St. Louis Conference: 1965

Table of Contents

1. The Priesthood of Christ
2. John 3

The Priesthood of Christ

Address—G. Hayhoe
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Enriffed him and there was no water for the people to drink.
Wherefore the people that chide with Moses, and said, Give us water, that we may drink. Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? Wherefore do ye tempt the Lord? And the people thirsted there for water. And the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this, that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt to kill us, and our children, and our cattle with thirst?
And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, What shall I do unto this people? They be almost ready to stone me. And the Lord said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel thy rod werewith thou smoteest the river. Take in thine hand, and go, Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb. Thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink.
And Moses did so in the sight of the.
Elders of Israel, and he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us or not?
Then came Amalek and fought with Israel and refit him. And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out man, and go out fight with Amalek, and tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand.
So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek, and Moses, Aaron and her went up to the top of the hill. And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed. And when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses hands were heavy, and they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat thereon, and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side and the other on the other side.
And his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.
And Joshua discomforted Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.
And the Lord said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua, For I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.
And Moses built an altar and called the name of it Jehovah Nessie. For he said, because the Lord has sworn that the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.
Well, as I remarked before.
I believe that in what we had before us this afternoon, we have particularly brought before us the believers standing. That is, every believer has been brought into this perfect standing before God. Not only our sins forgiven, but God sees us in Christ and He tells us to reckon the old nature dead. He tells us how we can be happy even though we have that old nature within us and still unimproved.
We might think, Well, if I thought that that old nature was better, I could be much happier. But as we were noticing, God has told us that it can't be improved. He Himself has condemned sin in the flesh, but He has brought us into that position before him that He looks upon us in Christ. Then He would have us to rejoice in this.
But you know, even after we have laid hold of this truth, then we find that temptations come and we might wonder, how can I get the victory over these temptations? How can I go on to please the Lord? And I believe we have in the 17th of Exodus brought before us in a typical way, the way that Israel had. The victory over Amalek is the victory that we can have.
Over that old nature which is within us.
Which is ever ready to pop up and display itself.
We know that even with the children of Israel, they have been sheltered under the blood in Egypt. More than this, they had been brought out of Egypt and they sang because they knew of that new position they had been brought into. But here we find in the 17th chapter, in an experimental way, that there was a conflict with Amalek. And so I believe we can say that it's a beautiful picture brought before us of the way of victory in the.
Christian's life.
Notice how the chapter begins. It says, and all the children and all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of sin, after their journeys according to the commandment of the Lord, and pitched in rephidim.
And we might wonder why it was that the Lord brought them to this place where there was number water to drink.
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Well, you might have thought that it was through some planning of their own that they came to this place, but it tells us distinctly here that it was according to the commandment of the Lord and in God's ways with us too. He sometimes brings us to a place where we can see no human resource, we can see no outlet. The spot seems so difficult.
That we just feel like the children of Israel when they came here to refit them.
All there was number water to drink. What a distressing feeling. And above all to think that it was the commandment of the Lord that brought them there.
Well, in all 1 is often said that there are two lessons for the children of Israel to learn in the wilderness, and that was their own utter helplessness and God's all sufficiency. And we have to learn those two things in our wilderness journey. We have to learn our own utter helplessness, our own insufficiency, but we also learn that God is faithful and that all our surprise come from Him.
Just as in the chapter before.
The man who came from heaven when they were hungry. God rained the manna down from heaven when they were thirsty. Why, God caused them to have that drink from the smitten rock in the end of the 15th chapter. When they came to Maryland where the waters were bitter, there was no way that they could make those waters sweet. But when God told them to cast in a tree into those bitter waters, than the bitter waters became sweet.
No doubt a beautiful picture.
Of the Cross. For if we bring in the cross into the bitter waters of life, it can make them sweet. How often we find that in the trials and difficulties, when everything seems so bitter and sad, that when we turn to the Lord Jesus, and think of his love in going to the cross for us, why we find him nearer in the trial than if we had never come to that place.
So we can see that all their resources were from above.
There was no water for the people to drink.
But the people didn't appreciate the fact that this was ordered of the Lord at 1St. Instead of that it says the people did chide with Moses and said give us water that we may drink.
Well, don't we often do the same when we come to some trial in our lives?
Some difficult spot.
We want some person to blame and we say well it was so and so and we find someone that we can blame instead of accepting the circumstance as from the Lord. Reminds me of a man who left the meeting and some years afterwards he said to a brother in the meeting. He said, you know I'd still be in the meeting if it wasn't for so and so.
And this brother said to him, well, God put that brother there. Well, he said, I'd still be in the meeting if it wasn't for him. Well, he said, God put that brother there.
Well, in all, God sometimes allows these things to come in our lives so that we would be tested and so that we might turn to Him. And we'll never learn the full resource that we have in the Lord until we learn also to take every circumstance from Him. As long as we're blaming somebody else, we'll certainly not take it from the Lord.
We find when Paul was in prison, he didn't call himself the prisoner of Mural, he called himself the prisoner of Jesus Christ. That is, he accepted the whole thing as from the Lord that you and I do that.
The people didn't hear and they said to Moses, give us water that we may drink and how often too. We say, well there's there's not much in the meeting, there's not very bright ministry and things aren't as happy as they should be and we're looking to some person instead of looking to the Lord.
While Moses said unto them, Why charge you with me? Wherefore do ye tempt the Lord?
Moses asked them why were they blaming him? Because actually in Moses case, Moses hadn't done anything but good for them. He was the one who had been used of God to lead them out. And Moses must have felt sort of badly at this time that he was being blamed. And perhaps we feel badly sometimes when we're blamed for something, especially when we don't feel that we were really at fault.
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And yet Moses here, when he was falsely accused, and when he was blamed, notice in the fourth verse. And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, What shall I do unto this people? They be almost ready to stone me.
And when you and I are falsely accused, when we're blamed and we don't feel that we are really to blame, do we try to justify ourselves? Or do we give up and say, well it's no use, what I do isn't appreciated? Or do we just turn to the Lord and ask Him what He wants us to do? God allows such circumstances so that we too would turn to Him.
Because we may not realize how much of self there is even in our finest service. And God allows criticism so that even in service we would be cast upon the Lord, that we would find Him the resource and our only resource to continually continue faithfully in seeking the good and blessing of the people of God. So here we find that Moses.
When he was confronted with this situation, he asked the Lord.
What shall I do unto this people?
And what was the Lord's answer? And the Lord said unto Moses, Go on before the people.
Well, has someone falsely accused you?
Do you feel discouraged that what you have sought to do wasn't appreciated?
Well, listen to this word. I think it's a good word for all of us to bear in mind, to repeat to ourselves often in our Christian life.
And the Lord said unto Moses, Go on before the people. That is, don't give up what you're seeking to do for the Lord. Seek to go on in faith and faithfulness and leave all these things, even false accusations. Leave them all with the Lord, because you know the Lord.
Always has everything properly recorded above.
You know, through the conflicts of David, there was a man who had a great deal of prominence named Joab.
He seemed to get the credit for many victories in David's army, but when David recounted his mighty man, we find that he doesn't mention the name of Joab, but he does mention the name of Joab's armor bearer. That is that Joab had got all the prominence before men, but when?
David recorded his mighty man. He spoke of a man that had never been mentioned.
For David, I mean Joab's armor bearer.
And so, you know, perhaps someone else has got the credit and you feel it's not quite fair that they should get the credit for something that you had done or remember, God has the record down properly.
He isn't going to make any mistake, he knows what each one of us have done for him and it's all properly recorded in his book. Jonathan led the people in a great victory in First Samuel 14.
And at the end of the chapter, we find Saul taking all the credit himself. He was even going to put Jonathan to death.
But Jonathan was content to leave it all with the Lord. Or may we be content too, and seek to go on in the path of faith and faithfulness, loving the people of God, serving the people of God because they're dear to Him.
And so the Lord said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel. And I rod were with thou, smotest the river, taken thine hand and gull. That is, he was told to go on and serve the people.
And he was told to take this rod where he had smitten the river. Well, I believe this rod is a figure to us. No doubt of thee what the Lord Jesus had to go through upon the cross. Because we know that rod was brought down on the river to make a way so that the people could go through. It makes us think of a little hymn that we sang this morning.
