THE MATTER OF THE OLD NATURE

Photo taken from B Smith's kitchen window

29 - THE MATTER OF THE OLD NATURE

JUNE 4, 1980

Pastor Henry F. Kulp

EPHESIANS 5: 14 – 18 

Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, Redeeming the time, because the days are evil. Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is. And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;

We have been talking to you about the matter of the old nature, how polluted it is, how corrupt it is, and man is nothing but a filthy sinner in himself, and this is why he needs the grace of God. But tonight we want to study the answer to the problem. God doesn’t expect us to live defeated lives, to be terrible sinners, who will always be in disobedience and rebellion against Him. He has made provision that we can live for Him.

1/  Verse 14  Arise from the dead. This is Aorist imperative, and since no believer can literally bring himself from the dead, what does this really mean? There are seven different kinds of death taught in the Bible. In this case, we have the believer out of fellowship through carnality. So our command is get back into fellowship. If we do this, then what happens?

2/  Christ will give thee light. If you pass a house at night and the house is dark, it is really just a blur on the landscape, but if the house has light on the inside, then it takes on beauty. Christianity provides an inner beauty, and inner power, through the light turned on by God controlling the life. 

3/  Then he says, we are to walk circumspectly, we are to walk looking around. Not as fools. How can we avoid being a fool? By being wise, doing what? Redeeming the time—the word, redeem, means to purchase. Remember, this is addressed to believers, and only believers can buy time. The unbeliever does not have the capital to buy even one minute of time. Remember, the days are evil and no one will dispute that, saved or unsaved.

4/  Verse 17 Therefore be ye not unwise. Again, this is imperative mood. So it is a command, and it literally says, stop being stupid. Who is stupid? The Christian in this context—it is the believer who is ignorant of the will of God. How does one know the will of God? This is very important. It is very clear from this context what God says about the will of God—what it is—it is given in the next phrase. 

5/  Verse 18 Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be filled with the Spirit.

The first part of this verse is a probation against drunkenness, because in a drunken state alcohol becomes the controlling force of the inner life. It controls the real you. In the last part of the verse, the part we are interested in here, we have an imperative again—keep on being filled with the Spirit.

6/  It is the passive voice—you receive the filling of the Spirit—you cannot work for it, you cannot earn it, you do not deserve it—it is by grace that you are filled by the Spirit. It is not because you agonize in a closet, it is not because you fasted that you are filled with the Spirit. So the thought is, you do not fill yourself, but you hold the key as to whether you are filled or not. You have to permit God to fill you. So again, you hold the key.

7/  Then we find the passive verb is followed by the dative action, and it indicates to us the filler. If followed by the genitive, the Holy Spirit would fill you with Himself. But here, rather, the Holy Spirit is the agent that fills you with His Word.

8/  The Holy Spirit does not have a body. Jesus Christ has a human body and He is now seated in Heaven, beside the Father on His throne. 

Romans 8: 34 Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us.

The Holy Spirit does not have a body, a physical body as Jesus Christ has, but He uses our physical body. A while back some folks became upset because I said, you won’t see God, and this is true. They said, you will see the Holy Spirit—no you won’t. Because the Holy Spirit does not have a physical body. He uses your body and my body. 

I Corinthians 6:19 What, know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? 

The same truth is taught in Romans 8: 9. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.

9/  Now it is important to see that this one who lives in you is God. 

Acts 5: 3, 4 But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part of the price of the land? Here Acts says, Why has Satan filled thy heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, thou hast not lied unto men but unto God. You must see that the third person of the Godhead, the Holy Spirit, uses your body as a dwelling place.

10/  Ephesians 3: 16, 17 And here Paul says, That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man;

That introduces the result clause. Verse 17 That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, So, we have another fact that we need to see—God, the Holy Spirit lives in your body and He wants to fill you with the Word of God. But now, as He lives in your body, I want you to see the Word, dwell, and this is the Greek word, BEING AT HOME – means to dwell in relaxation and ease. It is possible to be in a house and to live there, and really not be at home there. Some of you may have had some experience along that line. This phrase says in effect that the Holy Spirit controls you, as he lives in your body, He glorifies Jesus Christ, and Jesus Christ is at home in your life.

11/  Philippians 1: 20 According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death. Here we read, So now, also Christ shall be magnified in my body whether it be by life or by death. There is one thing you can be sure of, whenever the Holy Spirit controls your life, Jesus Christ will be magnified in your body. Not self, but Jesus Christ.

12/  If I ask you the question, Who glorifies Jesus Christ on earth? You might say, believers. You are wrong. The answer is the Holy Spirit in the believer. This is true in every age. 

John 16: 14 He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you. He (the Holy Spirit) shall glorify Me. It is part of the ministry of the Holy Spirit to glorify Christ.

13/  No member of the human race has within himself, any ability as a result of his first birth—that is physical, to glorify Christ. His human talent, his physical assets, his mental capacity, none of these things can glorify Christ. This is true because the flesh can never glorify Christ. It is polluted, it is sick unto death. Today there is only one person who can glorify Christ, and that is the Holy Spirit indwelling and controlling the believer.

14/  Now to be victorious in the Christian life, this indwelling Holy Spirit has to control your inner life. This is called spirituality, and spirituality is your relationship to the Holy Spirit.

15/  Ephesians 5: 1 Here is one of the great commands of the Bible. Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children. 

