Leon Fontaine - The Human Condition
I want to talk about the human condition for a moment. Because one of the problems in Christianity, is to hear a truth, but to have never done the work. To never have done the labour of love to see where, how that truth, why it's real. Well, how did that happen? And there's something so precious about God's Word. And, many of us just want to hear the shortcut. But, let's talk about the human condition without Christ. Did you know that, when people don't know Christ, they have an acute sense of condemnation? They have an inferiority complex. You can have somebody who becomes a great actor. You can have somebody who, he seems so confident on the stage in a role. But there is no confidence deep inside, at the spirit realm, which is why after singing to 80.000 screaming fans, who are throwing their clothes at them, they still have to go in the green room afterwards and smoke dope and do a line of coke. Just because they know, that what was presented on the stage, they are not.
And so, the greater you rise up in this world, in people looking at you, worshipping you, wow and awe of you. And if you are not born again, it simply amplifies this sense of condemnation. This inferiority complex that makes us cowards. The way people are before their spirit-man is alive, which is the way we, all of us were if, before we got born again is that we are people of doubt. We naturally doubt everything. We doubt God, we doubt His Word. We have a sin consciousness, which means we never feel good enough. We can never do enough. Anything we have done that is bad, anywhere, all the way back, haunts us, condemns us. And we have a sin consciousness. We know we have no right to approach God. If we were ever to see God, you'd better hide like Adam in the garden, because there is this fear that will make you weak in the knees, and it will make you fall to the ground. Because you and I, without Christ, without this born-again, thing on the inside of us.
If we pray, it's prayers of desperation. Not prayers of faith. And, when we give our lives to Christ, if we don't understand what happens, we can stay in all of that kind of thinking, even though that is no longer us. I want you to know that, you born in this world, me born in this world, we have a highly developed sin consciousness. We have a highly developed sense of inferiority. We have a highly developed sense of unworthiness, and it dominates us. Which is why without Christ, the world is so unhappy, deep in their core. We just watch the news to see who of the richest and the Hollywood, and the band, who's going to take their life next. And it's not just on that level, but it just shows this incredible deep, deep need of every human being. And even the ones who look so happy, and can be comedians and make the whole world laugh, and you find out their families have known forever, they just have never known happiness. This sense of, of humour actually comes out of deep depression in some of their cases.
I want you to understand where you and I come from, or maybe where you still are. And I want to challenge you, that there's a birthright that Jesus has won for you. And you're going to have to make sure that you fight for it. By that I mean the fight of faith. And the enemy is going to try to come to steal the Word that is sown in your heart, Jesus said in Mark 4. There's a teaching today, that I'm just a sinner. I'm just a sinner. And, they think that's humble. Usually it just covers up some kind of sin they don't want to talk about because, I'm just a sinner, saved by grace. What does that mean? Well, what they mean is, is that they still have the nature of sin. Which is absolutely anti-Gospel. You are not a person who's been washed up, cleaned up, put a new suit of clothes and a ribbon in your hair and a tie around your neck, and then we try to get enough of God's Word to get your fallen nature good enough to at least obey God and do some good with it.
That's what a lot of people look at Christianity like. I'm forgiven for my sins. It's one thing to be forgiven, it's another thing to have a complete nature change. And slowly, I've noticed in many churches, I speak with great orators all over the world, and they have an ability to make people comfortable in their sin, or they attack that sin and make them feel just despised in their sin. And both are wrong. It's not an issue of what you do first, it's an issue of who you are. Once you discover who you are, it is easy to become and to be what you is. So, the Bible's very clear that, the Old Testament, always there's a reminder of their sin. Every year, they would take the blood of a sacrifice and they'd put it on the altar. And to cover their sins. The sins were never dealt with, the sins were just covered. That's called atonement.
That word is never used, these terms are never used in the New Covenant. Because Jesus doesn't, and I've got so many verses, it would take them forever to give them to you. And there's so many verses that talk about, that Jesus died once and for all, for the sins of all mankind. Once. Because He didn't cover them. He dealt with them. And when you come to Jesus, and who has died on the cross for your sin and He became sin. He became your sins. He went to hell. He paid the price as a sinner, and He is continually called something that no one seems to get. He's the first-born. Well, well why would Jesus have to be the first-born if He's God? Because, He died and He became sin. And while He was in this state of sinfulness and, and the Bible says His grave was with the sinners. That when God saw that it was enough that He had suffered for you and I, and He took your sin, and He took your punishment. And He said it is enough. He rose the life of God rose Him up out of the grave, and He was born again. He was the first-born. And He went straight into the presence of God.
If God can do that with Jesus, who took more sin than you've ever done because He took the sin of the world. And if He could take Jesus and have Him pay the price for all of mankind's sin, and then the life of God hits Him and He's reborn, and He rises again. And then He goes right into the presence of God. Then this born-again experience is so remarkable, that you're not a sinner saved by grace. You are righteous. Living in a fallen world.