Jehovah lifted up his rod. All Christ, it fell on thee.
Thy open bosom was my ward. It bore the storm for me. On what ground, on what basis can God go on with a poor, failing people like ourselves? All because the rod was lifted up upon Christ, because He took up that question at the cross for us, and settled the question of sin. And now God can come out.
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In all the riches of his grace and bless a poor failing people like ourselves.
And so the Lord was really saying to Moses, go on before the people and remember that the way I can go on with this people is because of that which figures, the cross of Christ. And may we too remember this as we look at God's people, as we hear their murmurings, as we hear them perhaps saying things that hurt us and discourage us, may we realize that the Lord loves his people. He's proved his love to them at the cross.
And he's not going to give them up, because it says 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?
And so the Lord said, Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb.
It's as though the Lord said to Moses, and don't look at the elders of the people, put your eye upon me.
I'll stand before you, Moses, and that's what we need to do sometimes. The Lord said, I'll stand right in front of you, Moses, and you look at me. If he had looked at the people, why, perhaps he would have been occupied with the things that they were doing and saying. But instead the Lord said, just look at me, I'll stand right there before you.
And thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink.
Well, we know, as we remark, that the Lord Jesus was smitten. He bore the wrath and the judgment of God.
And because of this, refreshment and blessing comes to you and I.
We know that on another occasion when the people were thirsty, Moses was sent to get water for them. But on this other occasion he was told speak to the rock, not smite the rock, but speak to the rock because the rock didn't need to be smitten twice. The one the smiting of the rock once was enough and the Lord Jesus.
So glorified God and so subtle the whole question of sin.
That He never, He never will have to bear sin again. That question has been settled once and for all. And now, when we come to difficult spots in our lives, we can speak to the rock. We can talk to Him as one whose love has been made known to us. We can talk to God as our Father. We're in a relationship to that precious Savior. Indeed, we can say that we are members of His body.
Saw that the second time Moses didn't need to smite the rock. We know that. Alas, he didn't smite the rock. He lost his patience with the people. And sometimes we too might lose our patience. But if we do, we fail to sanctify the Lord as He did. We fail to display His feelings toward His people when we lose our patience with them because He loves them, and His love has never changed or altered by our failure.
And so Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. And now this refreshing water flows down so that the people might drink.
Well, I'd like to connect this passage with John Chapter 7, if you'll turn to it.
Please.
And the 37th verse.
In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He that believeth on me is the Scripture hath said, Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive. For the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified.
Well, I believe from this passage in John seven that we could connect the water here with the with the Holy Spirit of God.
And also with that verse in Galatians that says the flesh lusteth against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh, and these are contrary, the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.
That is, when one is into all by the Spirit of God, then there is a terrible conflict that is set up because the flesh, that solemn nature within us that we spoke about this afternoon, once had control of these bodies.
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But when we're indwelled by the Spirit of God, we have a new power so that we can walk to please God. And the flesh doesn't like this. And so there's a conflict. And so just here as the children of Israel had had a drink of that water that flowed from the smitten rock, then outcomes Amalek.
Amalek was a figure to us in the Old Testament of Satans power over us through the flesh. That is, we have this fallen nature that we talked about this afternoon and Satan always.
Appeals to us through the fallen nature within.
That is, when Satan brings a temptation to us, we have that nature within that responds to the temptation.
But we also have the Spirit of God indwelling us. We also possess a new life that delights in pleasing God.
And so if we if we allow Satan to.
Work upon the fallen nature within us, then we sin.
But if we allow the Spirit of God to lead us and to occupy us with Christ.
Then there's victory instead, and so we can see here.
A picture that is brought before us.
Of a believer and how we have that old nature within us, but we also have the new life and we're indwelled by the Spirit of God. And so there's this conflict.
Well, now we notice here that there are three men that are brought before us.
And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out man, and go out fight with Amalek.
While Joshua is a figure to us of the Lord Jesus and the power of the Spirit of God. Because Joshua was the one who led the people into the Promised Land, and the Spirit of God would seek to lead your soul and mine into the enjoyment of our heavenly blessings. He would seek to lead us above things of this world and so fill our souls with the enjoyment of Christ.
Just like the people enjoying this water that flowed from.
Me smitten rock. He would seek to lead our souls into the enjoyment of what we have in Christ so that we are given strength to go on, because one who is enjoying Christ has power to go on. But if we lose the enjoyment of Christ, then we're liable to fall prey to the temptations that Satan brings.
And so here we find that the children of Israel had a leader, Joshua, and he led them out against Amalek. Well, I believe this brings before us a very important thing too.
That sometimes we get into difficulties and into temptations because we don't seek the Lord's guidance.
Reminds me of a story that I heard of a man over in Scotland many years ago and he wanted to hire a coachman to drive his horses and so he he had many who came to apply for this job and he asked each one the same question.
He said there's a very steep hill.
On the road coming to this house, as you know, and he said. I'm very much concerned that I have a man that can really handle horses to drive the coach up this steep hill because it's very narrow and there's a dangerous precipice off the side.
And so he wanted to know how much experience they had, and he wanted to know how.
How close they thought they could go to the edge of the rod and still haul the horses steady.
And so some of these men had had quite a bit of experience and they were quite sure that they could hold the horses steady. Even if they came very close to the edge of the roll, they felt confident that they could hold the horses steady.
But there's one man who came along and his, his thought about it was entirely different. And as soon as this man asked him about how well he could handle horses, why, he said, Sir, I'd keep as far away from the edge as I could because he said the horses might give alerts or something. And then he said it would be too bad. No, he said, I I'd stay right away from the edge. Oh, he said, you're you're the man I want.
Well, you know, sometimes.
We're like Peter. We're so confident in ourselves. We think that we can go along with a certain measure of the world, we can do a certain number of things in the world and that we know just how far to go and that we wouldn't be tempted. And so we're so sure of ourselves. We're like Peter who said that he wouldn't deny the Lord.
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But Peter had to learn his own weakness, and if we're confident on ourselves, the Lord may have to let us learn through a fall how very weak we are.
And so if we're going to walk to please him, we need a leader. And who is that leader? Well, I say again, it's the Lord Jesus who leads us in the power of the Spirit of God. And so I'd like to say to each young person here tonight, if you're going to do anything, don't say, well, I'm quite sure that I wouldn't do this or I wouldn't do that.
Or I can go along with the world part way, but I.
I wouldn't be tempted to marry an unconverted boy, but I could enjoy a nice evening with him. Be careful, you might be. You might be LED astray. You might do what you didn't intend to do. Many others have because they have trusted in the flesh.
And so here we find Joshua was the leader. And before you go out to any evening, or before you undertake any plan in your life, get down before the Lord and ask him if it's His will, and then ask Him to keep you.
So here we find that when.
The people went out, they had a leader.
And then on the top of the hill, Moses went up, saw that there was not only a leader leading them in the conflict below, but there was also one who was up on the top of the hill holding up his hands. Well, how beautiful this is, because if you and I go to the Word of God in dependence upon Him, well, then we can ask Him to keep us, keep us from the snares and pitfalls of life.
But I say again.
And the only promises to keep us in the path of obedience, he doesn't promise to keep us if we get out of the path of obedience, because that's really trusting our own hearts. And it says he that trusteth in his own heart is a fool. Wasn't Peter thoroughly sincere when he said he wouldn't deny the Lord? Yes he was. But did he deny him? Yes he did. And with alls and curses he didn't think he would. But.
He trusted his own heart and he found out how weak he was.
Well, he was restored after, that's true, But I'm sure that to his dying day, he never forgot how weak he was in the presence of those little maids. How weak he was when temptation crossed his path. And he was in a place that he shouldn't have been. He shouldn't have been warming himself at the fire with those ungodly people. He shouldn't have been following the Lord afar off. No, he ought to have been near the Lord many ought to have shunned.
Company of those whom he knew had no love for his Lord. So we find here that they went out with Joshua as the leader, and then, as I say, Moses went up on the top of the hill.
Now it tells us here in this 11TH verse. And it came to pass when Moses held up his hand.
