FAITH and WORKS
and
Flesh and Spirit

by Martin Ralph DeHaan (March 23, 1891 – December 13, 1965)

CHAPTER ONE

A series of messages on Abraham, the father of the faithful, would be quite incomplete without giving some attention to the matter of “works” in the life of the father of the faithful. For while we emphasize the fact that he was the great example of faith, works also entered very definitely into the life of this patriarch. Critics of the Bible frequently assert that there is a conflict in the theology of Paul and the theology of James. They point to the fact that Paul claims that, without exception, a man is justified by faith alone, without the works of the law, while James teaches just as definitely that a man is justified by works, as well as by faith. Since Paul and James both use the example of Father Abraham to ‘prove their particular point, it will be entirely proper, I am sure, to insert in this series on Abraham, a few chapters on the Subject of “Faith and Works.” In Romans 4:1, we read Paul’s words,

“What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.” - Romans 4:1-3

ALL OF GRACE

There is no mistaking Paul’s words in this passage. Works have absolutely nothing to do with salvation, for it is all of faith, The harder we work, the deeper in debt we find ourselves. Now that is a terrible predicament to be in, but that’s exactly what Paul says. Salvation is all of faith from beginning to the very end. If there is one thing which Paul insists upon, it is that works have nothing to do with the "obtaining," or the retaining of our salvation. We are justified by faith, and faith alone. And so he adds in Romans 4:5:

“But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” - Romans 4:5

So insistent is Paul upon this fact that he states in the epistle to the Galatians that the curse of Almighty God is upon all who would add works to faith in the obtaining of salvation. In Galatians 1:8 we read:

“But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.” - Galatians 1:8

Now, of course, Paul is speaking concerning HIS gospel, the gospel of God’s grace by faith without the works of the law, and he repeats this terrible condemnation in the 3rd chapter of Galatians, the 10th verse, when he says:

“Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.” - Galatians 3:10

Justification, therefore, is by faith wholly apart from the works of the law.

APPARENT CONTRADICTION

But now, listen to the Apostle James as he speaks in James 2:21 and 24, a passage which has caused so much confusion among many believers in all ages. We read in these verses this seemingly opposite revelation.

“Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? Ye see then how that by works a man is justified,» and not by faith only.” James 2:21, 24

Now that does seem like a contradiction. Paul insists that a man is justified by faith and faith alone, and James tells us just as emphatically that a man is justified not by faith alone, but also by works, and both of them are equally emphatic in their statements. Now, of course, this does raise a serious question. Even Martin Luther had difficulty with this verse in James, and it is a well-known historical fact, that after he had seen the truth of justification by faith in that great verse, “The just shall live by faith,” he came in his study to the book of James, and when he came upon this particular passage he simply could not reconcile the theology of Paul and the theology of James, and so, for a time at least called James an epistle of straw, and denied it a place in the holy canon of the Scriptures.

But there really is no difficulty here at all, if we will observe one simple rule of Bible study. I want to pass it on to you once again. We must first of all ask ourselves the question, “What is God talking about and whom is He addressing?” Now it is very important that we do this if we are to rightly divide the Word of Truth. All of the Bible was written for us indeed, but all of the Bible was not written directly to us. While the entire Scripture has applications for us, and a message for us, everything in Scripture certainly wasn’t written for us to observe in its literal sense. The Lord told Israel to sacrifice animals, and observe various sabbath days, feast days, circumcize their children, destroy their enemies, burn their cities, and a thousand other things which certainly are not to be carried out literally by us today. They indeed have lessons for us, but certainly were not primarily given to us to observe. We must therefore ask, what is God talking about in Romans and in James, and to whom is He speaking. Now if you will do that with these two passages, I think we shall be able to show very easily that there is no contradiction, but instead a beautiful harmony which makes the balance of the Christian’s life what God wants it to be.

THE KEY TO THE PROBLEM

So will you observe this very carefully. Paul in Romans is discussing the question, “How can a good-for-nothing, hell-deserving sinner be justified in the sight of a holy and a righteous God?’ It is very important to get this, “How can a good-for-nothing, hell-deserving, hell-bound, depraved sinner be justified in the sight of a righteous and holy God?” That is the question in Romans, and the answer which Paul gives is this: “By faith and faith alone.” Nothing else, nothing added, nothing taken away. Works have absolutely nothing to do with a man’s justification in the sight of Almighty God from beginning to end.

But James is talking about quite another matter. The question in James is this: “How can, a saint, already justified by faith in the sight of Almighty God, now justify himself in the sight of his fellow men?” And the answer to that question is: “Not by faith, but by works.” In other words, God doesn’t have to see our works to justify us, because He sees our faith.

“For the Lord seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the Lord looketh on the heart.” - 1 Samuel. 16:7

And so the moment a poor, lost sinner cries in faith to God, before his lips have spoken a word, before he has breathed a prayer, before he has done a single act to prove his faith, God immediately reckons that man saved, justified in His sight, because He Himself is the Author of that faith. And the moment that faith is within the heart, God sees that heart, and declares that man righteous and just in His sight. But if nothing more than that happened, no one else except God would ever know about it. No one would ever suspect that this man was a believer, and so now, before people can know that he has been justified in the sight of God, this faith must begin to operate in his life, and become evident by his works, his conversation, his charity, his forgiveness, his long-suffering, his patience, and all the other fruits of salvation. By these fruits, therefore, his good works, he will give evidence of that which is already in his heart, and which God already saw. Then only are men able to see that he is already justified in the sight of God, and consequently is now justified in the sight of men. God sees our faith, but man can only see our works, the evidence, the visible result of our faith.

