Nov | 13 | Dealing With Hyde, BY LIFE, not Suicide

Key Word:- BE

Title:- Dealing With Hyde, BY LIFE, not Suicide

Romans 7:21-23 I find then a law, that evil is present with me, the one who wills to do good. For I delight in the law of God according to the inward man. But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members
 
Robert Louis Stevenson was born today in 1850. Among his classic works is the novel entitled, ‘The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.’ Stevenson’s character, Dr Jekyll, is a well brought up, happy, honourable and educated man who had never the less some secret sins of which he was thoroughly ashamed. The story line is that Dr Jekyll, believing the soul to contain both good and evil, experiments with various potions, to thus separate the evil from the good. Unfortunately in this process of chemical experimentation, the alter ego, the repugnant and repulsive evil persona of Mr. Hyde is unconditionally released and eventually takes the good Doctor Jekyll over and the only way he can then eventually free himself from the evil Mr Hyde’s atrocities, is by committing suicide. It’s a happy little novel! On the release of the book, one homosexual friend of Stevenson wrote to him very upset remarking , “I doubt whether anyone has a right to scrutinize the abysmal depths of personality.”In response, Stevenson wrote “Jekyll is a dreadful thing, I own; but the only thing I feel dreadful about is that damned old business of the war in the members. This time it came out; and I hope it will stay in, in future.”

Stevenson, brought up under Scottish Calvinism, was well versed in the scriptures. Whether he was eventually converted is a matter of continued discussion. However, he was aware of a gross internal struggle within him; a war in his members, in his very being, between good and evil. That at least gives us some cause for rejoicing at the possibility of his salvation.

Before we become Christians the dual combination of the testimony of outward creation to the holiness and glory of God and the inward voice of that local county sheriff called conscience, both continue to make war against that rebellious and destructive evil within us and we at times, most definitely do feel the product of this battle's gut wrenching dives, and fully experience the slamming struggle within as it slams into the wall of sin. The battle of the witness of both conscience and creation and the darkness within us may mightily rage but friends it is all to no avail and the two witnesses shall never have the victory, until God’s blessed Holy Spirit steps into our ring and then sometimes for a lifetime, along with the dynamic duo of the witness of conscience and creation, wrestles and strives with us to both reveal the depths of the evil Hyde hidden within us and the lovely escape route of redemption that is only found in Jesus. When we through the Holy Spirit's work and revelation eventually come to Jesus for forgiveness and cleansing, when we do this, then God Almighty Himself as Victor and Conqueror, overcomes the power of sin in us by taking up residence with us, right there in the midst of our enemies and makes a table of refreshment and delight by giving us a new man beating with a new heart, totally and wholly righteous in Him, which must then become our new centre and our new inner home in which we will then reside. When we do this, when we allow the new man, the hidden man of the heart to emerge, we find this to be the new us, even THE REAL US.

We would assume then that with the presence of God Himself and the new house of the new man in us, that all would be well for the Christian. You and I know however, this it is not so. Why is that?

Well, first know this fact. The old man, the flesh, that body of evil and sin, that Hyde hidden within in, though defeated is not yet removed and being still with us, it never changes! Most us spend a lot of our lives trying to change Mr Hyde. It can never be done. He is still in us and beyond redemption! Hyde shall never get any better. Like I said, amidst the good news for the Christian is the bad news for us it that sin's foul and falling tendencies are not removed this side of the adoption, even the resurrection of our bodies. In other words we have to live with this body of death until we get to heaven, where we shall only then, at last, not only be freed from the penalty and power of sin but from its very presence within. I can’t wait for that folks! Until then though, the battle rages on.

Until heaven then, how should we live? After all, are we not the ‘much more’ generation of Romans Chapter 5? Yes we are. So troubled friend here is my message in a bottle for you today, to set afloat upon your trouble seas: Here it is O warring warrior: “There is no condemning of you, for you are in Jesus and you owe it to Him not to live as a servant to the sin nature still growling within you, but as a slave to Him who redeemed you. Know you are indeed forgiven in Him. So by faith believe it to be true and yield and offer yourself moment by moment to Jesus. Love Him, obey Him, live Him! Know that He has given you a good and righteous, sparkling new heart and that there is in you a deeper desire, a stronger current, a purer water that would always honour both Him and the real you. Reach in and touch it, taste it, let it refresh you today".  How do you do that? Well ask God the Holy Spirit to begin to clear the way for Lazarus to come forth. Allow God to begin to deal with the things that hinder internal resurrection and get Him to move the rocks, cut the chains, clear out the baggage, unplug the wells, you know what I mean! Then having dealt with both baggage and blockage let the new man live by asking God to ‘call Him forth’ in a multitude of ways, for friend, when your split and fragmented self begins to coalesce in peace and true self worth; when the fruit of such coalescence is picked and tasted and found to be refreshing by those that sit beneath your tree, then maybe you shall together experience the title deeds of Romans Chapter 7. Get out your Bible and read them and make them yours today.

Listen:- For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. Romans 8:1

Pray: - Clear the way O God. Clear and call dear Jesus. Clear and call life amongst the warring dead.