That Israel prevailed.
And when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.
I'd like you to turn with me over to.
Hebrews, chapter 4.
I'd like you to turn with me over to.
Hebrews, chapter 4.
And verse 14.
Seeing them that we have a great high Priest that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our profession, for we have not an high Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.
Now the 7th chapter in the 24th verse.
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But this man, because he continueth ever hath an unchangeable priesthood.
Wherefore He is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God, by him, seeing He ever liveth, to make intercession for them. For such an high priest became us who is holy, harmless, unbefiled, separate from sinners, and made higher than the heavens.
Now this one hand of Moses that was held up, and while it was up Israel prevailed, and when it went down then Amalek prevailed. This brings before us the Lord Jesus Priestly work for us on high.
And just as Moses went up under the top of the hill with a rod of God in his hand, so the Lord Jesus as the one who has accomplished redemption, who has borne the judgment of God for us while he's gone up there, and what is his present work for us now?
At one time this rod was lifted up to open a way through the Red Sea, but now Moses is up in the top of the hill, holding up his hand with the rod of God in his hand.
Well, this was saw that the people might have strength for the battle against Amalek, that they might be victorious instead of being overcome. Well, the Lord Jesus is up there in heaven now as our great High Priest, and it says we have a high Priest who is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God.
And do we have a conflict with Amalek? Do we find that Satan comes and tempts us in some particular way? Is there some situation that we're meeting in our life and we just feel as if Amalek was coming out against us? Well, I'm sure we all have those experiences in our lives.
And we say, well, I have sought the Lord's guidance, but Amalek's still very strong.
Yes, they had a leader, Joshua was leading them, but Amalek was still very strong. But there was another, I say, and that was this one who was up on the top of the mount, Moses with his hand up. And it tells us in the end of the 4th chapter of Hebrews, There let us come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.
Do you and I feel our weakness?
In the presence of these temptations and situations that we have to meet day by day. Oh, I'm sure we do. I'm sure every one of us say, oh, this is so true to life. It's just what happens over and over again in our Christian life. All that there's one who's up there on high and he wants us to turn to him in every time of need. And in that lovely passage that I read there in the 7th of Hebrews, it says he is able.
Also to save them to the uttermost.
You know, some connect that verse with the salvation of a Sinner, but that isn't really what it refers to. Although it's true that he's able to save the vilest Sinner. But if you read in the 5th chapter of Romans, you'll read this verse it says.
If when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of His Son.
Much more being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.
After we're reconciled, we're saved by his life. And so to be saved to the uttermost is just like as if the Lord should say, are you placed in a very trying situation? Does it seem so difficult that you just wonder how you can honor the Lord in it and be faithful to Him?
By the Lord looks down and says the situation isn't so difficult, but that I can supply you the grace to help in time of need.
He is able to save to the Iron Mosque.
Perhaps you get up in the morning and you have a headache and on top of that, everything seems to go wrong through the day. And you say, well, I just couldn't help being impatient. I couldn't help saying things I shouldn't. I felt so miserable and everything seemed to go wrong. And the Lord looks down. He said, oh, if you'd asked me for help, I would have supplied all that was needed, all that was needed.
He's able to save them to the uttermost. And so no matter how strong these forces of Amalek were that came out and drove after drove of them must have come out against Israel.
But.
As long as Moses was up there with his hand up, Israel prevailed.
And all the reason that we fail is because we don't look to the Lord for help.
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We excuse ourselves, we say, oh, I couldn't help it, I couldn't help it, but the Lord is able to save to the uttermost. And when it says such a high priest became us, who is wholly harmless, unbefiled and separate from sinners, I believe it brings before us just this.
That sometimes when such situations arise, we might go to another Christian and we might tell them about how trying life is and how miserable we feel. And that other Christian might sympathize with us and say, well, I don't blame you when I feel like that, I say things that I shouldn't too. And so you feel kind of comforted, you know, that after all, it wasn't so bad because other Christians did it too.
But that Christian didn't help you. That Christian just encouraged you to do what's wrong. That Christian just gave you a little bit of comfort to go on and be somewhat irritable when things went wrong. But the Lord, he's holy, He's harmless, He's undefiled. And so it's as though he said, well, I have given you a new life and I'll give you the power. And instead of getting impatient and saying things you'll be sorry for.
Afterwards, why, he said, I'll give you all the grace that you need. Or isn't that the kind of help we need? Isn't that the one we should turn to? Oh indeed it is. And it says that he has an unchangeable priest to it. Or it could be translated and intransmittable priesthood. That is, it isn't one that passes from one to another.
Well, this is very comforting too, because perhaps you've had a doctor.
The doctor has known your family well and you just feel that he he knows all about the family and you can talk to him as a friend.
But the Doctor dies.
Or he retires and you say, oh, now I'll have to find a new Doctor and he just will never understand like that old one did because he knew all about our family. Well, isn't it wonderful, beloved brethren, that the Lord Jesus up there, he knows all about us from our very childhood. He knew our father, He knew our mother, He knew our family traits. He knew our family weaknesses. He knew all about the setting of our family life, everything's.
Known to him, he has an intransmittable priesthood, a priesthood that will continue through our whole lifetime. And we can just come and talk to him as the dearest friend, one who knows us, who understands us, who loves us perfectly. Oh, what a high priest we have. And it's connected, as we read in these passages, with our infirmities.
I want to mention that the priesthood of Christ is not for our failures, it's for our infirmities.
That simply means that if we if we have some particular weakness, physical or something of that nature, why then we need a special supply of his health, and the Lord can give that special supply.
But if we read here more carefully and read on, we'll find that Moses didn't just have one hand, he had two hands.
And at first, it seems that he just held up one hand.
But then the other hand went up, and the other hand never came down.
It says it says in the 11TH verse.
When he held up his hand, Israel prevailed. When he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. But then it tells us that Aaron and her were on each side, and they held up his hands, and they were steady till the going down of the sun.
While the one hand speaks of his priesthood and I believe the other speaks of his advocacy, his advocacy and his priesthood is to keep us from failing. His advocacy is after we have failed.
And the reason the other hand never went down is because although we may fail to ask the Lord for help like we should, although we may not ask Him for help and saw Amalek prevails, blessed be his name. He is always our advocate before the Father, so to speak. That hand never goes down. And now if you'll turn with me to.
First John, chapter 1.
I'd like to just read a few verses in this passage.
First John, chapter 1.
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Verse 8.
If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in US. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in US.
My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not.
And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.
Now this 2nd chapter in first verse says that we have an advocate with the Father. And it doesn't say in this verse if any man confesses sin, we have an advocate with the Father. It says if any man's sin, we have an advocate with the Father.
Because the Lord Jesus as our Advocate is continually there before the Father, and He is there in all the acceptance of his finished work, and we are accepted in Him. And sin in the believer's life never changes the believer's standing. Our standing is always maintained in all its perfection because our standing is in Christ and He is up there on our behalf.
Well, we say then what does confession have to do with it? Well, confession May is now.
Terry saw that we would be restored to communion, but his advocacy goes on continually. He is always there. So when Amalek prevailed, the other hand was up. That is, the Lord Jesus is there as our advocate continually before the Father. If it weren't for that, if you sinned and then the Lord came before you confessed it, then you would be out of your standing before God.
But all it's not so.
The Lord Jesus is always there on our behalf before the Father and it says if any man sin we have an advocate with the Father. Does this excuse us or encourage us to sin? No, it says He wrote these things that we would sin not.
Because the more you and I lay hold of His love, the more we enter into what He has done for us and the perfection of that blessed work in our standing, the more we'll desire to please Him.
There's no such thing in Christianity as being forced into pleasing God. No, it's always the outflow of love in return for what He has done for us. We love him because he first loved us. If he loved me, keep my commandments, the Lord said to that poor woman in the eighth of John, Neither do I condemn thee.
Go and sin no more, he didn't say if you don't sin anymore.
I won't condemn you now. She went out from his presence knowing there was no condemnation. And this now was the power for her to live to please him. Go and sin no more. So I say that the whole of our Christian life is founded upon what the Lord has done for us. We don't get it by attainment.
