I did choose thee, Lord, for,
Lord, that Todd's Road Grace Church would
like to invite you to listen to a sermon by our pastor, Todd
Nivert. We are located at 4137 Todd's
Road, two miles outside of Manowar Boulevard. Sunday services are
at 10.30 a.m. and 6 p.m. Bible study is at
9.45 a.m. Wednesday services are at 7 p.m. Nursery is provided for all services.
For more information, visit our website at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Now here's our pastor, Todd Nivert. Before I read the text for this
morning's message, I'd like to invite you to some special services
we're having at the Todd's Road Grace Church, December 8th through
10th. We're going to have our annual
Sovereign Grace Bible Conference. Now, if you listen to this program,
you know that we believe that salvation is of the Lord. election by the Father, redemption
by the Son, and regeneration by God the Holy Spirit. And this
is the gospel message. And we're going to have eight
different speakers dealing with this theme, what is the gospel? There's no more important question
we can consider than what is the gospel. December 8th through
10th, Friday night, it'll begin at 7, Saturday morning at 10,
Saturday evening at 6, and Sunday morning at 10. And we'd love
to have you come out and attend these meetings. There will be
a nursery provided. I'm going to read a passage of
scripture from Luke chapter 24 verse 11. This is after the disciples heard
the report of the Lord Jesus being raised from the dead. You
know on three different occasions, at least in the New Testament,
he told his disciples he would be crucified, put to death and
the third day be raised from the dead. He told them that this
would take place. As a matter of fact, his enemies
knew about it because we read in Matthew chapter 28 the Pharisees
asked Pilate to put a watch over the tomb because they said we
remember that this deceiver said while he was alive in three days
he'll rise from the dead. So this was common knowledge
and you would think the disciples would have been there waiting.
But what it says after they heard this report from the women, verse
11, Luke 24, and their words seemed to them as idle tales. And they believed them not. They did not believe this report. As a matter of fact, all four
gospel narratives speak of the unbelief of the disciples even
after the resurrection. You remember Thomas? He said,
except I see the nail prints in his hands and thrust my hand
in his side, I will not believe. There's the account in Mark where
the Lord afterwards upbraided them for their hardness of heart
and unbelief because they didn't believe the report concerning
him. And I'd like to read this passage of scripture to you in
Matthew chapter 28 verse 17. This is when the disciples actually
saw Him raised from the dead. And it says in verse 17, And
when they saw Him, they worshipped Him, but some doubted Him. Now, in the original, that word
some is not really there. It's literally while they were
looking at Him. These are the disciples. These
are those who profess faith in Christ. They saw Him. They worshipped
Him. And they doubted. Even while they're standing there
looking at Him, they saw Him. No denial of this. They worshiped
Him. That's what people do who see
the Lord. Every time when they see who He really is, they worship
Him. And they doubt it. Somebody may think, well how
could that be? I don't have a hard time understanding that at all.
Because at all times, I have to pray this prayer as do every
other child of God, Lord, I believe. Help thou my unbelief. There's never a time in my experience
when I don't have to pray that prayer. Lord, I believe. I do. I do believe the gospel. I do
look to Christ as everything in my salvation. The Father looks
to the Son for everything in my salvation. I do the same thing
the Father does. I look to Him for everything
in my salvation. I'm relying on Him alone. I do
believe the gospel. I do believe that Jesus Christ
is God the Son. I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. Now, somebody may think, how
can you believe and have unbelief at the same time? This is because
every believer has two natures. Now, an unbeliever only has one
nature. The nature he had at birth, an evil sinful nature. But a believer is born of God
and he's given a new nature and it's that new nature that believes
and the old nature does not believe. Every believer has two natures. I think a simple illustration
of this, it's difficult to grasp for the reason that we only have
one consciousness. It's not like I have the new
man acting here and the old man acting over here. It's not like
that at all. I only have one consciousness
and it's like hot water and cold water coming out of one faucet.
the new nature and the old nature operate out of that one consciousness.
I don't know how to explain it any better than that, but it's
true. It's what the scripture teaches.
Every single believer has two natures. Now what I've entitled
this message is the teaching of the two natures. But before
we get into the teaching of the two natures, what that implies
and what it lets us know, I first want to know does the Bible actually
teach this? Is this some preacher giving
his opinion or is this something that the Bible actually teaches? And really that's the only issue.
What sayeth the scriptures? Does the Bible teach that a believer
has two separate Now, I've heard people object to this by saying,
well, it's got too many bad implications. If you believe you have two separate
natures, one evil nature and the other a holy nature, that
means you've got an excuse for your sin. You can just give in.
