Detroit Conference: 1976
Table of Contents
Unto Him
Two Natures
Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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I'd like to speak this afternoon about a subject that perhaps is quite familiar to many of us, and that is the truth of the two natures in the Believer.
And we'll turn to different scriptures, starting with a third chapter of John.
John's Gospel chapter 3. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the Jews. The same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles, that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.
Nicodemus said.
To him, how can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter the second time into his mother's womb and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, He must be born again.
The wind bloweth where it listeth, and now hearest the sound thereof.
But canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth? So is everyone that is born of the Spirit.
Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou a master of Israel, and knowest not these things? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, we speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen, and you receive not our witness. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe if I tell you of heavenly things?
And no man hath ascended up to heaven.
But he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man, which is in heaven. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, Even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Well, here in this passage we have brought before us the necessity of new birth. We all know that according to God's word, when we were born to this world we were born in sin. Now that is, we were born with sinful fallen natures, natures that delighted in what was evil nature's that turned us away from God and everyone born into this world, with one exception, the Lord Jesus himself.
For it tells us at His birth that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God. But every other one born to this world was born in the same way. From Cain downward we were born with fond natures. And so in the Old Testament God was testing man, testing and showing.
That there was no fruit for God from that fallen nature.
Didn't matter what God did, whether he gave him the finest of laws, whether he gave him a grand building, whether there was the finest of music, whether there was good singing, all those things didn't change the fallen nature of man. And last of all, when the Lord Jesus came into this world, it only proved that that the very root of man's nature was bad.
They saw in him one who always did what was pleasing to his father.
Father and yet they rejected him, they wouldn't have him. And So what the Lord is telling Nicodemus is that what a man needs is not good teaching, because surely the law was wholly just and good. The Lord Jesus taught us no other. But what man needed was a new life. It wasn't to improve the old nature because it couldn't be improved.
And so a Nicodemus came and said to the Lord, we.
Know that thou art a teacher, come from God, for no man can do these miracles that thou doest, except God be with him. The Lord answers him almost abruptly and says he must be born again. Or as we have it here, except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God. So we can see here that it's not teaching that man needs, but it's a new life.
And so the Lord Jesus.
Jesus is the one who can impart new life, and there's no fruit for God from that first nature, the nature we receive by our natural birth. But the Lord is bringing before Nicodemus that what was necessary was new birth.
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So Nicodemus couldn't understand. He knew how a person was born into the world. No doubt he knew all about how a baby was born into the world, but he couldn't understand how new birth took place. And so the Lord speaks of that in this chapter here and shows us that it's by the Word and the Spirit or the Word of God applied by the Spirit of God that a person is born again.
He uses the figure of water.
Because in the Scripture water is often used as a figure of God's Word. It says in Ephesians 5 that he might sanctify and cleanse it by the washing of water by the Word tells us in James Being Born again.
By Peter rather being born again by the word of God, which liveth and abide us forever, says in James of his own will.
Will be got to us by the word of truth. Now this shows us very clearly that what God uses for the new birth of a soul is his word. But he says the word and the spirit because it's the Spirit of God applying the word of God that gives new life to a dead soul. That's why it also says in Romans, faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
As man reads the word of God.
God, the Spirit of God, can take that word and apply it. And as it's applied, then God works that miracle. He gives new life. And so he said, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. And we'll see as we go on.
That that fallen nature which we receive.
By our natural birth never improves, never gets any better. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. But when we're born of the Spirit, when we receive a new life, that is eternal life, that is the what is we'll see later is the very life of Christ, for it tells us in John's epistle in speaking about the Lord Jesus.
It says our hands of handled of the word of life.
For the For the Word was manifest and dwelled among us, and we beheld His glory. Or perhaps I should turn to it, because I'm not just calling this correctly. First Epistle of John and the 1St chapter. First verse. That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon in our hands of handled of the word of life. For the life was manifested, and we have seen it.
And bear witness, and show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father, and was manifested unto us. Here we can see that that eternal life which was with the Father was none other than the Lord Jesus Himself. And so when one is born again, he receives a new life, and that life is the very life of Christ.
Well, as I said, Nicodemus didn't understand this and.
In the eighth verse it says The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth. So is everyone that is born of the Spirit. Now, you know, many people would like to see some miraculous kind of an experience, and we find a great deal of this sort of thing in Christendom today, that people want something miraculous that they can see.
So that they can talk about some experience, that experience that they are.
Had. But here it shows us that when God imparts that new life, it is seen by the result. Did you ever see the wind in your life? Well, I never did, but I have often seen the results of the wind. Even out in the street today we see the results of the wind, the branches that have come down. We often see the snow flying, the dust flying, but we don't see the wind.
And so you know, there is a quiet work that goes on.
Operation of the Spirit of God in the soul when he takes the word of God, brings it home to the soul in power, and then what happens? God imparts new life and immediately he imparts new life, we begin to see the result of it.
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Here's a man that perhaps didn't care anything about his sins before and now.
He's burdened, He feels the weight of those sins. Why? God has begun a work in his soul.
And then as he learns more of the truth of God's precious Word, he sees how the Lord Jesus bore his sins in his own body on the tree. He has peace with God, and we see the result of it. Now there's a desire, because he possesses a new life to please the Lord. He wants to find out more of the will of God. He wants to feed upon the precious Word of God.
Why? Well, he possesses.
Life. And so just as we see the results of the wind blowing, so we can see the results in a person's life. I say this because some have been brought up in Christian homes. And perhaps if someone said, well, when were you born again, you might have to say, well, I really don't know. I know I love the Lord Jesus. I know I've trusted in him.
God does the work and the result is seen in the.
Person's life and so there's such a thing as believing in your head and there's such a thing as believing in your heart. When a person believes in his head, why he just believes in Christ in a historical way. Now that is, there are many people that believe that Christ was born in Bethlehem. They believe that he lived in this world, they believe that he died, they believe he rose again, but it's just history to them.
It has no personal meaning to their own.
Souls. But then when God does the work in the soul, we see that the Lord Jesus left heaven to save me. Just if I might illustrate it like this, supposing there is a swimming pool and there's a good lifeguard there and he has saved many lives, and I tell how he has saved perhaps 5 lives during the season. And I speak well of this lifeguard. But you say, did he ever save you?
Oh, no, I say. But I.
Know that he did save many but there's something very different if I was the one that he jumped in to save and he saved my life now he means something personally to me and so when 1 believes in his heart the Lord Jesus means something to you personally. It says unto you therefore which believe he is precious. Another verse says we know that we have passed from death unto life because.
We love the brethren. There is love for the Lord, there is love for his people. Where there is divine life in the soul. Faith works by love, the Scripture tells us.
So Nicodemus asked still more How can these things be? Well, the Lord told him that he should have known something about this from the Old Testament Scriptures, because God spoke of a day in Ezekiel the prophet, when he would sprinkle clean water upon his people and when he would take away the Stony heart out of their flesh and give them a heart of flesh. Nicodemus ought to have known that there wasn't going to be any blessing for Israel.
Israel until God imparted a new life, He ought to have known that from the Old Testament Scriptures. And so the Lord speaks to him of how being a master in Israel, he should have known it. And I'm afraid there are many preachers today that are just preaching, trying to tell people to change their lives and improve and do better, and they don't realize the necessity of a new life My father used.
To sometimes say a lot of the preaching was just like standing in front of a flock of ducks and saying, now don't get wet. Why? If the ducks could answer, they'd say, but we love to get wet. That's our nature. The only way you could change is to give them a new life. And so this is exactly what the Lord is saying to Nicodemus. It's not teaching a man needs, it's a new life.
And the Lord Jesus is the one who is, the Scripture says the first.
Man Adam was made a living soul, the last Adam a quickening spirit or a life giving spirit. He's the one who can impart that new life.
So Nicodemus asked, how could these things be? Then the Lord spoke of two.
Very important things here. First of all in the 13th verse.
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And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man, which is in heaven.