We may sum it up like this. Faith is the ROOT of salvation, our works are the FRUIT. The fruit of faith in God is works before men, and so James is talking about our justification in the sight of men, while Paul is talking about our justification in the sight of God. God knew it all the time, but we must wait for the evidence, before we can know it. That is why the Lord Jesus Christ said:

“Let your light so shine BEFORE MEN, that THEY may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.” - Matthew 5:16

God knows it all the time, but man must see the evidence of it, and that is why, (I say this very graciously and kindly) and trust I will not be misunderstood, that this whole popular business of counting converts is contrary to the Word of God. We simply cannot know who or how many are saved. There are some who make a profession who have never truly trusted Christ. There are some who because of conditions and circumstances do not give as much immediate evidence of their salvation, as others do. But God is the One who keeps the books and knows the hearts. He is the One who does the counting, and you and I have to wait until we see the evidence, and the works and the results in their lives before we are allowed to judge. Jesus said, ye shall know them by their FRUITS—not by their decisions. I am definitely afraid that many of the people whom we have put down in our books as having been converted in our meetings will never show up in heaven, and I know from experience that there are countless numbers who had never been counted by men who are going to be in the glory when the books are opened. Let us, therefore, be careful about this business. Let us avoid this “counting of noses,” which only ministers to the flesh, rather than to the spirit.

Permit me to illustrate this point. Suppose I have a meeting in your church, and at the close of the service, when the invitation is given, two men come forward. For convenience we’ll call them Joe and John. From all appearances, they are both under conviction. Of course, we know there are two kinds of conviction, a conviction of conscience which is transient, and never results in salvation, and a conviction of the Holy Spirit, which is the work of God, and always goes on to salvation, for what He begins He always finishes. One conviction is from the fear and punishment and RESULT of sin; the other is the conviction of the awfulness of the FACT of his sin. That is the difference. Felix, you remember, was convicted and trembled before Paul, but said, “Go thy way I’ll see you again some other time.” He was convicted, he trembled, he probably wept. There was a great emotional disturbance, but as far as we know, nothing happened whatsoever after that. But our Lord Jesus Christ says in the 16th chapter of John, concerning the Holy Spirit:

“And when He is come, He will reprove (convict) the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: Of sin, because they believe not on me.” - John 16:8-9

And so we must recognize that there is a true and a false conviction of sin, and a true and a false repentance. Which one it is—time alone can tell. Here then we have Joe and John, both seem to be pricked in their hearts by the Word of God, and at the invitation both come forward. Both of them get down on their knees, shed tears, both seem to be deeply moved. But John happens to be in an awful jam, and he’d like to get out of it, and escape the penalty which is hovering over him. But Joe is thinking of his past life, and how he has grieved the Lord, and he wants to be saved. He is convicted of sin, and not first of all the result of sin. John is only sorry he got caught, and if his sin had not been discovered, he would never have come forward or confessed it. One was “spiritual” conviction, the other “emotional” conviction. Now we deal with both of them, and both of them pray and we send them both away, and we put down, “John and Joe.”

Now listen, I don’t know whether either of them is saved and you don’t, and yet, we so like to strut around and say, so many were converted in the meeting. But now I come back a year later and I say to the pastor of the church, “Do you remember about a year ago in one of our meetings here, two men came forward at the end of the invitation? As I recall, their names were John and Joe. How about them? Tell me, how are they getting along?” And the pastor replies, “Well, Dr. De Haan, I am happy to report about Joe. Joe was born again all right. He was saved. You know, since that day, he has just grown and grown and grown. He feeds on the Word, doesn’t miss a service, is out on the street corner handing out tracts, testifying, and is a real soul winner. He leads a lot of folks to Christ and is a shining light. Everybody knows where Joe stands. Yes, Joe was truly converted." And then the pastor’s voice drops, and he says, “But John, I’m awfully sorry; that’s another story. He went all right for about three or four weeks, and then we began to miss him in the meeting. After a while he didn’t show up at all any more, an when we would try and contact him, he wouldn’t have anything to do with us, and today he is back in the world, back in sin, deeper than he ever was before.”

Now God knew all the time that John never was saved when he came forward. When the storm was past and the danger gone, he drifted back to his old life, but God saw the faith in Joe’s heart and saved him. But you and I had to wait until the evidence of his works before we were able to evaluate the genuineness of their conversion experience. Not every one that saith Lord, Lord, are His, but they who do His will and works. Now that is what Paul is talking about when he says, we are justified in God’s sight by faith. God knows it immediately. In fact, He knew it from eternity, but we have to wait until we see the evidence. How important, therefore, works become in regard to our testimony. Now, it is significant to note that Paul and James both use Abraham as an illustration. Paul goes to the history of Abraham to prove his point of justification by faith alone, and James uses this same man, Abraham’s example, to prove justification by works.

Before closing, therefore, let me quote what Paul and James have to say, and then, the Lord willing, we shall be taking up the matter in detail in our next message.

“What shall we say then that Abraham our father, as pertaining to the flesh, hath found? For if Abraham were justified by works, he hath whereof to glory; but not before God. For what saith the scripture? Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.” - Romans 4:1-3

This [Romans 4:1-3] quotation is from Genesis 15 where Abraham believed God’s Word concerning his promised son. But James also goes back to Abraham, and here is the example he uses:

“Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?” - James 2:21

Now this does seem like a contradiction, for Paul says, “justified by faith, by believing." No, says James, “justified by works.” Now we are only to remember that Paul is talking about the sinner in the sight of God, and James the saint in the sight of men. Paul’s illustration is taken from Genesis 15, when Abraham believed what God said concerning the promised son, but the illustration James uses is from Genesis 22, was some forty years later, when he had sacrificed the promised son, Isaac, and we read:

“Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?” - James 2:21

We will take up this matter in the next chapter, but now, may I press upon you the necessity of good works as the evidence and the assurance of the work of grace and faith which has already been accomplished in our hearts. May God help us to realize that unless there is evidence of our faith as seen by men, we have no right to expect that our testimony shall be believed, and we have no right to claim that we have been saved, unless there is evidence of salvation in our lives. May God help us to apply it to our own hearts and lives.

