Everybody enjoy the holiday? Everybody enjoy the conference? Turn to 2 Samuel chapter 3. 2 Samuel chapter 3. I'll be with you in a second.
It's kind of taking me a while. I just want to read the first
verse of 2 Samuel chapter 3. Now, there was long war between
the house of Saul and the house of David. But David waxed stronger
and stronger, and the house of Saul waxed weaker and weaker. Let's pray together. Lord, we come into your presence
in Christ's name. Lord, how thankful we are that
all of our salvation is in him. How thankful we are for the revelation
of the gospel. How thankful we are for the free
forgiveness of sins through what our son did for us. Lord, we
ask in Christ's name that you'd be pleased to speak to us in
power from your word. Oh, that we might hear from thee,
the living God. Lord, those that belong to you,
we ask that you would give us full assurance of our favor in
you. And those who have not believed, we ask that you would reveal
to them that they've not believed and save them by your grace. Be with all your people everywhere
for Christ's sake. And Lord, forgive us of our sins
for Christ's sake. In his name we pray, amen. Now the verse that I just read,
This long war between the house of Saul and the house of David
was not a war between Israel and the Philistines and their
false god, Dagon, but this was a civil war. That's very important. This was a civil war. And this
war goes on within the believer, a civil war. Paul put it this
way in Galatians chapter five, verse 17. He says, the flesh
lusts against the spirit and the spirit lusts against the
flesh. And these two are contrary one
to the other. They're at odds with one another
so that you cannot do the things that you would. And it is a long
war. It is a battle that is never
over. As long as we live, we will have this battle to deal
with. This long war. the house of Saul, the flesh,
and the house of David, the spirit. Turn with me for a moment to
Galatians, I mean Genesis chapter 25. Verse 21, and Isaac entreated
the Lord for his wife because she was barren. And the Lord
was entreated of him And Rebekah, his wife, conceived. All of a
sudden, there is life. And the children struggled together
within her. Now, that word struggle is actually,
is usually translated crushed. They crushed one another. This
is what was going on in her womb, these children crushing one another.
And she said, if it be so, why am I thus? What's wrong with
me? You know, this battle didn't begin until she had life conceived
in her. And once the life was placed
within her, all of a sudden she had this struggle going on. And
the Lord, verse 23, and the Lord said unto her, two nations are
in thy womb, and two manner of people should be separated from
thy bowels. And the one people should be
stronger than the other people, and the elder shall serve the
younger. Now, back to our text. This is typical. Now there was
a long war. between the house of Saul and
the house of David, a civil war. But, now look at the language,
David waxed stronger and stronger, and the house of Saul waxed weaker
and weaker. Now, I find the new man getting
stronger and stronger, and the influence of the old man becoming
weaker and weaker. I have more power over my flesh
by the grace of God, and by his grace I have more victory over
sin with this new man. The flesh, my new man, becomes
stronger and stronger, and the old man grows weaker and weaker. Is that your experience? It's
not mine either. As a matter of fact, I bet some
of you are getting scared saying, where's he going with this? Now, if what I just said is the
experience of any true believer. Not just talk, but I mean that
really is their experience. A true believer that finds his
new man becoming stronger and stronger and the influence of
the flesh becoming weaker and weaker. If that's the experience
of any true believer, then something is wrong with me. I'm missing
something. Missing something terribly. But
I want you to notice the language of this. I want to see if you
notice this. Now there was a long war between
the house of Saul and the house of David, this civil war. But
not the house of David waxed stronger and stronger, but David
waxed stronger and stronger. And the house of Saul waxed weaker
and weaker. You see the distinction? David
waxed stronger and stronger. The house of Saul waxed weaker
and weaker. Now here is the experience of
the believer. David grows stronger and stronger. David is the Lord Jesus Christ. And he, as a matter of fact,
this word is translated louder in Exodus chapter 19. He becomes
louder and louder. If we have life, we see Him more
and more as everything. And the more we understand of
our flesh, it becomes weaker and weaker. The house of Saul,
we see more need of our Christ. Now this is, it takes a new nature
to see this. It takes a new nature. Just like
when Rebecca, before she conceived, before she had life, she didn't
have a struggle going on inside of her. There wasn't any problem. But when this new man comes,
this holy nature, that's when you have this struggle. That's
when you have this fight. And the more you grow, I don't know how else to say
this, but the bigger and stronger he will appear to you, and the
weaker you'll appear to yourself. That's what happens in true growth.
You see, in Christian growth, it's always shrinking in yourself.
