Recognizing Two Subtle Manifestations of Self

I was sitting there thinking as we heard the children say their memory verses, who would Jesus rather listen to? A child or a gifted speaker? I think it would be a child. Jesus said, unless you are converted and become like little children, you will not see the kingdom of heaven. One of the reasons we are very keen that our children should be active in the church and know that they are an important part of God's working in the church is because Jesus said that.

In the book of Zechariah, you read that in the kingdom when Jesus reigns, a little child will lead them. Now because we're still in flesh and we still are human, children don't have the maturity to lead churches and not advocating that we should appoint our children as elders in the church, of course you know that. But there's something about our hearts and how we listen to children and receive from them that should prove that we really believe what Jesus said in Matthew 18 verse 4, that the children, the kingdom of heaven belongs to us, to such.

And the one who humbles himself as a little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. I don't believe children themselves are the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. We know Jesus himself is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

But the best picture we have of Jesus and his humility is actually children. You think about the humblest person on this earth. I think it's a little child.

The littlest child is closest in displaying humility like Jesus did. And if we want to become like Jesus, we want to be more like them, like those little children in humility. I'd like to speak today about discerning or distinguishing the subtle ways in which self manifests itself.

Distinguishing the subtle deceptions of self. Jesus said, let's begin there perhaps, first of all in Matthew chapter 16. You know it says in Acts 11 that the word Christians was not the first word used to describe the followers of Jesus.

Acts 11, I think it's verse 26. The people who followed Jesus, who best exemplified, who followed him, best exemplified what it meant to follow Jesus, weren't called Christians, first of all. They were called disciples.

They were called disciples, not just the first 11 or 12, but the others that followed after them. They were called the disciples and in Antioch, you read in the book of Acts, Acts chapter 11, those people who were disciples, people said, oh they're followers of Christ, so they call them Christians. Today it's become the other way around in a sense.

People are called Christians, but many of them aren't really disciples. So in a sense we have to go back to the origin of the word and if you really are a Christian from God's perspective, not from the world's perspective, then you're a disciple of Jesus. That means you're following him and Jesus made it very clear multiple times what it meant to be a disciple or a true Christian.

Matthew chapter 16, we read in verse 23, first of all, that when Peter tried to put his arm around Jesus and say, Jesus, don't go to the cross. You don't deserve such a horrible treatment. You're such a good person, Jesus.

You haven't harmed anybody. I'm interpreting Peter's words here. You're so good.

You've done only good. I know you. You don't deserve to go to the cross.

And Jesus was good. In a sense what Peter was saying was right. You don't deserve to go to the cross, Jesus.

You're so innocent. And what if somebody came to you on your way to the cross and said, no, you don't deserve to be treated that way. Yeah, people are speaking that way about you.

People are mistreating you, taking advantage of you. You don't deserve that. What would your response be? Would it be the response of Jesus who said, get behind me, Satan? Verse 23, you are a stumbling block to me for you are not setting your mind on God's interests but man's.

Think about it, dear friends, dear brothers and sisters and children here. If you're being mistreated and your pride is hurt, self, deep down, remember I'm talking about the subtle ways in which self seeks to manifest itself, the subtle ways. And your self is hurt by some way in which people are treating you or something somebody said to you or about you and your pride is hurt and somebody, a good friend of yours, comes around you and says, oh, I'm so sorry that you're going through that.

You don't deserve to be treated like that. What would your response be? Be honest with yourself. If I was to be honest with myself, I know I'd say, yeah, thank you for being such a good friend for me that you helped me treat myself better.

Jesus knew what it meant to be part of the kingdom of heaven where there is no place for self at all. And what Peter was trying to do was stroke Jesus' self Jesus had a self. He had a will because he came in human flesh like ours, fully God and fully man.

He had this self too that was at odds or that could have been at odds with the kingdom of heaven, with his father's will. And throughout his life he said, not self's will, not my self's will, but your will be done. The greatest example of that was in Gethsemane when he said, father, not my will, but yours be done.

Not anything of self, but all of God, all of your kingdom father. And so when Peter in his well-meaning nature as a friend of Jesus said, Jesus, I really care about you. You don't deserve to be treated like that.

Jesus said, Peter, this is Satan using you as an instrument to speak to me. He didn't call Peter Satan. He was speaking to Satan who was influencing Peter to say, don't be so hard on yourself.

And then he went on to say, verse 24, you have to not only be hard on yourself, you must kill yourself. Your self must be put completely to death if you want to be my disciple. Are you tempted to not be so hard on yourself? Then read verse 24, Jesus said this immediately after his best friend Peter had come alongside him and said, don't be so hard on yourself.

