How sweet and wondrous is the
place with Christ within the doors. displays the choicest of her
stores. While all our hearts and all
our songs join to admire the peace. Each of us cries with thankful
hearts, Lord, why was I against? Why was I made to hear thy voice
and enter while there's room? When thousands make a wretched
choice And rather starve than come Twas that same love that
spread the feast and sweetly drew us in. Else we had still refused to
taste and perished in our sins. Pity the nations, O our God. Constrain the earth to come. Send thy victorious word abroad. and bring the strangers home. We long to see thy churches full,
that all the chosen race May with one voice and heart and
soul sing thy redeeming grace. Would you turn with me to the
25th chapter of the book of Genesis? Genesis chapter 25. I have entitled
this message. Why am I thus? You'll see why I titled it as
we read this passage of scripture, verse 19, Genesis 25. And these are the generations
of Isaac, Abraham's son. Abraham begat Isaac, and Isaac
was 40 years old. when he took Rebekah to wife,
the daughter of Bethuel, the Syrian, of Paddanaran, the sister
to Laman, the Syrian. And Isaac entreated the Lord
for his wife, because she was barren. And the Lord was entreated
of him, and Rebekah his wife conceived. And the children struggled together
within her. 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, and the one people shall be stronger
than the other people, and the elder shall serve the younger. And when her days to be delivered
were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her womb. And the first came out red, all
over like a hairy garment, and they called his name Esau. And after that came his brother
out, and his hand took hold on Esau's heel, and his name was
called Jacob. And Isaac was three score years
old when she buried him, and the boys grew. And Esau was a
cunning hunter, a man of the field. And Jacob was a plain
man, dwelling in tents. And Isaac loved Esau because
he did eat of his venison, but Rebekah loved Jacob. Why am I thus? Why am I like I am? Another way to say it is, what's
wrong with me? What in the world is wrong with
me? I see great contradictions within myself. What is wrong with me? I believe
the gospel. I do. As the Lord is my witness,
I believe the gospel. I am relying upon the Lord Jesus
Christ right now as my salvation. I believe the gospel. And I can
say with Peter of old, Lord, you know all things. You know
that I love you. I love the Lord Jesus Christ. I really do. I esteem Him. I
see Him as altogether lovely. I love Him. Yet, there are things
in me that quite frankly contradict what I just said. That I cannot
reconcile to that. Why am I thus? Why am I like that? What is wrong
with me? Now, what inspired this message
was I got to thinking about a statement I made this last Sunday. You
may remember it. Wherever there is faith, there
is always, side by side with it, accompanying it, unbelief. It's always that way, and it's
never not that way. Wherever there is faith, there
is always, right beside it, unbelief. And if you have faith, you know
that's so. You know that's true to your
own experience, don't you? If you have faith, you do. You know,
really, before you have faith, you don't even know what unbelief
is. It's not until you believe that you understand something
about what unbelief is. But once you have faith, you
know something of the power of unbelief. And then I thought,
if that's so, why is it so? Why? You remember that man in
Mark chapter nine that cried out, Lord, I believe. Help thou mine unbelief. Now, there you have it in the
same man side by side. Lord, I believe. Help thou mine
unbelief. Now, was this kind of a lower
tier Christian, one who probably wasn't as spiritual as other
Christians, and he had to make such a statement of unbelief?
Or is this the common experience of every single child of God? Lord, I believe, help thou mine
unbelief. Now, how can that be side by
side in the same man? How can that be? Because in that
one man, there are two men. The new man and the old man. The new man believes. The new
man cannot not believe. Try to not believe the gospel.
You can't, can you? The new man believes. The old
man has nothing but unbelief. That is all that is there. Now, the new man loves God. The new man communes with God. The new man understands the Bible. The new man understands the way
of salvation by grace. He understands. You know, the new man has what
our Lord calls the honest and good heart. That's the description
the Lord gives of the good ground here in an honest and good heart. He receives the word that, you
know, by nature, his heart is not honest and good. This is
talking about a new heart, a heart that was not there before that
God has placed. the new heart that receives the
word of God. This is what Peter calls being
born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, this
incorruptible undefiled seed. He called it a meek and quiet
spirit. Incorruptible. Now, the old man
is corruptible. The old man is evil. The old
man has nothing but sin and nothing but unbelief. It's called the
flesh. The flesh. Our Lord said that
which is born of the flesh is what? Flesh. It never rises above
its source. And that which is born of the
spirit is spirit. Flesh and spirit. and new man. You remember when the Lord was
praying in the Garden of Gethsemane, and He has told His disciples,
He says, pray and watch that you enter not into temptation.
