Latest / Philosophy and Faith / 05 - The Self-Life - The Hinderance to the Spiritual Life - The Spiritual Life - Andrew Murray

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05 - The Self-Life - The Hinderance to the Spiritual Life - The Spiritual Life - Andrew Murray · Philosophy and Faith

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  Speaker 1: The self life the hindrance to the spiritual life. Let
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  Speaker 1: me begin for the sake of any who I hear
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  Speaker 1: for the first time, by saying a word about what
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  Speaker 1: we are doing and where we are. These meetings are
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  Speaker 1: not simply for the discussion or exposition of scriptural truth,
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  Speaker 1: but have all a very definite practical object. Their starting
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  Speaker 1: point is very simple. Many Christians feel that their life
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  Speaker 1: is not right. They long to have their life put right,
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  Speaker 1: and ask the question, is it possible to live as
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  Speaker 1: God would have us? Do we desire to come and
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  Speaker 1: show them exactly what it is that is wrong, and
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  Speaker 1: exactly what it is that God is willing and able
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  Speaker 1: to do for them, and then to bring them to
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  Speaker 1: take the step by which they pass out of the
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  Speaker 1: wrong state into the life that is well pleasing to God.
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  Speaker 1: This is our work, and I do pray you in
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  Speaker 1: great love every one to set aside any tendency to
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  Speaker 1: come and merely listen to the exposition of truth. We
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  Speaker 1: have such a terrible habit of going to church to
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  Speaker 1: listen and to learn and to think, while the heart
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  Speaker 1: often remains untouched, that we get into the habit of
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  Speaker 1: listening to the most solemn things without any practical result.
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  Speaker 1: Let us try and come into God's presence to night,
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  Speaker 1: and in his presence to say, if there is anything
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  Speaker 1: wrong about me, I pray God to set it right.
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  Speaker 1: Let there be in our hearts a hungering after righteousness.
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  Speaker 1: We began yesterday morning by looking at the two sides
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  Speaker 1: of the Christian life, the carnal fleshly side, in which
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  Speaker 1: a believer is continually sinning, and then at the spiritual side,
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  Speaker 1: in which the Holy Spirit helps a man to conquer
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  Speaker 1: and makes a man really a spiritual man. Yesterday evening
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  Speaker 1: we went on to look at the spiritual side, and
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  Speaker 1: we found in Roman's at the description of what the
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  Speaker 1: Holy Spirit will do for a believer who gives way
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  Speaker 1: to him. The Holy Spirit will make him a free man,
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  Speaker 1: free from the law of sin and death. The Holy
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  Speaker 1: Spirit will dwell in him, will lead him and teach
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  Speaker 1: him to walk after him as his guide. The Holy
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  Speaker 1: Spirit will come into him as a divine life power
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  Speaker 1: to mortify and make dead the deeds of the body,
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  Speaker 1: and the Holy Spirit will come into him to bear
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  Speaker 1: a definite, heavenly living witness that he is in him.
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  Speaker 1: This morning we went further, how will such a life
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  Speaker 1: look when a man has to act it out in
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  Speaker 1: his daily walk. And we took one word as the
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  Speaker 1: standard God gives. The fruit of the Spirit is love.
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  Speaker 1: We said, if the Holy Spirit comes and fills a man,
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  Speaker 1: the man will live a life full of love amid
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  Speaker 1: all difficulties and trials and temptations. And now this evening
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  Speaker 1: comes the question, if that be true, if the Holy
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  Speaker 1: Spirit will set me free from the law of sin
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  Speaker 1: and death, if the Holy Spirit will mortify the deeds
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  Speaker 1: of the body, why is it that I do not
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  Speaker 1: live that life? If love be the fruit of the
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  Speaker 1: Holy Spirit, and I have the Holy Spirit given me
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  Speaker 1: in conversion, why is it I do not live such
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  Speaker 1: a life of perfect love, and that so few live it,
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  Speaker 1: there must be some terrible hindrance. And so there is.