CHAPTER TWO

In our previous message we took up the matter of “faith and works,” a doctrine concerning which there has been a great deal of confusion among Christian believers. Paul in his epistle to the Romans very definitely sets down the fact that works have absolutely nothing to do with salvation and it is entirely a matter of faith, and faith alone. However, in the book of James we have the statement that a man is justified not only by faith but by works as well. The passages which we quoted, you will remember, were Romans 4:5 in which we read:

“But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.” - Romans 4:5

This is Paul’s statement. But when we turn to the epistle of James we find this:

Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had Offered Isaac his son upon the altar? James 2:21

Now we can only understand this apparent contradiction when we remember that Paul refers us to the 15th chapter of Genesis where Abraham believed what God had said concerning the promised son, but when James takes the illustration of Father Abraham, he takes quite a different incident out of the life of Abraham. His quotation refers back to the 22nd chapter of Genesis, some forty years later than Genesis 15, forty years after Abraham had already been justified by faith. And so we read:

Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? - James 2:21

You will notice that this does not say, “when he offered,” but “when he HAD offered.” We don’t want you to miss that point. It was not until AFTER Abraham had offered up his son, Isaac, that he was justified by works in the sight of men. Forty years before he had already been justified by faith in God’s sight, but now he is justified by his works before men. And So we read:

“By works, when he HAD offered Isaac his son upon the altar.”

We see then that the Bible teaches two kinds of justification, one by faith and another by works, and it is not a contradiction, but a wonderful, harmonious revelation. By FAITH in God’s sight, and BY WORKS in the sight of men.

THE EXAMPLE OF ABRAHAM

Now we have already seen that Paul uses Abraham’s faith and James uses Abraham’s works to show both of these aspects of justification. Therefore, James tells us in his epistle, “show ME thy works.” Both Paul and James use Father Abraham to illustrate the point but use quite different incidents to be sure.

Abraham had come from the Ur of the Chaldees together with Lot and had settled in the land of Canaan. He came with an entirely new religion of Jehovah. Undoubtedly the Canaanites looked very dubiously upon these two strangers as they came from a far-off land, and they wondered whether this thing was real, or just something else again and just another religion. I can imagine them saying, as they looked at Abraham worshipping and sacrificing and serving this new God, “we’ll see, we’ll see; We’ll just wait a little while.” You know, there are people who are very skeptical about a believer’s profession, and these folks probably also said, “we’ll see” how it works out in time." “If it is like the rest of that which we have seen, it will only be a little while. Just wait until the tests and the trials come, and they will soon give up their faith in God. This is all fine and good when things are going prosperously, but just wait until the real test shows up.” And so they watched and waited and then the time came when Abraham obeyed God, and took his son upon the mountain to sacrifice him. We read the record in Genesis 22:

“And it came to pass after these things, that God did tempt Abraham, and said unto him, Abraham: and he said, Behold, here I am. And he said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt offering.” - Genesis 22:1-2

And there Abraham was commanded to bind his son upon the altar, to shed his blood, to put him to death.

God reckoned the motive for the act. Hebrews tells us definitely that God reckoned it so, and James tells us that he actually, as far as God was concerned, did sacrifice his son, for he says:

“Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son?” - James 2:21

And when these Canaanites saw this, every mouth was stopped. There was no more criticism, no more doubting, for here was indisputable evidence of the genuiness of his faith in God. As Abraham went up there to the mountain to sacrifice his son, I can hear these people saying, “this thing must be real; this thing is working; this is genuine.” This certainly was not a hollow profession, when a man will go all the way, not only part of the way, but as far as God leads him, and give up the very thing, which is more precious than life itself, his only son, in obedience to God as a testimony—that thing must be real.

May I repeat again, that this was by his works, that he was justified before men, and then we read:

“Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?” - James 2:22

This then was the goal of faith, as evidenced in works, and that is the story of salvation. God’s purpose in saving us is not merely keeping us out of hell. That was an incidental thing, quite necessary in the process, but His purpose in saving us was so that we might become like Himself, conformed to the image of His Son. (Romans 8:29). Now that is what James is talking about. A little more reality, a little less shouting about our faith, and more demonstration of our real faith in God.

This is the climax of Abraham’s faith in God, and it was imputed to him for righteousness.

THE FRIEND OF GOD

Now notice the next verse that follows:

