Who Fathered You

And everyone that was born out of the loins of Adam, which is all of us, were born into a condition of sin. The Bible calls it being born into sin. But four thousand years later, the Lord Jesus came into the world.

He is called in the New Testament the second Adam. And that second Adam was also tempted. That's why we see the temptation in the wilderness.

He was tempted and yet he overcame. And then he died on a cross and he then bore the sin of all of the fallen race. And he now invites all of you to come into his kingdom and eternal life because of what the second Adam did.

And so that's a huge thing. There's nothing bigger than that in all the world. And you'll know that in a million years.

You'll know that in a thousand years. Some of you will know that in the next 10 years. Some of us may know that in the next 10 years.

But that is the most important truth and understanding that you can have. Well, I'd like to go back to John chapter 8 this morning and continue here teaching through the book of John. John chapter 9, 10, 11 and on up through 17 is some of my favorite passages.

Jesus is preparing the disciples for his departure. He talks much about the work of the Holy Spirit. But here in John chapter 8, last time we looked at this fall of nature and we talked about dying in your sins.

And that's not something that you want to do. The Lord mentioned that the Pharisees, the Jews were going to die in their sins because they were born into the world into sin. And we talked about that last week, how that humanity, each one of us is born into sin.

And you come into this world with a fallen nature. And if you do nothing about it, you'll die a fallen creature. And if you die a fallen creature, you're going to descend.

Fallen creatures fall. They descend into the lower parts of the earth. And we understand that to be hell.

However, God has given us the opportunity to get a new nature. And that is a nature that is born from above. It's called being born again or being born of the spirit.

Jesus said that which is born of the flesh is flesh. And that which is born of the spirit is spirit. And that is why every human being must hear these words, you must be born again.

Each one of us have been born into a fallen human condition. And we must be born again. So we talked about that last week.

And the Lord has been dealing with that here in John chapter 8. And I'm going to start reading here in verse number 28. And I'm going to read down through verse 36. And then we'll tie this into last week's message starting in verse 28.

Let's begin reading here. Follow along as I read. Then said Jesus unto them, When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall you know that I am He, and that I do nothing of myself, but as my Father has taught me, I speak these things.

And He that sent me is with me, and the Father has not left me alone, for I do always those things that please Him. As He spake these words, many believed on Him. Then said Jesus to those Jews which believed on Him, If you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed.

And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free. They answered Him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man. How sayest thou you shall be made free? And Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin, and the servant abideth not in the house forever, but the Son abideth ever.

If the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. So let's talk about that here this morning. Let's pray.

Then we'll look at this passage. Heavenly Father, we do pray this morning that you could set someone free right here. Free indeed, that they would no longer be a child of the devil, a child born of Adam, fallen, but they could be a child of God, saved by the blood of the crucified one.

And so Lord, we invite you, we encourage you to walk amongst us and speak to our hearts as we teach and understand the Word of the Lord. Bless us now, we pray in Jesus' name, Amen. Well, last time I didn't share this, but later on Sunday I had a conversation and some of these thoughts came out.

I wanted to open up the message here this morning with this, that the seed, in all of nature, the seed is what determines the nature of the plant. It determines the nature of the tree. The fruit does not determine the nature of the tree.

The seed determines the nature. An apple tree is an apple tree because of the DNA in the seed. The seed is what determines, and that's important throughout all of nature, the seed, there is a DNA, there is an information in the seed, and the seed determines what the plant is going to be.

And once that seed is planted and the tree or the plant grows, then in time, fruit comes out of that tree. And as we talked about this last time, the fruit reveals what kind of tree it is. The fruit reveals it.

To the onlooker, for example, as I look at a tree and I see apples, I realize this is an apple tree. I may not understand the DNA of the tree, but the fruit shows what the tree is. Jesus said it this way, you shall know them by their fruit.

You shall know them as you observe people. You will know them by the fruit that comes out of their life. The fruit that comes out of their life is because they have a new nature.