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  Speaker 1: The hindrance is just one word, one little word of
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  Speaker 1: four letters, S. E. L. F. The life of God,
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  Speaker 1: and the life of Christ, and the life of the
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  Speaker 1: Holy Spirit are all waiting to come into you. But
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  Speaker 1: on one condition, you must lose your own life, give
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  Speaker 1: it up, and God will give you the new life.
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  Speaker 1: But if you allow self to live in you and
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  Speaker 1: have its way even partially, it hinders the work of
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  Speaker 1: the Holy Spirit. And though you have the Holy Spirit
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  Speaker 1: in you as a child of God, he cannot do
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  Speaker 1: his work in power. Now I want to tell you
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  Speaker 1: how you can get rid of this hindrance. My text
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  Speaker 1: is Matthew sixteen, verse twenty four. Then Jesus said unto
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  Speaker 1: his disciples, if any man will come after me, let
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  Speaker 1: him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
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  Speaker 1: What must he do? He must deny himself, He must
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  Speaker 1: deny self. If a man wants to be my disciple,
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  Speaker 1: he must deny himself, and he must take up his
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  Speaker 1: cross and follow me. We all, by nature follow self.
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  Speaker 1: Every man does it. It is natural. Christ says, we
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  Speaker 1: must give up self, must forever give up listening to
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  Speaker 1: self and listen to him alone. Take him in the
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  Speaker 1: place of self, give up the life of self, and
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  Speaker 1: take him to be your life. Let us try and
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  Speaker 1: understand the connection in which this wonderful word comes to us.
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  Speaker 1: You remember how in Caesarey a Philippi, Christ asked his disciples,
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  Speaker 1: whom do men say that I the son of Man am?
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  Speaker 1: They gave him the different answers that men were giving,
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  Speaker 1: and he then said, but whom say ye that I
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  Speaker 1: am Peter answered, for the rest, thou art the Christ,
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  Speaker 1: the son of the Living God. And listen to what
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  Speaker 1: Christ said. Blest art thou, Simon Barjona, because thou knowest this.
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  Speaker 1: Thou art blest, because thou knowest that I am the
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  Speaker 1: Son of God. And what more does he say? Flesh
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  Speaker 1: and blood has not revealed this unto you, But my Father,
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  Speaker 1: which is in heaven. God, my Father has been teaching
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  Speaker 1: you by his Holy Spirit. And you have learned that
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  Speaker 1: I am the Son of God. The disciples did not
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  Speaker 1: learn it in their catechism in those days. Their mothers
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  Speaker 1: did not teach it to them. Christ himself did not
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  Speaker 1: say in so many words. Now remember, I am the
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  Speaker 1: son of God. But he lived as the son of God,
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  Speaker 1: and God taught them to know him as Christ. Then
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  Speaker 1: Christ goes on and says, those two wonderful things. Upon
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  Speaker 1: this rock will I build my church, and I will
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  Speaker 1: give unto thee the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven.
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  Speaker 1: Think of those four things spoken to Peter. Blest Art
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  Speaker 1: thou Simon Barjona. The Father himself hath revealed it to thee.
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  Speaker 1: On this rock. I will build my church, and I
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  Speaker 1: will give unto thee the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven.
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  Speaker 1: And now what comes? Peter is up in the heights.
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  Speaker 1: Peter has learned a great heavenly lesson, And what comes? Now?
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  Speaker 1: Christ begins to tell them, you must know what must come.
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  Speaker 1: They are going to take me and kill me. I
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  Speaker 1: will have to be crucified, But the third day I
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  Speaker 1: will rise again. Peter said, God forbid, far be that
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  Speaker 1: from thee in the margin it is properly translated. Pity thyself,
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  Speaker 1: Peter says, have mercy upon thyself. Why dost thou speak thus, Lord,
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  Speaker 1: pity thyself? That shall never be? But Christ says, get
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  Speaker 1: thee behind me, Satan. It is such a hellish thing
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  Speaker 1: that you have said. It is Satan that has taught you.
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  Speaker 1: Will you learn a lesson? Now? The same man who
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  Speaker 1: an hour ago had been saying things that God had
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  Speaker 1: taught him began to say things that the devil had
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  Speaker 1: taught him. What a wonderful thing is a converted but
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  Speaker 1: unsatisfied man. He has the spirit of God in him,
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  Speaker 1: but he has a deal of the devil in him too.
