Featured There is No Natural Goodness in Me

"The transgressions of the wicked saith within my heart, that there is no fear of God before his eyes."—Psalms 36:1.

How striking is this scripture, and how true! Yes, my soul; thou needest not to look abroad into another's heart to see iniquity; for at home, in thine own, a voice may be heard continually proclaiming it. Renewed as thou art by grace, still thou feelest the workings of corrupt nature: and though, as the apostle said, "with thy mind thou thyself servest the law of God, yet with thy flesh the law of sin," Romans 7:25. Pause over the solemn subject, and observe the working of a body of sin and death, which is virtually all sin: "the carnal mind, (the apostle saith) is enmity against God," Romans 8:7; not only an enemy, but in enmity: so that the very nature is so; it is averse, naturally averse to God, and is everlastingly rising in opposition to his holy law. And this not only (as some have supposed, but all men, if they would confess the truth, find to the contrary) before a work of grace hath passed upon the soul, but after. Else wherefore doth the apostle say, "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. He saith this to the regenerate, to the church at large. And consequently this conflict is after grace hath been manifested to the soul, and not before. A sinner unawakened may indeed feel at times compunctions of conscience, and be alarmed at what will be the consequence of his sins: but these are only the alarms of conscience, not the workings of grace: and for the most part, these alarms are but momentary. His affections are all on the side of sin. His soul still remains "dead in trespasses and sins;" and he himself, like a dead fish, swims down the stream of sin uninterrupted, without resistance, and without concern. But when a child of God is renewed, and the soul, that was before dead in trespasses and sins, becomes quickened and regenerated; then it is that the conflict between the renewed part in grace, and the unrenewed part in nature, begins, and never ends but with life. My soul, hath the Lord taught thee this, made thee sensible of it, and caused thee to groan under it? Dost thou find this heart of thine rebelling against God; cold to divine things, but warm to natural enjoyments; framing excuses to keep thee from sweet communion with the Lord; and even in the moment of communion, running with a swarm of vain thoughts, that "like the flies in the ointment of the apothecary causeth it to send forth an ill savour?" Are these in thy daily, hourly, experience? Why then the transgressions of the wicked saith within thine heart, and not another's for thee, this solemn truth, there is no fear of God at such seasons before the eyes of thy sinful body: "for by the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil," Proverbs 16:6. Oh! precious, precious Jesus! how increasingly dear, under this view of a nature so totally corrupt, art thou to my poor soul! What but the eternal and unceasing efficacy of thy blood and righteousness could give my soul the smallest confidence, when I find that I still carry about with me such a body of sin and death? Let those who know not the plague of their own heart, talk of natural goodness; sure I am, there is nothing of the kind in me. "I know that in me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no good thing." And were it not, dearest Lord, for the holiness of thy person, blood, and righteousness, the very sins which mingle up with all I say or do, yea, even in prayer, would seal my condemnation. Lamb of God! it is the everlasting merit of thy atonement and intercession, thy blood sprinkled upon my person and offering, by which alone the justice of God is restrained and satisfied, and that it breaks not forth in devouring fire, as upon the sacrifice of old, to consume me upon my very knees! Blessed, blessed for ever be God for Jesus Christ!

- Robert Hawker, The Poor Man's Morning and Evening Portions, May 10, Evening

 

Adam fell into sin and corrupted the entire human race.

Romans 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned.

Only in the sense that God's elect really know nothing about warring with their own vile fleshly nature until after the Holy Spirit has regenerated them. I know that I have certainly found that to be the case in my own life.

The Apostle Paul himself, in Romans chapter 7, described his war with his fleshly nature(God's elect have their souls redeemed while living on this earth, their bodies will be redeemed when Christ comes again and gets rid of this present heavens and earth and replaces them with the new heavens and earth wherein dwells righteousness). Yet even with his struggle, that all of God's elect have throughout their life on this earth after the Holy Spirit has regenerated them, Paul had this to proclaim:

Romans 7:24-25 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

 

Then you do not know yourself, or others, as you need to.

Isaiah 64:6 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

Galatians 5:17 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.

Philippians 3:20-21 For our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ: who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto himself.

 

As we are seeing in some of the comments on this thread, there are those who fail to see that that in Luke 18:9-14, their mindset is like that of the Pharisee, not the publican.

 

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

 

And what did the apostle Paul conclude about all of that? Philippians 3:7 But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ.

 

The apostle Paul, in Romans chapter 7, is describing that deep, inward personal struggle that all of God's elect, after the Holy Spirit regenerates them, deal with throughout the remainder of their time on this earth, be they Jew or Gentile. Paul is writing about a present struggle for him. For God's elect he concludes with:

Romans 7:24-25 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

He wrote, "wretched man that I am", not "wretched man that I was". He asks "who shall deliver me", not "thank God I was delivered". He wrote, "I myself serve", not "did serve", the law of God with his mind and the law of sin with his flesh.

 

Where did you get the idea that "the things of the Spirit of God" should really have been written "the spiritual solid food things of the Spirit of God"?

 

The natural man is referring to every person whom the Holy Spirit has not regenerated.

 

Every unregenerated person must first be regenerated(born again, born from above) by the Holy Spirit in order to understand spiritual things correctly.