Some people have still the old nature, the fallen sinful nature, but we know people and we observe people and can understand where people are by their fruits. But most importantly, and I want to share this with you here to start off with, everyone has a nature and that nature comes from a seed. We're going to see this here in John chapter 8. Here's a question for you.

Who fathered you? Who fathered you? Nature comes from the seed. You are who you are because of the seed that originated you. Now, I don't want to get into a lot of detail here, but a man and a woman, a man has a seed.

That seed creates a child, a living human being inside the womb of a woman, of a mother. It's the seed that creates that child. And that child grows up in the image of that seed.

And so you see this throughout all of nature. Abraham's seed, Jacob's seed, the seed of the father is what brings forth the nature of the child or the nature of the tree or of the plant. And so you think about this, who fathered you? Well, we learned this last time that Adam.

Adam is the one who fathered us. It is through Adam's loins. The seed has come down through Adam.

And because Adam was a fallen creature, you and I became fallen creatures. We have a fallen nature. But some, and many here this morning, praise God, have a new nature.

Judson here read this morning, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation. He has a new nature within him. And so many of us here are born of Adam, and yet we are also born again.

We are born of God. We have a new nature. And that nature was imparted to us through God's seed.

We're going to look at that here in just a little bit, how that nature comes to us. But I'd like you to notice in our passage all the discussions here about fathers. And I want to just read down through here.

We'll talk here about fathers, and how fathers bring forth the seed, and the seed produces a nature. But just look here as I run down through the passage we just read. Verse 28, Then said Jesus unto them, When you have lifted up the Son of Man, then shall you know that I am He, and that I do nothing of myself.

But as my Father hath taught me, I speak these things. Verse 29, And He that sent me is with me. The Father hath not left me alone, for I do always those things that please Him.

Now look down to verse 33. They answered Him, this is the Jews, We be Abraham's seed. Or Abraham is our Father.

And we're never in bondage to any man. How sayest thou, Ye shall be made free? Look down to verse 38. I speak that which I have seen with my Father.

You do that which you have seen with your Father. Verse 39, They answered and said unto Him, Abraham is our Father. And Jesus said unto them, If you were Abraham's children, you would do the works of Abraham.

Verse 41, You do the deeds of your Father. Then said they to Him, We be not born of fornication. We have one Father, even God.

Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father. And so back and forth. Who is your Father? Well, our Father is Abraham.

Well, our Father is God. But look down to verse 44. The Lord concludes this whole thing about a father.

He says in verse 44, You are of your father the devil. And the lust of your father you will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him.

When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own. For he is a liar and the father of it. Now there's two issues here in this passage.

I'd like to look at this morning while we have some time. The first one is this. If you are born of Adam, you have a fallen nature and you are a servant of sin.

If you're born of Adam, you have a fallen nature and you are a servant of sin. Secondly, if you are born of God, you have God's nature. You have God's nature in you, and you are free from sin's slavery.

And that's what the Lord is trying to communicate here in verse 34. When he says, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant of sin abideth not in the house forever, but the Son abideth ever.

And if the Son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. And so I'd like to look here at this passage this morning and just talk about these two issues. First of all, ask a question.

Who fathered you? Who fathered you? And then look at this idea of being free from sin as a son of God. Well, let's take a look, first of all, at who fathered you. If Adam is your father, you're in the fallen nature.

You're going to die in your sins. If God is your father, then you have a new nature. You have eternal life.

Now, one thing I get a little concerned about when I hear people do this, and if you do this, I'm not picking on anybody. But in the Word of God, it says, when God sent His Spirit into our hearts when we're born again, the Bible says His Spirit cries out within our hearts, Abba, Father. Abba, Father.

And I think every child of God, and sometimes they were taught wrong, but I think every child of God ought to have within them this heart to pray, Our Father, which art in heaven. And there ought to be a relationship there where we actually speak to God and pray to Him and say to Him, My Father. Jesus did that.

My Father. You know, I get concerned when people say, God. God, help us.

God, I pray. God, I this. God, I that.

What about My Father? The Spirit of God within us crying out, My Father. And so each one of us here, we're born into sin, but we need to have another Father. We need to have another seed.