And seeing Him as bigger and bigger and more glorious and
more glorious and more majestic and more majestic. And the more
you see Him as all, the more you see yourself as nothing. Now, my need of Christ to be
all in my salvation grows stronger and stronger. And the view of
myself weaker and weaker. David gets bigger. The house of Saul grows weaker
and weaker. Now, that is my experience. I
don't find my new man becoming stronger and stronger and my
old man, just the influences of him being weaker and weaker
and my flesh doesn't have the same experience. Now, I see more
of my weaknesses. It doesn't mean that I'm becoming
more sinful. I'm just seeing more of it. That's
all that means. The more you see of him, the
more you'll see of yourself. The higher view I have of Christ,
the lower view I'll have of myself. Now that's what that means. The
house of Saul, grew weaker and weaker, but David grew stronger
and stronger. Now, the more strong I see him
to be, I'll see him more and more as the alpha and the omega,
the beginning and the end, the first and the last. I'll see
him as everything in salvation. And I've become more and more
convinced of my own personal weakness, sinfulness, and need
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that's my experience. Would the scriptures hold that
up? Is what I'm talking about scriptural
or am I just this really bad person? Well, yeah, I am this
really bad person, I realize that, but is this scriptural? Now, you know where I'll go with
this. I'm gonna go into Romans chapter
seven. I never will forget one time someone said to me, you
need to get out of Romans chapter seven and into Romans chapter
eight. Quit wallowing in Romans chapter seven and get into the
victory of Romans chapter eight. Now, when they said that to me,
this has been a long time ago, I didn't know how to answer it.
I thought, well, maybe they're right. You never leave Romans 7, and
you never leave Romans 8. There's no Romans 8 without Romans
7, and there's no Romans 7 without Romans 8. Now, let's go to Romans
7 for just a moment, and we can see that this is a commentary
on 2 Samuel 3, verse 1. I can't express how grateful
I am for this passage of scripture, but let's begin reading in verse
14. For we know, now let's stop right
there for a second. Who's the we? Every believer. Paul is speaking
as the spokesman for every single child of God. Same we as we know
that all things work together for good to them that love God,
to them who are the called according to his purpose. For we know,
we know. This is spoken of in the perfect
tense. We know this all together. This
is something, there's no maybes here. We know. I love the we
knows of the scripture, don't you? We know. And I can chime
in with Paul. I know too. Now look what he
knows. He says, for we know that the
law, God's holy law, is spiritual. David said, thy commandment is
exceeding broad. And I love God's law, and I know
that I've never kept one commandment one time in myself. because the
law is spiritual. It's holy, it's reflective of
God's character. And we would never speak disrespectfully
of the holy law of God. We love God's law. As a matter
of fact, he went on to say, I delight in the law of God after the inward
man. Every believer does. We love God's law, but notice
his knowledge. We know that the law is spiritual. And let me add this. Well, it's
not really an addition, but let me say this. If you, in your
heart, believe that you've kept one commandment one time, you're ignorant of the law. You
just don't even know what it means. You ought to ask the Lord
to reveal to you who he is. Paul says, we know that the law
is spiritual. And look what he says about himself,
but I am carnal, fleshly. And that sold under sin means
sold as a slave to sin. Now where does that measure up
in your experience? Now I realize that outwardly we seem, we keep
it together for the most part, I hope, outwardly. I hope, you
know, all the time. Let's keep it together outwardly.
But I'm talking about what you find going on within. Paul said, I'm a slave, sold
under sin. Verse 15, for that which I do,
I allow not. I don't approve of
it. It's wrong. But what I would, I would never sin again. I would never sin again. I would be perfectly conformed
to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. What I would, what I
desire, sometimes I don't attain to it? No. That do I not. I just don't do it. But what I hate, that is precisely what I do. Now, Paul is giving his experience
and this is the experience of every believer. Now, verse 16. If then I do that which I would
not, I consent unto the law that it is good." Now here, Paul is
taking personal responsibility for all of his sin. Every condemnation
that the law Judges against me, it's all right and it's all good. My sin is all my fault. This mess I'm in, it's my fault. I can't blame God's sovereignty.
I can't blame the fall. I can't blame Adam. I can't blame
the devil. It's all my fault. Now, if your sin is not all your
fault, that means you're blaming God for your sin, ultimately.
And that's so. My sin, is all my fault. I can't blame anybody else for
this mess that I'm in. My sin is all my fault. And I consent unto the law that
it's good. Everything God's law says is
perfect and right and just. And every condemnation of me
is right and just. Verse 17. Now then, it's no more
I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. Now, this is the recognition
of the two natures. The new man did not do it. The old man did. And that's what
Paul is saying. And I know people will say, well,
you're making an excuse for sin. No, I'm not. No, I'm not. But
this is the recognition of what's going on on the inside. Paul
said, the new man didn't do it. You see, when a man is born again,
born from above. He's given a new nature that
comes from God. That which is born of the Spirit
is Spirit. Now, can something that's born
of God, can something that God made and birthed, giving you
His own nature, partakers of the divine nature, can that nature
sin? Something that's born of God,
can that nature sin? Absolutely not. He that's born
of God, the scripture says in 1 John 3, doth not commit sin. Now, the new man owns the sins
of the old man. It's only the new man, really,
that ever truly owns sin in the first place. Nobody else really
does. It's the new man that owns the sins of the old man. But
Paul says, it wasn't me that did it. It was the sin. It was
the old man. It was the sinful nature that
did it. This is a recognition of the
two natures, the one that cannot sin and the one that all it does
is sin. Now look what Paul says in verse 18. For I know. He's,
I know too, Paul, but he's speaking as, I love the I knows of the
scripture, don't you? I know, he says, I know that
in me, that is in my flesh, what's it say? Dwelleth no good
thing. Do you know that? Can you say
that with the same conviction Paul does? I know that in me
that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. You see, you have
to have a holy nature to even recognize that. You have to have
a new nature to see that. That's why Paul could see this.
