Original post from joannekerr
To Do List
Remember, today, to:
1. speak more to the Lord than I do to myself.
2. listen more to the Lord than I do to myself.
Audio Sermon – We Are Called to Display God’s Shepherd Heart to Each Other
Matt 17:24-18:14 by Tim Kerr (Sunday September 16, 2012)
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Audio Sermon – Powerful Ministry to Others is Activated by Faith
Matt 17:1-9, 14-20 by Tim Kerr (Sunday September 9, 2012)
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Audio Sermon – Perceiving Christ’s Glory Prepares Us for Christ’s Mission
Matt 16:28-17:23 by Tim Kerr (Sunday September 2, 2012)
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In What Way is Self to be Denied?
*In What Way is Self to be Denied?
*An adaptation of portions of “A Treatise on Self-Denial” by Richard Baxter
Definitions
The Soul: The true person inside
The Self: The selfish beliefs, inclinations, and thoughts that enslave us
You must deny Self because Self is opposite to God and a competitor with him. As such it is the greatest idol of the soul.
It likes to imagine itself independent from God. This is a mad illusion, for we are dependent beings. Yet Self believes it does not have to submit to God nor will it have to answer to him.
Self does not love God, trust God, or Worship Him.
Self must be denied because it stands against the truth of the gospel. It fights the very truth that would save the soul. The Self is the most incompetent judge of God’s word, yet at the same time the most aggressive, arrogant, and audacious critic of it. Self is the fountain of all unbelief.
It is an incompetent judge because God is an enemy of the Self and an enemy cannot be a competent or trustworthy judge. The Self’s aversion to the gospel makes it believe wrong things about it and overlook the beauty and good in it, makes multiple false conclusions, and mixes the meaning to make it say something it doesn’t. Self is utterly opposed to God and the holy life God has destined his people for.
It is the Self that the scriptures primarily speak against. The scriptures aim arrows of death at the Self, it disgraces Self, and stands against it. Just as a murderer on death row will never love the electric chair, so the Self will never love the Scriptures that condemn it—therefore it is an utterly untrustworthy judge of God’s word.
Self must be denied because it stands against Jesus Christ. Though it may admit to some good in Christ, the truth that Christ alone is the remedy for a miserable soul and the only source of life, righteousness, and hope in this world it rejects and ignores. The self seduces the soul to ever undervalue Christ.
O, down with self that Christ may be Christ to you! How shall he come into your life while Self is the watchman at the door? How will Christ forgive you when Self will not allow you to feel your need of God’s pardon? How will Christ bind up your wounded heart, when Self will not let you be broken? How shall he clothe you with his righteousness while Self keeps you in your own defiled, rotten rags? Of friend, put away your self-righteousness, that Christ may be your righteousness!
Self must be denied because it is the great resistor of the Holy Spirit. Apart than Satan himself, the Sanctifying Spirit has no greater enemy. One half of his sanctifying work is to destroy the Self. The Self ever resists holiness, distracts and lures you from your holy duties while at the same time persuading you to indulge in sin.
Self must be denied because it is a traitor to your soul and sides with your enemies. It pleads on sin’s behalf, it speaks as wicked people do, it is in a conspiracy to destroy you, all the while always appearing to be after your ultimate good. It constantly fills your mind with the difficulty and unpleasantness of the duties of holiness complaining, “How weary it is to follow God!” “What do I get by serving God?!”. Self is a vicious traitor against your own soul and therefore it must be denied.
Audio Sermon – The Foundation of Christ’s Suffering Forms the Identity of the Church
Matt 16:20-27 by Tim Kerr (Sunday August 19, 2012)
Right-click here to download the mp3 file Download the message outline
In What Way is Self to be Denied?
*An adaptation of portions of “A Treatise on Self-Denial” by Richard Baxter
Sustained By Words
Originally Posted to martha_martha by Sarah Fullerton
“As creatures of God we are totally dependent upon him for everything. We are dependent not only on the continual rule or providence of God in nature for the production of food and other goods, but also for every moment of our existence. We draw the next breath, our hearts beat the next beat, we are conscious of the next moment of our existence only because God goes on sustaining the very substance of creation. There are no laws of nature that are self-sustaining. If God were to withdraw for a split second his powerful word, the universe would cease to exist in that same split second. That is why man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God (Deut 8:3; see also Ps 104:24-30). So Christ, as the creative Word of God, sustains ‘all things by his powerful word’ (Heb 1:3), and ‘in him all things hold together’ (Col 1:17).”
-Graeme Goldworthy, According to Plan: The Unfolding Revelation of God in the Bible
These thoughts gave me a new insight into Jesus’ quoting of Deuteronomy 8:3 when the Devil tempts him to turn stones into bread after 40 days of fasting (and serious hunger!). I’ve always thought of this response as meaning that man can’t just survive on physical sustenance, but also needs the spiritual food of meditation on God’s written word to grant him life. That is certainly a true biblical idea, but what Jesus is saying here is, in the words of William Hendriksen, “Tempter, you are proceeding upon the false assumption that for a man, in order to appease hunger and keep alive, bread is absolutely necessary. Over against this erroneous idea, I now declare that not bread but the creative, energizing, and sustaining power of my Father is the only indispensable source of my, and of man’s, life and well-being.” (Exposition of the Gospel According to Matthew
Hendriksen goes on:
“The expression ‘every word that comes out through the mouth of God’ refers to the word of his power. It is God’s omnipotence exercised in creation and preservation. It is his word of effective command; for example, ‘And God said, Let there be light, and there was light’ (Gen. 1:3); ‘By the word of Jehovah were the heavens made’ (Ps. 33:6).”
The point is this: Man can eat as much bread as he can get a hold of and yet, if God withdraws His sustaining word, such a person will die that very instant. Conversely, man can be without any bread due to circumstances beyond his control–and by God’s mercy, even circumstances WITHIN his control– and yet, by God’s sustaining word that man will go on living.
This doesn’t negate human responsibility (more on that in another post), but places our responsibility squarely UNDER God’s sovereign dominion and care. We live and move and have our being only because God continues to speak His sustaining word that commands us to go on living. And what a relief this is to the anxieties of daily life!
As I drive back and forth from VBS this week, logging 500 kms just in multiple short trips, I am aware that the reason I have yet to drive off the road or hit another car is not merely the good condition of our van or my ability to stay alert and focus on the road (anyone who’s ever had 4 kids in the back of their van knows it couldn’t possibly be that!), though these are agents of God’s care. I have yet to die on the road because God continues to speak His powerful words of existence for me.
If you are fighting illness, or you worry every time your child acts out crazy kid-antics on the jungle gym, or things are so tight that you literally don’t know where tomorrow’s meal is going to come from, trust that God’s word will speak sustenance until the very moment HE has appointed for the end. It is not bread, or health or helicopter parenting that keeps us all going. And “which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life?” (Matt. 6:27) Man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of God, and His powerful word will never cease to command and carry out his good, pleasing and perfect will.