Here we find in this verse a simple statement of the deity or the Godhead glory of the Lord Jesus, and that is while He was talking to Nicodemus, He was on earth and in heaven at the same time. I remember one time I was speaking about this verse to some children. I called their attention to the fact that the Lord was talking to Nicodemus.
And he said that while he was talking to Nicodemus, he was in heaven.
He doesn't say the Son of Man which was in heaven. He says the Son of man which is in heaven. Well, I asked the children, how could this be? I said I can only be in one place at one time. But here was a person talking to Nicodemus who said he was in heaven. While he was talking to Nicodemus, well, one of the children gave a very nice simple answer. Now this little boy held up his hand. He said, because he's God, and so he is the Lord. Jesus is God. I couldn't hold.
A man as being a Christian who denies that Jesus is God. The Lord said that he, while talking to Nicodemus, was not just a great teacher. He wasn't only come from God, he's God the Son. He is the one whom the Father sent, and yet being God, he was in heaven at the same time.
So he brings before him first the glory of his person, then he brings before him his work, he said.
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, Even so must the Son of Man be lifted up. And that was at the cross. The Lord Jesus was lifted up, and there it tells us He hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. Now that precious Savior who was lifted up on Calvary's cross was.
Made sin now that is.
He not only bore my sins, but as it tells us in another place, He died unto sin. And that is His death was not only the putting away of my sins, but before God it was the end of my position as a child of Adam. I was born into this world as a child of Adam, but when I was born again, I was born into the family of God, and God sees me in a new relationship.
And so the Lord is speaking to Nicodemus of the necessity of that work of Calvary's cross, and then he makes it very simple in this well known verse. John 316. God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Oh, how blessed it is to know that in such a simple way.
A person can know for sure that he has everlasting life. He can accept God's testimony. And so in this passage it shows us the necessity of new birth. For as one is often said, there are two things that we need to understand in connection with God's salvation, and that is the putting away of our sins. That's through the precious blood of Christ.
And the washing of.
Regeneration, which is a new order of things entirely brought into our life because we're born of God. And so those are the two things actually that were typified in the fact that from the Lord's side flowed the blood and the water. The blood puts away sin as before God and the water.
As a figure of that cleansing by which a person is brought into an entire.
New position before God. That's why the Lord speaks of it in this way here. Born of water and of the Spirit.
Perhaps I could put it simply like this, that if I did something wrong to you and you kindly forgave me, that wouldn't make me feel at home in your presence. I would appreciate the forgiveness, but I'm sure every time in your presence I would feel sort of ashamed of myself. I I just couldn't feel totally relaxed. But if you not only forgave me, but you also assured me that I I was now.
Going to be in your presence as though I had never done that thing, and that you were going to look upon me with all the favor and love of your own Son. Now I not only have the knowledge that my sin is forgiven, but I also know that I am in a new position before you, more wonderful than if I had never done the wrong thing at all. And so God not only forgives, but He brings the believer into a new.
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Understanding the children of Israel were not only sheltered from the judgment of Egypt by the blood, but in crossing the Red Sea they were brought into a new position. And so I want to assure each one here.
If you know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, not only are your sins put away so that you can say thank God my sins are forgiven, but you can also say I am in a new standing before God. God sees me in an entirely new position before Him, but this chapter shows us that that which is born of the flesh is flesh.
And this is what I would like to speak about.
Particularly this afternoon, that when God gives to you a new life, the old one is still there. The old nature by which I was born is still here. And I often say that my body now is like a house with two tenants, that one with which I was born by my natural birth, which is so bad and so corrupt, and that which I receive by new birth, which is the.
Life of Christ. Let's turn to a few scriptures that speak of this. Let's turn first of all, to Ephesians chapter 4. Ephesians chapter 4, verse 22.
That she put off concerning the former conversation the old man which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Let me turn over to Colossians in the 3rd chapter verse one. If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above where Christ.
Sitteth on the right hand of God.
Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth, for ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God. When Christ, who is our life shall appear, then shall ye also appear with Him in glory.
One more passage and the first Epistle of John, the 3rd chapter and the ninth verse. Whosoever is born of God does not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God.
Now here in these verses, I believe God has shown us the character of those two natures called the old man and the new man. Sometimes we speak of it as the old nature, the new nature. Sometimes the Scripture speaks of it as the flesh, and then that God has given us eternal life. Well, what does God say about that old nature, that old man?
He says it's corrupt according to the deceitful lust.
He says that which is born of the flesh is flesh. And God, I say, shows us the true character of that old nature that we have by our natural birth. But what about the new life that He's given to us? Well, we noticed before that that eternal life is the very life of Christ. It tells us in Ephesians there that the new man is created in righteousness and true holiness.
It tells us in.
In Colossians 3, that Christ himself is our life. And then in John's epistle it says, Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin, and he seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God. Oh, perhaps you save it. I I thought I could sin. Yes, but when we looked upon as children of God, when we looked upon.
As possessors of that new life, why the character of that new life?
His righteousness and true holiness and that it cannot sin. And why? Well, because it's the life of Christ himself. And so I say again, my body is like a house with two tenants, one that can't do anything else. But what's wrong? For it says in Romans chapter 8, they that are in the flesh cannot please God.
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It says without faith it is impossible to please him, so that's the character of that light.
My natural life, but rather the old nature that I received at my first birth. But now, isn't it wonderful that you as a child of God, possess a life that can't sin? It not only doesn't sin, but it cannot sin because when we get to heaven, we're not going to have a different new life than what we already possess right now. Isn't that a wonderful.
And all that we possess right now, the very same nature and life that we're going to have in heaven now. That's why the Christian finds his delight in the things of God and looks forward to having, because heaven is our home. That's really the force of that passage in Jude where it says looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Unto eternal life.
That is, as things get worse in this world, for Jude brings before us the apostasy.
We become more and more conscious that this world is not our proper element.
The new life that God has given to us is a nature, a life that is going to be fully relaxed, going to be.
Fully in its enjoyment, in heaven. Let me put it like this, If you took a fish out of the water and set it there on that nice Chesterfield, it wouldn't feel at all comfortable. It doesn't have a life that suited to this element. And if the fish could speak, it would say, please put me back in my element.
My element is not a place like this, it's the water. And so as we see evil increasing in this world, it makes us long more and more for the place where we're going to be able to relax, where the new life that God has given to us will find its fullest expression and enjoyment. And so the coming of the Lord is spoken of as looking for that time when we will be in the.
Enjoyment of the life that we already possess, without any hindrance forever.
Well, we've noticed then that God has told us about the old nature. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. He has shown us that it's corrupt according to the deceitful lust. He has also shown us that the new life that He gave to us is created in righteousness and true holiness, and it cannot sin. But we still have a conflict, don't we?
Because we still have that old nature within us. Chapter 6 What God has done about this.
Romans chapter 6 Now perhaps you'll begin at the first verse. What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid. How shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?
Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into His death, therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death, That like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, Even so we also should walk in newness of life.
For if we have been planted together in the likeness of His death, we shall be also in the likeness of His resurrection.
Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him.
That the body of sin might be destroyed, That henceforth we should not serve sin.
For he that is dead is freed from sin. Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him.
Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead, dieth no more death, hath no more dominion over Him. For in them he died. He died unto sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God. Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lust thereof, neither ye.
Your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God. For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under the law, but under grace. What then shall we continue? Shall we sin because we are not under law?
But under grace, God forbid.
Well, here in this chapter God tells us what He has done with that old man. That old nature that we had within us, we have within us as the result of our natural birth.
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For on the cross of Calvary, the Lord Jesus not only bore our sins, but here it tells us our old man was crucified with him. Now that is in the death of Christ, in God's sight. There was an end to that position that we were in as children of Adam. Oh, it's a wonderful thing to know.
That God himself has taken up the question not only of our sins.
But of the nature that produced those sins. And you know, This is why many dear Christians don't have peace, because when they're saved, they know their sins are gone. But afterwards they find out that the old nature is still there, and they don't know what God has done about that old nature. So they have a struggle the rest of their lives, just like poor John Bunyan.
In his book called Pilgrim's Progress, which some may have read, John Bunyan got trouble.