“And he was called the Friend of God.” - James 2:23

That’s a wonderful statement! 'When was Abraham called the “Friend of God?” After he had demonstrated the reality of his faith in God by his works. Who called him the Friend of God? I believe, personally, that the people round about him called him the “Friend of God.” In Genesis we are also told that he was called the “Friend of God” by the Lord Himself, but here it seems to indicate that the people who saw this act of faith on the part of Abraham, called him God’s Friend. I personally don’t know of a thing that I’d rather have people say about me than, “that man was a Friend of God.” Yes, I’d be willing to go into His presence just with that one statement, that people looked at me and said, “that man was a Friend of God.” Now how are we going to prove this? Only by our works, and that is the only way. Now before going on to a concluding thought, I want to ask this question. Has there been anything in your conduct and conversation today, in this past week, as you mingled among men in the community, which led them to believe that YOU are a friend of God? Or did you go to the places the world frequents without even letting them know that you are different by your conversation and conduct and testimony. The trouble is there are so many Christians who do nothing wrong, but there is also nothing positive in their life by which the world may know that they are truly the children of God. They live good, ethical, moral, honest, law-abiding lives, but there is nothing to indicate that they are serving the Lord Jehovah God, and are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. The trouble with so many believers is that they don’t do anything. They don’t do this, and they don’t do that, they don’t commit this sin, they don’t commit that sin, but there is nothing else positive in their lives, that they do either. A man says, “I don’t swear, I don’t drink, I don’t gamble, I don’t steal.” Now my friend, what do you do? Do you do anything at all? I believe that we have too many Christians who don’t do anything either right or wrong. When you sat down to eat today in the restaurant, did you sit down just like all the rest of the world, or did you let people know that you were a Friend of God as you sat down and asked God’s blessing upon that which He had provided for you? The world today is waiting for a demonstration of the genuineness and the reality of our faith, where we can stand the test, and can meet the greatest crisis in life without murmuring. The world is sick of a lot of preaching, sick and tired of professions. We have plenty of good preaching in the world, but we need a demonstration of what God can really do. And so James continues, in a very, very striking way, and says:

“What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man SAY he hath faith?” - James 2:14

NOT WORDS BUT WORKS

Now the emphasis here should be placed on the word, “SAY.” “What doth it profit, my brethren, if we SAY that we have faith?” It means nothing at all, if it is not backed up by works. And so he says, if a man SAY he hath faith, and have not works, can that kind of a faith save him? Now that’s the meaning here, that’s the argument, and so he gives an illustration. He says,

“If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye' warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body, what doth it profit?” - James 2:15-16

Do you get the force of this? He says, “quit talking, and start doing something.” I have seen more deviltry and skulduggery covered up by pious praying and religious phrases and testifying, than anything else I know of in the world. One of the slickest operators I ever met used to separate poor widows, and rich widows too, from their possessions by piously calling on them and seeking to comfort them and praying with them, while he was really “preying” upon them, while praying for them. Some of the worst people in the country today are carrying on their pernicious program under the guise of religion, disguised with the preaching of the blood of Christ, and yet separating men and women from their money by every unscriptural method and hypocritical promise of help. May God help us to get down to the reality of these things.

“What doth it profit, my brethren, though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him? If a brother or sister be naked, and destitute of daily food, And one of you say unto them, Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled; notwithstanding ye give them not those things which are needful to the body; what doth it profit?” - James 2:14, 15, 16

All the time we have in our possession the wherewithal to provide that which they need, we hold it back and try to justify our covetousness by pious prayers and pious phrases. Oh, beloved, how easy it is to go to a brother or a sister, and while we are able to help them materially in their physical needs, even at our own sacrifice, but instead, we merely say, “Oh, we’re so sorry for you. Yes, it is indeed too bad; we’ll pray for you. Shall we pray about this?” 'Listen, my friend, that brother, that sister, doesn’t need your hypocritical prayers. That is not their need at the present time. They need help, not pious prayers, and James too is just a bit tired of some of this piety, and says, if your brother is cold, do something for him. And that is true today. If a brother or sister is in need, and is cold, they need a ton of coal, not our prayers. God isn’t going to answer your prayer as long as He knows that you have $20.00 in your pocketbook with which you can answer your own prayers. The world today is looking for a definite, practical experience of the reality of our faith. We have so much superficial shallow preaching. Believe, believe, believe, we cry, and go around shouting about our salvation, and the world simply will not believe it unless they see the reality and know that it is genuine in our lives. The average man has little respect for the Christian who only talks. I think we can do without a lot of praying, if we’d use the time which we have to count in a more definite way. Now I may be going just a bit too far for some of you in this matter, but we need to balance up our faith with our works. May God help us to be real. You know, the thing that grieves our heart in our own lives is this tendency to put on a show, which is only the evidence of the flesh, instead of the testimony of the spirit.

MUST BECOME PRACTICAL

Oh, that God might move upon our hearts, that we might be willing to make a complete and full and definite and final surrender to Him, as Abraham did, so that all of our lives, everything that we are and do from this day on, will tend to let men and women know by our life and conduct, as well as testimony and conversation, that we are Christ’s. I want to tell you, that if only a small fraction of you who are reading this message would go out tomorrow, all out for God, with the absolute determination to be yielded to Him a 100%, and not let a single opportunity go by, of demonstrating and showing to men and women the love of Christ, it would do more good than all the Bible Conferences, revival services and evangelistic meetings in all the world. We need men and women today who will be willing to go all the way like Abraham did.

This is what God expects that we shall be, all out for Him.

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may. see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." - Matthew 5:16

CHAPTER THREE

“Now Sarai Abram’s wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the Lord hath restrained me from bearing: I pray thee, go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai. And Sarai Abram’s wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife. And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes.” - Genesis 16:14

There are moments in the life of the father of the faithful, Abraham, when one would hardly recognize him as a child of God. In those moments of doubt when he seems to forget all about his responsibility toward God, he does some things which can only remind us of the awful deceitfulness of the flesh which still remains within the believer. And yet God uses some of these experiences to be stepping stones for greater victories which lie ahead. Every believer is predestined by God according to His Word to ultimately become just like the Lord Jesus. Those whom God has elected to be saved He predestinates to become like the Son of God Himself. This we have pointed out repeatedly in the past messages as the clear teaching of Romans 8:29. When we see what the Lord has to begin with when He finds the sinner, we see something of the gigantic task which God undertakes when He seeks a poor, good-for-nothing, hell-deserving sinner, in the mire and slime of sin, and says, I’m not going to stop working on him until he is like my own lovely Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. God undertakes quite a job when He saves the sinner. If He merely saved him to keep him out of hell, it would be much. If He saved him to keep him out of hell and in addition take him to heaven, it would be even more, but to make him ultimately like the Lord Jesus surely is a tremendous undertaking.