So someone says well are you saying that you're never going to sin? No. But that's not what we're talking about. I could bark right now, doesn't make me a dog. I could rub my front foot like a bull ready to charge, doesn't make me a bull. I could roll in the mud, doesn't make me a pig. My identity is not determined by my actions. My identity is determined by my nature. And you've got to go there first. First establish what your nature is, and who you are. And then you're going to discover, something remarkable happens. There are believers today who know they are righteous. It doesn't mean they are perfect, flawless, it means they know their nature. My nature? I'm righteous. That's my nature. Why? Because Jesus is in me. Well you know we're kind of both. Okay. So, you've got the nature of the devil because there are some, the Bible says that God called, and you are of your father the devil.
So yes you can have the nature. All fallen man, when Satan got Adam, and it's because of Adam that this nature's on our kids and our grandkids, and our babies. Is that this nature of the enemy, this nature, it's a nature of fear. It's a nature of doubt. It's a nature of guilt. It's a nature of condemnation. It's a nature of you never feel like you're ever confident. And yet, when Jesus comes into our heart. And you become born again. Your nature change, means that you now have the nature of Jesus. This nature means that coming out of you is confidence and faith, and a sense of belonging. Jesus could walk right into the presence of God, and as He is, so are we in this world. And so when they say well in the Old Testament they fell on their face. I understand. But there's going to come a day when you and I are going to meet Him. And we're not all just going to shiver and lay on the ground shaking. What kind of heaven would that be? We're all going to just lay on the ground and shake and shiver in fear before God. No. We're going to come boldly into His presence.
Boldly doesn't mean arrogantly, it doesn't mean proud, it just means, knowing your family. Knowing that you have His nature. It's interesting. In 1 Corinthians 1:30, it says, but of Him you are in Christ Jesus. Who became for us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption. That it is written, he who glories, let him glory in the Lord. And this is what the epistles. The reason a lot of preachers don't preach from the epistles, is because it's the New Covenant, and you've got to let go of the Old Covenant, you can't mix these two together because it will destroy your faith. It will leave you confused and mixed up. The Bible says that this New Covenant is better than the old. And so we can't mix law with grace. We have a covenant of law, and a covenant of grace. Listen to this in the expanded Bible. Because it simplies it. It says, because of God, you are united with Him in a relationship with Jesus Christ. And He has become for us wisdom from God. He has put you right with God. He has made you holy, and He has set you free from sin.
Like, I said that so quick because we hear these things talked about all the time. But it is telling you about your new nature. It's free from any of his power, and you have been made holy. Why would something who has been made holy say, I'm just a sinner. Just barely saved by grace. Mercy drops 'round us are falling, but for the showers we plead. Bunch of hogwash. I'm being very sweet today because I can get very angry. I don't like it when people are not shown who they are in Christ. They live crippled lives of being born again on the inside, this sense of knowing I could do more. But, at the same time, trying to be humble. And humility is accepting the nature of Satan, believing that you've got two people, that you're, one side wants to serve God and the other side fighting you. And, no. To understand the term of the flesh simply means like, you train your dog. You train your body. It's just flesh, that's all it literally means.
And, so yes it's got desires that are easily controlled. The desire for food, the desire to be happy, got a desire for sex, got a desire for water, got a desire. And so those are just desires that are there. You can control it. But people teach and preach as though this flesh is so powerful and they just war against each other and you're going to spend the rest of your life just trying to control your body. What a low bar. And if you train your kids that way, they will. They will do what you teach them because according to your faith, so be it done unto you. But the Word is very clear. Take Romans 5:1. It says, being therefore declared rightesous by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. When you get born again, there's an incredible peace that is yours. Not this anxiety of not being good enough and I don't fit in and everyone's smarter than me.
There's people sitting here right now, you come in here and you look around and go, I don't quite belong. But you say that everywhere you go, because that's how you feel. It's got nothing to do with the people around you. It's got to do with you not washing yourself with the water of the Word and renewing your mind to your spirit. In Jude 24, it says now unto Him that is able to guard you from stumbling. And to set you before the presence of His glory, without blemish. In exceeding joy. Well this verse right here just destroys a vast majority of doctrine being preached today. You're just poor sinner saved by grace, and we're just so thankful that God's grace will make a way and do what you can but you're just a rotten, good for nothing, no. This is what it says. Now unto him that is able to guard you from stumbling.
Woah, woah, woah, woah. Really? I just stumbled and I fell into sin. I stole a million dollars over the course of seven years. I just stumbled. It says here, that he's able to keep you from stumbling, from sinning. And to set you before the presence of His glory without blemish. I don't know I believe that, I think we're all going to make, have failures. You're missing the point again. It's not about whether or not I bark. It's not about the things that I fail at in my actions. It's this incredible knowing of who I am, that causes you to continue to rise up. And to do incredible things with God. This miracle, this new nature on the inside of you. Jesus is within you. He can easily help you and keep you, move you in the right direction, win over whatever things that have been trained on the inside of you. Your spirit-man is alive. Your nature is one of peace. It is the nature of Christ. Before you're born again, you're a doubter. Okay?