About his sins. And so he was shown by the evangelist that he should go to the cross, and he had this great bundle of sins in the story on his back. And he came to the cross, and he saw the Lord Jesus dying there for his sins. And as he looked by faith at the Lord Jesus dying on the cross, the burden of his sins rolled off his back and rolled into the sepulchre. Oh, he was so happy that his sins were gone, but if.
The life of John Bunyan, you'll find out that he wasn't really a happy Christian, and I'll tell you why, because he knew that his sins were gone, but he never really entered into this. What I'm trying to bring before you, the end of the nature that produced those sins, as one person has put it. And I thought he put it very well.
He said if when John Bunyan had come to the cross and seen the Lord Jesus by faith.
Dying there, if he himself had fallen into the sepulcher, sins and all, and come out a new man, he would have been a delivered Christian, a happy Christian, because he would have known that not only at the cross did God put an end to his sins, God put an end to the nature that produced those sins and.
So although the old nature within us is not actually God.
This brings in what we often speak of as a new standing in which we are in the presence of God.
When I speak of a standing, perhaps the simplest illustration is citizenship. When we cross the border to come into the United States, they said, what is your citizenship? We told them that we were citizens of Canada, and that is the standing that we have in the eyes of the United States government. We are citizens of Canada visiting in the United States, but let us suppose that.
We decided that we would become American citizens, and we were accepted by.
As American citizens, we're the same people. But when we crossed the border, we would have a new standing, wouldn't we? We wouldn't have to say that we're Canadian citizens. We would say we're naturalized Americans. And if the officer said, well, what happened to your old citizenship, we could perhaps say, well, as far as the United States is concerned, there's no such person anymore as Gordon Hayhoe and Mrs. Hayhoe, the Canadian citizens as far.
The United States is concerned they're dead. The only people that are alive are Mr. and Mrs. Hale, naturalized Americans. Well, do you know, dear friends, that that is what happened at the cross? God put an end to my old standing, and that's why it says our old man is crucified with him. Well, it's a wonderful thing to know that. And so you don't have to spend the rest of your life trying to fight with that old nature. You see what God?
Did with that you see that he not only put away your sins in the precious blood of Christ, but through the death of Christ?
God tells you our old man is crucified with him.
Now there are three things in connection with it.
In the 8th chapter of Romans it says God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh.
And then it tells us in this chapter that our old man is crucified with him.
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And then it tells us that in baptism we are buried with him by baptism into death. So what did God do with the old nature? Did he attempt to improve it? No, He condemned it. When you have a pile of rotten lumber, do you attempt to improve it? No, you say it's no good, you condemn it. So God condemned sin in the flesh. He condemned that old nature.
Then what did he do? He put an end to it in the death of Christ.
And we recognize that in baptism. What do we do when we bury a person? We recognize that he's dead, and we bury him because we have recognized that he's dead. And that's what baptism is. It's a sign of burial. And so we have condemned.
Crucified and buried, and that is the end of our old position as children of Adam.
Now we haven't actually died ourselves, and as long as we're here in this world, then we're told likewise. Reckon ye yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin. Gordon Hayhoe, the Canadian citizen didn't actually die, but he reckons himself in a new position. And so isn't it a wonderful thing that when.
One is brought into the family of God. He has a right to reckon himself in a new position.
And now I said that my body is like a house with two tenants but.
Before I was born again, why these hands did what the fallen nature wanted to do. These eyes looked at what the fallen nature wanted to look at. These feet took me where the fallen nature wanted to go. But God says, now yield your members unto God. He says, I have given you a new life.
A life that wants to please me. And now, he said. Yield your hands.
To that new life that wants to please me. Healed your feet to go to the places the new life wants to go. Healed your ears to hear the things the new life wants to hear. And so he's saying that just as in the past, we once yielded our members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin. And isn't it true in our unsaved days, that's just what we did.
We just yielded our the members of our body to do what our fallen nature wanted to do.
And nothing people like better, as it says in the 53rd of Isaiah, than to go everyone his own way. All we like sheep have gone astray. We have turned everyone to his own way. Some people follow intellectual pursuits. Some people follow religious pursuits. Some people follow immoral pursuits. But they go the way they want to go, and they use their members just as they themselves, through the fallen nature, want to do.
But something wonderful happens when God imparts a new life. There's a new tenant in the body. And God said, now yield yourself to God. And so now that's what it really is, dear friends, to own Jesus as Lord, as one is often said. You'll hear people say, nobody's going to tell me what to do. Oh, I say yes.
There's some person who has a right to tell me what to do from morning to morning till night.
And who is it? It's the one whom I own as my Lord. Oh, you say that's the loss of liberty? No, that's true liberty. What is the liberty of the new life? You know this, dear friends, The Lord will never ask you to do anything that the new nature that he has given you doesn't want to do. That's why James speaks of it as the law of liberty. If my boy.
It's a certain job. We'll say I asked him to bring in some wood for the fireplace, and that's one job we'll say he hates. Well, I'm asking to do something he doesn't want to do. But if there's something he likes very much, we'll say he likes to play ball. And I say, well, go out now and play ball. Well, that's not hard, is it? He loves that, and I'm just telling him to do what he likes to do.
And that's what God does. He gives me a new.
Life, He tells me that life delights in pleasing Him, and now in his word I find out those things that are pleasing to him, and the new life says, oh, that's what I want to do. I want to please my Lord and he's told me how in his word.
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So the Bible to the Christian is a revelation of God's will. You want to give a gift to somebody and you have a real desire to get something they like. If the person tells you something they like, now it's just a pleasure to do what they've told you they like. And isn't this lovely that God has given to us a new life and his word tells us what he he likes us to do?
And the new nature said, well, that's what I like to do too. I like to do what's pleasing to my Lord. And he won't rob you of anything. It says no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly. The world will rob you. And if we were placed under law, why, we might be robbed of a great deal, but under grace.
Its true liberty, it's doing what's pleasing to the Lord because we want to do it. And the new life, as we noticed, is created in righteousness and true holiness. Well, God has shown us then what He has done with that old nature, how He has brought us into this new position. And so He's put an end to my position as a child of Adam. He looks upon me as a child of God.
Shows me what he has done with that old nature which is so distressing and causes so much grief. Now when we come to the 7th chapter, I believe he sets before us Deliverance.
7th chapter of Romans in the 18th verse.
For I know that in me that is in my flesh dwelleth no good thing, for the will is present with me. But how to perform that which is good I find not. I want to particularly call your attention to three things in the end of this 7th of Romans.
In this verse we just read, we hear one who is a true child of God speaking here. And what does he have to say about that old nature, the flesh? Has it improved since he's been saved? Can he say now I'm saved? I find that I have a that my fallen nature has really improved and much better, no.
Because I know that in me that is, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing.
Did you ever have a thought come into your mind as a Christian? And then it was such a horrible thought that perhaps you said to yourself, oh, I didn't think a Christian could ever think something like that.
And then you began to perhaps even wonder if you were a Christian when such a thought as that came into your mind. Well, here's the Apostle Paul telling us, In me, that is, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing.
I'm not surprised at any thought that might come into my mind. What concerns me is what I do when it comes, because that old nature hasn't improved since I've been saved. If you had a bad dog and you tied it up for six months, don't boast to your neighbors that you've changed the nature of your dog. Don't tell your neighbors it hasn't bitten anybody for six months, because it'll just tell you, well, that's only because you tied it up.
You didn't change the dark, and I've been saved, but the old nature is still the same. In me, that is, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing.
Now we come to the 20th verse. It says, Now if I do that, I would not. It is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. Now notice in this chapter.
But all through the chapter there's a terrible conflict going on, and I might say this, and I think it's good for us to bear this in mind.
It isn't normal that a believer should remain in the experiences described in the 7th of Romans. We have to go through it. But God didn't intend that we would stay in the experiences that are brought before us in the 7th of Romans. He brought them before us to show us the way of deliverance and so.