Well, it's not my fault. It's the old nature's. Now, a
believer doesn't do that. He owns his sin. He doesn't make
an excuse for it and say, well, I don't need to worry about that.
But be that as it may, that people object to it, does the Bible
teach this doctrine? Well, it is the uniform teaching
of Scripture, both Old Testament and New Testament. In Ezekiel
chapter 36, God said, a new heart will I give you, one that was
not there before. a new heart and a new spirit
will I put within you. Now understand this, when God
saves a sinner, he doesn't change the old man and make it better.
He puts something there that was not there before. It's called
being born from above. It's being born again. In Jeremiah,
he said in chapter 31 that he would put his law in the inward
parts Now the inward parts is what the New Testament calls
the inner man, the new man, the hidden man of the heart. And
when he's speaking of putting his laws in the heart, he's not
talking about the Ten Commandments. You know, everybody born into
this world is born with the light of the Ten Commandments already
in their heart, whether they've never seen a copy. It could be
that somebody is born having never seen a copy of the Ten
Commandments, doesn't even know it's in existence, but they still
know it's wrong to murder. They still know it's sin to lie.
They still know that sexual immorality is wrong. Everybody is born with
the law written in their heart. Somebody says, well, we need
to teach people how to live. People already know how to live.
People already know it's wrong to steal. It's wrong to kill
somebody. The law is written in everybody's
heart. Now, they can't keep it, but
they know the difference between right and wrong. So when the
scriptures is speaking, of God putting His laws in the heart
of a man. It's not the commandments, it's
this new life that was not there before that causes a man to have
a new nature. In the scriptures, in the New
Testament, we read in Romans 8.3 of the law of the Spirit
of life in Christ Jesus. We read of the law of righteousness
Every believer has a law of righteousness. They have a righteous nature,
a holy nature given to them by God that can't be satisfied with
anything but perfect righteousness. The only thing that satisfies
my conscience is that I stand before God perfectly righteous
because of what Christ did on Calvary Street. We read of the
law of faith. A believer cannot not believe. He believes the gospel. Now he's
got the Old nature that says, help thou mine unbelief, but
a believer has the law of faith within him. We read of the law
of sin in Romans 7, 18. Someone with a holy nature can't
see anything but sin in his old nature. He sees that he truly
is completely sinful in and of himself and can't save himself.
Only the new birth can recognize that. We read in James 2 of the
law of love. It's natural for a believer to
love God as He is. Love all of His attributes. Love
His sovereignty. Love His holiness. Love His justice.
Every characteristic of God the believer loves. It's because
he has the law of love. This is that new man. The law
of liberty. I cannot be brought into bondage. I can't handle it. I can't stand
somebody trying to put me under works. Oh, I've got to have freedom,
the freedom that's in Christ Jesus. Now, these are the laws
of the new nature. Now, there's a beautiful illustration
of this given in Genesis chapter 25. I want to read it to you.
It's about Jacob and Esau. You've heard of Jacob and Esau.
They were twins. Matter of fact, God said, Jacob ever loved and
Esau ever hated. He said that twice, and these
boys represent election, God sovereignly choosing one and
passing by the other. But let's read about their birth,
and this gives us some idea of the experience of the believer
with these two natures. Verse 20 of Genesis 25, and Isaac
was 40 years old when he took Rebekah to wife, the daughter
of Bethuel, the Syrian, of Paddan Aram, the sister to Laban, the
Syrian, And Isaac entreated the Lord for his wife because she
was barren. She had no life. And the Lord was entreated of
him, and Rebekah, his wife, conceived. She now had life within her. She didn't know there were twins.
And the children struggled together within her, and she said, if
it be so, why am I thus? She felt this conflict, this
trouble going on on the inside of her, and she didn't understand
it. So she said, why am I thus? And she went to inquire of the
Lord. She asked him, why is this? And the Lord said unto her, two
nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people. shall be
separated from thy vows." Totally different. And the one people
should be stronger than the other people, and the elder shall serve
the younger. Now that happened literally,
but it's given to illustrate what goes on in a believer's
heart. Two manner of men. The old man
the sinful man, the man we are by nature, and the new man given
in the new birth. I think of the scripture in Galatians
chapter 5 verse 17, 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 that you
would. Now, if you're a believer, you would be perfectly holy.
You would never sin again. You would never be disobedient.
