BLJ: When a person receives salvation (first work of grace), they still have the old man in their heart. In salvation, your sins, acts of sin, are forgiven. In entire sanctification (second work of grace), sin as a nature is removed from your heart. That is why we can shout, salvation full and free! God's plan covers the entire sin problem, both acts and nature.
THE OLD MAN IN A JUSTIFIED HEART
THE OLD MAN IN A JUSTIFIED HEART
This is a continuation of the last chapter. The old man lives in the heart of one who is truly born again. He lives but does not reign. In the sinner's heart he reigns. He is in the heart of the justified against the Spirit of God. Outside of the Word of God, we have no better authority than John Wesley, who, like Paul, had a special dispensation of the Gospel committed unto him.
"The sum of all is this: There are in every person, even after he is justified, two contrary principles, nature and grace, termed, by St. Paul, the flesh and the Spirit. Hence, although even babes in Christ are sanctified, yet it is only in part. In a degree, according to the measure of their faith, they are spiritual; yet, in a degree, they are carnal. Accordingly, believers are continually exhorted to watch against the flesh, as well as the world and the devil. And to this agrees the constant experience of the children of God. While they feel this witness in themselves, they feel a will not wholly resigned to the will of God. They know they are in Him, and yet find a heart ready to depart from Him, a proneness to evil in many instances, and a backwardness to that which is good. The contrary doctrine (that we are entirely sanctified at conversion) is wholly new, never heard of in the Church of Christ from the time of His coming into the world till the time of Count Zinzendorf, and it is attended with the most fatal consequences. It cuts off all watching against our evil nature, against the Delilah which we are told is gone, though she is still lying in our bosom. It tears away the shield of weak believers, deprives them of their faith, and so leaves them exposed to all the assaults of the world, the flesh, and the devil."
When asked if one who is justified did not have the manifestations of perfect love, he replied: "What! Total resignation to the will of God, without any mixture of self-will? Gentleness without any touch of anger, even the moment we are provoked? Love to God, without the least love to the creature, but in and for God, excluding all pride? Love to man, excluding all envy, all jealousy, and rash judging? Meekness keeping the whole soul inviolably calm? And temperance in all things? Deny that any ever came up to this, if you please; but do not say all who are justified do."
Again he says: "There does still remain, even in them that are justified, a mind which is in some measure carnal (so the apostle tells even the believers at Corinth, 'Ye are carnal'); a heart bent to backsliding, still ever ready to 'depart from the living God;' a propensity to pride, self-will, anger, revenge, love of the world, yea, and all evil; a root of bitterness, which, if the restraint were taken off for a moment, would instantly spring up; yea, such a depth of corruption, as, without clear light from God, we can not possibly conceive." Also "Though we readily acknowledge 'he that believeth is born of God,' and 'he that is born of God doth not commit sin,' yet we can not allow that he does not feel it within; it does not reign, but it does remain."
Concerning Paul's message to the Corinthians, he writes: " 'I, brethren, could not speak unto you as unto spiritual, but as unto carnal, as unto babes in Christ. Ye are yet carnal; for whereas there is among you envying and strife, are ye not carnal?' (Chap. 3:1-3.) Now here the apostle speaks unto those who were unquestionably believers, whom, in the same breath, he styles his brethren in Christ, as being still, in a measure, carnal. He affirms, there was envying (an evil temper), occasioning strife among them, and yet does not give the least intimation that they had lost their faith. Nay, he manifestly declares they had not; for then they would not have been babes in Christ. And (what is most remarkable of all) he speaks of being carnal and babes in Christ, as one
and the same thing, plainly showing that every believer is (in a degree) carnal, while he is only a babe in Christ."
Again he writes: "From what has been said, we may easily learn the mischievousness of that opinion, that we are wholly sanctified when we are justified; that our hearts are then cleansed from all sin. It is true, we are then delivered, as was observed before, from the dominion of outward sin; and, at the same time, the power of inward sin is so broken, that we need no longer follow, or be led by it: but it is by no means true, that inward sin is then totally destroyed, that the root of pride, self-will, anger, love of the world, is then taken out of the heart; or that the carnal mind and the heart bent to backsliding, are entirely extirpated. And to suppose the contrary is not, as some may think, an innocent, harmless mistake. No: it does immense harm: it entirely blocks up the way to any farther change: for it is manifest, 'They that are whole do not need a physician, but they that are sick.' If, therefore, we think we are quite made whole already, there is no room to seek any farther healing. On this sup position it is absurd to expect a farther deliverance from sin, whether gradual or instantaneous.