Here we find discovering that in me, that is, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. Now through the chapter you'll notice if you read it carefully, that in one breath he's calling the old nature eye, and in another breath he's calling the new nature I.
In other words, he realizes that there are two tenants in his body, but he still doesn't understand or hasn't entered into what God has done about it. And so he says, I delight in the law of God after the inward man. But he said, I do that I would not. You can see that in one breath. He is Speaking of the old nature as I.
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In another, he's Speaking of the new nature.
As I but you know, there's only one lawful tenant in my body. If God put an end to that old nature, why then?
I'm in a new position before him and notice this 20th verse.
If I do that, I would not. It is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. Isn't that a wonderful thing to get hold of? That God having put an end to that old nature, as before Him, I can say well, that desire, that sinful desire, is no more I.
It's sin that dwelleth in me. Oh, that's a blessed thing for us to realize that before God we are seen in this new standing as having a new life, and that all of nature it is no more. I.
Well, perhaps we could just give a simple little illustration of this, supposing that before I was saved, there's some particular sin that's a snare to me, something that really is like a besetting sin in my life.
After I'm saved, I'm so happy. I know my sins are forgiven. I know Christ is my savior, and I say to my friends, I don't want to do those things anymore.
But then perhaps through coldness or neglect of my Bible, neglect of Christian fellowship and the meetings, my heart begins to grow cold. And a friend comes along and says, wouldn't you like to do this? And names the very thing that I used to do before I was saved. And I say, no, I'm a Christian now. I don't want to do that. And after my friend is gone.
The devil comes along and says you're told a lie. You did want to do it, you wanted to do it, and you said you didn't want to do it. And then he gets you wondering if you're even a Christian at all because first of all, why should you want to do it, and 2nd, you told a lie when you said you didn't want to do it. At least that's what he said. But no, I can say.
I can say to Satan when he comes like that and say, no, I don't want to do it. The new tenant in my body wants to please the Lord. But it's the old nature that wanted to do it, and it's no more I.
Is not blessed that we can know this and so instead of being distressed.
That I told a liar that I'm not saved. I know what God has done. I know that he put my sins away and he has brought me into a new position so that I can say it's the new tenant that's answering. There's only one lawful tenant and the new man says no, I want to please the Lord.
And so here we find, if I do that, I would not, it is no more I than do it but sin. What did God do with that sin, that fallen nature? He crucified it, and in baptism I recognized that it was dead. And so I have the right to say it's no more I but sin that dwelleth in me.
Well now we see another thing here in the 24th verse. 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 the mind, I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh the law of sin.
Even though he has laid hold of these things that we are Speaking of, that there's nothing good in the old nature and that it's no more I, he says I'm still wretched. I'm still wretched because he said I don't know how to get deliverance. And it isn't until he comes to this point.
And many Christians have been brought to this point and it's a blessed thing when we realize that all wretched man that I am notice here, he doesn't say how shall I get deliverance, but he says who shall deliver me? In other words, he sees now that deliverance comes from outside of himself. It doesn't come by a struggle with him. There are many people, as the saying is trying to lift.
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Themselves by their shoe, by their shoe straps. But that doesn't work. And so you know.
There is. We don't overcome the fallen nature by having a struggle with it because as someone has said, you get just as dirty fighting a chimney sweep is hugging him. Why? If you try to fight away bad thoughts, what happens? Have you ever tried it? Well, I've tried it. I've sat in the meeting and tried to fight a way of bad thought. It was just like fighting with a with a chimney sweep. We just got all dirty. You just felt terrible because you tried to fight it away.
But what would you?
Would you hug them? Oh no, you still wouldn't hug him. What would you do? You'd get away from him, wouldn't you? And how does the believer get deliverance? Why he's entitled to look away to another who has accomplished the victory for him at the cross, who put an end to the nature that is suggesting those things. And so when that evil thought comes, I have the title, since God has not only put away my sins, but.
Has put an end to that sin that dwelleth in me, and I can look away to Christ and know that God sees me. As the first verse of the next chapter says, there is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. Let me put it simply like this. Are you condemning yourself for having an old nature? God says I don't condemn you for having an old nature. I put an end to that at the cross.
And I see you.
In Christ. And so when that thought comes, I am entitled now not to be wretched trying to fight it away, but to look up and say, Oh, thank God.
That thought came from the fallen nature that God put an end to, And he entitles me to know that he's brought me into a new standing, that he's given me his Holy Spirit so that I might be occupied with Christ, so that I might turn from this to be occupied with Him. Sometimes used in illustration. Perhaps it bears repeating here.
Supposing that you are going to build a garage in the back of your home, and we'll say that you have saved a pile of lumber which you intend to use to build this garage. And so you hire a Carpenter and you say now I'd like to use up this lumber. It'll save some money if you use this lumber for the garage and.
So the Carpenter goes out and he looks over your pile of lumber.
And after a while he comes back in and he says, well, I guess I have bad news for you. That lumber's no good. That's all rotten. We can't use that number at all. What did he do? He condemned it, didn't he?
But he says I also brought good news for you. I brought you a new pile of lumber.
And every piece in this new pile is good sound lumber. It's not going to cost you anything. And we'll use this new lumber to put up the garage.
Oh, when he first told you the old lumber was no good, you just felt so badly. But now you're giving thanks. Can't you see here? Oh, wretched man, that I am. Why? Well, you're trying to find a good peace in the old pile, but now you're giving thanks that God has brought you into.
A new position and he doesn't find any bad lumber in you at all because he sees the new pile. That's the way you stand before him in Christ. And that's just exactly what he's telling us here. And so there are many Christians and they're just miserable because they're always looking for a good piece of lumber in the old pile. And there are other Christians. They're full of thankfulness, not because the old piles improved.
They've got just as rotten a pile of lumber as you have, but they're giving thanks for the new pile. They see that God has brought them into a new position, and so that is what we're giving thanks for. And just like Israel, they were told to stand still and see the whole of Christendom is occupied with doing something, first for salvation and afterwards to try and have some kind of spiritual attainment. But what God?
Telling us is it's all done, the question of your sins and the question of the nature that produced those sins was all taken up and settled at the cross. And God has brought us into this position like Israel were told, stand still and see the salvation of the Lord. And so we stand still, we listen, we hear what God has done.
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And we learn that now we can give thanks for what God sees.
Jesus, now supposing the next day after the carpenters gone, I go out into that into my yard and I start pulling apart this old pile and the Carpenter comes along and he says, what are you doing? Well, I say, you know, I, I thought I might find some good pieces in there. I really can hardly believe it that there's no good lumber in that pile. I was counting on. Well, he said, you just making yourself unhappy for nothing.
He said. I told you there was no good lumber.
There come down, he says, off that pile of lumber and he, I come down, he throws A tarpaulin over the top. He says just consider it's not there. Now does it improve under the tarpaulin? No, but you see what God has done. He's put an end. And if I was to go when he was building the garage and pull an old piece from that pile and nail it into the garage, I'd have to tell him I was sorry. I'd have to tell him I'm sorry every time you let the old.
Nature act you have to come to the Lord and get restored because he told you it was no good. He told it was condemned. And so I I didn't intend to particularly speak of that side of the truth, but just to show how that God sees us in this new position. And so this first verse. There is now therefore no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus.
And just a little word on this second verse before we close for the law.
Of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death. You know here the the word law here is not is used in the same way that we speak of the law of gravitation a certain rule. And so if I could illustrate this second verse something like this.
How could I set that book free from the law of gravitation without changing the law of gravitation and without changing the weight of the book?
Oh, you say. I don't know how you could do that. Well, just forsake of illustration. Supposing I attached a balloon with helium gas to this book and you saw the book start to go up. Have I changed the law of gravitation?
Have I changed the weight of the book? No. I brought in a new law. Now this is what he's telling us. What is the ruling principle of the old nature? Every time it acts, it sins.
The law of sin and death, the wages of sin is death. Every time the old nature acts, just like me dropping a book, down it goes. And that's the way the old nature acts. But God says, and I'll tell you how you're set free, allow the Spirit of God to occupy you with Christ, and the old nature hasn't been changed, but you'll be set free from it. And so that's the secret of the Christian's deliverance. He is able to go on through life.
