely dependent
upon Him. If He doesn't do it all, there's
no hope for me. I've got the law of faith. And the royal law
of love. I love God as he's revealed in
his word. I love his word. I love his gospel. I love his son. I love his way
of saving by sovereign grace. I love everything. I love his
people. I love his worship. Royal law
of love. And the law of liberty. Every
believer must have liberty. Give me liberty or give me death.
and the law of Christ bear one another's burdens and so fulfill
the law of Christ. The laws of the new nature.