FAITHFUL TO THE END

And so we can understand why God is continually working on His children. There are very, very few periods in our lives when we are completely free from some kind of testing, some trial, because God is continually over-turning, smoothing here and there, until we often wonder why we have so little peace and tranquility in this life. It is only because God is trying to make something out of us, trying to do something with us. He has a purpose in mind. In our study of the life of Abram, the great example of faith, we find this illustrated over and over again. Hardly has one severe test passed, than another is waiting for him. We have been tracing some of these, and found that even in the failures of Abram, God was overruling, to make him stronger for the next test, which was always greater and more severe, and yet because of his previous testing, he had greater strength and courage to meet the next one. We have traced some of these testings in Abram’s life. First he had to leave his kindred and his country, which was a test of “faith." Then came the test of “separation” from those who were dear to him. Then came the test of “providence,” whether he would remain in the land when the famine came. And Abram failed and fled to Egypt. Then we saw the test of his “testimony,” whether he would realize that the Canaanite and the Perizzite were watching him, and he would dare to trust God in giving Lot first choice in Canaan. Then there came the test of his “courage,” whether he would dare, with just a handful of untrained servants to meet the five great kings of the north in faith, because he wanted to show his love for his backslidden nephew. Then there was the test concerning “covetousness’ and the love of the things of this world, when the king of Sodom offered him all the spoil of battle and Abraham magnanimously turned it all down. Then there was the test of the “assurance” of faith, whether he really would believe God just on the simple record of His Word, as he saw in the sacrificial animals of the 15th chapter of Genesis. And now we come to chapter 16, and we have one of the most severe tests which ever comes into the life of a Christian, and that is the test of PATIENCE, whether he was able to believe God enough to wait until He is ready to answer his prayer. The test of patience is a severe test, to be sure, and we shall see how miserably Abram failed in order that we ourselves may profit by it.

WALKING AFTER THE FLESH

We have read for you the story of how Abram at the suggestion of Sarah took his handmaid, an Egyptian, a slave girl, and raised up a seed by her because he could not wait for the promise of God to be fulfilled. Can this be the man who is called in Scripture the father of the faithful, the friend of God? It is indeed difficult to imagine that he is the same identical man of faith whom we saw in the preceding chapters of Genesis, who believed God upon the simple testimony of the Word, and became the example of justifying faith. It is almost inconceivable that this same man, who could trust God so implicitly, could now, just a little while later yield to the temptation of impatience and of the flesh, and at the suggestion of his wife commit an act, which even in the light of the moral standards of his day, was absolutely unjustifiable, and wicked in the extreme.

It is hard to reconcile these things unless we recognize the presence of the two natures in the believer. This great man of faith had two names, “Abram,” his first name, and his second name, “Abraham,” which God gave to him. It brings us face to face with a tremendous fact. Abraham was the name which God gave to the spiritual man, but Abram was the name which he had by his natural birth. By his first birth he was “Abram.” His new nature’s name was “Abraham.” Now we have many other examples of that same thing in the Scripture. You may recall that Abram’s grandson, Jacob, also had two names; one signifying the sinner; the second, the saint. His name was “Jacob” by his first natural birth, and “Jacob” means “crook,” and “cheat." And that is what God says every man is by his first birth. He is totally depraved and utterly corrupt, for we are no better than Jacob. The name “Jacob” comes from an incident which happened at his birth. When Jacob was born he was a twin, and Esau, his brother, was born first. He was the eldest, and as Esau was being born, this unborn Jacob laid hold of Esau’s heel, before Esau was even born, as if to try and keep him from being born, and so he was given the name, “Jacob,” from this fact that he laid hold of the heel of his brother, for the name Jacob comes from the expression, the “Heel-holder,” or “the tripper-upper.” Before he was even born he was already trying to trip up his brother Esau, and that became characteristic of his entire old nature. My, what a rascal he turned out to be. That was Jacob by his first birth, but before God was through with Jacob, He said, “Your name is not going to be Jacob anymore, but your name is going to be “Israel.” And “Israel” comes from three Hebrew words, the word “Ish,” which means “a man”, the word “ra” which means “great”, and the word “El” which is a fragment of one of the names of God, “Elohim,” so that you have “Ish-ra-el,” the great man, or prince of God. This was the name God gave him. Jacob, the crook, becomes Israel, the prince of God.

But while he was Israel, he was also still Jacob, and while Abram became Abraham, he was also still Abram. Or we think of Simon Peter. What an example we have of this same truth in this man! Simon was the name by his first birth, and Peter was the name that Christ gave him, representing his second birth. But Simon was not eradicated when he became Peter, but Simon stayed there till the end, and when Peter wrote his final epistle, just before he died, the very first two words of that epistle, from the pen of Peter are “Simon Peter.” That is the way he introduces his last message to us. He seems to say by these two words, “Oh, thank God, I am Peter, but I am sorry that old Simon is still with me, even to the end of my life.” Peter had to learn his lesson by many painful experiences. Now I think that this is the lesson the Lord is trying to teach us here, in this rather sordid record of Abraham, listening to the voice of his wife, Sarai, and taking a slave girl that had come from the land of Egypt, and taking her as his wife, and causing her to become the mother of her fleshly seed, representative of the flesh and not of the spirit, for “in Isaac" God had said, “shall thy seed be called.” It brings us face to face with one of the greatest fundamental truths of the Word of God, the neglect of which, and the ignorance of which is causing so much trouble and misunderstanding in Christian circles.

