Ephesians 3.16, the last sentence,
to be strengthened with might by his spirit in the inner man. Who is this inner man? strengthened with might by his
spirit in the inner man. Did you know that not everyone
has an inner man? If you're an unbeliever, if you've
not been born again, you do not have an inner man. Only that
one who has been given life by the Spirit of God has this inner
man. Now, I've entitled this message,
The Two Natures of the Believer. The two natures. of the believer. Now, the believer has two separate
men living within him, the new man and the old man, the inner
man and the outer man. And this is what the Bible actually
teaches. Now, I'm not talking about A
soul and a body, those are the two natures. The soul is the
inner man and the body, that's the animal nature. Not talking about that
at all. Everybody does have a soul and
body, but only the believer has an inner man. and an outer man. And it's what the Bible teaches.
And somebody might think, well, that sounds like spiritual schizophrenia. Well, maybe if you don't understand,
but if you have an inner man and you hear this message, you're
going to know exactly what is being taught. The two natures
of the believer. On some levels, this is difficult
to comprehend, this thing of having two distinct men living
in one man, because both of these natures or both of these men
operate through one consciousness. Have you ever seen a sink that
has a cold water faucet and a hot water faucet? Sure you have. Well, in a believer, they're
not two separate faucets. You've got the hot and cold going
through the same faucet, that one consciousness. You've got
the old man operating through that one consciousness, and you've
got the new man operating through that one consciousness, like
hot and cold water coming out of the same faucet. That's the
best illustration I can think of. We read in the scripture
of the new man, the inner man, the inward man, the hidden man
of the heart, the new creature, the new creation, something that
was not there before. And we read of the old man, we
read of the flesh, We read of the carnal mind. We read of the
sin that dwelleth in me. We read of the wretched man. We read of the body of this death. Both of these men, the old man
and the new, come through one consciousness. And because of that, I can see
why this is difficult to grasp, but I know this is so. This is
what the Bible teaches, and we're going to see as the Lord enables
us to see. And, you know, I'm really not
worried about this being abused or misunderstood. If it's the
truth, I want to preach it as clearly as the Lord enables me. And I realize people can take
something like this and abuse it, but they can abuse anything.
Any aspect of God's truth, men can take and hang themselves
with it. But as I said, I know this is
the objective truth of the word of God. It's not subject to man's
opinions. This is what the Bible teaches. And I also know that this is
my subjective experience. Think of this scripture. I delight in the law of God after
the inward man. That's the new man. He delights
in the law of God. But I see another law warring
in my members, bringing me into captivity to the law of sin,
which is in my members, oh, wretched man that I am. Now there's the
wretched man and there is the inward man who delights in the
law of God. And that is the experience of
every believer. You know, I'm a Romans 7 sinner. You read Romans 7, that's me. Now somebody, I've heard people
object to, you need to get out of Romans 7 into Romans 8. That's
foolishness. The Romans 7 sinner is actually
the healthy state of a believer. It's the healthy state. If you
can't see yourself in Romans 7, something's wrong with you.
Either that or you're not saved. the new man and the old man. Now, somebody may be thinking,
why make an issue of this? Is it really important what you
believe about this? Is it an issue in the first place?