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  Speaker 1: Then Christ says, after having spoken about his own cross
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  Speaker 1: and his own death, if any man will come after me,
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  Speaker 1: let him take up his cross. That means, Peter, it
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  Speaker 1: is not only I that have got to die, but
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  Speaker 1: you too. Not only I must be crucified, but you
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  Speaker 1: must take up your cross. Peter, you are frightened of
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  Speaker 1: the thought that I am going to be crucified, But
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  Speaker 1: you have to be crucified too, Poor Peter. If a
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  Speaker 1: man wants to be my disciple, he must deny himself
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  Speaker 1: and must take up his cross, and he must follow me.
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  Speaker 1: What a come down for Peter. Peter was up in
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  Speaker 1: the heavens. Peter was living in the higher life, rejoicing
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  Speaker 1: in that wonderful word that Christ calls him a blessed
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  Speaker 1: man because he knew that he was the son of God.
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  Speaker 1: And why this come down? Just because Peter has not
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  Speaker 1: given up all his thoughts to the teaching of God
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  Speaker 1: and the Holy Spirit. Peter knows a great deal about
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  Speaker 1: Christ and his kingdom of glory, but he does not
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  Speaker 1: believe in his crucifixion. There are so many Christians who
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  Speaker 1: believe in a thousand wonderful and beautiful things about Christ,
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  Speaker 1: but they do not believe the chief thing of all,
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  Speaker 1: that of taking their cross and being crucified with Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: Listen this word of Jesus teaches us as well as Peter,
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  Speaker 1: what it is that hinders us from understanding him and
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  Speaker 1: enjoying him, And he teaches us how to get rid
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  Speaker 1: of this trouble. I want to speak to you this
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  Speaker 1: evening about self. Let me ask these questions. One where
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  Speaker 1: does it come from this self that has got to
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  Speaker 1: be denied and crucified? Two? What are its works? Three?
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  Speaker 1: How can it be conquered? Four? What have I got
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  Speaker 1: to do in the first place? What is this self?
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  Speaker 1: Christ says, deny self? What does that mean? Peter, instead
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  Speaker 1: of denying self, denied Jesus. When Christ was being led
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  Speaker 1: before Caiaphas three times, he said, I do not know
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  Speaker 1: the man. I have nothing to do with him. And
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  Speaker 1: he said that with an oath. If any man were
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  Speaker 1: to say to you, you have stolen my watch, you
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  Speaker 1: would be indignant and would deny the charge. Even so,
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  Speaker 1: Peter denied Jesus. Jesus had told him to do just
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  Speaker 1: the opposite. Peter, there is one thing you must deny,
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  Speaker 1: and that is your own self, your own life, your
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  Speaker 1: own will. But where did I get that self from?
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  Speaker 1: Did not God create that self in me? Of course
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  Speaker 1: he did. Every man and angel has got a self
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  Speaker 1: that comes from God's hands. God gave me a self
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  Speaker 1: determining power by which I can say what I want
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  Speaker 1: to do with myself, and what for that every day
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  Speaker 1: I may come to God and bring myself for Him
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  Speaker 1: to fill, and find my blessedness in waiting upon Him
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  Speaker 1: and receiving of His fullness. But what a ruin sin
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  Speaker 1: has wrought. Listen for a moment while I speak to
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  Speaker 1: you of something that was before ever man came on
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  Speaker 1: this world. The throne of God was surrounded by bright spirits,
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  Speaker 1: all pure and effect. One of the brightest of these
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  Speaker 1: pure spirits began to look at himself and wonder at
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  Speaker 1: all the beauty and glory God had given him. He
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  Speaker 1: admired himself, and pride came into his heart, and he
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  Speaker 1: began to say, I am as God. He turned his
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  Speaker 1: desire from God to self. He thought, it is not
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  Speaker 1: right that I should be subject to this God. And
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  Speaker 1: he lifted up himself and said, I the Morning Star,
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  Speaker 1: the Prince of Light. Am I not the chief among
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  Speaker 1: the powers of heaven. He turned away from God to self,
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  Speaker 1: and pride entered his heart, and he fell out of
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  Speaker 1: light into darkness, and was changed from an angel into
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  Speaker 1: a devil, from the brightness of heaven into the blackness
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  Speaker 1: and outer darkness of everlasting hell. That is what pride,
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  Speaker 1: That is what self did for that angel. Instead of
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  Speaker 1: turning to God, he turned to himself, and he fell
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  Speaker 1: then God to restore all this glory created man, that
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  Speaker 1: in Man, his own son, might show forth his glory.