And even though he has that old nature within him so bad, so wicked, isn't it blessed that God has given me a new life? The Holy Spirit of God is now come and taken up his abode as power for that new life that God has given to me. And now the Spirit of God wants to occupy me through the new life with Christ and set me free so I don't live in *******. I don't wonder what's going to happen about this old nature. I see exactly what God has done that He has.
Told me how he has taken up this whole question and settled it, and so I can rejoice. There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus. Hell, May God grant that we live in the liberty of the position, as it says in in Galatians. Stand fast, therefore, in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, and be not entangled again with the yoke of ******* if we.
Realize this blessed liberty and walk in it. It's a happy, delightful Christian life because it was. It's all through what Christ has accomplished by His work at the cross, made good to us, by the Holy Spirit of God dwelling in us and occupying us through the Word with Christ. What a place of blessing we've been brought into. And it's all through that finished work.
Of Calvary's cross.
Freedom from Bondage
Address—G.H. Hayhoe
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Shall we turn first of all to the 8th chapter of John's Gospel, John's Gospel chapter 8 and verse 32?
And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in ******* to any man. How sayest thou ye shall be made free? Jesus answered them. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.
And to serve and abide us not in the house forever, but the Son abideth ever. If the Son therefore shall make you free, he shall be free indeed.
I was on my heart tonight to speak of some scriptures that bring before us the assurance that we can have as believers. I believe we could say that the characteristic word of Christianity is KNOW no.
Not to be an uncertainty, but to have assurance. And so here we find that when the Lord Jesus was speaking to his followers here, he said, ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. What a blessed thing it is that the one who is the truth came into this world. When the Lord Jesus was talking in the 14th chapter of John, He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No man cometh unto the Father.
But by me He is the way to the Father, He is the truth from the Father, He is the light to show us the way. And no man cometh unto the Father, He said, but by me. And so He wants us to have assurance in our souls. And if we look at a few scriptures, we'll see how that we as believers are entitled to have this assurance. And then we can, as we have this little hymn that we were singing, puts it, a mind.
At perfect peace with God. Oh what a word is this?
Now you know Mr. Einstein, who I suppose was perhaps one of the most intelligent men that lived at least in the last 100 years, and yet do you know that that man, after all his wonderful research and all the things that he discovered and invented, he made this comment. He said I know less than one 100 to 1% about anything.
Just think of a man with such a mind as that. And to be able to.
Say that after all his discoveries and after all the things that he had found, that he knew less than one 100% about anything. And yet to think that the very important things of life, every believer is entitled to know that we can be absolutely sure. And why can we be so sure? Well, because God has spoken and it tells us twice in the Bible it says it is.
Possible for God to lie another verse says God that cannot lie promised eternal life before the world began so God can't lie and he has given us his word in order that we might have the assurance that he alone can give us Well when the Lord said this some of those who were listening said that we were never in ******* they resented the Lord saying that they would be made free they didn't believe that they.
Or but what? They were already free? How about he said, whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. So every time we commit a sin, we come under the ******* of sin. And what a sad thing to know, as it tells us in the Scripture, all have sinned. So we do need to be set free. And who can set us free? Well, here's the lovely answer in this 36th verse.
If the Son therefore shall make you free.
He shall be free indeed. Yes, there's one who can make us free. And who is it? It's God's beloved Son. The Lord Jesus came down into this world to seek and to save that which is lost, to set us free as one put it in a little poem that he wrote. Free from myself, Lord Jesus. That's a great deliverance. We're our own greatest enemies, He said. Free from myself, Lord Jesus.
Free from the thoughts of man.
And chains of thought that had bound me never shall bind again. Only thyself, Lord Jesus conquered this wayward well, but for thy love constraining I had been wayward still. So there's one who is able to set us free. There's one who is able to give us assurance and peace. And it's the Lord Jesus himself. And here when he was speaking to these people, He longed to set them free, to give them peace, to give them assurance and he.
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Each one of us in this room to know and enjoy this blessed assurance in our souls. Now let's turn over to the third chapter of Romans. Romans in chapter 3 and verse 19. Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, that every mouse may be stopped.
And all the world may become guilty before God, therefore, by the deeds of the law.
Shall no flesh be justified in his sight? For by the law is the knowledge of sin. But now the righteousness of God without the law is manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all, and upon all them that believe. For there is no difference, for all have sinned and come short of the.
Glory of God.
Here again we read that little word, No, we know that what things soever the law says, it says to them were under the law. You know, the law was just like God's mirror. If I have a dirty face and you want to prove to me that it is dirty, why you probably would put a mirror in front of me and say, now look, can't you see? What did the law prove? The law proved just that, It proved that man was guilty.
Men asked that God would make his.
Demands known to them, and then they said, whatsoever the Lord has spoken, we will do and be obedient. But what happened? Did they keep God's law? Well, Moses went up on the top of the mount to get that law written on tables of stone, and while he was up there receiving it from God, the people were breaking the first commandment in the camp below.
And no one since then has ever kept God's law.
It tells us here in this 20th verse, by the deeds of the law, there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. So God's holy law never justified anyone, but the law condemns us. It shows us how far short we've come of God's requirements and God's demands. It's given in order that man might realize his inability to live up to God's holy requirements and so.
Says that every mouse may be stopped and all the world become guilty before God. I hope each one of us here tonight realizes that we in our natural state are guilty before God. I know that I had to come to the point where I acknowledge to a holy God that I was a lost guilty Sinner deserving his judgment because that's what he says.
If I stand up at the in accordance court and I'm.
Convicted and found guilty Why when I have gone to the highest court and there's no further appeal, if I'm honest, what do I have to do? I have to say, well, I've been found guilty. Well now the courts could possibly make a mistake but could God make a mistake? Does he know whether I'm guilty or not He's told me that I'm guilty and in order to convict me, he's given me his holy law, which shows that I.
Am guilty and saw that every mouse may be stopped. That is that no one would speak of his own righteousness before God. For it says in the 64th chapter of Isaiah on the 6th verse, all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags. That's what God thinks of our very best. He doesn't say all our sins are as filthy rags, but all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags that is.
Attempts to do something to maintain for ourselves a righteousness before God. Paul said in the 10th chapter of Romans, Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. And then he spoke about those who were trying to establish their own righteousness. And this is what he says in the 10th of Romans. He said they being ignorant of God's righteousness.
And going about.
To establish their own righteousness have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. If we go about to establish our own righteousness, it only shows now that we don't realize what God requires now. That is, he requires something that we cannot give. That is, we're sinners and what he wants us to do is to acknowledge our guilt before him. It tells us in the.
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33rd chapter of Job. He looketh upon man, and if any say I have sinned and perverted that which is right, then he is gracious unto him. Deliver him from going down to the pit. I have found a ransom. O dear friends, God looks down not for man to plead his own self righteousness, but to say I have sinned. And then do we have to find the ransom? No, God found the ransom.
God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. So it tells us here in this 22nd verse, even the righteousness of God, which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all, and upon all them that believe. Notice this distinction unto all.
Because that is, God is offering salvation to whosoever will.
There's no one can say, well God wasn't willing to save me, because it's unto all. That lovely verse in John 316 says that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. God has offered salvation to whosoever will, but it's only upon all them that believe now, just as if someone offers you a gift.
It's offered to you. It's for.
If you'll receive it, but you can't say it's mine until you've received it. And so here I stand in the presence of God, a guilty Sinner, and God has provided A righteousness for me, a righteousness that fits me for his presence. And now the question is, am I going to accept it or am I going to cling to my own righteousness? Here it says.
The 21St verse. But now the righteousness of God.
Without the law is manifested, there is not a righteousness that I could establish myself about righteousness which God offers for it tells us in Second Corinthians chapter 5, He hath made Christ to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him.
So this verse, the 23rd verse, is like God's verdict upon everyone of us.