THE TWO NATURES

Everywhere the world around, we have this confusion concerning the two natures. We must remember that the new birth is not a “re-birth” but definitely a “new birth.” When a person is born again, God does absolutely nothing to the old man of the flesh. The old nature by our natural birth is so hopelessly, incorrigibly corrupt, that even God Himself will not bother to fix it up or salvage it, but instead of doing that, instead of doing something to the old Adam, He puts within that individual a brand new nature, eternal and forever separate from the old.

So then, every new man, becomes “two men” before Almighty God. He still is the “old man” and he is also the “new man,” and these two are incompatible. This, beloved, is the cause of the conflict in the Christian life. In Genesis 15 we have the new man in ascendancy as Abram believes God, and becomes the great example of faith. But in the very next chapter, Genesis 16, we have the old man in the ascendency. The old “Adam” here is very, very evident, because Abram could not wait for God to perform His work, because he became impatient, and was unwilling to trust God to keep His word, and wondered if God were really going to fulfill His promise after all. He began to fret and stew and moan, and finally Sarah said, “Well, I can’t live with you under these conditions. I’d better do something.” And so she made this utterly sinful, fleshly suggestion that he take a servant girl and raise up a seed by this handmaid, Hagar. Right in this connection it is well to remember what our Lord Jesus Christ said in the third chapter of the gospel according to John, where we have the great doctrine, not only of the new birth, but also of the two natures set forth in a most remarkable way. In this chapter our Saviour said to Nicodemus:

“Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born again [or from above], he cannot see the Kingdom of God.” - John 3:3

Now Nicodemus did not understand completely what the Lord was speaking about and so he, supposing that the new birth is a re-birth of the old nature, or a fixing up of the old man, he answers the Lord in these words:

“How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb, and be born?” - John 3:4

The reason Nicodemus asked this question was simply that he didn’t yet understand the fact that the new birth was an entirely new creation on the part of God, and not an altering, re—making, or a fixing up of the old man in any sense of the word. And so he asked the Lord, “How can a man be born when he is old?” How can a man be born over. And then notice the answer of our Lord Jesus. He seems to say, you don’t understand Nicodemus, what I am talking about, and so He continues:

“Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” - John 3:5

Now all the difficulty arises from the fact that the word, “again” in the expression, “born again” in John 3:3, and again in the 7th verse is mis-translated. The word translated “again” ... does not mean “again” but it means “from above.” What Jesus actually says is this: “Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a man be born “from above,” he cannot see the kingdom of God.” And so when the Lord comes to us, and we trust Him, and the new birth takes place, he does nothing to the old nature whatsoever, but creates a brand new thing, or as Paul puts it,

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a NEW creation.” - 2 Corinthians 5:17

This does not mean that he is a repaired creation. God does not salvage us, but He saves us when we are born again. And He makes an entirely new being, and the old is doomed to destruction. It must ultimately be eradicated, and within the believer dwells that new man which is the divine nature, which is “Christ in you the hope of glory.” And so every man becomes two men. Now there are a great many people who need to be taught this truth all over again, so may I repeat, when a person is born again, God does absolutely nothing to the old man of the flesh. The old nature is so hopelessly, incorrigibly corrupt, that God will not do a thing with it. So this new man becomes two men, the old and the new, and this is the cause of the conflict in the Christian life.

In our next message we shall take up the spiritual implications of this great truth and show how the only way victory can be obtained, is not to deny the presence of our sinful nature, but to seek the only victory that can come, by a complete yielding and surrender to the will of God, and to the Word of God. When Paul cried out in the 7th of Romans, “who shall deliver me from the body of this death” he answers his own question by saying, “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

CHAPTER FOUR

“And Sarai Abram’s wife took Hagar her maid the Egyptian, after Abram had dwelt ten years in the land of Canaan, and gave her to her husband Abram to be his wife. And he went in unto Hagar, and she conceived: and when she saw that she had conceived, her mistress was despised in her eyes. And Sarai said unto Abram, My wrong be upon thee: I have given my maid into thy bosom; and when she saw that she had conceived, I was despised in her eyes: the Lord judge between me and thee. But Abram said unto Sarai, Behold, thy maid is in thy hand; do to her as it pleaseth thee. And when Sarai dealt hardly with her, she fled from her face.” - Genesis 16:3-6

This is the sad, sad record of a man, a believer, a saint of God, who in a moment of weakness and doubt and impatience, succumbed to the temptation of the flesh. It was a terrible sin, the result of which plaqued Abram to his dying day, and his descendants to this very hour.

It all goes to prove that even in the Godliest saint, there still lies the possibility of failure and sinning. The flesh is always present to overcome the child of God in a moment of carelessness. In our previous message we pointed out several examples of this. We saw that Jacob became Israel, but he never got rid of Jacob until he died. Simon became Peter but Simon was never eradicated in this life. The Holy Spirit truly dwells in the believer, but the flesh is also still present. This is one of the most important truths for us to recognize if we are to gain Scriptural victory in our lives. There are too many people who have the idea that when they are saved, their troubles are all over. Beloved, that is only when they start, and that is when they begin. Before we are saved, we have only the old nature, and there is no struggle. Very few people are mean enough to fight with themselves, but when we are saved, something, yea, SOMEBODY, moves in who is absolutely opposed to the old nature, and that is where the fight begins. Undoubtedly this is what Paul meant when he said,

“For 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.” - Galatians 5:17

That is also why Paul said in the 7th of Romans:

“For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me.” - Romans 7:19-21

Paul was honest enough to face it, not foolish enough to deny it. And thirty-five years after Paul was saved, he was willing to admit:

“For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing.” - Romans 7:18

If there is anything we need to learn today, it is to recognize the enemy, not to ignore him, not to discount him, not to deny his presence but to recognize the presence within our own selves of the old nature along with the new.

