The Knowledge of Good and Evil

Next Part The Knowledge of Good and Evil 2

"For the good that I would do—I do not. But the evil which I would not do—that I do." Romans 7:19

Doubts will sometimes cross the mind as to the truth and inspiration of the Scriptures; but doubts will more often cross the mind as to the truth and reality of our own experience. Now there are certain considerations that are calculated to meet these doubts, whether they arise from infidelity, or whether they spring from unbelief. For instance—if we find that several children of God in distinct places, and under different circumstances, all testify to the same feelings, and if we find in our hearts the same feelings, we have so far an evidence that they are genuine. Again; if we find the experience of these people and our experience, as similar to theirs, recorded in the Word of God, it is a confirmation, not merely of the truth of the Scripture, but also of the truth of their and our experience.

I will illustrate this by what has occurred to me since I have been in London. A short time ago, I went to see a poor woman who has been bedridden more than four years, and during that space of time has scarcely ever been free from pain for a quarter of an hour. Now, she told me that all the bodily pains she had undergone were as nothing compared to the inward conflict produced by a body of sin and death struggling against the life of God in her soul. I can say the same. I have had my trials; trials of body, trials of circumstances, trials of mind, trials of different kinds; but I never found any trial equal to the internal conflict caused by a body of sin and death. A short time afterwards, I went to see another bedridden woman who had been confined to a bed of languishing about the same space of time. Talking of her bodily sufferings, without my mentioning what I had felt, she said, "All this pain and languishing is nothing compared to the pain I feel from the workings of sin in my carnal mind." There was the same distinct independent evidence, and the same response in my bosom.

When I go to the Word of God, I find the Apostle Paul expressing exactly the same feelings, "O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?" When he was suffering under persecution, there was no such piteous cry. When the stones came thick and fast round his head, we read of no such mournful groan. Yes, he tells us, he took "pleasure in infirmities, in persecutions, in reproaches for Christ's sake." They wrung no cry from his bosom. In the jail at Philippi, with his back sore with stripes, and his feet fast in the stocks, he and his fellow-prisoner sang praises unto God. (Acts 16:25.) But the workings of sin in his carnal mind, the opposition of his depraved nature to the grace of God—it was that, and that alone, which made him feel himself to be truly a "wretched man."

Now is not this a confirmation of the two points I have alluded to? Is it not, first, a striking testimony to the truth of the Scripture, when we find in it our own experience traced out? And is it not, secondly, a confirmation also of the truth and genuineness of our experience, when we find it consistent, not only with the Scripture, but also with the experience of those in whom we see distinctly the grace of God?

And this, I believe, is the great blessing which the church has derived from the seventh chapter of the Epistle to the Romans. God having inspired his holy Apostle there to write down his own personal experience, and depict in vivid colors the inward work of the law and the pressure of the body of sin and death, it has met with such an echo and found such a response in the bosom of God's family, as to prove to them again and again a rich mine of comfort and strength.

In considering the words of the text this evening, I shall endeavor to speak upon them according to the two clauses, as they lie before us—"For the good that I would do—I do not. But the evil which I would not do—that I do."

I. "For the good that I would do—I do not." When man fell, he fell utterly. He did not fall half way, but he fell completely. And, in fact, a creature that falls at all from righteousness never can fall in any other way than completely. When the angels fell, they fell to the thorough extent of angelic nature; and when man fell, he fell to very depth of human nature. The fall of devils and the fall of man only differed in this—that the one fell to the full extent of angelic nature, and the other to the full extent of human nature. So that there is no medium, no compromise, no half way; but man in falling, fell to the very deepest point to which human nature could fall.

When the Lord is pleased, by a work of grace upon the heart, to bring his people to a knowledge of himself he bestows upon them that which is communicable of his own nature, as we read "partakers of the divine nature." Now when the Lord communicates to the soul this new nature, he gives it a new understanding; a new conscience, a new will, and new affections. The understanding of man's heart by nature is dark, depraved, benighted, and besotted; he therefore needs a new understanding, a new spiritual understanding, whereby to perceive spiritual things; for "the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God." No natural understanding, however elevated or refined, can ever receive, know, or appreciate spiritual things. "The eyes of your understanding being enlightened." This is called in Scripture, "the opening of the eyes."

But besides this, man's conscience by nature is seared; it cannot distinguish between good and evil; it is unable to feel the spirituality of God's law, or to distinguish things that differ; it is unable to believe that what God has commanded must be obeyed, and what God has threatened must be accomplished.

