3 / 16
The Amish Voice 3
things are just as separate from the old as
day from night. The moment we get that
new nature, then the warfare begins.
I never had any conflict with myself till I
was born of God. I had a pretty good
opinion of myself, till I got a new nature.
But then the warfare began, and it has
gone on ever since; though, thank God,
He can give me the victory. If a man says
he is not at war with himself, it is a pretty
good sign he has not a heavenly nature.
When you find a man with a bad nature, a
mean, contemptible disposition, a mean
temper, and he is praying to Christ to
overcome it, you may know that he has
become a partaker of the Divine nature,
and he can get strength from God to get
victory. I have more respect for a woman
with a mean, contemptible nature, who is
trying to overcome it, than I have for
those who are naturally pretty good and
do not want to become any better. You
do not know the struggle some of these
people have that you look down upon.
They come into this world with a mean,
contemptible nature; and Christ has
overcome them, so that you can get along
with them. I do not know how we could
live with a good many people, but for this
grace of God. The natural man lives for
himself; but when he is born of God, he
lives for God; he gets outside of himself,
and God calls out the noblest part of his
nature. Then we are following in the
footsteps of our Master, and we receive
his Spirit. We live like him,
and talk like him, and act
like him; and then we are in
harmony with God, and live
as God would have us live.
In the 7th and 8th chapters of
Romans, you find the
conflict going on between
these two natures. Paul had
that conflict. He was not
freed from the old nature
when he was converted.
Read
those
chapters
carefully, and you will find
that he had the same conflict
with the flesh that most of us
have. Often we do the very thing we hate.
Perhaps we have let our tempers get the
better of us, and then have had to
apologize. We ought to reckon ourselves
dead, not say we are dead. Some have an
idea that the old man is dead and cast out,
and they are not going to have any more
trouble with him. Satan so blinds us. If
the old man were dead, we would not
have to watch him; and yet, over and
over again, Christ tells the disciples to
watch. You do not know when the old
nature will come up, like a tiger let loose.
If the old nature were dead, you would
not have to watch it. Now if we keep the
old man crucified, as we ought to, and
put on the new man, we can walk in the
light of the world; we need not have any
dark ways. But we have to keep our eyes
on the Master, and watch and pray. Then
it is all the time peace and joy. You know
it is impossible for a man or woman to
walk in darkness that follows Christ.
I want to call your attention to this one
truth of the two natures; and I would like
to ask if you would take time this week,
any of you who are troubled about your
conversion and look up this subject. The
first ten years of my Christian
experience, I had a good many conflicts
with myself; and the question often came
up, have I been converted? If so, how is it
that my old temptations and desires come
back? How is it I long sometimes to do
the things I once used to do? I found,
after I had been a Christian ten years, that
God never took away my old nature. God
gave me a new one, and the two remain.
If I don't keep down my old man, he will
come up and lead me into bondage and
darkness. The question is, Have you got
the new nature? Have you become a
partaker of the Divine nature? If you
have, it is a sign you have been born
again.
The next thing we get is a new name;
and God gives us a name. When we are
brought into the family of God, the
household of faith, we get a new name.
We are no longer lost sinners, but the
sons of the High God. We are made
perfect in Christ, clothed in his garments;
we are made sons and daughters of God.
We have a birthright, and it is a name.
We are not only born into the family of
God, but adopted. When we are born into
the family of God, and become partakers
of his nature, we take his name. The only
way to get into that family is to be born
in; we cannot educate ourselves in or
work our way in. It is the work of God
that takes us in. No man, until he is born
of God, can say really that he is a
Christian.
Another thing we get is the new way.
We do not walk in the same way as
before we were converted.
A man or
woman who professes Christianity and
yet goes on in the old way has not been
born again. When we are born again, We
are born in a new way; and
Christ is that way himself. We
give up our way, and take his.
The old way leads to death, the
new way to life everlasting. In
the old way, Satan leads us; in
the new way, the Son of God
leads us. We are led by him,
not into bondage and darkness,
but into the way of peace and
joy. A great many people tell us
that they do not believe in the
Old Testament, or in much of
the New; but they believe in the
Ten Commandments, and the
Sermon on the Mount. Some