We need to be made a new creation, have a new nature in order to have eternal life. So let's ask this question. How can we be born of God? How are we born of God? We all know how we're born, of Adam, and we have a fallen nature.

How can we be born of God? Well, the same way I was born. My Father's seed brought me into existence. And even so, in the Bible, God has a seed, and we need His seed to father each one of us and to be born again.

I'd like you to turn back with me to 1 Peter chapter 1, and we'll look at this seed that Peter talks about. In 1 Peter chapter 1, verse 23, the context here is being born again. In 1 Peter 1 verse 23, he says this, being born again, not of corruptible seed, there's our word, but of incorruptible.

By the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever. For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man is the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away.

But the word of the Lord endureth forever. And this is the word by which the gospel is preached unto you. Now, what is the seed that God uses to bring forth this new nature? Well, that seed is the word of God.

And so, we all experience this. Those of us who've been married, a man's seed conceives a child in a mother's womb and brings forth life. That nature, though it be fallen, that life is brought forth by the seed.

Even so, the word of God is what conceives spiritual life, and the born-again experience comes from the seed, which is the word of God. Now, there's a miracle that happens, and you all know this miracle. I mean, you take a man's seed, you take a mother's womb, and you take these two and you combine them, and something happens in there when the egg and the seed come together.

There is a miracle that occurs. It's called conception. And life is brought forth out of that miracle.

And that's a physical picture of something that's much greater, and that is the born-again experience, where the seed, which is the word of God, comes into a heart of faith. And the seed, which is the word of God, the gospel, mixes with faith, and all of a sudden, a life is born. A life is birthed.

It's called being born again. July 15th, I didn't understand what was happening, and when I was born the first time, I didn't understand what was happening either. But on July 15th, the seed of the word of God came to me.

My heart was like a mother's womb. It was open. I received that seed.

My faith in that seed combined created a miracle. And that miracle was a second birth. My new nature was created and given life at that moment.

If you've never had that happen to you, you are still in your fallen nature. And if you die, you're going to split hell wide open, because your fallen nature is going to descend into hell. And so that's why Jesus said in John chapter 3, you must be born again.

And so the seed, the seed is the word of God. It's the Father's seed, which produces or conceives a newborn son or daughter in the faith. I just want to ask you this question.

Have you truly been born again? You say, well, we talked about this last week. I put a bunch of religion on. I can put a bunch of clothes on.

I can look really good, and I can talk the right words, and I can do all that. But the question is this. Have you truly been born again? Have you been born of a new nature? You have to have a new nature.

You have to. Well, look what it says here in verse 23. Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.

You see, the word of God lives, and it abides forever. And because the word of God lives and abides forever, you have that seed in you. And you also are going to live and abide forever.

It's a part of your spiritual DNA. I know the spirit of God comes and dwells in the child of God, and he is born again. But the word of God lives and abides forever.

Verse 24 says, For all flesh is as grass, and all the glory of man is the flower of grass. The grass withereth, and the flower thereof falleth away. But the word of the Lord endureth forever.

Do you want to endure forever? Amen. The word of the Lord. That's the seed that produces a nature that lives forever.

The word of the Lord endures forever. And this is the word, here it's interesting. This is the word by which the gospel is preached unto you.

So the gospel is the aspect of this seed that God uses to bring about new life. That's why we're told to go into all the world and preach not about tithing, not about head coverings, not about all these things, but to preach the gospel. That's where people connect by faith, and a conception occurs, and new life is birthed.

Once you preach the gospel, then you, like your children, begin to teach them in all things whatsoever they shall do. And so the gospel, Peter says, is that seed of the word that brings forth life. And so just think about it this way, and I think it's a beautiful picture.

The more marriage intimacy you have as couples, the more chances you're going to have children. Makes sense, doesn't it? In the very same way, the more seeds you give out, the more chances you have of having spiritual children. Amen? I mean, that's why in the early church they went out and they spread their seed everywhere.