But we can allow sin in our lives and lose the enjoyment of it. But we can never lose our standing, beloved brethren.
And so how lovely it is to see that one of those hands never went down. But now just to speak a little bit about confession here.
In the eighth verse it says, If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves.
We were talking a little bit about that this afternoon. The old nature is not removed. If I stood here and told you I didn't have any fallen nature, I'd only be deceiving myself.
I know I have it, others know I have it too. And so if we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves. Or if, as in the 10th verse, if we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar. And we were to say that we have never sinned since we were saved, all this wouldn't be true either. But God has made provision for failure in the believer's life, and the Lord Jesus is up there as our advocate. And when we confess sin?
It is simply availing ourselves of his advocacy. And the confession of sin, let me say again, has nothing to do with our standing. It just has to do with our state, or shall I say, with the enjoyment of our standing.
And so this verse says, if we confess our sins.
Now perhaps some believers might say, well, I always ask the Lord to forgive me when I do something wrong.
All as believers were not to ask for forgiveness. As believers we are to confess.
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Well, the difference is just this.
That if I did something wrong to you, then I came and said, will you forgive me? Am I not raising the question about whether you're going to say yes or no?
But if you said to me, well, I have already forgiven you in my heart, that I would like you to say you're sorry.
Now when I come to say I'm sorry, I have the confidence that you're going to show that forgiveness that's in your heart toward me as soon as I say I'm sorry.
Well, beloved brethren, we don't ask the Lord to forgive our sins. We're told to confess it.
The believer is to come to the Lord and realizing that we have sinned against such love.
That we have grieved the heart of the one that died for us. We come not to be restored to our standing, but feeling that the saddest thing that could take place in our lives is to lose the enjoyment of communion with God, we come and confess it so that we might be restored to communion.
And I'd like to say too that in connection with this.
He's faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. The reason it says He is faithful and just is because that sin was settled long ago at the cross and God is faithful and just in manifesting that governmental forgiveness to us because it was all settled there. Sin will never be raised against the believer, but it does have to do with the enjoyment of the family relationship.
But he's faithful and just to forgive, because I say again, the whole question of sin and sins was settled at the cross, and the confession has to do with restoration to communion.
But now this little expression, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
I won't take time to turn to the 19th chapter of Numbers.
But in that chapter we have about a man who was defiled.
And it says he was sprinkled on the third day and then he was clean on the 7th.
Well, when it brings in the thought of the third day, it brings in the thought of what it costs God to put away sin.
That is, the cost of putting away sin was the work of the Lord Jesus upon the cross, and so unless the man was sprinkled on the third day, it says he wasn't clean on the 7th.
That is, there wasn't a real restoration.
And I believe, if one might speak in a very practical way, that very often as Christians, when we confess sin, there isn't a proper sense in our souls of how the Lord has been dishonored, how we have grieved his heart, and the result is we confess him too lightly.
We don't enter into the thought of the third day, so to speak, and so there isn't a full restoration.
There is only perhaps we might say, a partial sense of how we have dishonored the Lord.
Now let us suppose that when we confess a failure in our lives, that is just as though we were looking at the Lord Jesus dying for us, and we saw him in that agony in those three hours, and He were to tell us that He was suffering this for the very sin that we were confessing. Oh, do you think we could have a light idea of that sin? Do you think that we would just say, well?
It wasn't so serious other Christians sometimes.
Pale too. And so we look on it kind of lightly. Oh no. I'm sure that if we confess sin in the realization of what it costs the Lord to put away the sin, then there would be a real restoration, and we would find that the Lord would deliver us from things that perhaps are all too habitual in the Christian's life.
I I believe we could say that isn't normal, that a Christian should go on with something continually breaking out in his life. It's because there hasn't been a true sense of what the sin is before God. It hasn't been confessed in the reality of what it is against God, and therefore the result is that there isn't a full restoration.
And I might also mention that in the ashes of the heifer in the 19th of numbers there, there was also cedar wood and scarlet and Hesse.
You know the cedar wood speaks of man's greatness.
How the scarlet speaks of human glory. What we often call glamour. That which we we like to be looked up to.
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Attract the attention of others.
Saul, When Saul sinned, he said, I have sinned yet honor me now, I pray thee, in the presence of the elders of my people.
He knew he'd done wrong, but he said I don't want to lose any human glory by this failure. I want everybody to think as much of me after I've confessed it as they did before.
Well, he didn't really enter into the burning of the Scarlet, the end of that human glory.
We find a different thing. When David confessed his sin, he said, Thou desirest truth in the inward parts. Ah, David had a sense of how he had dishonored the Lord, and he truly judged it. And then what about the hyssop, you say? Well, the hyssop, surely that's an insignificant thing. Isn't it a good thing to be humble?
Well, we can get occupied with bad self. We can get occupied with our own littleness. Some people, when you talk to them, they're always occupied with how they can never do anything right and there's no use for them to try and all that kind of thing. And it's just self in another form. It's just self that displays itself in what the world calls inferiority complex.
Itself in another form. And so we're to judge all.
Those things and so we find that when a man was sprinkled with this water of separation, there were the ashes of the heifer that speak of the death of Christ being the end of all that we are in the flesh before God. And when we judge it, we think of what the Lord had to suffer to put an end to all. We were our sins and also what we were in that old Adam standing and so there's a true.
Self judgment before him.
Well, this is for our restoration to communion. And I say again, beloved brethren, there's nothing sweeter on earth than to walk in communion with the Lord. There's nothing sweeter on earth than to go on from day-to-day in the conscious company of the Lord Jesus. You can never be lost. As I said this afternoon and I mentioned again this evening, nothing can interrupt the believer's standing, but God wants.
To be in the enjoyment of it, he not only wanted the people to know that they were on the victorious Bank of the Red Sea, but he also wanted them to be in a place where they would not be overcome by Amalek, but where they would walk in his company and have his blessing along the wilderness journey.
And so here we find that in our chapter.
It says in the 12TH verse in Moses hands were were heavy, and they took a stone and put it under him. And he sat there on an Aaron and hers stayed up his hands, the one on the one side and the other on the other side. And his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. And Joshua discomforted Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.
And so here we find a complete victory, and the Lord would have us to realize that He's made full provision for us. Provision saw that there would be victory in our lives, provision for restoration when we have failed so that we might go on in communion with Him. And now it was said here that this was to be written in a book and rehearsed in the years of Joshua.
Because even though we know these things, we're very likely to forget them.
We need to be constantly reminded of them, and over and over again we need to get down on our knees before the Lord and pray the prayer of the first verse of the 16th Psalm. Preserve me, O God, for indeed do I put my trust.
No matter how long we have been saved, if we put any confidence in the flesh, we will fail again. So this has to be constantly brought before us. There is not, there is no victory through strength of character. It's not because we've been saved for a long time. I heard a brother say one time, well, I've been in the meeting for I think he said 50 years and I've never missed a meeting if I could possibly help, but I've always been there.
And in less than a year he was out of the meeting and never restored all. We can't do any boasting, brother. We can't do any boasting. This has to be rehearsed in our ears over and over again. Only the Lord can keep us. But then there's a bright ray at the end. It says the Lord will.
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Utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven. There's a time coming when we'll never have such conflicts anymore. The old nature will be gone. We're not going to carry it to heaven. It'll be gone forever. And in that blessed home above 1 is often thought how lovely it'll be. I believe when we get there, there'll be the joy of seeing the Lord. But shall I say, there'll also be the joy of just relaxing and saying this is home.
There'll be absolutely nothing.
Within or around, but what we can just enjoy to the fall and the conflicts will be over forever, but as long as we're here, the Lord said to Moses.
That He would have war with Amalek from generation to generation. And so as long as we're here, the old nature will not improve. But God has not only told us of the place that He has brought us into so that we can enjoy Him in this place, knowing that He has put us before Him in Christ, but He's even told us how we can have victory and how we can be restored when we have failed. Oh, what a gracious Savior we have.
May the Lord grant that we walk in the joy of these things more and more, because I say again, there's nothing sweeter on earth than to walk in the conscious sense of the Lord's company. And if we allow anything in our lives that hinders us, why we we rob the Lord and we rob ourselves of this blessed portion.