You'd never have an unbelieving thought. You would be just like
Christ. But you can't. The flesh will
not allow that. And you also know this about
yourself if you're a believer. You would be as bad as Satan
himself. There's no sin that you would
not commit. But God the Holy Spirit prevents
it. These two are contrary one to
another so that you can't do the things that you would. Second
Corinthians 517 says, if any man be in Christ, he's a new
creation. He's not a changed life. I hear
preachers talking about changed lives. My old man's as bad as
it ever was. It hadn't changed a bit. He's kept in check by
the new man. But I've not changed in that
sense. I have the same sinful appetites and wicked desires
that I've ever had. And the It's not a change, it's something
placed there that was not there before. The new man. You can't read Romans chapter
7 and deny in any way that they're two separate natures. Romans
chapter 7 where Paul said, O wretched man that I am, who shall deliver
me from the body of this death? He's talking about the two natures.
What I would, I don't do. What I do, I'm against. I find in the law that when I
would do good, evil is present with me. I delight in the law
of God after the inward man, but I see another law in my members,
warring and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin,
which is in my members." Now, Paul is speaking as a believer.
Only a believer has this understanding of sin. It takes the new man
to see the sinfulness of this old man. So the scripture clearly
teaches two natures. I think one of the most powerful
examples is the parable of the wineskins. You don't take new
wine and put it into old wineskins because through the process of
fermentation that dry old wineskin will end up bursting and you
lose the wine. You put the new wine in new wineskins. God puts his grace in a new heart. Now I see that the scripture
teaches this thing of two separate natures in a believer. What's the issues involved? Tell me what this means. Well,
first, what it means is that we really are totally depraved. God doesn't take the old man
and improve it. He gives a new man because the
old man is nothing but sin. Genesis chapter 6 verse 5, And
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. And my dear friend, that's a
description of me by nature, and that's a description of you
by nature. That's why the Lord said in John
6, verse 44, no man can come to me, except the Father which
has sent me draw him, because we're totally depraved, and we
will not be saved if left to ourself. And you hath he quickened
who were dead, dead in trespasses and sins. Now, if I don't believe
in two separate natures, I believe in one nature and I believe that
God is working with the old nature to make it better. Him enabling
me by grace to just become better and better and better. That's
not what the scripture teaches. Somebody says that's my experience
and you've got the wrong experience. That's not what the scripture
teaches. This is a denial of God giving
a new heart. in regeneration, one that was
not there before. The old man, my dear friend,
is not helped. It's not improved. When God created
the universe, what did he have to work with? Nothing. When God
makes the second creation, what does he have to work with? Nothing. He gives a new heart. A new heart also will I give
you. Now, not only do the two natures
line up with total depravity, These two natures let us know
that salvation is totally by grace. Nothing about you God
works with. Salvation really is all of grace. It has nothing to do with my
works. If I believe, it's because God
gave me a new heart to believe. It didn't come from me. It didn't
come as an act of my free will. It didn't come because I decided
to. It didn't come because of anything in me. It wasn't God
helping me, the old man, to do anything. It's a miracle of grace. That's what the new man speaks
of. If I'm totally depraved, I ain't I need God to elect me. I need Christ to die for me.
I need God, the Holy Spirit, to create life in me and make
this new man. This is all a part of the teaching
of salvation, really is all of grace. God gives you a new man
that wasn't there before, that believes, that repents, that
loves, and that recognizes the sinfulness of the old man. Now,
a denial of the two natures opens up the door for what is known
as progressive sanctification. How you progressively become
more and more holy, more and more obedient, and less and less
sinful. Most people would profess that. Yes, I believe by grace you become
more and more obedient, more and more holy, and less and less
sinful. Now if you profess that, what
you're being is dishonest. You're just being dishonest.