And He goes out and prays to His Father, Father, is it be
possible that this cup pass from Me? He's sweating great drops
of blood at this time. And He comes back to the disciples
who He warned, watch and pray. And what are they doing? They're
all laying there asleep. And the Lord said to Peter, couldn't
you watch one hour with me? Couldn't you stay awake for an
hour? And then he made this statement. The spirit. Indeed, is willing. But the flesh. Is weak. And that weak doesn't mean not
very strong, that means infinite. Powerless. Unable to produce
any kind of results at all. Now, the Lord gives us a story
in his word that enables us to understand this thing of why
am I thus? And it's found in this story
of Rebecca. Now, Rebecca was barren. She
could not produce life. She'd been married for 20 years
and still no baby. She could not produce life. And she pictures you and I, spiritually
barren, unable, unable to produce life, unable to do anything in
this thing of life, spiritually dead. No way, I can't do anything
to give myself life. You know that belief that most
people have that God wants to save everybody and make salvation
available if you'll just of your free will let him save you. That's
a bunch of foolishness. There's no truth to that. You
can't do anything to give yourself life. She was buried. And her
husband Isaac, he prayed for her. And he prayed that the Lord
would give her a child that she would no longer be burying. And
God put something in her. that was not there before. He
put life in her. All of a sudden, she had life
within her. Now, this was before the days
of the ultrasound. She had twins, but she didn't
know it. She felt this struggle going
on within her. And she said, why am I thus?
What is wrong with me? As a matter of fact, this word
struggle, it's also translated break, bruise, crush, discourage,
oppress. It made her miserable. She felt broken, bruised, crushed. discouraged, oppressed, and she
said, why am I thus? What is wrong with me? She felt
this fight going on within. You know, I got to thinking about
this, talking about two natures. When the Lord first saved me, I didn't
know I had two natures. Did you? When the Lord saved you, did
you know you had two natures? You knew it by experience, but
you didn't know it at first. I mean, you didn't know, but something
was happening. As a matter of fact, your thought
begins after you have life. That's when it begins, not before
then. You know, you didn't have such trouble with sin. It didn't
bother you that much until you were given life. And now all
of a sudden you have this struggle, this fight going on within. So we read in verse 22, and the
children struggled together within her 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.
And the one people shall be stronger than the other people, and the
elder shall serve the younger." Now, throughout the scripture,
the Lord only deals with two men. Two men. The first Adam and the second
Adam. I'm either in the first Adam,
represented by him, or I'm in the second Adam. Do you remember
the story of David and Goliath? Always a wonderful story. But
what's the main teaching behind that story? Israel stood or fell
in a representative. If David defeats Goliath, all
of Israel defeats Goliath. Everybody wins. If David loses,
they all lose. They stood in a representative.
That God has only dealt with two men. The first Adam, I'm
either in the first Adam and he deals with me in him or the
second Adam. The old man and the new man.
The new man that comes from the second Adam, the Lord Jesus Christ.
The old man that comes from the first Adam. The old man and the
new man. Two manner of men are in thee. And one of these men is going
to be stronger than the other. Greater is he that's in you than
he that is in the world. That new man, that which is born
of God, is stronger, and he is going to win. And the elder,
that old man, is going to serve the younger, the old nature,
It's older than the new nature in our experience, isn't it?
The older nature. But the old nature is going to
be used by God to serve the new man. It's that old nature that's
going to drive you to the Lord Jesus Christ every single time. It's that old nature that's going
to keep you coming to Him and keep you seeing your need of
Him. God even takes that old man and
He uses him to serve. the new man. Now let's read this
description of these boys. Verse 24. And when her days to
be delivered were fulfilled, behold, there were twins in her
womb. And the first came out red, all
over like a hairy garment, and they called his name Esau. And
after that came his brother out, and his hand took hold on Esau's
heel, and his name was called Jacob. And Isaac was three or
four years old when she bared them, and the boys grew. And
Esau was a cunning hunter. A man of the field. He was an
athletic fellow. He was strong. He was a hunter. He was cunning. He was a man's
man. If you would have picked out
which one you preferred, you would have picked out Esau. I
would have picked out Esau. I guarantee you we would have.