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John 3

Gospel—G. Hayhoe
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I'd like to turn this afternoon to a well known portion in the 3rd chapter of John.
John, 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 saith unto 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 the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.
And 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 rainbow earth 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. Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered and said unto him, Art thou 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.
Do 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. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Well, my purpose in reading this and some other portions this afternoon is because I would like to speak about the believer having two natures.
In this chapter, we don't have the mention of the forgiveness of sins, but we do have the necessity of new birth and possessing a new life.
And you know, there is much that is preached in Christendom about the necessity of having our sins forgiven. And this is a very blessed thing and a very important thing. Without the forgiveness of sins, we could most assuredly never be in heaven.
But I believe we could say that the truth of what new birth really is and the truth of the two natures is something that many have not entered into, and the result is that there is no real liberty and joy in their souls. Let God's Word shows us not only forgiveness, but that we receive a new life.
And are brought into a new position. Might I illustrate it like this?
Supposing I were a thief and I stole something from a man, and in kindness he forgives me.
Yet if I were to meet that man on the street, it would be fine to know that I was forgiven, but somehow I wouldn't feel thoroughly at ease in his presence.
I almost wish I didn't meet him because I would think he looks on me as a forgiven thief.
But supposing that when he forgave me, he told me that he would not look upon me as a forgiven thief, but he wanted me to know that he was going to always look upon me with the same love and affection as his own boy. He would not look on me as though he had ever committed the crime, but as one who was in this position of love and favor and affection before him.
Well, now I could meet him at perfect ease and liberty. I would know that I was forgiven, but I would say he doesn't look at me as a forgiven thief. He loves me like he loves his own boy and now I can feel at home in his presence.
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Well, God not only forgives our sins, but He has brought us into the position mentioned in Ephesians, one that He tells us that we are holy and without blame before him. In love He tells us that we are accepted in the Beloved 1.
But this is something that we are often slow to lay hold of because.
Perhaps we don't realize about these two natures, and perhaps when we discover that the old nature is still there after we're saved, it causes us a great deal of concern, has caused some to even doubt their salvation because they have found that old nature still within and not improved. Well, I believe it's, it's well for us.
To get hold of the truth of God when the children of Israel were sheltered under the blood, it was a wonderful security to know that God said, when I see the blood, I will pass over you. But it wasn't God's intention to leave them in Egypt at all. Not only was he going to shelter them from judgment, but he wanted to bring them clean out of Egypt. And he did. He brought them to the other side of the Red Sea.
Where they not only knew that they were sheltered from judgment.
But they were in a position where they could say judgment is behind us. They looked back and saw all their enemies dead upon the seashore. All that was the first time they sang. They didn't sing when they were sheltered under the blood, but they did sing when they came up on the other side of the Red Sea. And I believe there's great joy in the soul when we see not only that we're sheltered from judgment, but brought into.
Blessed and new positions.
Well, to go back to our chapter here, we find that this man, Nicodemus, he came to the Lord Jesus by night and said, we know that thou art a teacher, come from God. That is, this shows very clearly that he didn't see the necessity of new birth. He thought that what he needed was good teaching and the Lord Jesus was a very wonderful teacher.
And that if he were just to hear some of the wonderful teachings of the Lord Jesus.
That he could improve his life and do better.
But the Lord said to him, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again.
He cannot see the Kingdom of God how much how much preaching there is in the world today that would recognize the Lord as a great teacher, teaching men a better way of life, teaching them how they should be kind to their neighbors and love God and all this sort of thing, but not recognizing the fact that man is totally falling and prayed that he's lost.
And that he doesn't have any nature that's capable of loving his neighbors.
Himself or loving God? No, the law only proved this, because the law said Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. But the law only condemned because the word of God says by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight. No one ever got righteousness before God through keeping the law, for it says by the law is the knowledge of sin. There was nothing wrong with God's law.
Was holy, just and good. But the trouble was with us. Because good laws don't reform bad hearts. No, they only show that they are bad. If my face were dirty and you held a good mirror in front of me, it wouldn't make my face clean, would it? It would only show it was dirty and the law was the nod gave the knowledge of sin.
But it didn't wash away. Sin took the blood of Christ to do that, and so the law.
Only condemned man and it wasn't good teaching he needed. It was a new life that he needed. It was new birth. And saw the Lords answer to Nicodemus. A man who was perhaps we might say morally upright, better than the average. And yet the Lord said to him, except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God.
For if he would teach us the necessity of new birth, he didn't pick up a man who was sunk in the depths of the depths of sin.
He didn't pick up one like we read of in the 4th chapter who was looked down upon by society and say to that person he must be born again. No, it picked God would bring before us the very best, the finest of humanity and would show that such a man needed new birth. And so it doesn't matter who it is, whether it's the finest living person in Saint Louis or the person that is sunk, lost.
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New birth is a necessity.
As though the Lord could have said to Nicodemus, you can't get to heaven in that life with which you were born. You'll have to have a new life.
And everyone of us, every baby that was ever born into this world was born with a sinful fallen nature and could never get into heaven with that fallen nature. We have to have a new life. We have to have a new life in the very best and finest. Need that new birth, need a new life from God. And if there's anyone here to this afternoon who is clinging to your own works.
Remember, the Lord Jesus said he must.
Must be born again. You must have a new life.
Because that life that you and I received at birth before God.
Is fallen depraved, but the Son of man came to seek and to save that which is lost. Perhaps someone may say, well I don't think I am as bad as other people that I know. Well, the Bible says the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart.
Heart, I try the reins. Let me illustrate it like this. If I had two rotten eggs sitting here on the table and I dropped one on the floor.
All the bad of that egg comes out. You say what a horrible smell, what an awful smell. Yes, I say the other one is just as bad too. So you pick it up and you smell it and you say I don't think so. No bad smell from this egg. I don't believe it's half as bad as that other. Oh, I say yes, it's just as bad. The only difference is that when the bag came out, the other the bad still in.
And perhaps you've had a good bringing up. I thank God for a Christian father and mother that restrained me, that kept me from doing many things. But when I got into the presence of God, I found that my heart was just as bad as the vilest person able to do the same things restrained by a Christian father and mother. But until I received Christ as my Savior, I was still.
Guilty before God.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. And that egg, whether it spills out on the floor or whether it remains inside the shell, it's rotten. And that's what God says about your nature and mind.
He says as in water, face answers to face, so the heart of man to man. That is, if you look into a well and the water is nice and still, what will you see? You'll see your own heart. You'll see your own face reflected in the well. Well, God says you look into somebody else's heart and you'll just see the reflection of your own, That's all. There's no difference before God, for all have sinned.
And come short of the glory of God.
God. Well, Nicodemus couldn't understand this and so he tried to reason about it. He knew how natural birth took place, and he wondered how this new birth would take place.
And so the Lord said, except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God.
Well, when the Lord spoke of water and of the Spirit, he didn't refer here to baptism, because Christian baptism hadn't been instituted at this time, for one thing, and.
Later on he says in this chapter that Nicodemus ought to have known these things, and how would he have known them if Christian baptism had never been even mentioned yet? So you can see that the Lord didn't refer to Christian baptism. But if you were to turn to the 36th of Ezekiel, it says, I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean.
A new heart will I give you. And so the Lord was Speaking of what Nicodemus ought to have known, the necessity of receiving a new heart.
And as far as the water is concerned, the Scripture uses that as a figure of the Word of God. It tells us in Ephesians 5 that he might sanctify and cleanse it by the washing of water by the Word.
Solid water is a figure of the word of God. And more than this, if there is any question about it, we could turn to Peter's epistle. And Peter says being born again by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. He didn't say that you were born again by baptism. He said you're born again by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. You turn over to James and he says.
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In the 1St chapter of his own will begat he us by the word of truth.
So Paul speaks of water as a figure of the Word of God. Peter speaks of being born again by the word of God. James speaks of being born again by the word of God. And not one of them ever spoke about being born again by water baptism. No, it's a figure here.
Of the need of cleansing and God uses two things for the new birth of the soul, and that is His word.