The seed of the word of God and the spirit of God came to promote the spreading forth of seed. And that spreading forth of seed gave you the opportunity to see children of the faith made alive, and people get a new nature. And in a very real way, and I wish I could see this, in a very real way, you reap what you sow.

You sow little seed. You say, I haven't seen anyone converted for 10 years. Well, that's a good question.

How much seed are you sowing? Say, I haven't led anyone to Christ in my entire life. Well, that's a good question. How much seed are you letting go? How much seed are you throwing into the hearts of people? You know, if you got married to a wife and you never had physical intimacy, and then you got frustrated because you weren't having any babies, I could tell you why you're not having any babies.

You're not giving forth seed. And so in a very real sense, we are to be throwing out seed. And so we should view the gospel as seed, which has the potential to conceive spiritual life in lost souls.

The more seed sent out, the more babies can be conceived. Jesus described this as being a seed sower. And in this, we can be liberal.

You can sow and sow and sow and sow and sow. And I believe that's why there's such an attack. It was in the early church, but there's an attack now on preaching the gospel.

It's always been that way. As soon as the spirit of God filled the early church and sent them out to preach boldly the word of God, the attack came. And there was an attempt to stop the seed from going forth.

They were threatened with martyrdom in prison to stop them from speaking. That's why the printing of the Bible, you read some of these stories back in the 1600s, 1500s, when certain men began to print the Bible and put it into the common man's hand. How there was such a fight and a resistance to let the seed get out.

Why the Bible is being corrupted. Why we're getting all these different messed up translations, trying to corrupt the word of God. Why there are doctrines in the church that the only person who's supposed to preach the gospel is the evangelist.

Well, that's certainly going to hinder the seed sowing, isn't it? And all this stuff about being quiet and live a quiet life. These are all attempts to try to stop people from sowing seeds. Bible says there in Matthew and Mark that the seed is sown into certain hearts and the devil comes immediately and tries to get that which is sown in the heart out of the heart because it is the possibility of conceiving life.

So we need to be mindful of that. I believe the devil's at work trying to hinder the sowing of the seed. I remember preaching at a tent meeting there at Faith up north in Millersburg many years ago and preaching on covetousness.

You don't hear a lot about that in America. Preaching on, I think Brother John might have been there that day. Do you remember that, Brother John? And we were preaching there and it seemed like the message was really resonating as I was preaching.

I felt like there was a lot of things happening there. There was probably three, four hundred people in the tent that night and it was probably the clearest example of this to me. And it came right at the time of invitation.

People stood up. You almost sensed that there was going to be a real move and people were going to come and repent and deal with covetousness. And as people stood up, there was a woman in the second row, I believe it was, and she just began to scream.

Some of you who were there, scream. And she began to throw herself on the floor and all of a sudden everyone's attention went to this person. And as I stood there, I realized that this is a distraction right here.

The hearts, the Word of God has been sown in hearts. The Lord is moving and the devil is trying to distract the attention away that the seed would be snatched. And you know it was a sad thing.

People went away from that meeting that night. You know what they were talking about? The woman. What happened? And the distraction that occurred.

And so the seed is the Word of God. Look at 1 Peter 2. Let's keep reading here. Verse 1, Wherefore, laying aside all malice, and all guile, and hypocrisies, and envies, and all evil speaking, as newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the Word, that you may grow thereby.

And so not only does the Word of God bring forth a new nature, but it also allows you the opportunity to grow. And it encourages the newborn babes to desire the sincere milk of the Word. I shared this last week.

And with God we could really get a hold of this. But last week we talked about how, and Peter talks about how that once you've come to the faith in Jesus, you're to add to your faith. You're to be growing and growing and growing.

Because if you're still a child, if you don't add to your faith, there's a real temptation to fall away. To be lost. And to fall out from your faith.

That's what happened to the seed that was sown in shallow rocky ground. It shot up. And it had faith.

But it had no root. It had no depth in its life. It had no understanding of the knowledge of God.

And so when the sun was up and it beat down upon it, it withered and fell away. And so the Word of God not only brings to life the soul and gives it a new creation, but it also is that which leads them on to maturity. And I know this.