Does it make any difference whether or not you believe in two separate
natures? Well, if the Bible teaches something,
it's an issue, isn't it? Do we need anything else? If
the Bible teaches something, It is an issue, and people have
said that about every doctrine taught in the scripture. For
instance, election. Somebody says, does it really
make any difference whether or not you believe election? Is
that an issue? Well, if God saving by pure grace
is not an issue, it's not an issue. If God getting all the
glory and salvation is not an issue, it's not an issue. But
as we know, salvation is of the Lord. It's by his grace and he
gets all the glory. So yes, it is an issue. It's in the scripture. And yes,
this thing of the two natures of the believer is an issue because
the Bible actually teaches it. But before We look at what the
scriptures has to say about this subject, if you will. Let me
give six issues at stake with regard to two separate natures
in a believer. Here's the first issue. The issue
is that of total depravity. cannot believe in total depravity,
inability, the carnal mind being enmity against God, not subject
to the law of God, neither indeed can be, so that they that are
in the flesh cannot please God. The old nature is not helped
and influenced by grace. The old nature is nothing but
evil and can't be anything but that. That's what the doctrine of the
scriptural doctrine of total depravity states. The complete
inability of man to do anything to save himself. And if I don't
believe in two separate natures, I'm saying that God acts on the
old nature and helps it to believe. And that's a complete denial
of what the scripture says about man being dead in trespasses
and sins. Here's the second issue is the
nature of the new birth. The nature of the new birth. There is nothing of the flesh
in the new birth. That which is born of the flesh,
the savior said, is flesh. It can't rise beyond that. And that which is born of the
spirit is spirit. The Lord said in John chapter
one, verses 12 and 13, that as many as received him, to them
gave he the power to become the sons of God. Even them that believe,
on his name, which were born, not of blood, not of the will
of the flesh, not of the will of man, but of God. Partakers, said Peter, of the
divine nature. Being born again, not of corruptible
seed, but of incorruptible. By the word of God, which liveth
and abideth Now, a denial of two natures is a denial of all
of that. Now, here's the third issue.
Listen to this very carefully. Salvation is not a changed life. Salvation is a new creation. You know, there's a lot of changed
lives. You know, you can get sick of being sick
all the time and change. You can be tired of being tired
all the time, change. A lot of people do it. A lot
of people do. There are a lot of changed lives. Salvation is
not a changed life. Salvation is a new creation. If any man be in Christ, he is
a new creature. Now, in creation, in creation,
God didn't have anything to work with, did he? Like be, and like was. He created something from nothing. In a new creation, God doesn't
have anything to work with. He creates something. Someone
is a better way to put it, who was not there before. We're said in Ephesians 4 to
be created in righteousness and true holiness, where his workmanship
created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before
ordained that we should walk in them. It's not an improved
heart. improved by grace. It's not a
changed life, but a new creation, a new person, a new man that
was not there before. Fourth, in 2 Corinthians 4, verses
6 and 7, we read, as a matter of fact, turn with me there,
2 Corinthians 4, Verse six, for God, who commanded
the light to shine out of darkness, has shined in our hearts to give
the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face
of Jesus Christ, But we have this treasure and what a treasure
it is. It's only the new man that sees
the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
We have this treasure in earthen vessels. Why? Why? So that the excellency of the
power may be of God and not of us. We have this treasure, this
new man, this knowledge of the light of the glory of God in
this body of flesh, this sinful body. And here's why. You know,
God could have made it to where not like this, but he didn't.
And he has wise and holy purposes. And here's why that the excellency
of the power may be of God. This is all his work. and not
of us. To deny two separate natures
is to deny that the excellency, the power is all of God and not
of us. That's how critical this issue
is. And here's my fifth reason that
this is an issue, not understanding two separate natures is the cause
of such fear and sadness in the life of a believer if he is confused
on this issue. Here's why I say this. If I thought
this or I did that, maybe I'm not a believer. Surely a believer
wouldn't do something like that. I keep committing the same sin. Maybe I'm not saved. You see,
there's really no assurance if you don't understand these two
separate natures, because you're looking about how you're living
rather than looking to Christ. It's what's called progressive
sanctification. How holy are you becoming? How
much are you improving? Whereas the new nature looks
to Christ only. And you never graduate past that.
You never get better than that. You look to Christ only. And
here's the sixth issue. If this could be said to be an
issue, but I like thinking about this. The real me is not the
man who sins. That's not the real me. Didn't
Paul say, it's not I, but the sin that dwelleth in me? The
real me is the man who loves God. The real me is the man who
does not sin, and we're gonna look at that in a moment. The
real me is the man who worships God in the spirit, rejoices in
Christ Jesus, and has no confidence at all in the flesh. That's the real me of every believer. That's the one who was eternally
given to Christ. That's the one. whom God said,
behold, I've loved you with an everlasting love. That's the
one who's always had personality before God, who's been eternally
united to Christ. That's the real me. That other
fella, that's not me. That's the old man. And that is the sentiment of
Romans 7. Somebody says, that's crazy. Well, call Paul crazy
because he said it wasn't me. It's the sin that dwells in me.