And his birth and as the word of God is preached, the Spirit of God applies it to the soul and God gives a new life, a new life. And this is how one is born again he's born again by the word of God applied by the Spirit. And so there are many that have heard the word of God and concluded verses, but the Spirit of God hasn't yet applied it to their hearts and consciences. But when the.
God applies it to your heart.
Did you find yourself a Sinner in God's presence? And then you see what Christ has done for you to meet you in your need? Not only does God put away your sins, but He gives you a new life. And that's what the Lord is speaking out here.
And so the Lord says in the sixth verse, that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit. That is, it's not improving the flesh.
And the new life that He gives doesn't need any improvement, because, as we shall see shortly, it's the very life of Christ. So it doesn't need to be improved. And the old nature that we were born with can't be improved. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. And so the Lord is saying to Nicodemus that He hadn't come to improve the fallen nature of man.
But that man might receive a new life. And so he said to Nicodemus Marvel not that.
I said unto thee, He must be born again. And then the Lord says, The wind blows 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. Nicodemus had mentioned about the birth of a child into the world.
A little baby is born. We see that little baby. We see it drawing its breath. We know that a child has been born into the world. But now he speaks about new birth. And he said it's just like when the wind blows, because you never saw the wind in your life, did you? And neither did I, But I've often seen the results of it.
I've seen the snow flying, I've seen the dust flying, I've seen the trees bowing down and the wind. I didn't see the wind, I saw the result of it. And this is what the Lord is mentioning here, that when one is truly born again, it's not talking about some great experience. I know people at rest on their experience.
But their lives make you wonder if they were ever born again. Their lives make you wonder. But they can talk a lot about experience.
But I would far rather meet someone who said, well, I'm afraid I can't tell you much of an experience. I really can't say very much about how the Spirit of God began the work in my soul. But I know the Lord Jesus is precious to me. I know his blood has cleansed me from my sin. And you see in that person's life love for the Lord Jesus and a desire to please him.
I have much more confidence that that's a real work than some.
Someone who can do a lot of talking about an experience. And so the Lord here speaks of it being just like the wind blowing and you might say, well, how can I be sure that I have been born of the Spirit? I'd like to really know. Well, as the Lord said, the word of God and the Spirit of God.
What is? What is it that gives 1 The assurance of salvation? Why, he rests upon the precious Word of God, as we were telling the children yesterday. How simple for an Israelite to rest upon that wonderful message. When I see the blood I will pass over you. And how simple it is when a Sinner comes to the sense of his guilt before God.
Just to rest upon God's precious word that says he that believeth on the side.
Hath everlasting life.
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Or perhaps someone might say, well, I've heard it said you might believe in your head, not in your heart.
How could one tell that he really believed in his heart and not just in his head?
Well, when 1 believes in his heart, his heart goes out to the person, to the Lord Jesus. Then I'd like to just give you a couple of scriptures in connection with that. In first Peter 2 it says unto you, therefore which believe he is precious. And another one in first John chapter 3 that says we know that we have passed from death unto life because we love the brethren.
And so if one has really believed in his heart, the Lord Jesus will be precious to him, and his heart will go out to others who love the Lord Jesus too.
If you were walking down the street tomorrow and someone put his hand on your shoulder and said, do you love the Lord Jesus?
Would that make any feeling of response in your heart?
Well, I am sure of this, that if you're born again, there's something inside that responds to the precious name of the Lord Jesus.
You know that you're saved because you rest upon the Word of God. But as we see here, there is new birth, There's a new life given when one is saved, and that new life is the very life of Christ. For it tells us in Colossians 3 when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with him in glory.
It also says in first John chapter one, we declare unto you that he and show unto you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested unto us, that which we've seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon. The apostle John said, yes, he'd actually looked upon that eternal life. He had seen him with his eyes. It was the Lord Jesus himself.
And so Christ is the believer's life. And again I say.
If you really have received that new life, your heart responds when you meet someone else who loves him.
I might have a piano here, and if there were no keys inside of that piano, it might look very nice to everyone that was in the audience. But if I touched one of the keys, you'd just get a thud. You wouldn't get any music at all. There's nothing inside. Looks all right on the outside, but there's nothing inside.
But even if the piano was a little bit shabby and some of the keys were chipped and didn't look so wonderful, if there were keys inside, if you just touched one of those keys, you'd get some music, You'd get a response from the touching the key because there's something inside. And I know this, that if you have received the Lord Jesus as your Savior, your heart responds to that precious name. And the proof I say that 1 is really.
Born again is that his heart goes out to the Lord Jesus. Oh, I don't say that we love him as we should. None of us would ever boast and say, well I love the Lord Jesus as much as I should. Every one of us have to confess how cold our hearts often become.
But I do say, and I say it confidently, that I don't believe it's possible for a real Christian to meet someone else who speaks about the Lord. That there isn't a response in his heart because the new life is there. And So what the Lord is Speaking of here is that the new birth evidences itself in the result. And I say this because.
Some people make a great deal of experience.
But I believe that God makes far more out of the result that is evident in the life. And so here the result that would be evident in the life is love for the Lord, love for His people, and a desire to please Him.
Well, Nicodemus asked how these things could be.
And so the Lord Jesus goes on to make this very simple. Notice the 13th verse. And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man, which is in heaven.
Well, I believe it's important here the first thing the Lord brings before Nicodemus in connection with new birth, and that is his own person.
Notice what the Lord said. He said that while he was talking to Nicodemus, he was also in heaven.
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That is, he said, No man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man, which is in heaven.
How could the Lord be in heaven and still be talking to Nicodemus?
Well, I remember asking that question back in the Sunday school in Ottawa and a little boy put up his hand and I wondered what answer he was going to give. And he said because Jesus is God.
Well, that boy had the truth. That's exactly the point. And it's most important too, because we're living in days when the deity of the Lord Jesus is denied. And what the Lord brings before Nicodemus is that this one who had come, who could give this new life, was God himself. It says, it says that the Lord Jesus.
Quickness, whom he will. I can't give you a new life.
The finest preacher on earth couldn't give you a new life.
But the Lord Jesus can give you a new life. He can impart a new life to you because he is God. He is God the Son. And when one believes the gospel, an actual new life is given. But I, I want to mention this again, I want to press it upon each one here because we're living in days when the deity of Christ is denied.
When people come to your door selling literature, but they tell you that the Lord Jesus is not.
Really God? Well, if he's not really God, we have no savior. We have no savior because the Bible says that there is one savior. And if the Lord Jesus isn't God, then he isn't the savior. He isn't the savior. But thank God he is. And while he was talking to Nicodemus, he was in heaven too.
As the little hymn said, how wondrous the glories that meet in Jesus and from his face shine. His love is eternal and sweet. Tis human tis also divine His glory not only God's Son in manhood He had his full part, and the union of both joined in one form, the fountain of love in his heart. Yes, the one who is talking to Nicodemus.
And the one who I hope is speaking to your heart this afternoon.
Is perfect man and perfect God.
Now the next thing the Lord brings before Nicodemus is the necessity of redemption.
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. And we often speak of these two things, the importance of the person and the work of Christ.
His person that he is God, God the Son and His work, the one who accomplished redemption on the cross, and so that one who was lifted up upon the cross.
Was none other than the one who was there to bear the wrath and judgment of God against sin.
Perhaps you might have wondered, why wasn't it a lamb on a pole? Why was it a serpent on a pole?
Well, I believe there's something for us to see in this.
And that is, the serpent was that which had bitten the Israelite, and so the serpent was put on the pole. And So what we need to see is that the Lord Jesus.
Didn't just die as an example of love. Many people will say yes the death of Christ was a wonderful example to the world of divine love. But all I want to tell you it's more than that. It's Christ made sin for us. It says in 2nd Corinthians 5 and 21 he hath made him to be sin for us.
Who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God?
God in him says in Isaiah 53 and verse 6, All we like sheep, have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way, and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.
And if you just see the Lord's death as an example of sacrifice, I'm afraid that you're not saved.
But if you see him as the one who was bearing your sins, settling the question of sin before God so that God could come out in blessing to you, that's the way that the Lord was bringing before Nicodemus here. And I know it's so important that we should see this because.
Unless the question of our sins was settled at the cross.