But what about Jacob? He's called a plain man. A playing man. Kind of a mama's
boy. And he was not the one you would
have picked. He would have been the one who
aggravated you. Now, I think that these descriptions
are very interesting. Jacob, I mean, Esau was a cunning
hunter. Now this is his description.
What's a hunter do? Now I'm not saying anything against hunting.
Hunting's fine. So don't think I take this wrong. If you hunt,
fine. You know, good. I don't, but it's good if you
do. But here's the point. What's a hunter do? He deceives,
doesn't he? He wants to deceive his prey.
He wants to trick it so he can get it. He was a cunning hunter. What was Jacob? He was a plain man. Now this
word plain is generally translated Perfect. Upright. You know when it says Job was
a perfect man? Same word. Job was a plain man. Job was a perfect man. Job was
an upright man. Now, I think this is very interesting.
God's testimony concerning these two men would not be our testimony. If you would have talked about
Jacob, what do you think about Jacob when you think of Jacob? I know
what I think of. I think of a deceiver. He was
a deceiver. That's what his name means. A
supplant or a deceiver. Yet God says of him, he's perfect. And if God says he's perfect,
you know what? He's perfect. And if you would have looked
at Esau, you would have thought he's above board. I mean, this
is the guy we need to follow. But God's estimation of him was
completely different. Remember, Jacob, God said. God said this, Jacob have I loved. But Esau have I hated." God said
that. Somebody said, well that means
he loved him less. God loved less? God can't love less. When God loves, his love is all
together. No, he didn't love Esau less. He hated Esau. He said, I've laid his waste
to the dragons. That's what God said. And that's
God's testimony concerning these two boys. Now, I see in these
men, The old man and the new man. And in reality, it's the
new man who sees the old man. Let me show you a scripture in
Psalm 36. This ran across my attention this week, and I thought,
wow, Psalm 36. See if you've ever seen this before. Verse one. The transgression
of the wicked saith within my heart. What's this about? The transgression of the wicked.
He's talking about that wicked man. He says he saith within
my heart. That's talking about the new
man. Describing the old man. The transgression of the wicked
saith within my heart. 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. David's talking about himself.
The words of his mouth, the old man, are iniquity and deceit.
He hath left off to be wise and to do good. He devises mischief
upon his bed. He setteth himself in a way that's
not good. He abhorreth not evil. Would
that ever describe you? Huh? You ever sit on your bed
and imagine mischief? The new man is speaking of the
old man. Now, why am I thus? Two manner of men are within
me. Turn to Galatians chapter 5. Galatians chapter 5, verse 17. You know, I can't explain all
this, but I know it so. I know it's what the scripture
teaches, and I know it's what I experience. It lines up with
the scripture, which is what it must begin with, and it lines
up with my experience. Can I explain at all how I'm
two men? No. But I'll tell you what, if you
are two men, you understand you are two men. If you only have
one nature, you can't understand this. It doesn't make any sense
to you. But if you have two lectures, you know exactly what I'm talking
about, and I don't have to convince you of it. Don't have to. You
know. Now look here in verse 17. For
the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against
the flesh, and these are contrary, the one to the other. They're
at odds, so that you can't do the things that you would. I would be without sin. I would never sin again. I would be perfectly conformed
to the image of the Lord Jesus Christ. I'd never have another
wicked thought. I'd never have another proud. I would be just
like him. I would. But I can't. I can't. The flesh is always
there. And you turn around the other
way. I would be a complete monster in iniquity. I would. There's
no sin that I wouldn't commit. I would. I would be a monster.
And no stopping what I do. But I can't. God the Holy Spirit
won't let me. The flesh lusts against the Spirit. The Spirit lusts against the
flesh. These two are contrary one to the other so that you
can't do the things you would. Now let me tell you some things
the Bible tells us about the flesh. First, it can never rise
above its nature. That which is born of the flesh
is flesh. And it can never get any better.