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  Speaker 1: He said to Man, I have given you a self
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  Speaker 1: that let that self always turn to me, and you
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  Speaker 1: shall always stand in the light. Do my will, and
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  Speaker 1: I will fill you with life and blessing everlasting. But
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  Speaker 1: Alas the devil came to man because he hated him,
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  Speaker 1: as he thought of what man might become as the
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  Speaker 1: king of the world, he came to Eve and said,
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  Speaker 1: if you eat of that fruit, you will be like God.
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  Speaker 1: He not only spoke these words, but in and with
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  Speaker 1: these words he breathed into her ear and heart the
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  Speaker 1: very poison of Hell, his own hellish pride. He said
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  Speaker 1: to her, you can be like God, Go and eat
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  Speaker 1: of that tree. Alas she and Adam hearkened, and the
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  Speaker 1: very poison of Hell entered into their blood. And that
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  Speaker 1: self that lifted itself against God and turned away from
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  Speaker 1: him became their nature. And so you and I, who
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  Speaker 1: are born of that Adam and Eve, we have in
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  Speaker 1: us a self that exalts itself against God. We know
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  Speaker 1: too little what an evil nature we have within. We
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  Speaker 1: have an evil nature that exalts itself against God and
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  Speaker 1: over our fellow men. The whole history of the human
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  Speaker 1: race is nothing but one great struggle, man against man,
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  Speaker 1: each trying to exalt himself higher than the other. One
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  Speaker 1: once more power, another, more learning, another, more culture, another,
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  Speaker 1: more pleasure than any one else around. Alas self is
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  Speaker 1: the God that rules the world. There is not one exception. Oh,
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  Speaker 1: if we were but conscious that we have this evil
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  Speaker 1: self within us, how we would cry, deliver me from
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  Speaker 1: this monster, O, my God. If there were to come
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  Speaker 1: creeping along here, a poisonous snake and making straight for
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  Speaker 1: some one, how we would jump away and say, kill
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  Speaker 1: that beast, deliver me from its poison. But alas we
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  Speaker 1: are blind and run into our danger. A little child
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  Speaker 1: has sometimes been known to play with a snake. I
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  Speaker 1: know a home in South Africa where the mother was
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  Speaker 1: away at church and had left a colored girl in
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  Speaker 1: charge of her little baby, just learning to creep, and
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  Speaker 1: a sister a few years old, the baby was plague
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  Speaker 1: on the floor. A beautifully colored, but poisonous snake came
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  Speaker 1: into the room, and, lifting its head, made ready to strike.
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  Speaker 1: The little child, all unconscious of its danger, crept along
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  Speaker 1: toward what looked so beautiful. As the snake was looking
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  Speaker 1: at it, just ready to strike, the colored girl rushed
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  Speaker 1: from behind and seized the child. The child wished to
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  Speaker 1: play with that beautifully colored snake. It knew not of
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  Speaker 1: the poison we have within us, a self that has
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  Speaker 1: its poison from sasan that has its poison from Hell,
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  Speaker 1: and yet we cherish and nourish it. What do we
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  Speaker 1: not do to please self and nourish self? And we
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  Speaker 1: make the devil within us strong. This is the reason
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  Speaker 1: why Christ calls us entirely to deny self. To deny
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  Speaker 1: self means that you must have nothing to do with him.
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  Speaker 1: If you did not steal that watch, you must deny it.