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We could never settle it ourselves, we could never put away our own sins, we could never be in heaven. But the Lord Jesus is the one who has borne the judgment of God against sin. And I love to think of it this way, that it was God himself who placed my sins upon Jesus.
If I were to have to put my own sins upon him sometimes, I said, well, have you put your sins on Jesus? Could you remember them all? Could you put them all there?
Why you and I weren't there when the question of sin was settled and more than that, darkness covered the whole scene.
But it was God himself that took up the question of sin, settled it to his own glory and to his complete satisfaction. And the Lord Jesus said it is finished, He died, He rose again, and this afternoon we tell you of one who has accomplished redemption.
As one dear man said to me as he approached the end of his journey, went to see him in the hospital and he said, Gordon, isn't it?
Dear man said to me as he approached the end of his journey, went to see him in the hospital and he said, Gordon, isn't it lovely to know the judgments behind you and not ahead of you? Ah, dear friend, that's what took place at Calvary, judgments behind because the Lord Jesus for the judgment. So here in Nicodemus had asked how this new birth could take place.
And the Lord brings before him his person and his work. Then he says.
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. And so because, because the question of sin has been settled.
As we sing in little hymn, sometimes it says God could not pass the Sinner by his sin demands that he must die. But in the cross of Christ I see how God can save, yet righteous be. It's all the question of sin being taken up and settled. Now the heart of God can come out without limit.
God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, and how simple this is that whosoever.
Believeth in him should not perish, but have not hope to have, but have everlasting life. Yes, we can know this, we can rejoice in it. And this is the new life that we speak of. This is new birth.
To get eternal life is new birth and it's a life that the Lord gives to one who is born again. And so one is sometimes said like this, when we are saved, why our body becomes like a house that has two tenants in it.
We have the old fallen nature that we received at our natural birth, and then God gives us a new life.
That new life is the life of Christ. And so the believer then has within him two natures. This is why the Christian is sort of a paradox. He is often misunderstood because he has a new life that has new desires and new affections, and he also has the old nature there. And sometimes if he's not careful, he indulges the old nature, and yet he also has the new. Now I'd like to say a little.
About those two natures and what God has done in connection with those two natures and how the believer can live in the enjoyment of his new position even though the old nature is still there.
But I'd like to turn first of all to Ephesians chapter 4.
And 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 you put on the Newman, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness.
Would you also turn with me to the Epistle of John? First Epistle of John?
And the third chapter.
The ninth verse.
Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin, for his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God.
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Well, we find the character of these two natures, one called the old man, the other called the new man.
One is the fallen nature we received at birth, sometimes called the flesh or sin in the flesh.
And the other one, which is eternal life, the life of Christ, which the believer has all, says that one is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts.
Tells us that the other one is created in righteousness and true holiness. It tells us in this passage in first John 3.
And verse 9 that we have a life that can not sin, cannot sin.
Why not only do we have a life?
That hates sin, but a life that cannot sin.
Because if we had received a new life, that could sin.
Then when we got to heaven, we could bring sin into that place.
And it wouldn't be the life of Christ, because if God gave us the life of Christ and that life could sin, then that would be a denial of the very deity of Christ himself.
Now it's very clear in the Scripture that we have Christ himself as our life. It's very clear from these Scriptures that the new man is created in righteousness and true holiness and that it cannot sin. And so I say again, the believer has two tenets in his body. He has a life of fallen nature, and that nature is characterized by sin.
By wanting to do its own.
Well, turning to its own way perhaps sometimes on the clean side of the Broad Rd. sometimes in the broad and The Dirty side. But it's the same old nature. It's just wanting to do its own way, but the new life.
That is the life of Christ.
Now we can easily see that if the believer has this new life, then it's a very blessed thing because the new life doesn't have to be improved.
Have to set up standards for the new life because it's the life of Christ.
We need to feed it though, and we feed it by reading the Word of God and prayer. We feed the new life by attendance, the meetings, so that, as Peter says, we grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
And a Christian has within him, if he's truly a Christian, that new life.
And I have seen some Christians that have got very far away from the Lord.
But after talking to them for a little while and speaking about the love of Christ, I've seen a response from within because that new life is there. It may have been that through neglect of the Bible and prayer that maybe they've grown cold. But I say that every born again child of God possesses that new life and that we need to nourish it and feed it. And when you meet someone.
If you're not sure whether he's a Christian.
Just begin to talk about the Lord Jesus, begin to talk about His love, and you'll say that if he's truly a child of God, there will be a response because the new life is there.
And so this new life doesn't need a law. To put one under law is to say that the that the new life that God has given needed some kind of restraint.
Now the old nature, of course the law was given for the old man, but what did the law do? Why it only condemned. But God has given us a new life. Now if we'll turn over to Romans 6, why we'll see a little more of what God has done.
Connection with this new life.
Romans, chapter 6.
First one.
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?
Knowing not that so many of us as were baptized unto Jesus Christ, were baptized unto 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.
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Knowing that Christ, being raised from the dead, dieth no more death, hath no more dominion over him.
For him that he died, he died unto sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God likewise.
Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead, and beat 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, and the lust thereof neither yields ye are members as instruments of righteousness, 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.
No, I just like to read in the 8th chapter and the.
Third verse for what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh.
God, sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and poor sin, condemned sin in the flesh.
Now the question is brought up, what has God done with that old nature? And this brings in what we often speak of as the believers standing.
And this is very important for us to see, because when we are saved, as we remark, God gives us a new life, but He also brings us into a new standing. And he no longer looks upon us as in the old man before him, but He sees us in a new standing in Christ. I quote that verse again in 2nd Corinthians 5 and 21.
He hath made him to be sin for us who knew no sin.
That we might be made the righteousness of God in him, says in Ephesians 1, He hath made us accepted in the beloved.
And the believer is brought into a new standing before God.
And God no longer looks upon him as being in the flesh, although he has the flesh in him.
He looks upon him as being in Christ. And what has God done with that old nature? Well if you noticed in the different verses that I read that in the 8th chapter, in the third verse it says he condemns sin in the flesh.
And the 6th chapter and the sixth verse it says.
Our old man was crucified with him. And then in the third verse of that 6th chapter.
A rather fourth verse it says buried with him by baptism, so we can see condemned.
Crucified. Buried.
So before God, as far as that old nature is concerned, while it's still there.
We have been brought into a new standing and God did not attempt to improve the old nature.
He condemned.
He condemned it. The Lord Jesus said that which is born of the flesh is flesh. Ephesians 4 said it was corrupt according to the deceitful lust. You have something rotten. What do you do? You try to improve it? No, you probably bury it. And what? God had tested man under the law, and He had showed his own helplessness, His utter helplessness to do what God required.
Then God said the trial is over.
The trial is over.
And now God is not looking for anything good in the flesh. He has already condemned it. And in the death of Christ our old man is crucified with him. And so don't expect that that old nature is going to improve because God himself has condemned it. God himself put it to an end in the death of Christ. And in baptism. We recognize that by.
Burial which which baptism figures, and so we can see that before God it is the end of our standing in the first Adam.
And in by new birth were brought into an entirely new standing before God.
Perhaps to make it a little more simple, I might use the illustration of citizenship.
Perhaps most of you realize that I'm citizen of Canada.
But if I decided to become a citizen of the United States and was accepted as such, then in the eyes of the United States government, my standing becomes different.
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In their eyes, as a visitor who belonged to another country and I was not a citizen of their country, just here on a visit, but if I was accepted as an American citizen, I have an entirely new standing before them.
And as far as they are concerned, Gordon Hale, the Canadian citizen would be dead and Gordon Hale the American citizen would be alive.
Would be an end of 1 standing and being brought into a new standing in their eyes.
Well, you know, that's what God is seeking to show us here in these chapters. He is seeking to show us that we have been brought into this new standing before God and every believer is seen before God in Christ. Isn't it a grand thing, dear fellow Christian, that as you sit in this room this afternoon.
With that old nature within you that God tells you, he said. I don't see you in that old nature.
I see you in Christ. That's where the believer stands. That's true of the youngest believer. That's where God has brought us. Now, you know, there are many people that try by efforts to attain a kind of a holier standard by which they feel they can elevate themselves and improve themselves, and then they get into a higher bracket, shall I say.