It can never be improved. Romans chapter 7, verse 18, Paul
said, I know That in me, that is, in my flesh dwelleth no good
thing. Do you know that? Do you know
that? In John chapter 6, verse 63,
the Lord said, it's the spirit that quickens. It's the spirit
that gives life. The flesh profits nothing. In this thing of spiritual life,
the flesh has no participation. Are you aware of that? Absolutely
no participation. Paul said, we have no confidence
in the flesh. There's nothing to have confidence
in. It's nothing but sin. That's all it is. Wounds and
bruises and putrefying sores from the head to the feet. That's
all it is. Romans chapter 3 verse 20 says,
by the works of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in
his sight. You see, the flesh has nothing
to do with justification. And what a blessed thing this
thing of justification is being just before God, having no sin
before God, being not guilty before God. What's the flesh
got to do with that? It's God taking the righteousness of his
son and putting it on me. And I'm just. Flesh didn't have
anything to do with that. Turn to Romans chapter eight.
I want you to read this with me. Romans chapter eight. Verse 6, For to be carnally minded is
death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace, because
the carnal mind, now what's the carnal mind mean? Before we go
on. It's just the mind you were born
with. It's the natural man. It's the flesh. That's what it
is. It's the flesh. It's the way the flesh thinks.
It's the natural man. It's your natural spirit. It's
the way you were born into this world. The carnal mind is enmity
against God. Now, did you hear what that said?
Your flesh is enmity itself against God right now. Your flesh. The carnal mind is enmity against
God. It's not subject to the law of
God, neither indeed can be. So then they that are in the
flesh cannot please God. What's it mean to be in the flesh?
It means you're not in the Spirit. You see, if you're in the Spirit,
that means God, the Holy Spirit, is going to work a grace in your
heart. You've got a new nature. And if you don't have this new
nature, you're in the flesh and you cannot please God. And if
God doesn't do something for you, you'll go to hell. You're
on your way there right now, if God doesn't do something for
you, if he doesn't stop you. They that are in the flesh cannot
please God. 1 Corinthians 2, 14 and 15 says,
The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God
for their foolishness of him. Now, listen to this. Listen to
this statement. I want you to hear what I'm saying. You can't understand. I can't
understand. Righteousness imputed. until
I have righteousness imparted. What that means is I've got to
be given a new nature before I can understand any part of
the gospel. No part of the gospel can I really understand. Though
I might be able to spat out some terms, but I don't have any spiritual
understanding of the gospel unless God gives me a nature that understands
and that receives. Paul said flesh and blood cannot
inherit the kingdom of God. Ishmael and Isaac. One was born,
the Scripture says, after the flesh. One was born after the
Spirit. And remember, the one who was
born after the flesh persecuted him that was born after the Spirit. What did Peter say? All flesh
is grass. All flesh is grass. Now that
wicked man that dwells in you, all he is and all he does is sin. There's no affinity to
God. Why am I thus? Why do I see this contradiction
in myself? Because this is contrary to God.
This is contrary to the Gospel. This is evil. And this is why
you hate yourself. It's the new man that hates the
old man. Why am I thus? Two manner of
men are in you. First, that old man called the
flesh. There's also the spirit. Remember
when the Lord said, look, he looks at those poor old sleeping
disciples. I don't know how many times this
is. I've reminded myself of this while I'm preaching. Folks are
falling asleep. I think, well, they did with
the Lord, too. I mean, I'm thankful for that. But the one time Spurgeon was preaching,
true story, and Fell asleep, he started getting irritated,
and he just stopped preaching. He said to the person beside him, he
said, wake him up. He said, you wake him up, you put him to sleep. The Lord said, the spirit indeed
is willing. And that word willing, I looked
it up. It's not the word usually with regard to desire. It means
predisposed. The Spirit predisposed to holiness,
predisposed to the things of God. The Spirit indeed is willing,
but the flesh is weak. It's the Spirit that quickens.
The spiritual man is quickened by the Spirit of God. You know,
Paul said, we are the circumcision which worship God in the Spirit. and rejoice in Christ Jesus and
have no confidence in the flesh. Our Lord said of worship, they
that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth. I
never say, Come worship with us. Like we did the TV program.
I said, come out and worship with us. I'm not going to say
that because you've got to have the spirit of God to worship.