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  Speaker 1: You reject with indignation the charge, the statement that you
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  Speaker 1: stole it, So you must reject self. You ask why
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  Speaker 1: Christ says you must take a cross and nail self
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  Speaker 1: to the cross. You ask why, Ah, You will never
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  Speaker 1: do what Christ says until you see the Satanic origin
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  Speaker 1: of self as a horrible rebellion against God. That is
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  Speaker 1: its origin. It comes out of hell and drags us
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  Speaker 1: back to Hell. Second, now look at its works. Look
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  Speaker 1: in your own life. What are the works of self?
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  Speaker 1: They are chiefly these three self will, self trust, and
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  Speaker 1: self exaltation. First, let us look at self will. God
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  Speaker 1: created me with a will, and there is nothing in
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  Speaker 1: man more noble than a will. Sometimes people speak about
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  Speaker 1: having a broken will or too strong a will. If
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  Speaker 1: my will was ten times as strong as it is,
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  Speaker 1: it would not be too strong. If it is given
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  Speaker 1: up to God. It is the great power with which
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  Speaker 1: a man can serve God. If it is not given
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  Speaker 1: up to God, then the devil has power to move it,
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  Speaker 1: and self leads that will continually to sin against God.
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  Speaker 1: Self will rules in the life of every natural man.
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  Speaker 1: He says, I do what I like, and I have
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  Speaker 1: a right to do what I like. But I find
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  Speaker 1: among Christians that there are hundreds who If you ask,
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  Speaker 1: did ever you understand that when you became a Christian
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  Speaker 1: it was on the condition that you promise never to
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  Speaker 1: seek your own will, They will all tell you that
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  Speaker 1: they never understood that. But that is just what Christ demands.
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  Speaker 1: You are to do nothing but what God wills. You
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  Speaker 1: are to give up your will self is to have
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  Speaker 1: no say in your life. That is the whole secret
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  Speaker 1: of salvation. To give up your will yourself to God.
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  Speaker 1: His will is the manifestation of what is in his heart.
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  Speaker 1: And if I take my will like an empty cup
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  Speaker 1: and say, fill my will with Thy will, then I
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  Speaker 1: live a blessed life. Many say, I think I am
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  Speaker 1: a Christian, and I must of course do the will
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  Speaker 1: of God in important things, But in the little things
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  Speaker 1: I cannot help following my own will. No self is
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  Speaker 1: the cause of all our sin against God, and all
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  Speaker 1: our wretchedness. Self pleasing is another of the works of self.
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  Speaker 1: The whole life of man and nature has the pleasing
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  Speaker 1: of self as its moving principle. And even Christians seek
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  Speaker 1: far more to please themselves than to please God. No
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: wonder that self becomes strong, and that for its sake
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: we sin unceasingly against the law of love to God
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  Speaker 1: and man. Another work of self is self confidence. I
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  Speaker 1: do not know a more remarkable example than Peter. Christ
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  Speaker 1: said to Peter before the cock crow, thou shalt deny
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  Speaker 1: me thrice Peter said, they may all forsake THEE. But
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  Speaker 1: I will never leave THEE. And yet he denied Christ
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  Speaker 1: with an oath? How did that come? Simply from self confidence?
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  Speaker 1: Peter could not believe of himself that he would deny
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  Speaker 1: his Lord. He said, thou knowest Lord, that I love THEE.
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  Speaker 1: I have stood so much persecution for thy sake. I
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  Speaker 1: will never deny THEE. I will go to the death
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  Speaker 1: with THEE. What was that but self confidence? He trusted
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  Speaker 1: in himself and he fell. A young person often says,
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  Speaker 1: six months ago, I gave myself to the Lord, and
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  Speaker 1: I had such a bright and happy time serving Jesus.
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  Speaker 1: But some way or other I got cold and went back.
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  Speaker 1: And what is the reason. My answer always is only
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  Speaker 1: one thing. You trusted yourself, he says. No, I certainly
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  Speaker 1: did not. I felt that I was a poor, feeble
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  Speaker 1: creature and could do nothing. I did not trust myself. Ah,
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  Speaker 1: but my friend, you did. If you had trusted Christ,
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  Speaker 1: he never could have let you fall. You trusted in yourself.
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  Speaker 1: You trusted in your earnestness, in your integrity, or something
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  Speaker 1: in yourself. And then came all the trouble, Just so
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  Speaker 1: with many of you, who tell me I cannot live
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  Speaker 1: the life I want to live. Here is the simple reason.
