Denying Self And Following Christ # 3

Denying Self And Following Christ # 3

All moments of unhappiness in life are ultimately due to this separation. A person who is in real communion with God and with the Lord Jesus Christ is happy. It does not matter whether he is in a dungeon, or whether he has his feet in the stocks, or whether he is burning at the stake; he is still happy if he is in communion with God. Is not that the experience of the saints down the centuries? So the ultimate cause of any misery or lack of joy - is separation from God; and the one cause of separation from Him is "self." Whenever we are unhappy it means that in some way or other we are looking at ourselves and thinking about ourselves, instead of communing with God.

Man, according to the Scriptures, was meant to live entirely to the glory of God. He was meant to love the Lord God with all his heart, with all his soul, with all his mind and with all his strength. The whole of man was meant to glorify God. Therefore, any desire to glorify "self" or safeguard the interests of "self" is of necessity a sin, because I am looking at myself instead of looking at God and seeking His honor and glory. And it is that very thing in man which God has condemned. It is that which is under the curse of God and the wrath of God.

And as I understand the teaching of the Scriptures, holiness eventually means this - deliverance from this self-centered life. Holiness, in other words, must not be thought of primarily in terms of actions, but in terms of an attitude towards "self". It does not mean essentially that I do not do certain things - and try to do others. There are people who never do certain things that are regarded as sinful - but they are full of pride of self. So we must look at it in terms of "self" and our relationship to ourselves, and we must realize again that the essence of holiness is that we should be able to say with George Muller that we have died, died completely, to this "self" that has caused so much ruin in our lives and experiences.

Now, lastly, let us come to the highest level and look at the problem of "self" in the light of Christ. Why did the Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God ever come into this world? He came ultimately in order to deliver mankind from "self". We see this selfless life so perfectly in Him. Look at His coming from the glory of Heaven to the stable in Bethlehem. Why did He come? There is only one answer to that question. He did not consider Himself. That is the essence of the statement that Paul makes in Philippians 2. He was eternally the Son of God and was equal with God from eternity, but He did not consider that; He did not hold on to that and to His right to the manifestation of that glory. He humbled Himself and denied Himself. There would never have been the incarnation had it not been that the Son of God put "self", as it were, aside!

Then look at His selfless life here upon earth. He often said that the words He spoke He did not speak of Himself, and the actions He performed He said "are not Mine; they have been given to Me of the Father." That is how I understand Paul's teaching of the self-humiliation of the Cross. It means that, coming in the likeness of man, He deliberately made Himself dependent upon God; He did not consider Himself at all. He said: "I have come to do your will, O God," and He was wholly wholly dependent upon God for everything, for the words He spoke and for everything He did. The very Son of God humbled Himself to that extent. He did not live for Himself or by Himself in any measure. And the apostle's argument is, "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus."

We see it supremely of course in His death upon the Cross. He was innocent and guiltless, He had never sinned or done anyone any harm, yet when He was reviled - He reviled not again; when he suffered - He threatened not; but committed Himself to Him that judges righteously" (1 Peter 2:23). That is it. The Cross of Christ is the supreme illustration, and the argument of the New Testament is this, that if we say we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and believe that He has died for our sins, it means that our greatest desire should be to die to self.

That is the final purpose of His dying, not merely that we might be forgiven, or that we might be saved from hell. Rather it was that a new people might be formed, a new humanity, a new creation, and that a new kingdom be set up, consisting of people like Himself. He is "the firstborn of many brethren." He is the pattern. God has made us, says Paul to the Ephesians: "We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus." We are "to be conformed to the image of His Son." So that we may say that the reason for His death on the Cross is that you and I might be saved and separated from that life of self. For this reason, "that those who live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto Him which died for them, and rose again." That is the life which we are called. Not the life of self-defense or self-sensitivity, but such a life that, even if we are insulted - we do not retaliate; if a man comes and asks something of me I do not say, "This is mine!" I say rather, "If this man is in need and i can help him, I will." I have finished with self, I have died to myself, and my one concern now is the glory of God.

That is the life to which the Lord Jesus Christ calls us and He died in order that you and I might live it. Thank God the gospel also goes on to tell us that He rose again and that He has sent into the Church, and into every one who believes on Him, the Holy Spirit with all His renovating and energizing power. If we are trying to live this kind of life in and of ourselves, we are doomed before we start. But with the blessed promise and offer of the Spirit of God to come and dwell in us and work in us, there is hope for us. God has made this life possible. If George Muller could die to George Muller, why should not every one of us who is a Christian die in the same way to that "self" that is so sinful, that leads to so much misery and wretchedness and unhappiness, and which finally is such a denial of the blessed work of the Son of God upon the Cross on Calvary's Hill.

~Martyn Lloyd-Jones~

(The End)