And that is the experience of every believer. Now, the doctrine
stated is that all men are dead in sins, dead, no life, and God
creates new life that was not there before, a new man. You remember when the Lord said
in John 6, 63, it's the spirit that gives life, it's the spirit
that awakens the flesh, profits, how much? Nothing. Nothing. The flesh has nothing to do with
this new man. It's a new creature in Christ
Jesus. It's a new man that was not there
before. The old man's still there, but
now there's a new man that was not there before. Now, this is
illustrated. Let me give you an Old Testament
and a New Testament illustration. Turn to Genesis chapter 25. Verse 20, and Isaac was 40 years
old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter of Bethuel, the
Syrian of Badanaram, the sister to Laban, the Syrian. And Isaac
entreated the Lord for his wife because she was barren. She had
no life in her. She was barren. Isaac prayed
for her. He entreated the Lord on her
behalf. And the Lord was entreated of
him. And Rebecca, his wife, conceived. She now had life. Life that was
not there before in her. And the children struggled. She didn't know she had two men
in her. The children struggled, and that's
a strong word. They were beating each other
black and blue. She had these two twins in her womb that were
just fighting. And she said, if it be so, why
am I thus? If I have life, why do I have
this struggle within? 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,
and the one people shall be stronger than the other people, and the
elder shall serve the younger. Now within you are two manner
of people. I realize that this has been
used to, and it is used to teach, you know, Jacob ever loved, he's
all the hated, showing God's sovereignty in salvation. And
Paul does indeed use it to demonstrate that. But what a clear teaching
of my experience and your experience, if we're believers, two manner
of men. Now, somebody that doesn't have
two men, they can't understand this. It's weird. Spiritual schizophrenia. What in the world are they talking
about? But if you have too many, you know exactly what this is.
When our Lord gave the parable, and think of this, what does
this mean? The Lord gave the parable, it's in Matthew, Mark,
and Luke about you don't take new wine and put it into old
wine skins. If you do, the wine through the
The process of fermentation will bust the old, dried, cracked
wine skins and you'll lose everything. You put new wine into new wine
skins. You put the wine of His grace
into a new heart. The old heart can't receive it.
The old heart can't hold it. You have to be given a new heart. for the wine of his grace to
be poured in, one that was not there before. This is the new
man, the new man of regeneration. Turn with me for a moment to
Psalm 36. I don't know if you've ever noticed
this in reading this Psalm. Verse one. The transgression
of the wicked saith within his heart. No, I didn't read that
right, did I? The transgression of the wicked
saith within my heart. This is what my heart, the new
heart, observes about the wicked, which is me. There's no fear
of God before his eyes, for he flatters himself in his own eyes
until his iniquity be found to be hateful. The words of his
mouth are iniquity and deceit. He hath left off to be wise and
to do good. He diviseth mischief upon his
bed. He setteth himself in a way that's
not good. He abhors not evil. Now, that's
what my heart looks at my old man. And that's my old man's. That's him, and that's the new
man's testimony with regard to myself. And the only way that
can be understood is two men. When the Lord came to the disciples
and they were sleeping in the garden, he said, couldn't you
watch one hour with me? And then he made this statement,
and I find such comfort in this statement. Truly, the Spirit
is willing. Paul said, to will is present
with me. But how to perform that which
is good? I find not, but the will is present with me. The
spirit is willing. The flesh is weak. And that same word is also translated
impotent, without strength, powerless. There's nothing to it. The spirit
is willing. I would never sin again. The flesh is impotent, evil. It can't do anything. Now Paul
spoke in Ephesians chapter four, verse 24. He said, put off the
old man, which is corrupt according to its deceitful lusts, but put
on the new man. which is created, there's that
word, in righteousness and true holiness, not phony holiness,
but true holiness. You see the phony holiness of
religion. It's phony. It's offensive. And
Paul found it that way. I hate religion. Put on true
holiness, which comes from this new man. And then Peter spoke
in 1 Peter 3, 4 of the hidden man of the heart, which is not corruptible. Now
listen to the language. The hidden man of the heart.