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  Speaker 1: You have been trusting self, trusting to be able by
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  Speaker 1: mere effort and mere watchfulness to gain the victory. If
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  Speaker 1: you trusted Christ, you would not fall. You have not
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  Speaker 1: given up self to the death to trust in God alone.
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  Speaker 1: Does not your heart begin to say, God, have mercy
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  Speaker 1: upon me, and deliver me from self. If it has
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  Speaker 1: been self that has been tempting me to look away
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: from Jesus, that has been coming between Jesus and myself, O,
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: God deliver me. The third form of self is self
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: exaltation pride. Jesus said, how can you believe? Who take
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: honor one from another? I am not speaking now of
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: the people of the world. All the wretched history of
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: the world is owing to pride. But I am speaking
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: about Christians. How much of touchiness there is about our position?
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: If a man does not give me the honor I
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: think I ought to have, if he puts me down
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: to a lower place than I expect, how sensitive I am?
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: How much envying and jealousy there is? Where does this
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: come from self exaltation? I ask you believers, do you
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: not know what it is to have a heart in
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: which there is constantly come in the thought. There I
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: was clever, I knew how to manage those folks. There
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: I made a beautiful prayer. How often those things are
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: entertained and allowed free passage for a time. How often,
• 21:14
  Speaker 1: in the presence of God we exalt ourselves. A man
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: can be proud about a very small matter. He can
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: be proud of a fine head of hair, a fine
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: suit of clothes, his learning, or money. There is nothing
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: on earth that a man cannot be proud about. A
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: man may ride on a very fine horse and be
• 21:33
  Speaker 1: proud about that. The beast does not make the man
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: a bit better, and yet he is proud about it.
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: That is just the way the devil befools a man.
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: This accursed self from Hell is at the root of
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: all this, a seeking of our own honor. God's word,
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: says God resisteth the proud self, as seen has corrupted
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: it and is in its very nature proud and be
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: nothing else. Therefore, Christ says, deny self. Does not your
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: heart begin to cry? How can I get free from
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: self and sin? Thirdly, how can it be conquered? Christ
• 22:15
  Speaker 1: tells us, Let a man deny himself and take up
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: his cross and follow me. He puts the three words together,
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: but they all amount to the same thing. The first
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: is let him deny himself. Let him say I have
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: nothing to do with self. I will not listen to it.
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: I will ignore it. That is what Peter said when
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: he denied Christ. I do not want to be connected
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: with Christ or have anything to do with him. So
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: we must say to self, I have nothing to do
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: with it. Then Christ says, take up the cross. The
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: cross always means death. Christ could not explain that to them. Further,
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: they would not have understood him. That Christ meant, just
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: as I have got to give up my life and
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: be crucified, you will have to be crucified spiritually. And
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: that is what Paul says. I am crucified with Christ
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: no longer I but Christ liveth in me and follow me. Oh,
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: that blessed word. It must be instead of myself, Jesus
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: himself follow me. Here is a choice you have to
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: make between these two. Shall I follow self or follow Jesus?
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: Please self or please Jesus. Deny self or deny Jesus.
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: Remember that solemn lesson of Peter. He would not deny self,
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: And what did he come to. He denied Jesus. If
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: you do not deny self utterly, you will be denying Jesus.
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: Every day. You will tell the world I have nothing
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: to do with Jesus. Just now I am pleasing myself. Now, Christian,
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: come to night and make the wonderful exchange come, and
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: begin to understand what a blessed thing it would be
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: instead of self to follow Jesus. Peter did follow Jesus,
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: though with many failures. And where did Christ take him?
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: He took him to that place where he denied his Lord,
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: that he might learn to know himself thoroughly. He took
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: him to Gethsemone to show him how little he could
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: watch for one hour, then to the Cross to show
• 24:28
  Speaker 1: him how little he could suffer with him. Then he
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: took him to the Resurrection and showed himself as the
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: living Christ who breathed his spirit into him. Then he
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: took him to the Ascension Mount and said, I am
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: going to heaven and the Spirit and the fire will come.