This is one command that no believer can obey. Does that shock you? It shouldn’t. There is no way on earth that you can keep this command. To the unsaved person and to the carnal believer, on the surface it might seem to be very easy. They try to rationalize their way through this command, but when you see this verse in the Greek the first things you would be able to say to yourself is, I cannot do it. That is where spirituality starts. There is where victory over the old nature starts—it beings with the principle that it is something you and I cannot do. Human energy, human ability, human ingenuity, are totally incapable of following God. This must be the work of the Holy Spirit.

16/  Be ye is literally KEEP ON BECOMING. And the next word is the real issue—followers. It is the Greek word, MIN—AY—TACE. It means to mimic, it means to follow, it means to imitate. It is the same word we have in I Corinthians 4: 16 where Paul says, be followers of me—imitate me. Here we are to imitate God, to mimic God, and certainly we cannot do this.

17/  But as members of the family of God, we should bear a family resemblance. Whatever characteristic and traits we have from our physical birth, we now have a new set of characteristics from our spiritual birth, and if we have a normal growth, we will bear a family resemblance. This can only be done, through, as we have in Ephesians 5: 18. THE FILLING, or the controlling of the Holy Spirit in our bodies.

18/  Let’s go back to Ephesians 5: 14 Wherefore he saith, Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light. 

Christ shall give thee light. How do you get light?—through the controlling of the Holy Spirit. Suppose you have a perfectly beautiful television set, studded with diamonds, emeralds and rubies, and it is made of the very finest grained wood. When friends come into your home they are admiring it and say, “What a beautiful TV set.” Then they sit down to see a program, and you turn on this beautiful set. Flip goes the switch, but there is no picture. You try every station, still no picture. Your friends just seem to fade before your eyes. It is a beautiful set but it doesn’t work. Now, all of a sudden, you think—I know what is wrong. You go behind the set, plug the plug into the electrical outlet, and there is some power, and suddenly the picture comes on. Just so it is with the believer. This light is not his personality. This light is not his appearance. This light is the Holy Spirit working in your body controlling the inner person. The Holy Spirit is the power Who turns on the light.

19/  I can hear the friends who came into your house to admire your beautiful television set, and when there is no picture on it saying, “I’m going down the street where there is an old beaten up set—it is not in color, it is only black and white, but at least it has a picture on it.” So, you without the Holy Spirit lighting you up, you are absolutely valueless in the program of God. Your old nature is controlling you and all that will come forth is that which is displeasing to God, that which is fleshly.

20/  Verse 15 See then that ye walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, How can you walk circumspectly? The answer is found in Galatians 5: 16 This I say then, walk by the means of the Spirit and ye shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh,—the old sin nature. Then it says, not as fools. How can I avoid being a fool? By having the Holy Spirit control the inner person.

21/  Verse 14 Awake thou that sleepest. Why are we asleep? Because the Holy spirit is not controlling the inner person.

22/  Let’s look at the negative aspect of spirituality. There are two negatives.

I Thessalonians 5: 19 Quench not the Spirit. 

Ephesians 4: 30 Grieve not the Spirit.

Immediately these two negative conditions tell us we can do something not to be spiritual, not to have the Holy Spirit control our lives. We do it.

23/  But we can do nothing actually to be spiritual. What an amazing thing! We can do something not to be spiritual. We can grieve and quench the Holy Spirit, but we can do nothing to be spiritual. That is the work of the Holy Spirit. 

24/  We must distinguish between quenching and grieving the Spirit. Both sins put the believer out of fellowship, it means the Holy Spirit is not doing His work in our body, and so therefore, we are carnal. 

25/  The easiest way to illustrate this is in the area of marriage. An act of adultery would be called grieving the Holy Spirit, because it involves a violation of moral concept. We are doing something morally wrong.

26/  I am sure you understand it is perfectly proper to get married. That is what the Bible condones, but it is wrong for a Christin to marry an unbeliever.

II Corinthians 6: 14 Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? 

This is in disobedience to the Word of God in an area that does not include ethics or morals. And this is called quenching the Holy Spirit. It amounts to the same thing as disobedience to the revealed or declared will of God in Scripture, but remember both quenching and grieving are sins committed by believers only and it means the same in Ephesians 5: 18  And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; The Spirit is not operating in our lives. 

27/  Now, the Holy Spirit uses the Word of God and our minds. Proverbs 23: 7 For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he: Eat and drink, saith he to thee; but his heart is not with thee. 

Isaiah 26: 3 Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee. 

Psalms 119:11 Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. So, we see the Holy Spirit uses our minds. This is the way He works. When He controls our minds, we are spiritual. When the old nature controls our minds, we are out of fellowship with God, and we are not spiritual.

28/  It is necessary to see that being spiritual is 100% either way—not 60/40, not 30/70. But it is 100% either way. 

29/  Galatians 6: 15 Walk in the Spirit and you will not fulfill the lusts of the flesh.

Notice, it is either one or the other. We are either spiritual or carnal. 

I Corinthians 3: 1 – 3 And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, even as unto babes in Christ. I have fed you with milk, and not with meat: for hitherto ye were not able to bear it, neither yet now are ye able. For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is among you envying, and strife, and divisions, are ye not carnal, and walk as men? 

The flesh can do no good in itself. 

Romans 7: 18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not.

So, we can see that God has made provision even though we are absolutely corrupt in the flesh, in the old nature. He has given us the Spirit and when the Holy Spirit controls us, we do not do the things of the flesh.

AMEN

Ref: 06/04/1980 / 29 - THE MATTER OF THE OLD NATURE / 2020

5