All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There is the way God sees us and it tells us in this 19th verse. We know. We know it because God, who is the judge, has found us guilty, were convicted before him and we accept what he says. You remember the Lord Jesus told the story of two men who went up into the temple to pray. One was a Pharisee and the other was.
Public county. And one of them stood there, and this is what he said to God. God, I thank thee that I am not his other men are extortioners, unjust, or even as this publican and he drew attention to this publican standing beside him. He said, I fast twice a week. I give tithes of all that I possess. And he went along, justifying himself, talking about all the good things that he had done.
But the when he was finished, then the public.
Prayed. And what did the publican say? It says he wouldn't even lift up his eyes to heaven. He just looked down and he smote on his breast and he said, God be merciful to me, a Sinner. And the Lord Jesus said that man went down to his house justified rather than the other. What did he do? He took his true place before God. And dear friends, that's what God wants every one of us to do, to know that we're convicted.
In His presence to know that we're guilty. In His presence to know that He is the one who must judge sin. For it tells us plainly in Hebrews chapter 2 That every transgression and disobedience receives a just recompense of reward. There is absolutely no escape from this verdict that God has brought in. All have sinned, or as says earlier in this same chapter, there is none.
Notice the 10th verse as it is written. There is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understand us, There is none that seeketh after God. Some years ago there was a servant of the Lord who went to see a young man in the hospital and he wanted to speak to this boy about salvation. But he knew the boy was quite satisfied with his own self righteousness. He knew he didn't think that he needed to be saved because he thought he was a.
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Quite a good living fellow, and he thought God would accept him just as he was. And so this brother opened his Bible at this third chapter of Romans, and he started to read in this tenth verse. And his mother was standing right beside the bed. And when he read this as it is written, there is none righteous, No, not one.
There is none that understand us. There is none that seeketh after God.
They are all gone out of the way. They are together, become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good. No, not 10. She said stop, stop. That's not my boy. Well, he said, I guess I'll have to change it because that's what God says, but you say it doesn't apply to your boy. So he said I'll change it a little bit just to please you. So he started again at the 10th verse. As it is written, there is none righteous. No, not one except Robert.
There is none that understandeth except Robert. There is none that seeketh after God except Robert. They are all gone out of the way except Robert. Oh, she said stop, stop. I didn't want you to change the Bible. Well, he said that's what the Bible says. And our place is just to acknowledge that we're guilty, that what God says about us is true.
God has passed a verdict, and we know that the verdict that he has passed.
Is true but dear friends, if that was all I had to say it wouldn't be worth standing here tonight it's a terrible thing to be found guilty in a courtroom especially if it's a serious crime but it's much more serious to be found guilty in the presence of a thrice holy God I say if that was all I had to say there would be no good message for you here tonight but all the wonderful message of the gospel is that when we're.
Guilty. The judge himself becomes the one who has provided for our salvation, who wants to justify us and not condemn us. And so notice this next verse, the 21St. I read the 23rd verse. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. And it's not even the end of a sentence. It's just a semi colon.
Being justified freely by His grace through the Redemption.
That is in Christ Jesus. Here in the courtroom, a man is found guilty and then the court pauses to find out what sentence is going to be passed. But God brings in the verdict that we're all guilty, and then he doesn't even stop. There isn't even an end to the sentence. As soon as he says we're guilty, he says being justified.
Freely by his grace. What a marvelous expression this is.
What does it mean to be justified? That's even more than forgiveness. To be before a holy God as though we had never sinned at all. Justified. How much does it cost freely? Did we deserve it? It says by his grace. What is grace? The undeserved favor of God.
How was it accomplished? By the redemption that is in Christ Jesus? Oh how wonderful. Were you ever in a courtroom where after the person had been convicted and found guilty, the judge himself said, I'll pay the fine so this man can go free? O dear friends, how wonderful the very judge himself has himself.
Gone to Calvary and I'd like you to turn with me now if you would.
The Epistle of John you turn over to the First Epistle of John.
And the second chapter. Pardon me, the 3rd chapter, first epistle of John and the third chapter.
And the fifth verse And ye know that He was manifested to take away our sins, and in Him is no sin.
That verse we read in Romans 3 says being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. And now here it says what God has done.
It says, ye know that He was manifested to take away our sins. Why did the Lord Jesus come into this world? Oh, He came to take away our sins. That was the purpose for which He came. We know His pathway of love. He went about doing good, healing those that were oppressed with the devil. He opened blind eyes, but that pathway of love was to tell.
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He was going on to Calvary's cross. What was he going to do?
There are calories cross. Oh dear friends, He was He came to take away our sins. How could He do it? There was only one way. God had said that sin must be punished. And who could exhaust the judgment of God against sin?
The Lord Jesus Himself, the only sinless victim in Him is no sin, the blessed holy Son of God, God's own Son, the second Person of the Holy Trinity, there on Calvary's cross. How marvelous God Himself, as it says in the 53rd of Isaiah, the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
All we, like sheep, have gone astray. We have turned.
Everyone do his own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all. Some years ago a Christian man was preaching over in England. After he was done he had been speaking on that verse. All we like sheep have gone astray. And a young man came up to him, and he said, I'd like to talk to you a little further about.
What you were saying I'd like to be saved? Well, he said. I've come from a distance and I have to catch a train to night.
And he said, I'm sorry, I haven't got time to talk to you here, but he said I'll just give you one word, I must go. He said. He said look up the 53rd of Isaiah yourself, go in at the first stall and come out at the last doll and you'll be saved.
So he remembered the passage Isaiah 53, verse 6. So he looked it up and he read it again. All we like sheep have gone astray. Yes, he said, that's me. I have gone astray. I know I have. We have turned everyone to his own way. Yes, he knew. He just turned to his own way. He had lived to please himself. And then.
And the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
The first begins with all and ends with all. The first part of it says what we had done. The last part tells what God has done. Oh, isn't it wonderful, dear friend? He was manifested to take away our sins. Did He finish the work?
Yes, he finished the work because on Calvary's cross he cried out those wonderful words.
It is finished. There is nothing left for you and I to do, dear friends. It's not Christ and something else for salvation, it's Christ only. He did the work, says in the 10th chapter of Hebrews. By one offering he hath perfected forever, and that matter sanctified this.
This man, after he had offered one sacrifice for sins forever, sat down at the right hand of the majesty on high. There's one up there who'd settled the question of sin. And isn't this lovely here? He know that he was manifested to take away our sins. Friends, I like to make that personal. It says our sins, but I like to do just like that preacher said. I like to come out at the last all if it's true that I went.
And it was, if it's true that I turned to my own way, and that's true that I also believe that the Lord laid on Him my sins, my sins. And so it says He was manifested to take away our sins. I like to say He came to put away my sins, who His own self, they are our sins.
In his own body, on the tree, that's all we find first of all, and that we know that we're.
Centers now we find we know what God has done. He came, His beloved Son, I should say, came to take away our sins.
Now turn over to the next chapter, the 4th chapter, and the 17th verse. Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of Judgment, because as He is, so are we in this world. There is No Fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear, because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
We love him because he first loved us.
Now the next chapter in the ninth verse, if we receive the witness of man, the witness of God is greater, for this is the witness of God, which he hath testified of his Son.
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He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself. He that believeth not God hath made him a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son. And this is the record that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.
Isn't this blessed here? These words here in this 13th verse that I've just read, These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God, that ye may know that ye have eternal life.
Isn't it wonderful that we can actually know, and that God's perfect love is cast out our fear so that it tells us here that we may have boldness in the day of judgment? Because as He is up, there is the Lord Jesus, the one who paid my debt of sin, is now at the right hand of God, and as He is, so are we in this world. Do we have to wait till the judgment day to find out? It says as He is up there.
So are we in this world. So it tells us we have boldness in the day of judgment. His perfect love casts out our fear. Whose perfect love? Why his perfect love? The love that he had toward a Sinner like me.
So that I might know His heart of love He gave His Son. He was manifested to take away our sins, and He wants us to have boldness in a day of judgment. Now He brings in something very serious and yet very wonderful. In this 5th chapter He tells us that if we don't believe what He says, we actually make him a liar.