I'll just give you my testimony. I was converted at 19, and for three years I muddled around. Truth of the matter is, I didn't even know what church to go to.

I didn't have anyone to disciple me. I just muddled around for three years. And I'll tell you, I had an experience after three years that either put me to a place where I'm either going to get serious or I'm going to go.

I'm going to depart. And praise be to God, I decided I better get serious. Instead of just departing, I was heading back the direction I was saved out of, literally.

Living in Houston, Texas, didn't know anybody there, and I was going back to some of the things I had been brought out of. But I had no depth. I was not growing in grace and the knowledge of the Lord.

I was not, as the Bible says, desiring the sincere milk of the Word that I might grow. And I was in a place where I could have fallen away. The Bible says in 2 Thessalonians, there's coming a time that there'll be a great falling away.

You just wait until there's persecution in our country. You just wait until people have to stand up and say, I'm a Christian or I'm going to die or go to prison. You're going to find a lot of people say, that's not for me.

I'm going to depart from this thing. You know why they're going to depart? Because they don't have any depth to their commitment. There are people sitting here tonight who say, I believe that Jesus is the Christ and I'm willing to go and die for it.

Now you probably got to that commitment level because you've immersed yourself in the Word of God and you know who Jesus is. Amen? And you are set and you know there's eternal life and you know that even if they kill me, that on the other side of death, there's the Lord there waiting to usher me into the kingdom of heaven. But there are babes here who have faith, but they're not adding to their faith.

I just want to share with you that's a dangerous place to be. You're encouraged to add to your faith. As newborn babes desire the sincere milk of the Word that you may grow thereby.

And so the Word of God is here, not only to bring a new nature to you, but also to mature you in the faith. Psalm 1, one of my favorites when I was a young Christian. This Book of Laws shall not depart out of thy mouth.

No, that's not Psalm 1. Psalm 1, as blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But listen to this. His delight is in the law of the Lord and in His law does he meditate day and night.

He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water. There is life there that bringeth forth His fruit in His season. His leaf also shall not wither.

Doesn't matter how hot it gets. His leaf shall not wither. And here's one thing when I was a young Christian.

This is a great promise. Whatsoever He does shall prosper. I mean, how much better a promise can you get on that one? That if you will meditate and fill your heart and mind with the Word of God, whatever you do, lay your hands to do, will prosper.

I've known people who love the Word of God and whatever their hands lays to do, they prosper in it. Prospering here. Prospering there.

Not only physically, but also in their spiritual life. The ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away. Young Christian, one word of exhortation.

Please start loving the Word of God. There is so much you need. And it's not going to get any easier.

You're going to find that in America, things are going to get a lot more difficult. And you're going to be challenged to turn from the faith. And if you're not rooted and grounded in what you believe and understand, you're going to find yourself on the outside.

It's not just enough to say, I came to Jesus and I pray to sinners prayer and I have faith that I'm going to go to heaven. It's not just enough to do that. You need to move on down the road and grow and mature.

Because the temptation may be to fall away. So the Word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. So that's the C. Now go back here to John chapter 8 and we're going to read about it here in John chapter 8 verse 30.

Let's go down through this passage here. John chapter 8 verse 30. It says this, as he spake these words, many believed on him.

Here again, the Word of God brings forth faith. The Word of God brings forth a new creation. Now notice what he says in verse 31.

Then said Jesus to those Jews, which believed on him, same thing, if you continue in my word, then you are disciples, my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. In other words, some of you are not going to continue in my word and you're going to face trials and temptations. You're going to fall away.

But if you continue in my word, then are you my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free. And so there is importance in continuing in the word, loving his word, walking in his word because of the potential of your heart departing from the Lord. And so true disciples will be maturing and not falling away.

And I talked about that some last week. Look down here to verse number 32. And you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.

It is the Word of God that is the agent God uses to set you free from the world's lies, from your own misunderstandings. The Word of God is what the Lord uses to set you free. You say, I've been a Christian, you say.