But further; man's will by nature is as depraved as his understanding and his conscience. This carnal will chooses and delights in evil, revels in it, and has no desire except in the gratification of self and the indulgence of its lusts. Man therefore needs a new will, that his new will may choose what God approves of, and turn away from that which he forbids; that his new will may be enlisted upon the side of God and truth, to love the things that he loves and hate the things that he hates.

Man's affections also, by nature are earthly, carnal, and sensual, entirely bent on the gratification of self. He therefore needs the communication of new, holy, and spiritual affections, whereby his will not merely chooses what is good, but the affections also, the tender affections of the heart flow out toward it, desire it, and center in it.

Now this new nature that the Lord thus creates in the soul, consisting of this new understanding, new conscience, new will, and new affections, is always enlisted upon the side of God and truth. It always must approve of that which God approves; and it always must abhor that which he hates. But so long as we are in this tabernacle, we shall have our old understanding, our old conscience, our old will, and our old affections. And these being susceptible of no amelioration, these undergoing no process whereby they are refined, purified, and made better, will always be bent upon that evil into which they fell when our first progenitor fell from original purity. Our natural understanding will always be darkened, our natural conscience always be hard, our natural will always be towards evil, and our natural affections always cleave to the world and the flesh.

Hence springs the conflict. My enlightened understanding and my darkened understanding; my new conscience and my old conscience; my renewed will and my unregenerated will; my heavenly affections and my earthly affections, will always lust one against the other—"for the flesh lusts against the spirit, and the spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary the one to the other, so that you cannot do the things that you would."

The Apostle felt the conflict which springs from the inward workings of these two distinct principles in his bosom, when he said, "The good that I would do, I do not; but the evil which I would not do, that I do." If you observe he speaks of the will as enlisted on the side of God; his heart, his new heart, was bent Godwards—sincerely, earnestly, and spiritually desiring to know the will of God, and do it. There was his new heart, his enlightened understanding, his spiritual conscience, and his heavenly affections all enlisted on the side of God; and yet, through the depravity of his fallen nature, he was continually drawn aside from the path in which he would gladly walk, and continually diverted into that crooked road into which he ever dreaded to fall.

But let us, with somewhat more clearness and distinctness, trace out some of the particulars in which "the good we would do, we do not."

1. We would WORSHIP God in spirit and in truth. That is a good thing. It is one of the good gifts that come down from the Father of lights; it is what every regenerated man desires to feel and follow after; it is what every quickened soul loves to perform. But when we would worship God in spirit and in truth, when we would feel that his eye is upon us, when we would pour out our heart before him in simplicity and godly sincerity, when we would offer spiritual sacrifices, and render acceptable worship, "the good that we would do, we do not." Something base, carnal, filthy, or self-righteous thing springs out of our depraved nature which renders us utterly unable to do the things that we would. We cannot worship God as we would in spirit and in truth. It is a mercy to be able to offer spiritual worship for one five minutes—aye, shall I further limit it?—one minute! Real spiritual worship, a sensible feeling of God's presence, a heartfelt prostration of spirit before him, the pouring out of our soul simply and spiritually into his bosom—one minute's spiritual worship of this nature is worth a whole day's prayer meeting without it. But we cannot do it; it is only so far as the Lord works in us to will and to do of his own good pleasure that we can offer these spiritual sacrifices.

2. We would BELIEVE in the Lord of life and glory. We would receive him into our heart as our Lord and our God. We would live upon his atoning blood as our only availing sacrifice. We would trust in his propitiation for sin, as our only pardon and peace. We would look to his glorious righteousness, as the only robe in which we can stand accepted before God. But we cannot do it. No sooner does the desire to do so spring up in the heart; no sooner is there the child-like simplicity of a believing soul, to look to, trust in, and lean solely upon the bosom of the Lord of life and glory, than some infidel, unbelieving, blasphemous, obscene, daring, presumptuous, or otherwise vile thought crosses our mind, and we are utterly unable to look to and hang upon the Lord Jesus in the way that we spiritually would.

3. We would have a single eye to the glory of God in all that we do. We would consult his will. We would act simply as the Lord has commanded in his word. We would have pure, spiritual, tender motives. We would have such sincerity and honesty of soul Godwards, that all we say, all we think, and all we do, would spring out of singleness of eye to God's glory. This is a good that our soul at times is earnestly bent upon. But "the good that we would do, we do not." Some sensual motive, some vain-glorious thought, some proud desire, some secret lusting of self after its own exaltation, springs up. Our eye becomes darkened; the glory of God is put out of sight; and we cannot do the things, we cannot speak the words, we cannot live nor act to God's glory as we would.