You deserve to be treated better. Your self, your human nature, that ego inside of you deserves to be treated better. And Jesus' response was, verse 24, if anyone wishes to come after me, he must deny his self or her self.

He must say no. He must put his or her self completely to death. That's what it means to take up his cross and follow me.

I hope this will be our response, dear friends, from now on at least. You must be discerning. You must be wise.

Yes, we will all in our temperament feel that little bit of, oh, I'm hurt by this. But be wary of those human friends, those well-meaning friends who don't know the kingdom of God, who aren't really his disciples. Perhaps they even call themselves Christians, who will come alongside you and try to stroke your ego and make yourself feel a little bit better.

Oh, you don't deserve to be going through that. Now, none of us, I'm not saying that we should allow people to treat us like a doormat or take advantage of us. That's not at all what I'm talking about.

But you know when what's hurt deep down within is your pride and your ego. When you're corrected or you're rebuked and that ego raises its ugly head and says, no, I don't deserve to be treated this way. Recognize that that is self that Jesus said must be fully put to death on the cross.

So a disciple, let me give you a very simple definition for what it means to be a disciple, which as I said is what it really means to be a Christian. A disciple is one who is constantly denying his or her self. Constantly denying all of self, all of self.

So I'd like to talk about two very subtle aspects of self. There are many ways in which self manifests itself. I'll talk about two very similar, well, similar ones.

One I'm going to call self-commendation. That's a big word. Self-commendation means boasting, where I commend myself.

I speak highly of myself or I think highly of myself. Self-commendation and the other will be self-condemnation. Don't get tripped up with the words.

It's very similar. But self-commendation is basically just boasting. Think of it like boasting.

Now boasting, if I gave you up here and says come and boast about yourself. I'm almost certain that every single one of us would have a hard time doing that. If I was to give you the mic and say, hey, come on up friend and go ahead and brag on yourself.

Tell us how good you are. Now there may be a few people in this world that would actually do that. I don't think any of us sitting here would actually have the audacity.

You think, no, no, no. I could never speak highly of myself. I could never brag on myself because it just doesn't seem pleasant.

It's not something that other people want to hear. Does that really mean then that we are all free of boasting? Just because we all talk humbly. I don't think any of us has ever spoken in a bragging, boasting kind of way.

Does that really mean that we're free of boasting? If we're careful to the subtle aspects of boasting, we'll realize that even a thought where I think, oh, I did that really well or I'm so proud of myself or I'm like this, I'm like that, is as good as me giving you the mic and you're bragging it in front of everybody because God sees our thoughts. Let's turn to Romans chapter 3. When we remember that God hears our thoughts like a trumpet in heaven, then we'll realize that what's worse, in fact it would be better that you came out here and bragged in front of everybody unless you deceive yourself and then everybody knows that you're a boasting proud person, then that you deny the opportunity to brag about yourself publicly but secretly you are a boaster and a proud person and God can hear it even louder than with this microphone. Romans chapter 3, we read in verse 27.

Where then is boasting? It is excluded, there's no place for it in the kingdom of heaven. How is it excluded? By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. Please read this carefully, I don't know if you've meditated on this verse but I've been meditating on Romans 3 27 for the past few days.

Boasting, you will never have any boasting, let me interpret this verse, you will never have any boasting in your life whether the public kind that some people in the world have or the hidden kind that I think probably all of us probably do to some extent, you can eliminate that boasting if you're convicted a little bit even by what I just said and says you know what Santos, you're probably right, I do have occasionally those boastful thoughts and now that you're telling me that it's as bad as me giving you giving me the mic and bragging on myself, I don't want any of it, how can I be free of it? What he says here, it is excluded by a law of faith. A law of, as you probably heard if you listen to messages in this church, faith is dependence on God. Faith is complete dependence on God, complete dependence on God.

That means I'm not dependent on myself for anything at all. God gives me the ability, God gives me the desire but I'm completely dependent on Him. I must do the work, I must work out my salvation with fear and trembling we're told but I do it in dependence on Him and it's that law of constantly being dependent on Him, think about it like the law of gravity.

Why is it that objects fall down? Because of the law of gravity. Why is it, how is it that you will be freed from boasting by the law of faith? It's a law, it's a spiritual law and this law dictates that God is the source and finisher of everything. Hebrews 11 tells us he's the author and finisher of our faith.

So the law of faith is essentially saying that everything comes from God and if he, if I overcome sin, if I'm a little bit more patient today than I was last year, a little bit more kind, a little bit more free from lust and anger and the love of money, I had nothing to do with it. God is the source and finisher of everything, this is the law of faith and when you realize that you'll never boast. That's what Paul is telling us here through the Holy Spirit.