Now you can believe in, you know, in a sense knowledge faith and believe you can write songs to make the whole world sing and go make millions of dollars. I get that, we've got gifts and things. But that's not what it's talking about here. And so what it's saying is that your new nature is the, is the real you. And as you renew your mind with God's Word, you are washing and cleansing it with the water. Now, whenever I go out on my Harley, and when I come back, I smell. It's just the exhaust from disesls, the exhaust from cars, the smells that are out there. I mean, even my grandkids go ew, pops. Like, you know, because you just pick it up. Now, I need to go have a shower. Why? To wash off because I'm such a dirty, rotten sinner? No. Because the shower will wash off the smell of exhaust, the smell if diesel fuel, the smell of woodsmoke, BC smoke, whatever you're driving through today.
I just wash it off so the real me comes forth. And when I wash all that off, that's not me, that's not my smell, that's not who I am, I'm not a diesel truck, I'm not a gasoline-driven car. I'm not a forest fire. But I picked up all this smell on me just from driving through it on my motorbike. And I hop into my shower, and I take soap and I wash it all off so the real me, this is me. He's saying here that God's Word will renew your mind, and that this washing of the water cleans off all the doubt and the learned habits that you have of doubting yourself, doubting others, judging people. All the human condition that is no longer in your spirit because it's not your nature. But as you continue to stay in God's Word each day, you be continue to wash off the scum that settles on you and I, every day. When I was an eighteen-year-old, I got a work, a job at the steel mill.
And I remember that steel mill, man, they were hanging up porn everywhere. And they were talking about drugs, I mean, it was just eugh. And I'm wlaking in there as a born-again, spirit-filled young man, and I'm telling you, I had to go home and make sure that I was spending some time in the Word before I went to work and after why? Because the stuff seems to scum on me, just seems to settle on you. It will kind of affect your emotions, it will kind of, affect your desires. But if you just wash yourself with the water of God's Word, which means meditating in God's Word each day, confessing God's Word as to who you are in Christ, this thing about confessing God's Word each day is the washing of water by the Word. Say I don't need to do that, I believe it. No, I'm not talking about you believe it. I'm talking about washing off all the doubt and the unbelief and the lust and the anger, and the, and the sense of defeat, and the sense of life is awful and all the things that push against you. And they try to transfer to you.
There is a transferrance, that the world tries to get. And then as we continue in God's Word, we begin to have His joy and His peace, and it begins to influence the people around us until they want to follow you. And go why are you always so happy? I've had people ask me this so many different ways. Like, are you on drugs? What are you talking about? Well, you're always happy. And like, are you ever mad, are you ever angry? Yes, sometimes. Like, I don't know. Like, they just can't believe that someone can just have a sense of victory, a sense of overcoming, a sense of I'm righteous. Doesn't mean I'm perfect, but it means my nature is a nature that's good. It's the nature of Christ on the inside of me. So my deepest desire will always be what's beautiful and wonderful. So if something is messing with me, wash it off with the water of the Word. You are righteous.
This righteousness is one of the greatest gifts of the body of Christ, and the world does not understand it, that you are, you are the righteousness of God in Christ. It's not that I earned it, I don't have to earn it. But once I am born again, I need to know who am I? What is this new nature? And then just continue to speak His Word, renew my mind, wash it off with the water, you know, and it's so simple that you have to work at it to mess this beautiful Gospel up. You are empowered, you are amazing, you're not trying to be what you're not. I'm just this poor little sinner, dirty, rotten, oh, oh, I'm bad, bad, bad, bad. I can't stop drinking, can't stop doing, oh Jesus help me. No, that's not your nature. But if you're told that it's your nature, you'll believe that it is.
That's not your nature. Your nature is freedom. Your nature is peace. Your nature is joy. Within you, and if you don't get that out of you and learn this now, then your kids are going to go through the same stuff that you go through. So let's learn this now as a couple, let's dive in to God's Word, and let's know that this is who I am, and so I'm going to make sure that when it's not who I am, I'm going to wash that off. And I'm telling you, there's some, talk about your faith working, talk about believing God for healing, miracles, prosperity, and blessing, it is easy what I've just described to you, is a part of the term righteousness. You are righteous when you're born again. You are righteous in the very spirit-man, where He has given you a new nature.
Father, I pray today that I would spark enough interest in each person here. And for all those that are watching, that Father they will dive into Your Word, and recognize who they are, and Father they'll live the remainder of their lives with such peace and joy, people maybe won't even recognize them. That they've learned who they truly are. Father, I pray that in the mighty name of Jesus, amen.