I've been a Christian for five years and I have faith in Jesus, but I'm not being set free in many areas of life. Well, my question to you is this. Do you love the Word of God? And are you studying and meditating and searching out the Word of God? Because it's the Word of God that's going to set you free in every area of life.

And if you're letting the Word of God gather dust on your coffee table, how are you going to be set free if the Lord says that the Word, the truth will set you free? John 17, when Jesus prayed, He said, Sanctify them through thy truth. Thy Word is truth. I don't know about you.

I'll just be honest with you. I spend a lot of time meditating, a lot of time studying. But you know what? It's still a war to overcome the world, the flesh and the devil.

I've come a long way, but I don't see how someone can live in this world and neglect the Bible and make it and overcome. How can you? How can you make it in this world when all the lies and all the images and all the wickedness that is out there trying to conform you into its image how are you going to overcome and live a godly and a holy life if you're not immersed in the Word of God? Sanctify them through thy truth. Let's keep reading verse 33.

They answered him, We be Abraham's seed and were never in bondage to any man. How sayest thou you shall be made free? And obviously these Jews are thinking about physical bondage. They're not under bondage.

They're not in like the captivity in Babylon. The Jews are in many ways free. The Romans are over the nation of Israel, but the Jews have great liberty in Israel.

And so they're thinking we've never been in bondage. How sayest thou you shall be made free? You know what the Lord is talking about here. Spiritual bondage or bondage to sin.

Verse number 34. And Jesus answered them, Verily or truly, truly, I say unto you, whosoever committeth sin is the servant or the slave of sin. Now this is the condition of a fallen man, of a fallen nature.

They are slaves to sin and they commit sin habitually. I'll just draw this on the board here. Here is a lost soul.

Because their nature is fallen, they are servants to sin. They are slaves to sin. There is nothing in their nature that can overcome sin.

That's why I know something about, if you're lost here this morning, I know something about you. You're a slave to sin. I know that about you.

You're a slave. Sin is your master. You say, well, I'm not a drug addict.

I'm not, you know, involved in this. Yes, but there's much of your life, you're a slave to your own passions, your own will, your own desires. Because you still have a nature that is fallen, you cannot live a godly, holy, righteous life in a fallen nature.

Although some try to do that. But in this condition, you're a slave to sin. And Paul said, you know, in Romans 7, he said, when I was in this condition, boy, I wanted to do good, but I couldn't find the ability to get it done.

The things I wanted to do, I couldn't do. And the things I hated to do, those are the things I did. Oh, wretched man that I am.

Who shall deliver me from this body of death? And so when Jesus said, I very rarely, I say unto you, whosoever commits sin is a servant of sin, He's talking about these Jews who had a fallen nature. And there are some here this morning who have a fallen nature. And sin is your master.

It's your master. You say, well, everyone looks at me and I look good. Yes, but let's go into the private area of your life and see if sin is your master.

Let's look into your heart and see if sin is your master. Amen. Look at verse 35.

He goes on and says, And the servant, one who has this fallen nature, abideth not in the house forever, but the son abideth ever. Now, if you were a owner of a household and you had a servant who labored in the household and you had a son of yours who labored in the household, who do you think would abide in the house and inherit it long-term? Would the servant or the son? The son. So Jesus says to the Jews here especially, the servant, he doesn't abide in the house forever, but the son abides forever because the son is going to inherit through his relationship with the father.

So if you want to inherit eternal life, guess what? You need to have a relationship with the father through Jesus Christ. Now, let's look here at this last verse here. Verse 36.

If the son therefore shall make you free, you shall be free indeed. So there's only one person that can set you free from this condition and that is the son. And the son does that through what we remembered here this morning.

He does it through the gospel. He does it through his death, his burial and his resurrection. He is able through the death, burial and resurrection of himself.

And I know this is a kind of a, maybe a theologically a little bit difficult here, but each one of us who are born again have a dark fallen nature and then we have a new nature. And this is the new creation. Right here, if any man be in Christ, he is a new creation.