You don't just up and start worshiping. Come on, worship with us. No,
I want you to come hear the gospel. I want everybody to hear the
gospel. I want people to come to hear the gospel, but I'm not
going to say come worship with us because it takes the spirit of
God. You have to have a spiritual nature. You have to have the
gift of the Holy Spirit to worship God. This is the spirit of adoption. that cries Abba, Father, this
is the spirit that knows the things that are freely given
of God. Listen to this scripture from First Corinthians, chapter
two, verse 12. Now we've received not the spirit of the world,
but the spirit which is of God, that we might know the things
freely. Did you catch that? Freely given
to us. Oh, thank God. God doesn't have to look at it
or find a reason for me to give you something. He does it freely
because He's the altogether gracious and glorious God. It's the Spirit that loves. It's the spiritual nature
that believes. It's the spiritual nature that
says, as a heart panteth after the water broke, so panteth my
soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for
the living God. Yea, when shall I come and appear
before my God? That's the new man speaking. This is the spirit we walk in,
that which is born of God, that which cannot sin. Why am I thus? Turn to Romans 7. You're there
in Romans 8. Look at Romans 7. So explain
why I am thus. Verse 14. Now, Paul is speaking
as a believer. And he says, For we know, every
believer knows this. There's not going to be any argument
about this. We know this. The law is spiritual. But I am
carnal. sold as a slave under sin. For that which I do, I allow
not. I don't approve of it. For what
I would, what I want to do, I don't do. But what I hate, that do I. If then I do that
which I would not, I consent unto the law that's good. Now,
it's no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. When
I sin, now listen to me, when I sin, it wasn't me, it was him. Now, I realize some people can
take that and use it and go in wrong directions with it. And
if you do it, it's your fault. I'm not going to change the truth
in order to pacify goats. This is what the Bible teaches.
And now there's no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth
in me. For I know, verse 18, that in me, that is in my flesh,
dwelleth no good thing. For to will is present with me.
I would be without sin. To will is present with me. But
how to perform that which is good? Sometimes I mess up? No. 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
which 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, that 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. Now, Paul speaking as a believer.
An unbeliever couldn't speak this way, an unbeliever doesn't
delight in the law of God after the inward man. He says, I see
this other law warring in my members, warring against the
law of my mind, bringing me into captivity to the law of sin,
which is in my members. Oh, wretched man that I am. This is not an excuse for sin.
This is not trying to give somebody a justification for sin. God
is my witness. I'm not doing that, but this
is the truth. Oh, wretched man that I am. That's me. Who shall
deliver me from this body of death? And he's alluding to in
a Roman prison, they'd chain you to a dead body. And everywhere
you went, that dead body was right with you. And that's the
way I'm dragging around this dead body, this old man. And look what Paul says, I thank
God through Jesus Christ our Lord, so then with the mind I
myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the old man,
the law of sin. Now, to conclude, this is no
excuse for sin. I want to repeat that. Peter
said, Use not your liberty as an occasion to the flesh, but
by love serve one another. But it certainly explains our
sin, doesn't it? It explains us. And we have this
promise, beloved, My dear, dear friends, the elder shall serve
the younger. That's a promise. As it's written,
Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. And I want you
to know this. I want me to know this. Psalm 103 says he knoweth our
frame. He remembereth that we're what? Dust. Dust thou art, and to dust
thou shalt return. He knows our frame. He remembers
that we're dust. But as a father pitieth his children,
so the Lord pitieth them that fear. Him. As far as the East
is from the West, that's how far He separated our sin from
us. You see, He hath not dealt with us after our sins, nor rewarded
us according to our iniquity. That is, the heavens are higher
than the earth, so high is His mercy toward them that fear Him. You know what you think about
yourself? I guarantee it's worse. It's
a whole lot worse. It's a whole lot worse. You don't
even know that much. But he does. He does. And he sees every believer without
any of that. He sees us in Christ. Isn't that
wonderful? Thank God for the gospel. Let's
pray together. Lord, we thank you for the new man
that sees the old man. And we thank you for the new
man that you've placed within our hearts that actually believes
that God's blessed son is our salvation before you. Lord, he
is all our righteousness and we give thanks for him. And Lord,
we look forward to the day when this old man will be finished,
put in the grave and gone forever. And then, Lord, you told us in
your word that we'll shine as the sun in the kingdom of our
Heavenly Father. Bless this message for your glory
and for our good. In Christ's name we pray. Amen.