If I spoke to somebody in this room and I said, how many children do you have? And we'll say the person replied and said, well, I had five children. And so someone meets me outside and said, how many children do they have? I say I don't know. They said they had five, but I really don't know.
Wouldn't that be making them a liar? Wouldn't that be as good as saying, well, I can't rely on their words, so I really don't know. Now, that's just exactly what God says here. And it's a pretty serious thing to make God a liar. I remember going to see a young man, His name was Howard.
And he was. When I went out to see him with my wife, he was quite busy. He was putting the roof on his. He was putting the roof on his shed of his.
House where he lived and it was so busy that he didn't have time to come down. So I climbed up the ladder and started to talk to him a little bit about the things of God. And he said, well, he said, Gordon, I believe, but I couldn't say that I know I'm saved.
Well, I read in these verses and kept on.
Way working away at his roof all the time but I was talking to him and I said well you tell me that you believe and still you say you can't really say that you're saved and you don't think you can really know that you're saved and.
I read these verses and I said, do you know that if you really believe on the Lord Jesus Christ that God says that you have everlasting life? And if you say that you can't know it, you're really making God a liar? And I read that verse again that God wrote these things specially that we might know that we have eternal life.
In the way of those nails never stopped at all. I came down and I said to my wife, I don't think he was very much interested. He just kept on hammering. Well, it was some time afterwards I found out that he was saved. He had he had accepted the Lord as his savior and he had told somebody else about it and he said, he said, I didn't want to make God a liar. I.
I'm saying now, well, that's a good many years ago and he's gone on happily in his soul. What gave him assurance? Was it Gordon Hayles word? No, Gordon Hale's word didn't do it. No, it was God's word and he just took God at his word and to use his own words. I didn't want to make God a liar.
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God says that if I believed in the Lord Jesus Christ as my Savior that I am saved. O dear friends, how wonderful. These words are written specially for the purpose that we would know. Do you think God wants you to go along in doubt? I've heard people say, well, it's presumption to say you know you're saved. Would you call it presumption on my part to tell somebody?
After this person had assured me that he had five churches.
Assured me that he had five children and I went outside. Would it be presumption for me to say I know he has five children. He just told me. Would that be presumption? No, I say that's taking the person at his word. And dear friends, if I looked in as we found in those scriptures that we have read, I know that I'm a Sinner. I'm no exception. I'm guilty as far as myself is concerned. I have no righteousness of my own, but I know that God sent.
Son to put a woman in my sands, He was manifested to take away my sins and he said it is finished. And now God says, I want you to know that believing in me, believing in the Lord Jesus Christ, that you have everlasting life. Can I take God at His word? Am I really entitled to say that I know I have everlasting life? Dear friends, it doesn't depend on anything that I have done. It depends on what?
Did and my part was only the sinning. I was a Sinner.
God's part was to take up the question of sin and settle it. And blessed be his name, that's just exactly what the Lord Jesus did. And He has taken His Son back, and He has seated him at His own right hand. It tells us in Romans chapter 4 He was delivered for our offenses and was raised again for our justification therefore.
Being justified by faith, we have peace with God.
My mind is at peace about it all now, because the only person now that could ever condemn me is God, and he has told me that I was guilty. And now in the 8th chapter of Rums it says it is God that justifies. Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yeah, rather that is risen again.
Who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us?
So these precious words give us the simplicity of salvation. Just notice that 12TH verse There He that hath the Son hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. There are only two positions. If you have Christ, you have eternal life. If you haven't got Christ, you do not have eternal life. You may have all the righteousness.
That man can provide, but the only righteousness that God accepts is the righteousness of God in Christ. That's what God accepts. And he that hath the Son hath life. There are only two positions. I say, friend, you're either in Christ, you're out of Christ. The Bible speaks about two ways to die. Either die in your sins or you die in Christ. Jesus said that if you die in your sins where he is, you cannot come but.
Tells us blessed are the dead which die in the Lord. Oh, what a wonderful thing then, to be absolutely sure to know. And it's not presumption to believe God, It's simple faith. It's just taking God at His word. Oh, but you say, what about our feelings? Well, dear friends, our feelings are not the important thing. The important thing is what God said. Let me ask you a simple question.
If you own a poem where you live.
And your neighbor next door said to you, I don't think you own that home at all. I think you're just fooling yourself. Would you start and talk about your feelings? Would you say, well, I feel so good about it, You know, I really feel sure it must be mine because I've had such good feelings for a long time. I don't think it would. I wouldn't. I'd say, well, I've got the papers to prove it and it's registered in the land titles office. That's what I'd say. It isn't a question of my feelings, a question of whether I've got the.
For it, it's a question whether it's it's registered or not. And here I've got God's record that I might know just the same as when I bought the property and the papers are put in my hands. What did the lawyer do that for? Why did he bother to give me the papers? He wanted me to have assurance that the property was mine. And as God wants you to know, indeed he does. And he wrote these things.
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So that we might know. And then he tells us more.
Rejoice that your names are written in heaven. He's not only given us the assurance here, but just like those papers that I have, they're also recorded in the titles office. And so in God has given us His precious word for assurance. He also tells us to rejoice that our names are written in heaven. Well, He wants us to know, doesn't he, that ye may know that ye have eternal life.
Let's turn over to 2nd Corinthians chapter 5, Second Corinthians chapter 5, and verse one.
For we know that if our earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, and house not made with hands eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan earnestly, desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven, if so be that being clothed, we should not be found naked. For we that are in this Tabernacle do groan, being burdened not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed.
Upon that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now he that hath wrought us for the self, same thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit. And therefore we are always confident, knowing that whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body.
And to be present with the Lord.
In this wonderful passage, if Paul had said I know, then we might have said, well, but he was an apostle. He was the only one that could really talk that way. But isn't it lovely, dear friends, that he doesn't just say, I know, he says, we know. Who is he writing to? He's writing to these Corinthians believers, these ones in that city of Corinth who were once idolaters, who had been saved, who had.
Their trust in the Lord Jesus. And now he gives them too, to share in this wonderful assurance. He talked about His body that he lived in as the earthly House of this Tabernacle. Because you know, we're not in this world to stay. I don't need to tell you that. Because we all know that we're not here to stay. We all are reminded constantly by sicknesses and troubles that we have that after all, we're not here to stay. Friends are taken away suddenly.
Loved ones are taken from us. We have sicknesses and perhaps go to see the doctor and he perhaps tells us something that's not very pleasant about our condition. And so we're constantly reminded now that is just the earthly House of this Tabernacle. But what about the future? Was Paul in doubt about this? Did he want the Corinthians to be in doubt? No, he said. We know that if our earthly House of this Tabernacle were dissolved, we have.
That we hope to have, we have a building of God and house not made with hands eternal in the heavens. Just as if someone said, are you afraid you might lose your house? And you say, well if I do lose it, I've got another house on another St. and it's better than this. And so, dear friends, that's the way we as Christians feel here in this world. I went to see a dear young man just on this trip when I was over in Canada.
There he is, very, very.
Not expected to get better. And as I saw him getting weaker, it was a wonderful thing to know that perhaps the next time I see him, he's going to be up there in glory with the Lord Jesus, with a body of glory like Christ. Do I need to doubt this? Do I need to say, well, it couldn't be, I'm not. You can't be sure about that. We know we have a building of God and how it's not made with hands eternal in the heavens.
He said in this we groan, not that we would be unclothed. This is a lovely thought dear friends. The Christian never looks for death as his hope. Not that we would be unclothed. Now that is when he talked about death, he simply talked about it as being unclothed. That is his spirit separated from his body. He said that's not what I'm looking for. But he said if it does come.
If death does come, he said.
We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord. Isn't that marvelous? There? I could talk to that young man, and I could tell him that perhaps the Lord would come and take him before he goes through the article of death. But if he does, he he knows that death for him is to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.
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Paul was a prisoner under Nero in the Epistle to the Philippians, and he said to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better.
Was he confident? Did he have to go through a process that would finally fit him for heaven? No, he could say. We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.