ABRAHAM’S GREAT MISTAKE

Abraham didn’t recognize this as he should, and had to learn it by a very bitter experience. And here it all came out. All it needed was the prodding of impatience. All God had to do to prove to Abraham that he could not stand in his own strength, was to delay the answer to his promise, and the old man came to the surface immediately. Just let the right circumstances come along, and you too will find it out, my friend, that within every saint there is still the potentiality of sinning, and when people come to me and say, “my old nature is all gone and dead and eradicated, root and branch,” I simply ask, “Would you like to have me talk to your wife about this matter?” and that usually ends the argument.

Our Lord Jesus Himself said in speaking to Nicodemus:

“That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” - John 3:6

This is a statement that should be studied very, very carefully. Flesh is flesh, and it can never be improved, and it can never be changed. In the new birth, flesh does not become spirit, but flesh remains flesh. It may be Presbyterian, or Baptist, or Brethren, or Congregational, or any kind of flesh. It may be Italian, or Holland, or German, or American, but it is still sinful, Adamic flesh. It may be black flesh, or red or pink or yellow, or any other kind of flesh, but it always will remain the flesh, and if we know our own hearts, we will say with Paul, “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh), dwelleth no good thing.”

You are by your first birth so depraved, corrupt, and hopeless, that even God will not seek to save the flesh. He seems to say, “I’ll have to make something brand new, and I’ll put that in, and it will give you the faith and the power to conquer the old.” That is what God says. “Fixing up the old man”—that is what man himself tries to do, and the Lord allows man to try it by every conceivable means, but it always ends in failure. Man tries to fix himself up, and to correct the old nature, by education, morality, understanding, by teaching, by conference and by religion, and things of that kind. They speak of the dignity of man, and the spark of divinity in man, which only needs a little development, and the inherent goodness of man, but God says:

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” - Jeremiah 17:9

The old nature is so corrupt, that God Himself will not bother to do anything with it. The reason we have to be born the second time, from above, then is simply this, that the first time we were born we were born all wrong. It happens to be a physical fact, and as a physician I can testify to this, having attended hundreds and hundreds of childbirths, it happens to be an obstetrical fact that children normally come into the world “up-side-down,” physically “up-side-down.” Now of course, we don’t make too much of that fact, but it is suggestive at least, so that when God takes hold of that man, with his head already pointing down toward hell, He turns him around, and starts him upward, to heaven. Now this is what God says:

“Except a man be born from above, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” - John 3:3

And so poor Abraham gave way to the old nature of the flesh. I want to give a warning here for each and every one of us. The safest and the best thing any believer can do is to recognize the presence of the flesh. We receive a great deal of mail from people who tell us that they haven’t sinned for ten, fifteen, or twenty years, and all we can say to them is that this is absolutely contrary to the Word of God. It is contradicting the Almighty Himself. We are but to remember that sin is not an act, but sin is an attitude, and a condition of the heart. Sin is not an action of the body or of the hand, but a condition of the human heart. Paul tells us, “all have sinned and come short of the glory of God," and Solomon tells us that “there is not a man that sinneth not.” I don't know of a better definition of sin than what Paul says, “coming short of the glory of God.”

And so there are none, until the day of their death, or the day of their glorification when Jesus comes, if they are alive, who will not still carry with them all the potentialities of the old nature, and except by the grace of God, they be kept down, the tragedy of Abram’s life is too often repeated. It happens to be a fact that a saint who has walked with God many, many years, can sometimes fall to lower depths, and do meaner, more wicked things, than the world would even think of doing. If we don’t believe this, we have but to turn to the Word of God. We think of Peter as he cursed and denied his Lord. We think of Noah who became drunk after the flood, or Solomon, or David, a believer; and the example of Abraham in itself ought to prove this, who was the friend of God, and the father of the faithful, and yet willing to sell the honor of his own wife in order to save his own skin, when he lied about her in Egypt, and again in Gerar. And still he has not yet learned his lesson. Here he is at the age of 86, and he listens to the voice of Sarai as she tempts him, and seems to say, “God has forgotten all about his promise,” and Abraham raises up a fleshly seed, Ishmael, which became a thorn in his own flesh, a sorrow in his tent, and the occasion for malcontent and difficulty, and misunderstanding, even in his own home, and today almost four thousand years after, the Arabs, the direct descendants of Ishmael, are still the traditional enemies of the Jews, the sons of Isaac.

THIRTEEN MISERABLE YEARS

And Abraham lived in that tent for thirteen long barren years, because he could not wait, because his patience was exhausted, and he could not believe God to the end, but took things in his own hands, and walked after the flesh, instead of after the Spirit. Now this is possible for every child of God, and so Paul warns us:

“Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” - 1 Corinthians 10:12

I think, therefore, that we ought to be very, very tender and gracious and longsuffering to those who do fall, realizing that we, except for the grace of God, would be in the same condition. Our hope is not denying our sin, but recognizing and confessing it. Now you may say, “I don’t believe this, I don’t belive that this is the teaching of the Word of God,” for I read in the 1st epistle of John 3:9:

“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.”