He's hiding. You can't see him. He's not corruptible. He's not subject to decay. He's
not subject to sin. The hidden man of the heart,
which is not corruptible, even a meek and quiet spirit. meet before God quiet, not trying
to cause trouble, which is in the sight of God, is a great
price. This is the one who delights
in the law of God after the inward man. Turn with me to 1 John 3.
I want you to look at this, please. 1 John 3. Verse 6. Whosoever Abideth in him, sinneth not. There are versions or translations
that says he doesn't practice sin. He doesn't practice sin. That's just not, it's not what
it says for one thing. It's not what it says. That is
wrong. Somebody says, well, sin's not
the tenor of their life. No, it says they don't sin. Whosoever sinneth. hath not seen
him, neither known him. Little children, let no man deceive
you. He that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as he is righteous.
He that commit the sin is of the devil. For the devil sinneth
from the beginning. For this purpose the Son of God
was manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil.
Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin. Well, that means he doesn't practice
sin. Now wait a minute. Wait a minute. Listen to this
question. Answer it honestly. I'm not asking
you to answer it publicly, but answer it honestly. Do you sin? Do you commit sins? Do you commit the same sins habitually? Now I'm not asking you to answer
that publicly, but I'm asking you, do you commit the same sins? over and over and over. Now, if that means he that's
born of God does not practice sin or habitually commits sin,
you're not saved. And neither am I. But that is
not what it says. He that's born of God doth not
commit sin. Look what it goes on to say in
verse 9. For his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin. Can God sin? No. Can that which
God has fathered sin? No. Can that which is born of
God sin? No. His seed remaineth in him, the
seed of God. Look in 1 John 5, verse 18. For we know that whosoever is
born of God sinneth not, but he that's begotten of God keepeth
himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not. Now I want
you to think about this. Do you remember when the Lord
said that the prince of this world has come and he has found
nothing in me? Do you know what the Lord meant
by that? When Satan came to Christ, he
couldn't find anything he could get hold of. Christ is holy. There was nothing for him to
grab. The prince of this world has
come, wanting to tempt me to sin. And he's found nothing in
me. The same is said of the new nature.
There's nothing for Satan to work with. Now he can walk with your flesh
and he can do anything he wants to with you, you know it. You're
so easy for him, but not the new man. The wicked one toucheth
him not. Turn with me to Colossians chapter
three. Verse nine. Lie not one to another, seeing
that you put off the old man with his deeds and put on the
new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of
him that created him." You see, this is going right down the
line with everything I'm saying. And what is this knowledge? Verse
11, that the new man has. Where there is neither Greek
nor Jew, Circumcision nor uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bond nor
free, but Christ is all. In all. Now here is what this
new man believes. He's got something he believes. He's got something he believes
with all of his heart. He's got something that he's relying on
completely. He's got a certain way he looks
at the Scriptures. Christ is all. He's all God requires
of me. He's all I need. He's all I want.
He's all in the Scriptures. He's all in salvation. He's all
in getting all the glory. Christ is all! You see, if all this does is
make someone... I'm more accurate on my understanding
of the new birth. It hasn't done you any good.
It hasn't done you any good at all. But if this makes you see
that... Christ is all in my salvation. You've learned something. Taught
by God. Christ is all. He paid it all. He is all. He's all my righteousness. He's all my wisdom. He's all
my sanctification. He's all my redemption. He's
all God requires of me. He's all I am leaning on. I look
nowhere else. Now, if somebody doesn't Understand
that? If that's not somebody's experience,
they've never had this new man. Because this new man has a particular
knowledge. Jesus Christ is all in all. And do you believe that? Do you
believe Christ is all in all? And he's who you're relying on?