Boasting is removed by a law of dependence on God. So if you find there's even a little bit of boasting in your life rather than trying to grit your teeth to be a little bit more free from boasting, that's the law of works. He says no, the law of works can never free you from boasting and the harder you try to be humble, the prouder you will be.

Let me say that again, the harder you try to be humble, the more proud you will be because if you actually do feel a little bit more humble, you'll say I finally did it. I figured out humility. You see the the paradox of that? That's why he says it's not a law of works, you can't try a little harder to be humble.

It comes through dependence on God and so if you really want to be a little bit more humble, fall on your face, bury your head in your pillow and say, Father God will you help me to be humble. I want to come to you in dependence recognizing that if I try for a million years to be humble, I will never be humble. You must help me to be humble.

Give me this humility Lord. I depend on you and that's true humility. Let's go to 1st Corinthians chapter 1. 1st Corinthians 1, he begins by saying in verse 26 that God has chosen the weak, the despised, the nothings of this world to be his representatives.

If you think you're a nobody, you're nothing, you're useless, you really feel like good for nothing, God says that's who I've picked on my team. Read 1st Corinthians 1 26 onwards and see how God chose his team and he's picked the base, the foolish, the weak, the base things of this world and so that in the rest of the world where they're proud of all their accomplishments, you come as a nothing and realize that if God made me something and counted me valuable in his kingdom, it had nothing to do with me. It had everything to do with who Christ is.

Now God has given us all gifts and abilities for this earth. Use it. If you can use your mind, if you can use your hands, if you can use your speech, if you can use any part of your body and the abilities that God has given you, use it but remember don't put any value on it in God's kingdom.

Use it freely to bless others but remember our value comes from Christ alone because God, you recognize Lord, I was a nobody. When I came into this world, I didn't come with all the abilities that you gave me. I came naked just like every other baby in the world and you've given me abilities.

You helped me in school. You helped me get that degree. You helped me get that job.

That's wonderful. I owe it all to you. You are the source and finisher and then he says verse 30 but by his doing you are in Christ Jesus.

Even the fact that you're in Christ Jesus is his doing. Yes you said a prayer and received Jesus Christ and repented of your sins and he forgave you and you trusted him but it was his doing. By his doing you are in Christ Jesus who became to us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption so that just as it is written let him who boasts boast in the Lord.

If you're gonna boast in anything, boast in the Lord and that's a quote from the book of Jeremiah which I'd like to look look at very quickly Jeremiah chapter 9. Paul quotes from Jeremiah 9 twice. There's another place somewhere else I think in maybe Galatians or somewhere where he quotes from Jeremiah 9 but let's look at that Jeremiah 9 verses verse 23 onwards Jeremiah chapter 9 verse 23. Thus says the Lord let not a wise man boast of his wisdom and let not the mighty man boast of his might and let not a rich man boast of his riches but let him who boasts boast of this that he understands and knows me that I am the Lord who exercises loving-kindness justice and righteousness on earth for I delight in these things declares the Lord.

There's three things he talks about that people in this world are likely to boast about that you're likely to boast about. He talks about wisdom and power or might and riches. Now when I ask you are you a wise person? Do you have a lot of wisdom? Again I think everything every single one of us will say no I'm not a very wise person.

I can think of wise people that I know. Are you a strong person? A mighty person? Powerful person? You'll say no I'm probably not a very powerful person. Are you a rich person? I tell you no matter how rich we are which every single one of us is you'll say no I'm not very rich because I'm aware of all the bills that I do this month and I know some rich people.

I drive by their houses or I see the clothes they wear or the cars they drive and all that I know some rich people I'm not one of those. I think every single one of us will say all three of these categories nope not me not me not me but that's the public confession. Privately I think every single one of us thinks we are wise.

Every single one of us thinks we are strong and mighty. Every single thing one of us thinks we are rich. Now it's sort of in a in a converse way and I want you to continue reading because he talks about the circumcised uncircumcised.

I'll talk about that here in a minute but let's continue reading. Behold the days are coming declares the Lord that I will punish all who are circumcised and yet uncircumcised. Let's read that carefully Jeremiah 9 verse 25 I will punish all who are circumcised and yet uncircumcised that is Egypt, Judah, Egypt and Judah.