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: He led him to the place where he received the
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: fullness of the Holy Spirit. And then, and not until then,
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: was self dethroned. How is the reign of self to
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: be cast out? How am I to be delivered from
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: this secret power that I cannot root out. Christ says,
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: deny self, take up your cross and follow me. Deny self,
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: take up the cross and say I desire to be
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: crucified with Christ. I desire to be made conformable to
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: his death. Then follow Christ with your whole heart. Christ
• 25:19
  Speaker 1: will come in and rule. You know the story of
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: the strong man who kept his house until a stronger
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: came and cast him out. But the stronger one did
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: not stay to dwell. The house was cleansed and garnished,
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: but empty. After a time, the evil spirit, with seven others,
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: came in and dwelt there. It is not enough to
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: cast out self. It will not help you unless he
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: comes in. Christ the stronger must come in and dwell there,
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: and then he keeps the house in safety. Let us
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: all deny that cursed self, take up the cross and
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: follow him. He will take us to the place of
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: safety and victory. Fourthly, and now comes a few words
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: as to what we must do. Can a man in
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: one moment deny self and be freed from it? Or
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: is it the work of a lifetime. Both You can
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: to night, if God gives you a sight of the accursedness,
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: of self and what self has really been doing all
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: the years of your Christian life. In one step, take
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: your place in the position of a man who utterly
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: denies self, and give yourself to be possessed by Jesus.
• 26:30
  Speaker 1: You can do that in one minute. Many do not
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: do this because they are not ready. They are not
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: willing to confess that they have no true insight that
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: self is the only cause of their sin. But I
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: ask you what else can be the cause of all
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: these sins that have made you unhappy? Temper, pride, wilfulness, worldliness,
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: self pleasing. It is nothing but self? Are you going
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: to confess that to night? My life might have been
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: full of the Holy Ghost and full of Jesus, full
• 27:05
  Speaker 1: of humility, and full of God. But alas, what has
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: my life been? And all through that cursed, evil root
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: of self? I did not know how bad it was
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: and how it was running my whole Christian life. If
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: I could tear it out of my life and kill it,
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: I would do it if it cost me blood. You
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: cannot do that, But you can do something that is better.
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: You can come and quietly condemn it at the feet
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: of Jesus as an accursed thing. You can cast it
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: down there and say, Son of God, I follow THEE
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: with my whole heart to the very uttermost. I desire
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: to follow THEE to the very depths of death. I
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: desire to give myself up utterly and holy to THEE.
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: I desire to take him and let him fill my
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: whole being. Believer. Christ can do it. I know I
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: am speaking in vain. If there is any one here
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: who is pretty well contented with himself, any one who
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: says I am an earnest Christian, I am doing my best.
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: I am not what I ought to be, but I
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: do fairly. If there is any one here who thinks thus,
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: I have not much hope of his taking this step.
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: But if there is one who says I feel sinful,
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: I feel wretched. I cannot live this life any longer.
• 28:24
  Speaker 1: I have denied my Lord Jesus too often, already by
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: many things I have done. But now no longer I
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: have tried hard but have failed. I now see the
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: root of it. All self has been seeking to conquer
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: its own evil works, and has only been strengthened all
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: the time. Come, I beloved, and bring self and lay
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: it at the feet of Jesus. Cast it into his
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: very bosom, and believe to night that the Son of
• 28:52
  Speaker 1: God is coming into you to be a new self,
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: to be your very life, because He will live in
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: you by His Holy Spirit. Paul says, it is no
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: longer I but Christ that liveth in me. You may
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: not be able to explain it, but just take the
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: words of Paul. I live no longer but Christ liveth
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: in me. It is no longer the old eye, the
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: old self. It is Christ. Oh, that God might give
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: us a sight of what that means. And may God
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: give us grace to take the step. Nothing else can
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: give us peace or make us. Holy Lord Jesus, come in.
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: Shall we say this, Are you willing that God search
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: you to night? Come? Then bow your heads and begin
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: by telling God so. And then let God shine into
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: your hearts, and let him show you what a cursed
• 29:47
  Speaker 1: thing this self has been in your life. Let us
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: bow before God.