People write in and say, “What do you do with this? Does this not teach sinless perfection?” I certainly believe this to be the Word of God, but there happens to be another verse which John quotes before this one, and we always like to take things in their proper order. This previous verse occurs in the 1st chapter of the 1st epistle of John where John is speaking about this very matter, and he says this:

“If we (not talking about sinners, but about himself and us) say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” - 1 John 1:8

John says we’re not fooling anybody, we’re only deceiving ourselves. “We are deceiving ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” This is a very serious accusation which John hurls at those who would claim that they are living without sin. This is what God says, “You are not fooling me, for you still have within you that old nature, which no matter how, by the grace of God it may be kept down by victory, is still ABLE to sin.” In the 10th verse of this same chapter we read this:

“If we say that we have not sinned, (again WE) we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.” - 1 John 1:10

WE MAKE HIM A LIAR AND HIS WORD IS NOT IN US. The Lord says, to claim that you do not have sin, you are making God a liar and you do not know your own heart, and you do not know your own nature, nor do you know the Word of God. Here is our remedy in the 9th verse, placed right between these two verses, and we ought to face it as God has given it to us. John says,

“If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” - 1 John 1:9

Our entire hope lies then, not in denying our sin, or sinfulness, not in despairing when we fail, but in facing the fact and in recognizing it, and confessing it, and then looking to God for the victory, instead of our own fleshly efforts, or our own strength and endeavors, or closing our eyes to the fact.

But you say, it still says in St John 3:9:

“Whoso is born of God doth not commit sin; for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.

What are you going to do with that passage? We’re coming to that now. I realize that many Bible teachers have tried to get out of this apparent difficulty by reading something into the verse which is not there, and they tell us it should read this way: “Whosoever is born of God doth not “practice” or “continue in” sin.” Well, if we do not go any farther than that, it may sound reasonable, but beloved, there are two things wrong with this interpretation. First of all, it isn’t true to the text, and second, I wouldn’t dare to preach that a little sinning is not so bad, as long as we do not continue in it, and practice it. If we only play around with it a little bit, and dabble a little with sin, it’s all right, but we are not to go too far. In other words, we must not “practice” it. I for one would never dare to preach a doctrine of that kind:— Whosoever is born of God doth not practice sin. The verse says whosoever is born of God never once will commit a single sin.

Now the word used in this verse for “commit sin” is “Poeio.” The word for “Practice” is “Prasso.” Wherever the Bible means “Practice” the word, ‘Prasso”, is always used, and when you go to your lexicon or concordance, you will find that the word, ‘Poeio” means “to commit a single act of sin” in distinction from “Prasso” which means “to continually practice sin.” Now when John says, “whosoever is born of God doth not commit a single sin” he uses the word, “Poeio,” not the word, “Prasso,” and then he goes on, “for his seed remaineth in him: and he cannot sin, because he is born of God.” This man about whom John is talking not only never commits a single sin, but it is impossible for him ever to commit a single sin, because he is born of God. Now I hope that you will see what the answer is. In 1st John, chapter 1, John is talking about the old Adam, the OLD man, which can do nothing else but sin, and concerning him he says, “if we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.” But in 1st John 3:9 he is talking about the NEW nature of the believer, “that which is born of God” and not that which is “born of the flesh.” This will become immediately apparent if you will look carefully at the verse. It begins and it ends with the same words: He says, “whosoever is BORN OF GOD,” and then you will notice that the last three words of this verse are again, BORN OF GOD. It is very evident then, that John in 1 John 3:10 is talking about the new nature and the new man, that which is born of God, in distinction from the old, which is born of the flesh. It is not necessary for us to twist the Greek words around to make them fit our theology, for fear that someone would have an argument. It is here, and John recognizes it frankly, and says “whatsoever is BORN OF GOD doth not commit sin.” It is the nature of God, it is the life of God, it is the new man which will not sin, and not only that it CANNOT sin, it is impossible for it to sin. Abraham had to find this out, and so we go back once more to Abraham, before we conclude this message, and repeat the Scripture:

“Now Sarai Abram’s wife bare him no children: and she had an handmaid, an Egyptian, whose name was Hagar. And Sarai said unto Abram, Behold now, the Lord has restrained me from bearing: I pray thee go in unto my maid; it may be that I may obtain children by her. And Abram hearkened to the voice of Sarai.” - Gen. 16:1-2

Abram hearkened to the voice of the flesh. Through his impatience, thinking that God had delayed the answer to His promise too long, he took things into his own hands. Ah, is not this the greatest temptation in the Christian life, many times. The hardest test in our life is to wait for God’s answer to our prayer and our desire. It causes more sin, unbelief, and grief, because we can’t wait. Yes, God answers prayer, but we can’t order Him or hurry Him. He hears our petition, but we cannot tell Him how and when He is to answer our petitions. He Himself reserves to Himself the privilege of determining the “when” and the “how.” Before Abraham could become the great example of overcoming, victorious faith which we find in the 22nd chapter when he sacrifices Isaac, he had to learn all of these lessons, and the greatest lesson he had to learn was that he in his own strength could do absolutely nothing. Do you realize, Christian, that impatience is sin as well as other things? Doubt is sin. Unwillingness to take God at His Word, and asking for more evidence, and taking things into our own hands is sin. And so, God by letting Abraham fall and showing him by his very fall, what a terrible thing the flesh within him was, was preparing him for the great victory of faith, which was to indentify him as the father of the faithful, and the friend of God. If you want victory in your life, there is only one way that it can be obtained, and that is to face frankly the fact that in your own strength you can do absolutely nothing, but with Paul to say:

“I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.” - Philippians 4:13

In conclusion, let me quote the words of Solomon, in Proverbs 28:13,

“He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” Proverbs 28:13

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