Now somebody says, I just can't see this with regard to myself.
Well, it's because you only got one nature. If you had two natures,
you'd see this. But of course, if you don't have
two natures, this doesn't even make sense to you. But it does
to anyone who has a holy nature. I know that in me that is in
my flesh dwelleth no good thing. Now look what he says next. For
to will is present with me. I would be perfect. I would Honor God perfectly. I would be done with this sinful,
selfish, stupid flesh of mine. It's an albatross around my neck.
To will is present with me. It really is. Do you want to
be perfectly conformed to the image of Christ? Would you like
to be done with sin? Would you like to be done with
pride? Would you like to be done with self-promotion? Would you
like to be done with lust? Would you like to be done with
evil desires? To will, Paul says, is present
with me. It's there. Look at his confession. But how to perform that which
is good. Now he's talking about his performance.
His performance. That's what you do. How's your
performance? How to perform that which is
good. What are the last three words
of that verse? And that's strong language. He
said, I find not. I find not. He didn't say, I
make mistakes, we're all human. He doesn't say sometimes I mess
up. He says categorically, I find
not. Now, this is in my experience.
Now, like I said, this is what goes on in the heart
of a believer every single day. I find not. Verse 19. For the good that I would, I
do not. But the evil which I would not,
that I do." Now I can just hear religious people saying to Paul,
Paul, you're a hypocrite. That's all you are. You're a
hypocrite. If you talk like this, what is
salvation? There's nothing to you. I can see a religious person
saying that to Paul. But you know how much respect
I have for human religious opinion? Zero. I don't care. I don't care if people do say
something like that. We're looking at scripture right now. We're
not looking at somebody trying to get on Paul. Like I said, I can see it. And
many people have argued, Paul couldn't, he was talking about
before he was saved. He couldn't be this way after he was saved.
Well, let's go on reading, verse 20. Now if I do that, I would not
Here he says it again. It's no more I that do it, but
sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law. A law. Now, laws are laws. This is his
experience. I find then a law that when I
would do good, evil is present with me. Do you find that law
in yourself? That when you would do good, evil is right there, present
with you. Then Paul says in verse 22, for
I delight in the law of God after the inward man. And you know,
I do too. I love the Ten Commandments.
I love every one of them. They glorify God. They set forth
His glorious character and His perfect requirements. And we
love the law of God. We delight in it. I remember
hearing somebody say, well, just throw the Ten Commandments in
the trash can. Oh, no. Oh, no. We delight in the law
of God after the inward man. As far as that goes, I love thinking
this way. People say we ought to try to
keep the law. I don't try to keep it. I've kept it. I've kept
it. That's why I don't have to fear
it. I've kept it. When Jesus Christ kept it, I did too, because
everything he did, he did as a representative man. I love
it when he said to John the Baptist, thus it becometh us to fulfill
all righteousness. When he fulfilled all righteousness,
I did too. So yes, every believer delights
in the law of God after the inward man, the new man, the new nature. This is so clear from the scriptures. Verse 23. but I see another law
in my members. He's not talking about the law
and his members that delights in the law of God after the inward
man, but I see another law in my members, warring against the
law of my mind that delights in the law of God. And look what
he says, and bringing me into, what's that word? Captivity. Captivity. To the law of sin,
which is in my members. That means I'm in a jail I can't
get out of. That's how I feel. Verse 24. Oh, wretched man that I was. No. Oh, wretched man that I am. Here's what I need. Who shall
deliver me from the body of this death? Now, Paul was referring
to the Roman practice of chaining a dead body to a prisoner. Can
you imagine how horrible that would be? And that's how he felt
about his old nature. It's like a dead body chained
to me, and here's what I need. I need delivered. I need somebody to save me. That's
what I need. I need somebody to save me. Oh,
wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this
death? I thank God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. He's the one
who delivers me. So then, with my mind, I myself
serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. Now, that's just the believer's
experience. Now, I realize that some would
use this as, well, I can't help it, and go ahead and sin without
restraint. Some people will do that. I realize
that, but I can't change what the Bible says because of what
somebody's going to do with it. Paul says in his experience,
my new man serves God. My old man serve sin. And can't you say to that, yep,
that's my experience. But here is the best part of
this. David's going to win. As a matter
of fact, you read through this third and fourth and fifth chapter
of Second Samuel, I think it is the most sordid, seedy passage
of Scripture in the Bible. It's not something you'd read
to your kids at night before they go to bed. I mean, it's just
not. I mean, the stuff that goes on,
including with David, that's going to end up bringing him
to the height of the throne. But the Lord is overruling it
all and using it. And this is David, the house
of David, growing stronger and stronger. He's going to be king.
And Saul's going to be put out of business. So victory is already
ours. Amen.