How many of you know that when you were born again that you didn't just lose all of your old propensity? Amen? Bible says in Ephesians and Colossians that now that you're a new man, you need to put off the old man. Put off the deeds of the old man and put on the new man. Now, when you're unconverted, there was no new man.

There was only an old man and you were a slave. You had, and here's the key word, you had no choice in the matter. You simply had to obey your master and that was your own selfish, fleshly self-will and you're a sinner by nature.

But now it says that the Son sets you free. You shall be free indeed. When I was 19 years old, this happened to me.

God set me free. But here's the thing. He set me free now to choose.

You know, some people think of this idea, well, I'm free, therefore this shouldn't even be here anymore. Actually, what the Bible teaches us is this, that God, when you were a lost soul, you had no choice. You were a slave.

Slaves don't have choices. They say whatever the master says they do. But when you're born again and you're given a new nature, now you have a choice in the matter.

Now you're free to choose. The Bible says walk in the Spirit and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. You couldn't do that in the fallen nature.

You were lost and you had no spirit. You had not the Spirit of God in you. So we have a choice.

And here's the hard thing with regards to Christianity. I shared this illustration. I think it's a great illustration last week.

Some of you weren't here last week, but I told you about the missionary who won the Indian. I'm talking about the American Indian to the Lord. And he had to leave the mission for six months and this Indian had received a new nature.

He was like this now and the missionary went and came back six months later and he asked the Indian, how are you doing in your new Christian life? And the Indian said, it's kind of interesting. And the way he explained it was this way. He said, I feel like inside of me, I have a white dog and a black dog.

I used to only have a black dog. I was a wicked man, but now I have this white dog and a black dog and these two dogs are constantly after each other, fighting. The Bible says the flesh lusts against the Spirit, the Spirit against the flesh.

These two are fighting. And the missionary asked an interesting question. He said, which one of these dogs are winning? And this Indian in all his simplicity said, whichever one I feed the most.

Well, that's some wisdom there, isn't it? You know, the Bible says if you feed the Spirit, that's why it says to let the Word of God dwell in you richly, speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns, praying without ceasing. Build up the Spirit of God in you and you'll find that you'll be able to overcome sin. You'll be able to overcome your flesh.

But I guarantee if you feed this aspect of you, if you feed yourself with the world and you bring in the world and you let the world fill your heart and mind, you're going to start going down. You're going to find yourself having no strength at all to overcome. So we have a choice.

And I'd like you to look here at Romans chapter 6. It's mentioned a number of times. In Romans chapter 6, this choice is laid out here. And I'm not going to read the whole chapter, just jump through some of these.

This choice is described, or the word that is used is this word, yield. Right here, you have a choice now. You're not a slave anymore.

You have a choice if you're a child of God. Here in Romans 6 verse 6, he says this, 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. Now that you're in this condition, you no longer are a slave.

You no longer have the master that you have to serve sin anymore. Verse 12, let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that you should obey it in the lusts thereof. Don't allow this to reign anymore.

It used to rain. It's all you had. Here's one of those words, verse 13, neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin, but yield yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.

How many of you here know, as you sit here, you realize that I do have two natures within me? Amen. I mean, don't get the idea if you look up at me here and say that I never have any nasty temptations. I do.

I have as wicked a flesh as you do. And they used to tell us this in the Baptist church, you get someone out of fellowship with God, they can do the most ungodly things as an ungodly sinner can do. And I believe that.

Paul even said, he said, I can't wait, in Philippians he said, for God to change my vile body, that it might be fashioned unto his glorious body. So the Apostle Paul, we think he walked around as some sort of an angelic creature. No, Paul said, I also have this vile body.

And in 1 Corinthians 10, he said, I have to beat that body and keep it under subjection, lest after preaching to others, I myself should be a castaway. That's not some, you know, backslidden Christian. That's the Apostle Paul.

I got to keep this thing under. Because if this thing isn't kept under by the power of God's spirit, I might be also a castaway. Let's keep reading here in Romans chapter 6. Look at verse 16.

Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants you are to whom you obey, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness. Now look at verse 17. But God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin.

