Suppose your neighbor had a heap of rubbish in his garden, and you saw him turning it over very diligently every day, and constantly coming away looking very crestfallen and disappointed. You would be sure that he had expected to find something that was worth the search. One day you ask him over the hedge if there is anything valuable in the heap of stuff he has there. "Oh no," he says, "it is only rubbish, of no value to me or anyone else."
But the next day you see him turning it over again and looking as disappointed as ever, and this occurs day after day for weeks. You would think, "Whatever that man says, it is evident he has not given up the expectation of finding something there."
Many believers are like this. They say that there is no good in themselves, and that they do not expect to find any, but, nevertheless, they suffer a good deal of self-disappointment from time to time, and this proves that they have not really given up the thought of self-improvement. It is strange that we should be so foolish, in the light of Scripture and after all the experience we have had.
Let me carry the illustration a little further. One day you see your neighbor applying a lighted match to the heap of rubbish, and then standing by it until the whole is consumed to ashes. You stroll down the garden and then make some remark about it. He says, "I can see now what a fool I have been in wasting so much time over this rubbish heap. The owner of the garden knew all about it, and he told me it was nothing but rubbish, and I proved it to be so every time I turned it over; yet I must have had an idea there was something good in it because I was so disappointed to find nothing but rubbish. Now I am glad, it is all burned and I shall waste no more time over it."
You can see now that he not only says it is rubbish, but he has really judged it to be such, and has given it up as perfectly worthless.
God has judged the flesh absolutely in the death of Christ. "Our old man is crucified with Him" Rom. 6:6. The heap of rubbish is burned; it is cleared away absolutely for God. But it is necessary that we should reach, in our souls, the same conclusion as God.