Where they feel they're living what they call a victorious.
Life and others are on a lower plane, but this is where God starts. He puts you in a new position and He gives you a new life that can't do anything but please Him.
That which we read of there and John's epistle. Whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin, and his seed remaineth in him, and he cannot sin because he is born of God.
You know, sometimes it's said, well to be justified is to be before God, just as if you'd never sinned. Well, that's only part of the truth, because the Scripture says justification of life.
To be before God as if you had never sinned would indeed be fine. But isn't it better to be before God in a life that never did sin and never cannot sin? That's where the believer stands. That's where God sees you, not only as if you never sinned, but you are before God in Christ, in a life that never sinned at all and never could. And that's where you stand before God.
Now he goes on and exhorts on that.
Basis He doesn't say that we're by effort and by attainment to finally come to this higher spiritual standing, but he says that's where I put you, that's where I put you. Now he said, I want you to live in the good and the enjoyment of it. And this is what God always does.
He always tells us what He has done for us, and the whole of our Christian life is founded upon what Christ has done for us and not attained by any effort of our own.
In all that we can do is only to live in the enjoyment of what the Lord has done for us.
So that the Christian, the simplest Christian, the feeblest Christian, could not have a better standing before God than he has.
But all many are not in the enjoyment of it.
But whether you're in the enjoyment of it or not, it's yours, and that's where God has brought you. And you can never live a happy, joyful Christian life as long as you're trying to attain something. Because if you're trying to attain a standing before God, you're either proud if you think you have attained it, or discouraged because you think you haven't.
And neither one are a happy state of soul to be in. But when you see where God has placed you, then how blessed to look up and thank Him, and to live to please Him because of what He has done for you.
Well, now we see exhortations founded upon this notice.
In the 11TH verse.
Of the 6th of Romans Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin.
But alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Now there are others that would say well.
You can attain a point in your life where the old nature is finally burned out.
All in all, you're standing before God. Is that the old man before God is dead?
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And you have a new life, but you wouldn't be told to reckon the dead if it was actually dead. And Gordon Hale, the Canadian citizen, didn't die at all. But as to his standing, he did as to his standing. And when God puts you in that new standing, the old nature is still there and it doesn't improve.
It doesn't get any better. God says it's corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and so don't expect that after you're saved that somehow this old nature is going to get better and improve.
No it doesn't, but God condemns it and puts it in the place of death. And now he says you do the same. Reckon you yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God.
Was talking to a young man while I was on this trip and.
He was telling me about how he was brought into a temptation in his life and how the Lord enabled him to overcome in this temptation. But he said what bothers me is that I found an impulse within that wanted to do what's wrong. And he said I feel so badly to think that there was something in me that wanted to do that wrong thing even although the Lord delivered me. And I said.
Oh, I said that that old nature will always be there.
And God tells you that it doesn't improve after you're saved.
God tells you in his word in me that is, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. I also gave him that verse in John and Peters epistle where it says he that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin. I said that that old nature will still want to do what's wrong, but God tells you to put it in the place of death. Now you're making yourself unhappy, thinking that that old nature should have improved.
But God himself hasn't attempted to improve it. He condemned it.
He condemned it. And when you find an impulse in your heart to do what's wrong, why just look up and give thanks that God can put an end to that old man in the cross and that he has given you a new life, and he tells you to reckon that old nature, death.
And now he goes on in the next verse, and tells us to yield our members, not as instruments of unrighteousness to sin, but to yield ourselves unto God.
I spoke a few moments ago about the body being like a house with two tenants. So I've got in my body those two tenants. Now God says you once let the old nature tell those hands what to do. You once let the old nature tell those feet where to go. You once let the old nature tell those ears what to listen to. And you once let the old nature tell those eyes what to see. But he said now.
Now, he said, there's a new tenant in your body. And now.
Don't yield yourself to the old nature which God tells us to put in the place of death, but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead.
And so instead of saying, oh, isn't it terrible that I had such an impulse?
Isn't it lovely to say instead, well, God's given me a life that wants to please Him, and now I just want to use my hands and my feet and my eyes and my ears. I want to just yield my whole body to the new life that He has given to me. And that's what He's exhorting us here to yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead.
And and your instruments as.
Instruments of righteousness unto God. Well, isn't it lovely to know that God tells us about that old nature being there, and then tells us that we have the privilege of putting it where He has put it. He's put it in the place of death. He says you do the same. Now let us turn to the 7th chapter and I'd like to point out a few little thoughts here in the end of the 7th chapter.
Beginning at 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.
Now there are three little things that I would like to bring out from the last part of this 7th of Romans. This is the first. I know that in me, that is, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing.
Did you ever have an evil thought?
And then you said to yourself, well, I never thought a Christian would think a thing like that.
Perhaps you have. Well, if you did, it's because you didn't believe this verse. Because if you really believed it, you wouldn't be surprised at any evil that you saw in your heart. I'm not surprised at any evil that I see in my heart because God Himself has told me that there is absolutely nothing good in that fallen nature.
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Has it improved since I've been saved? No. This is the apostle Paul speaking here. And he says in me that is, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing. And if you were saved for 50 years, the old nature wouldn't improve. And if you ever expect it to improve, you're only going to be disappointed.
Well, perhaps this may sound kind of hard to say that it doesn't improve, but isn't it a comfort perhaps you when you had an evil thought?
You were so upset about it that perhaps the devil even whispered in your ear. Maybe you're not saved when you had a thought like that.
Well, God tells us in this verse what He has done with the old nature and what we are.
Realize about it so that when that old nature, as it were, pops up and makes a suggestion or something, that instead of.
Instead of being discouraged and cast down, that we can just say, well, isn't it good that God doesn't see me in the flesh, but he sees me in Christ? So this is the first thing for us to realize that the flesh does not improve after we're saved.
In me, that is, in my flesh dwelleth no good thing.
Now the second point that I'd like to bring out is this 20th verse.
Now if I do that, I would not. It is no more I that do it, but sin.
That dwelleth in me.
If we had read through this chapter, you would find the man as in a great conflict.
And the conflict is because.
In one breath he is calling the new nature I, In the next breath he's calling the old nature I. And so this he can't understand why that he does want to please God, but he also finds that somehow he wants to do what's wrong. And because he doesn't understand the truth of the two natures, why he is so troubled and so upset, he thinks that perhaps if he put himself under law that he would help to keep this.
This this old nature in the place of restraint.
But in the 18th verse, he's come to the point where he's realized that the old nature does not improve. When he comes to this 20th verse, he no longer calls the old nature eye.
He said if I do that I would not. It is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. Now he is really learning to put the old nature in the place where God has put it, and he doesn't any longer call it I. He said it's sin that dwelleth in me and he said the real eye is the new life that wants to please God.
Perhaps I could use a little illustration like this, supposing before I was saved.
I love to go out dancing.
And then when I'm first saved, why I'm so happy in the Lord that it's not hard to say no to all my friends, because I'm so happy in the Lord that I tell them I don't want to go on with their pleasures anymore because the Lord has saved me. But after I've been saved for a little while, and perhaps through neglect of the Word or something.
My heart isn't as fresh and happy and his love as it should be. Then someone comes along and asks me if I wouldn't like to go along with them to a dance.
And I get the courage to say no, I don't want to go, but after the person has gone away.
The devil comes along and he said you shouldn't have said you didn't want to go. You did want to go. You know, you wanted to go, and you begin to get very upset about it because you shouldn't want to go, but you feel you did want to go. And the enemy then begins to get you very unhappy. Well.
Isn't it lovely to be able to say like this? Well, my old nature didn't want to go, but I don't want to go. Christ is my life and I want to please Him.
And so instead of, instead of being discouraged and thinking, well, the old man wants to do those things.
I can say, well, God sees that in the place of death it's no longer I, it's sin that dwelleth in me, and how good it is to enter into this and enjoy it. This is the new standing into which the believer is brought. And so he says it's no longer I. Now he comes to the 23rd verse and he says, 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.
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All 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.
Well, he has learned these two things, that no good dwells in his flesh. He has learned to connect the eye with the new man, and to see that the old man is.
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