You're not showing that guileless spirit that is in the heart of
every believer. You're just being dishonest because
you know that's not the case. It's not. And the scripture doesn't
teach that. I've already quoted Galatians
5.17. The flesh lusts against the spirit
and the spirit lusts against the flesh. And these two are
contrary one to another so that you cannot do the things that
you would. You're prevented to because of
this evil nature you have. And these two separate natures
explain to me why sin is still such a struggle with me. If you
hear a preacher or religious person saying, I don't struggle
with sin anymore, they're not telling the truth. They're just
lying to you. Yes, they do. They're just not
being honest. Either that, or they don't know
what sin is in the first place, or they wouldn't make statements
like that. Every believer knows something about his own sinfulness
and the struggle going on within. And it's because of the new nature
and the old nature being in that same consciousness. Now that
doesn't give me an excuse for sin. It doesn't cause me to give
in to sin because it's my sinful nature, but it certainly gives
me an explanation for my present sinfulness. Paul said in I Timothy
1.15, Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners of
whom I am, not whom I was, but whom I am, the chief. That's how the apostle Paul considered
himself, the very chief of sinners. When he was giving this statement
regarding the two natures in Romans chapter 7, verses 14 through
25, he ends up with this, O wretched man that I am, not who I was,
but that I am. Who shall deliver me from this
body of death? I thank my God through Jesus
Christ our Lord. So with my mind, I serve the
law of God, with the flesh, the law of sin. This gives me an
explanation for why I am the way I am. And you know this teaching
of two separate natures, a holy nature and a sinful nature, actually
gives an explanation for many scriptures that we can't understand
without seeing this. For instance, when David said,
I'm holy, how could David say that when he committed all those
sins? That's the new man speaking. I am holy. He said in Psalm 119,
blessed are the undefiled in the way. They also do no iniquity. They walk in his ways. Now who
can make a claim like that? The new man can. The new man
is undefiled and does no iniquity. What about when the Lord said,
blessed are the pure in heart? Well, the only way you can be
pure in heart is if you're pure in heart. And that's the heart
of the new man. That's the heart David cried
for when he said, creating me a clean heart, O God, and renew
a right spirit within me. What about the scripture in 1
John 3? Whoso abideth in him sinneth not, and whosoever is
born of God doth not commit sin. It's that which is born of God,
the new man, that does not commit sin. And this is what Peter means
when he speaks of being made a partaker of the divine nature. That's what happens when someone's
born from above, when they're born again, they're made a partaker
of the divine nature. Now, let me remind you of a scripture
that I used a few moments ago in Genesis chapter 25 where Rebecca was struggling with those
two different manner of men within her. Jacob and Esau, there was
a fight between these two men and there always will be a fight
between these two men. But God gives this assurance. The elder shall serve the younger. Now, your old man, if you're
a believer, you have two natures. And your old man is the elder.
He's the one you were born with. But do you know that that old
nature is a servant to the new nature, the holy nature? Well, how is that? How does the
elder serve the younger? How is it that the old man serves
the new man? Now, before I give the answer
to that, I want to remind you of this. God brings good out
of evil. Only God brings good out of evil. All I got to do is point to the
cross. That's the most evil thing to ever take place. And look
at the good that came from that. Oh, the blessings of salvation
all come from the most evil thing that ever took place. God brings
good out of evil. Now, my old man, my sinful nature,
It makes it to where I can't look anywhere but Christ. I can't
look to myself. I can't look to my works. I can't
look to my evidences. The only thing I have to look
for is Christ. I don't have anything else. That's
what the old nature reminds me. that Christ must be all in my
salvation. My salvation is not Christ and
my obedience or my efforts or my good works or my sincerity. No, Christ alone. He is all in my salvation. And my old nature is a continual
reminder to me that when I get in heaven, there's only going
to be one reason I'm there because of the grace of God. because
of what Christ has done for me, because my sin, like David said,
my sin is ever before me. But thank God it's not before
God. Christ put it away, but my sin is a continual reminder
to me that Jesus Christ is my salvation. It has nothing to
do with my works. And in that respect, the elder,
the old nature serves the new nature. And it drives me to the
Lord Jesus Christ and bless God, one day soon, I'll only have
one nature. a holy nature. When I die, this
sinful nature will be put in the grave and I won't deal with
it anymore. And I'll just have one nature
that does nothing but worships God and sees the beauty of the
Lord Jesus Christ. So in that sense, I'm looking
forward to death. Because when I die, my old nature,
my old man will be gone. I'll have no more unbelief. I'll
have no more sin. I'll be perfectly conformed to
the image of Christ beholding His face. Now let me remind you
of the Bible Conference, the Sovereign Grace Bible Conference,
we're going to have at the Todd's Road Grace Church, December 8th
through 10th. Eight different speakers bringing
a message on this theme, What is the Gospel? And we'd love
to have you come out and be in these services with us. There
will be nursery provided. And we have this message on DVD
and CD. If you call the church, write
or email, we'll send you a copy. This is Todd Nyberg praying that
God will be pleased to make Himself known to you. That's our prayer.
To request a copy of the sermon you have just heard, send your
request to messages at toddsroadgracechurch.com. Or you may write or call the
church at the information provided on the screen.