See Egypt was the uncircumcised Judah was the circumcised in that day. Edom and the sons of Ammon and Moab and all those inhabiting the desert who clip the hair on their temples for all the nations are uncircumcised and all the house of Israel are uncircumcised of heart. So when God says I'm going to punish both the uncircumcised and the circumcised what does that mean for us today? How was Judah and Israel uncircumcised even though they were circumcised? So outwardly they were circumcised that was the distinguishing mark of the people of God the people of Israel God told Abraham the mark for your descendants will be their circumcised all the other nations are not but he's saying here that outwardly you think that you're pleasing to God because outwardly you're circumcised you think yeah we're the chosen people but inwardly in your heart you're uncircumcised so I would paraphrase that now for us today those who think they are not wise and strong and rich or those who act like they're not strong and wise and rich but inwardly they they are like that they think like that deep down in their attitudes and their motives you realize they are actually wise and rich and proud I'll just give you one example of what I mean if you are anxious if you are anxious it means that outwardly you may not be a rich person but inwardly you have a desire for riches if there's a little bit of anxiety in your heart I hope this is convicting you as it is convicting me even as I sit here and say it I find why Jesus spoke strongest against anxiety like anxiousness worry and unbelief he spoke the strongest against such why ultimately if there's anxiety and worry in your heart it's an indication that you love riches and that's this circumcision on the outside you may not be rich you don't have to have be rich but you have anxiety and worry let's turn to first Peter chapter 5 first Peter chapter 5 verse 6 it says verse 5 says God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble and says therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you at the proper time casting all your care or anxiety on him because he cares for you do you see that's one sentence a lot of people like to quote first Peter 5 or 7 casting all your cares on him casting all your anxiety on him because he cares for you but you know that's part of a sentence the whole sentence is be humble be humble humble yourself under the mighty hand of God that he'll exalt you at the proper time meanwhile if there's any anxiety or worry cast it on him and if you find that you're not able to cast your anxiety and worry on him it means that you're proud if you were really humble if you really fell on your face like I said and said Lord I want the humility of Christ you would find that your life was increasingly being free from anxiety I'll put it very simply this way I can tell a humble person by how free they are from anxiety and worry now do you think you're a humble person you think that you're really not that proud have you if you look back on the past week and think yes Lord there was worry in my life just that for that fleeting moment I had 10 minutes of worry about how are you going to figure this out and instead of just sort of sweeping it under the carpet says yeah it's a little bit of worry I'll just sweep it under the carpet identify it as the subtle self commendation pride humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God and the proof of that humility will be that whenever the temptation for anxiety comes you will cast it in him humility is the secret to being free from anxiety do you want to be free from anxiety about the bills that are due I tell you this if you became a billionaire you wouldn't be free from anxiety you think money will help you be free from anxiety the world thinks that if I had a little bit more money if I can convince my company to pay me a little bit more on my annual salary then I wouldn't be free from anxiety that's the lie of the devil the only secret to being freed from anxiety is humility Jesus was far poorer than every single one of us here Jesus was poorer than the poorest person in America I really believe that he made himself poor and the devil wants you to keep thinking that one day I'm gonna have enough money saved up I'm gonna work my way up the corporate ladder well I'll have this and I'll have a nice little stash and then I'll be free from anxiety and he'll keep leading you on until you reach the end of your life and realize I was chasing a pipe dream money wasn't gonna solve my problem money wasn't gonna solve my anxiety humility is get to know the humility of Christ learn from the children do you think how much time do you think your little children spent the youngest in our church Judah how much time did he spend worrying about how his parents are gonna pay the bills this last week or this last month zero and you if you could go to Judah and say hey what about that how you gonna pay the gas bill the gas prices have gone up a lot now how you gonna pay he says ask dad it's not my problem and oh if we could be more like that they come to you husband wife father mother how you gonna take care of that big problem you say ask dad he told me I could cast all my anxiety on him and it's my pride that thinks no I've got to carry that somehow I've got to figure it out somehow myself because my father no he's not concerned enough about my welfare to care for me oh but he does he does care for you and it's your pride brother let me be honest with you in love it's your pride that gets you thinking that somehow you've got to figure out that health problem or that financial problem or that child problem yourself God wants to carry it for you and in humility let him do so and he will in 2nd Corinthians chapter 10 I call this self commendation because it's us commending it we'll never we may not commend ourselves to others we won't brag on ourselves to others but we probably do to ourselves says I'm good enough to take care of this problem and that's where anxiety comes from I'm good enough to ask for a little bit more salary or ask a little bit more money so that I won't have this anxiety it's self commendation underneath all this false humility that we have on the outside so even though while I say well I'm not the smartest person in the