Isn't it marvelous, dear friends, that the Spirit of God should take up these words? No, we're confident. And then it says we are always confident, not just up one day and down the next, not hopeful one day and wondering the next. We are always confident. Why will he tells us in the fifth verse? Now he that hath wrought us for the self same thing is God, who also hath given.
Unto us the earnest of the Spirit.
I'm not too well acquainted with business deals here in this country, but when you're going to buy a piece of property in Canada?
Why? You put down a sum of money, and that's called the earnest money. And that money is the pledge that you're going to complete the deal. You put down a sum of money on the property. If it's a certain piece of property, you decide to buy it. Then the agent says, well, how much will you put down for earnest money? Will you put down a certain sum of money?
And that's the pledge to him. You're going to complete the deal. You're going to carry it through.
Well, let us suppose now that.
You're going to buy a piece of property. He names the price. He said, well, this is $25,000. How much will you put down for the earnest money? Will you say I'll put down $50,000? What? He said the price is only $25,000. Why did you say it put down $50,000? Well, I want to be sure I get it. So you give them $50,000 and the somebody comes along the next day and said, do you think that fellow is going to carry through the deal? Carry through the deal?
He put down more on the property than it's worth.
Do you know what God did to assure me that he was going to complete what he began? He gave me the Holy Spirit of God to indwell my body. What was I worth in comparison to the earnest that he has given? A little hymn says, If such the earnest thou hast given, what must thy presence be? Dear friends, how could we help but be confident when God has given such an earnest? He's given us his word, and it says, The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts.
By the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us, so he says, He has given us the earnest of the Spirit. Therefore we're always confident. All how wonderful. That's why it tells us now is our salvation nearer than when we believe. Now that is, when you get saved, you have the salvation of your soul. But God's going to do more than that. He is going to give us the salvation of our bodies too, and He's given us a pledge that He's going to do it.
The Holy Spirit of God. And so in another day we're going to have bodies of glory fashioned like unto Christ's own glorious body. We know we are confident. We are always confident. Why we're such good people? No, never. But because of what the Lord Jesus has done and because of that glorious work that he completed, God is satisfied with Jesus.
We are satisfied as well.
Let's turn over to Romans chapter 8.
26.
Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities, where we know not what we should pray for as we ought. But the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that her searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because He maketh intercession for the Saints according to the will of God. And 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 whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate, to be conformed to the image of His Son, that we might be the first born among men, that He might be the first born among many brethren. The 38th verse. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from.
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The love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Now in this passage also we find 2 expressions. In the 26th verse he says we know not. In the 28th verse he says we know. I call attention to this because there are some things in our life that we know not now. That is, we often get in problems as Christians. We often get in sickness and we don't just know how we should pray.
We're sure of our salvation, we're sure that heaven is our home, but here it says the Spirit helps our infirmities. We know not what we should pray for as we ought. And sometimes a Christian has got into a difficulty and he has prayed, and perhaps the Lord hasn't taken him out of the difficulty. Well, we don't always know what's the right thing that we should ask for. It isn't that we have any doubt about our salvation, but there are.
Times in life where we may not know just what is the mind of the Lord for us in our prayers, but the Spirit makes intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the Saints according to the will of God. Just a little example of this. Paul had a thorn in the flesh. We're not told just what it was. Perhaps it was some physical.
Infirmity he had.
He asked the Lord three times to take it away, and the Lord didn't take it away.
He didn't know, just Paul didn't just know what was best for himself.
But the Lord knew what was best for Paul, and so it says that the Lord makes intercession for us according to the will of God. And so sometimes he may leave us in trials and difficulties in his wisdom. But here's something we do know, the 28th verse, and we know that all things work together for good.
To them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Once we are saved or brought into the family of God, we know that heaven is our home. We know we possess eternal life. And we know that even though there are things in life we don't understand, this is something we do know that God knows what He's doing. We know that all things work together for good.
To them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Paul thought that he could serve the Lord better if he got rid of that thorn in the flesh. But God knew that it was best for Paul to still have that thorn. And he said to him, My grace is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. And what I want to remind you of, dear friends, is that God in His wisdom doesn't always take us out of all the difficulties of life.
But one thing you'll find with a Christian who is going on with.
The Lord that no matter what happens, he is content to say we know that all things work together for good. When I visited that dear young man that I was Speaking of over in Canada, there he is. I'm getting weaker. He feels deeply that he's going to be separated from his wife and from his family. But I quoted that verse to him, We know that all things work together for good.
That he frowned on. He smiled. He said. I know.
Wasn't it lovely? Dear friends, we have confidence in the One who loved us, as it says in this same chapter, He that spared not his own son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? I have often commented that in order to get the full blessedness of this 28th verse, we should also read the 29th with it.
Because the 29th is really an explanation of what we read in the 28th.
Perhaps to make it clear what I mean, I could choose a little illustration, and I think you'll see the point at once. Did you ever pick up a storybook? And you came to a very, very sad chapter in the storybook, So sad that the tears come into your eyes, perhaps rain down your face. The story was so sad, and at last you couldn't bear it any longer. So you turned over to the end of the.
To see how the story ended.
And then when you found out the story ended all right, you went back and you read that chapter with confidence and you kept saying to yourself, it's going to be all right. I know how the story is going to end, but it's pretty sad right here. Well, dear friends, isn't God gracious? He says, we know that all things work together for good. And he said, I'll tell you how you know because you know the end of the story. And what is it to be conformed to the image of his son.
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So in the very next verse, knowing how at times it's hard to see how things work together for good, He actually tells us that the story is going to end in full conformity to Christ, our blessed, precious Savior. Isn't it wonderful that God would have us to know these wonderful things, to be in the enjoyment of them? He doesn't intend to leave us in uncertainty.
He's made provision for our weaknesses.
He has shown that when we fail, we can come back to God as our Father in confession and be restored. He's shown us that sometimes things come in life that we don't understand and we don't know how to pray. But never, as someone has put it very nicely, never let the things you don't know spoil the things you do know. And God has told us such wonderful things that we do know. And if there are things that we don't know, we can leave them. There are a lot of things.
Life that I don't know. I'm going to find out someday because the Bible says that in a coming day we shall know, even as also we are known. We're going to find out then. But down here in this world, I am rejoicing in the things that I know. There's a verse that says in the 29th chapter of Deuteronomy.
The secret things belong unto the Lord our God, but those things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever. So if there's things that God has kept in His own secrets, we're content to let Him keep them in His secrets till His time comes to let us know. But He's told us a lot of things that He wants us to know, that He wants us to be sure about, that He wants us to be confident about. And now I must just say in closing that He.
Also given us a warning in the 2nd chapter of Romans. It says we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth. And dear friends, just as we can know with assurance that we're saved, we must also say that God has told us that we are sure that when he judges, He is going to judge according to truth. And if there should be anyone in this room.
Who rejects the Lord Jesus as your Savior?
Who closes your heart to that wonderful work of redemption that Christ has accomplished? There is a coming day of judgment. Who is it for? For those who have rejected His grace, Those who would not have Christ as Savior. It says in the 3rd chapter of John, He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life, but he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God.
Enlighteth on him.
And just as I stand here to tell you that we can be sure of all these wonderful things, I also must tell you that I am sure that if you reject Christ, there is judgment ahead. There is judgment. And let me repeat again what I said last night, because I really enjoyed what this dear old brother said to me. I visited him in the hospital just before the Lord was going to take him home.
He was so weak he could hardly speak freely, but he looked up.
With a smile and said to me, Gordon, isn't it lovely to know that judgment is behind you and not ahead of you? And that's what gives us who are saved such assurance. Judgment is behind us because the Lord Jesus bore the judgment at Calvary's cross and trusting in Him, we can say it's past for us, but for those who reject him, judgment is ahead.
O how solemn, how tremendously solemn, but all these wonderful things that God.
Revealed in His Word, He wants us to know, He wants us to enjoy. May God make Him good to each one of our hearts through His Word and by His Holy Spirit.
Things which cannot be shaken