That he is all in all? That's the new man. I think of what Paul said in
Galatians chapter 5 verse 17. The flesh, the old man, lusts,
wars against the spirit. And the spirit wars against the
contrary one to the other. There are odds so that you can't
do the things that you would. You would be without unbelief. You would be without sin. You
would be perfectly conformed to the image of Christ. And you've
always got this thing called the flesh that prevents that.
And you would sin without restraint. You wouldn't drink iniquity like
water. There's nothing you wouldn't
do. Somebody says, I'm surprised. I'm not surprised by anything.
There's nothing I wouldn't do. And there's nothing you wouldn't
do apart from the grace of God. can. The spirit, there's flesh
lust against the spirit, spirit lust against the flesh. That's
the experience of every believer. Now, I got a question for you.
Very simple question, very important question. There are saints in
heaven right now called the saints in light, worshiping the lamb. And there are saints in this
building. There are saints here on earth. What is the difference between
the saints in heaven and the saints here on earth? The saints in heaven only have
one nature. That's the difference. The saints
in heaven only have one nature. The saints here on earth still
have two. Now understand this. If you're
a saint here on earth, you have the same holiness that you'll
have in heaven. You're not going to become all
of a sudden more holy. You know, it's impossible to grasp this. You can only believe it. Because it's hard for me to think
that I'm going to be without sin in heaven and I've got the
same nature right now. But I do. Holiness has no degrees.
You're given a holy nature, a new nature, protectors of the divine
nature. That nature you have right now will be the same one
you have in heaven, but you won't have the flesh to drag you down
anymore. You won't have that old man anymore. That's the difference. It's not
that in heaven you become holier all of a sudden. You have that
holy nature right now, but you also have that other nature,
that old man. But you won't have him in heaven. Now, the new man is stronger
than the old man. The Lord said greater is he that's
in you than he that's in the world. That new man is stronger. That's why sin will not have
dominion over you. Now, someone says, well, it seems
like sin has a lot of dominion over me. That's because you have
a new man that sees it. An old man can't see that. But
I love the promise that God made to Rebecca concerning those two
men. Remember what he said? The elder, the old man, is going
to serve. He's going to be a slave to the
new man. Now the old man that you have
beats you black and blue. And he makes you to know that
the only righteousness you have is the righteousness of Jesus
Christ. He is a slave to the new. Now we wouldn't dare excuse our
sin or feel okay about our sin. It's the old man, I can't help
it. We wouldn't, by God's grace, we wouldn't dare do that. But
understand this, that old man is the servant and the slave
of the new. And God does what only God can
do. He brings good out of evil. And
he makes that old man show the new man that there's nowhere
to look but Christ. And you rest on him only. And in that sense, he's a slave. He's serving the new man. This is a part of the all things
that work together for good. to them that love God, to them
who are called according to His purpose. That covers everything. Everything. And this is what
only God can do. Now somebody says, somebody's
going to take that and run with it and use it for wicked purposes.
I can't do anything about that, but a believer won't. A believer
won't. This new man, notice Paul said
that God by his spirit would strengthen with might this inner
man, this man that the world cannot see or cannot understand. Well, Paul put it this way in
2 Corinthians 4, 16, though our outward man perish. The inner man, the inward man,
is renewed day by day. Renewed by the grace of God every
single day. Made alive by the Spirit of God
every single day. The main teaching of the two
natures is Christ is all. And like I said, if all this
is done is kind of made your doctrine a little bit more refined
and accurate, it hadn't done any good. But if you're made
to see that Christ is all and you are nothing but sin in and
of yourself, That's the teaching of the Spirit of God. Let's pray. Lord, how we thank you for the
creative act of your grace that you make a new man because, Lord,
we confess our old man is nothing but corrupt. and how we thank
you for the understanding of the new man that thy son is all
in all. And Lord, we look nowhere else
but to him. Lord, enable us to preach your
gospel in this generation according to your will. Bless this message
for your glory and our good. We thank you for your word. We
thank you for your son. We thank you for your grace.
We thank you for your spirit. We thank you for the forgiveness
of sins. We thank you for the understanding that you've given
us. I bless this word for Christ's sake. In his name we pray. Amen.