"On the contrary, a deep conviction that we are not yet whole; that our hearts are not fully purified; that there is yet in us a 'carnal mind,' which is still in its nature 'enmity against God;' that a whole body of sin remains in our heart, weakened indeed, but not destroyed; shows, beyond all possibility of doubt, the absolute necessity of a farther change."
One more quotation: "You may obtain a growing victory over sin from the moment you are justified. But this is not enough. The body of sin, the carnal mind, must be destroyed; the old man must be slain."
In harmony with these quotations from John Wesley is the experience of the twelve Apostles. In His prayer for them, in the seventeenth of John, Jesus states that they were genuinely converted. He left no question mark as to this. Nothing is more clearly stated in the Word. A study of their lives gives us a deep insight into the workings of carnality in a believer. They had a man-fearing spirit, they had a spirit contrary to perfect love, they had a spirit of revenge (See Luke 9:54, 55), they had unbelief mixed with their faith, and a hardness of heart contrary to a holy state, they were guilty of seeking the honor that comes from man, they were guilty of having suspicion one of another, they wanted to hinder those who did not see just as they did, they were lacking in pure humility, they were lacking in long-suffering, and to climax the whole matter they were guilty of seeking to be the greatest. One of the strongest evidences of the old man in their hearts was, that IN THE VERY SHADOW OF THE CROSS, they were contending about who should be the greatest. This harmonizes also with the experience of justified hearts in all ages. The Bible and experience both teach that there remains in the heart of a regenerated person a state or condition contrary to love. This state or condition must be cleansed before one can experience perfect love.
Again he writes: "From what has been said, we may easily learn the mischievousness of that opinion, that we are wholly sanctified when we are justified; that our hearts are then cleansed from all sin. It is true, we are then delivered, as was observed before, from the dominion of outward sin; and, at the same time, the power of inward sin is so broken, that we need no longer follow, or be led by it: but it is by no means true, that inward sin is then totally destroyed, that the root of pride, self-will, anger, love of the world, is then taken out of the heart; or that the carnal mind and the heart bent to backsliding, are entirely extirpated. And to suppose the contrary is not, as some may think, an innocent, harmless mistake. No: it does immense harm: it entirely blocks up the way to any farther change: for it is manifest, 'They that are whole do not need a physician, but they that are sick.' If, therefore, we think we are quite made whole already, there is no room to seek any farther healing. On this sup position it is absurd to expect a farther deliverance from sin, whether gradual or instantaneous.
"On the contrary, a deep conviction that we are not yet whole; that our hearts are not fully purified; that there is yet in us a 'carnal mind,' which is still in its nature 'enmity against God;' that a whole body of sin remains in our heart, weakened indeed, but not destroyed; shows, beyond all possibility of doubt, the absolute necessity of a farther change."
One more quotation: "You may obtain a growing victory over sin from the moment you are justified. But this is not enough. The body of sin, the carnal mind, must be destroyed; the old man must be slain."
In harmony with these quotations from John Wesley is the experience of the twelve Apostles. In His prayer for them, in the seventeenth of John, Jesus states that they were genuinely converted. He left no question mark as to this. Nothing is more clearly stated in the Word. A study of their lives gives us a deep insight into the workings of carnality in a believer. They had a man-fearing spirit, they had a spirit contrary to perfect love, they had a spirit of revenge (See Luke 9:54, 55), they had unbelief mixed with their faith, and a hardness of heart contrary to a holy state, they were guilty of seeking the honor that comes from man, they were guilty of having suspicion one of another, they wanted to hinder those who did not see just as they did, they were lacking in pure humility, they were lacking in long-suffering, and to climax the whole matter they were guilty of seeking to be the greatest. One of the strongest evidences of the old man in their hearts was, that IN THE VERY SHADOW OF THE CROSS, they were contending about who should be the greatest. This harmonizes also with the experience of justified hearts in all ages. The Bible and experience both teach that there remains in the heart of a regenerated person a state or condition contrary to love. This state or condition must be cleansed before one can experience perfect love.
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