That's in the past, that fallen nature. But you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine, which was delivered to you. Question.

What did you obey? That form of doctrine that was delivered to you. What set you free from that condition? Anybody? The gospel. The gospel.

You heard the gospel. And the gospel sets you free. Verse 17.

But God be thanked that you were the servants of sin, but you have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine, which was delivered to you. Being then made free from sin, you became the servants of righteousness. Verse 19.

I speak out to the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh. For as you have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity and to iniquity, that's the fallen nature. Even so now yield your members servants to righteousness and to holiness.

For when you were the servants of sin, you were free from righteousness. What fruit had you then? And those things were, if you are now ashamed, for the end of those things is death. But now being made free from sin and become servants to God, you have your fruit unto holiness and the end everlasting life.

You see this right here? In you gives you everlasting life because you're connected to something that's eternal. And this also, the Holy Spirit of God and the Word of God also gives you the ability to walk above your flesh, to walk above the world and to live a holy life. But we have a choice and we need to yield to the Spirit of God.

So the Bible talks about walking in the Spirit. Walking in the Spirit. What does it mean to walk in the Spirit? If I took my wife's hand and we went out, we took a walk.

If I walk with somebody, what are we doing? We're conversing, right? We're fellowshipping. If you fellowship with God's Spirit all day long, walk with God, fellowship with him in your heart and your mind, you can overcome sin. Amen? Walk in the Spirit.

But if your mind is on all kinds of these natural things, your mind is on money and business and lust and pornography and the cares of this world and the lust of other things, and you're walking along and that's where your heart and mind is and you're fellowshiping with them, you're going to fall. You're going to fall. And so my encouragement to you is to love the Word of God and to immerse yourself in it and meditate upon it day and night.

So the Lord has set us free now to choose so that you know that even though you have been set free, you still have a nature in you, the flesh, it is still prone to want to bring you back to where you were. And so don't yield yourself to the flesh, yield yourself to the Spirit. So my question this morning is this, do you have two fathers? You've been fathered by Adam with a fallen nature.

Whoever your daddy was, my daddy was Ronald Mehor, but Ronald Mehor was in the lineage of Adam and all the generations produced fallen creatures, and I'm one of them. But on July 15, 1978, something conceived in me, amen, the gospel and faith. And all of a sudden, I was born again.

And ever since then, I've been getting victory, not always, but victory over sin, the world, and the devil. And you can too. The Bible says we're not perfect.

The scripture says if we say that we have no sin, what happens? We deceive ourselves. And the truth is not in us. But if we confess our sin, when this rises up in us and does something that we shouldn't do, we immediately come to the Lord and say, Lord, I've failed.

And we confess our sin. And He cleanses us from all unrighteousness. So let's choose to yield ourselves unto the Spirit.

He that committeth or practices sin habitually is a servant, he's a slave. That's the fallen nature of man. That's where these Jews were.

They thought they were free because they could live their life. And the Romans were not oppressing them that much. They thought they were free, just like many Americans.

I'm a free person. But spiritually speaking, they're in bondage to alcohol, to pornography, to bitterness, to anger. Their life is bound.

And the Lord says to those, I can make you free. Free indeed. Maybe there's somebody here this morning who still has an old nature.

You've not been born twice. You've only been born once. I can assure you this.

You've never been born again. When you die, your nature is going to descend into hell. You need life.

You need to be connected to the source of life. So that when you die, just like Jesus, you ascend. You ever heard testimonies of people who are lost, who are dying? You hear them? They talk about slipping down into hell.

Right? It's always down. The fallen nature is going down. And we need a new nature to lift us.

So let's walk in the spirit. Let's be patient with one another. Amen.

There are times that people are going to get in the flesh. And it's seen throughout the early church. Let's stand for righteousness, but let's be patient.

Has God been patient with some of you all? Can we give people the same patience God has given us? Maybe. We should do that. He's been patient with me.

Very patient. Let's close. We'll have a word of prayer.

Heavenly Father, thank you, Lord, for the word of the Lord.