4. We would make the word of God our rule and guide in all things. We would lay it down as a pattern to which our lives should be conformed; we would desire to obey its precepts, and implicitly follow its commands with childlike faith. It is a thing that we desire to do; an attainment that we breathe after in the movements of our soul Godwards. But self-will often crosses the holy word of God; self-will fights against the pure motive that works in the spiritual mind, desiring that God's will should be our will. The attempt is defeated; the flower is crushed in the bloom before it expands; it does not last long enough to become solid fruit; but a chilling blast out of the mouth of self withers the bud before it opens into blossom.

5. We would feel the Lord's presence in our soul. We would have testimony upon testimony that we are the Lord's. We would have smiles, kisses, and embracements from the Lord of life and glory. We would have sign upon sign, token upon token, that we are savingly interested in his precious love and blood. This is a good thing. It is good that the heart should thus be established with grace. But we cannot do the things that we would; we cannot procure these love smiles, love kisses, love testimonies, and love embracements. Sometimes our heart is so hard, our mind so dark, and our affections so wandering from the Lord, that we have not even a desire to feel in our souls the presence of him whose love is heaven begun below.

6. We would desire to have the mind and likeness of Jesus stamped upon our soul. We would desire to be led into a fellowship with his sufferings, and to be made conformable unto his death. We would put on his holy image. We would be clothed with humility after his pattern. We would walk in his footsteps who was meek and lowly in heart. But we cannot do the good that we would. We cannot, as we gladly would do, have stamped upon our mind the likeness and image of Jesus; and if we have it for a few moments stamped upon our hearts, it is like a child writing his name upon the sand by the sea-shore; the first wave that comes blots its out, and leaves not a trace behind. So, if for a few moments we feel gentle, humble, quiet, meek-hearted, and have communion with the Lord of life and glory in his sufferings; if a trickling tear sometimes distills from the weeping eye; if there be some melting sensations towards the suffering, bleeding Lamb of God—no sooner has the Spirit traced out that writing in our heart, that a wave of corruption comes over the marks of his gracious fingers, so that we can scarcely read the impression that his touch has left. "The good that we would do, we do not."

7. To live in every respect agreeable to the gospel; so that when reviled, not to revile again; when smitten on the one cheek, to turn the other; to live a life of communion with God, of separation from the world, of deadness to the things of time and sense, of real looking unto and living upon the Lord of life and glory, so as to live a life of faith and prayer carried on by the power of the Spirit in the heart—this is a good thing; we would desire to do it; we would desire to feel it; we would desire it should be carried out in our life and conversation. But alas! of this we must say also, "The good that we would do, we do not."

8. That our words might be such as should be consistent with our profession; that our actions should not be such as the enemies of the gospel, and even the friends of the gospel, might justly point out as unbecoming—is a good at times we desire; especially when we have been pierced by the sting of guilt, or when we have had some views of the Lord of life and glory, and have had some pantings of heart that we might know him, and the power of his resurrection. "But the good that we would do, we do not." Self, pride, vain glory, sin, corruption in various shapes and forms, intertwine with every thought, speak in every word, and run as in a stream through every action.

I have compared sin sometimes to the thread that marks the cordage of the ships in Her Majesty's service. Every rope and every sail has a red thread running through it; you may cut the rope or hack the sail into a thousand parts, still there is the red thread to serve as a mark to detect it if plundered. So it is spiritually. Cut your heart to pieces, tear it to threads, mutilate it into a thousand fragments—the thread of sin remains intertwining, interlacing, and intermingling itself with every thought, every desire, and every imagination. There it is; you may cut the heart to pieces, but you cannot cut that thread out.

Now it is this which makes the Lord's people such a burdened people; that makes them so oppressed in their souls as to cry out against themselves daily, and sometimes hourly, that they are what they are; that they would be spiritual, yet are carnal; that they would be holy, yet are unholy; that they would believe in the Lord, yet are often unable to raise up any faith in his name; that they would have sweet communion with a risen Jesus, and yet have such sensual union with the things of time and sense; that they would be Christians throughout in every part, in word, thought, and deed, yet, in spite of all, feel their carnal mind, their wretched depravity intertwining, interlacing, gushing forth, contaminating with its polluted stream everything without and within, so as to make them sigh, groan, and cry being burdened. "What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death?" Romans 7:24

Next Part The Knowledge of Good and Evil 2

Back to J. C. Philpot Sermons