world I'm not the most powerful person in the world I'm not the richest person in the world oh but I'm anxious and I tell you your friend deep down you think you are rich and powerful and wise and that's where that's the root of that anxiety I hope you can see it 2nd Corinthians chapter 10 yeah this is the other place where Paul quotes from Jeremiah 9 verse 17 he who boasts is to boast in the Lord for it is not he who commends himself that is approved but he whom the Lord commands and here's another secret to being freed from this desire to promote myself not to others like I said if I ask you are you a self promoter you say no absolutely not I've never once tried to make myself look good in front of others or talk highly about myself I don't think anybody here I've known many of you for many years I've never seen any of you do that but I'm pretty sure we do that to ourselves we make ourselves look good to ourselves and the proof of that is when somebody says something evil about us it does something evil to us we say no I don't deserve to be treated that way because I've been commending myself all this time I've been spending all my days and nights in my thought life commending myself building up myself to be this great person in my own estimation even though in front of you all I like I act very humble in my own thoughts I'm this great person and the moment you do something to damage that person's reputation I'm hurt by it self commendation but it is not he who commends himself that is approved this is second Corinthians 1017 but the one whom the Lord commands and so the secret is say Lord I don't want to make myself higher or greater in my own thoughts I want you I want to know your opinion of me father I want to hear you say like you said to Jesus who was the humblest person that ever walked on this earth this is my beloved son Matthew 3 in whom I'm well pleased he said it again in Matthew 17 why because Jesus never once tried to commend himself this is humility never once did he push himself up in his own thoughts you couldn't see it the other disciples couldn't see it but the father testified to that here is one who has never tried to lift himself up in his own thoughts and I'm well pleased with him Luke chapter 10 I remember this story where Mary and Martha was sitting at home and Martha had a little bit of self-commendation now it's possible to be a servant to have a servant's heart to be working really hard slave laboring in the kitchen or in the yard or somewhere else and to have a lot of self-commendation the person who see who may be the hardest working you may think well that's a pretty humble person they cleaned up all the mess that everybody else left for them they may not be the hardest working for now I'm all for hard working I try to teach our children work hard be diligent work hard and if there's a need try to fulfill it but it's possible for us to think because I'm such a hard-working person because I do you do a lot of things in the home and I do this and I do that other thing I must be the humblest person in the world maybe not or at least the humblest person in the house maybe not because Matthew in Luke chapter 10 you read the story of one lady who was working very hard and another lady who was just sitting there at the feet of Jesus who do you think was the humblest person in that room who do you think had this no self-commendation at all we all know the story Martha was laboring and working hard and she's just frantically well this is about to burn in the stove and that other thing is I got a check on the bread and I got a check on the vegetables and and she's scrambling and every now and then she peeks over at the living room and Mary's just sitting there at Jesus feet what was Martha's problem Jesus said it wasn't that she was working hard that's not it Jesus appreciated that Martha was working hard I believe but he said listen Luke chapter 10 verse 40 Martha it was 41 Martha you are worried and bothered about so many things you're worried and but it's not that you're hard-working but in the midst of that hard-working you're doing it with being bothered and worried about it and there was Martha full of self-commendation so like I've got to do this and I've got to do that and I'm so good at cooking that I need to do this and I need to do the other thing and let's have five dishes one is not enough we need this big spread because Jesus is here see self manifesting itself in the hard-working Martha and that's what Jesus was getting at he didn't condemn her actually he didn't condemn her at all he didn't rebuke her for being hard-working he rebuked self that had risen up in saying Jesus don't you see Martha Mary just sitting there listening to you and if I could paraphrase Jesus words against his Martha self has risen up you think you're so good of how you're working and you want somebody else to help you self-commendation but one thing is necessary and Mary has chosen that good part which shall not be taken away from her Mary was not bothered at all because self was replaced with Jesus and ultimately my brothers and sisters and friends this is the secret to being freed from self-commendation is for Jesus to fill our heart when he says self must be put to death on the cross it's not just a death that remains that way we don't just preach death we preach death and resurrection and so when self is truly put to death fully Jesus Christ rises up in place of self and if your thoughts can be filled up with Jesus so if you have got a busy week ahead of you if you got a busy day ahead of you and you say Lord I don't want to have self-commendation I don't want to go into this week full of self help me Lord I'll tell you this fix your vision on Jesus be taken up with you who Jesus is let him and his glory and who he is and his love for you and his care for you and how he's got all of your life in his hands fill your heart and there will be no more place for self self-commendation I'll stop briefly about self-condemnation now we we tend to accept self-condemnation but I want to ask you this very simple even for the children should be able to get this what's common between self-commendation and self-condemnation what's common it's right there in the words what is it self exactly so whether you're commending yourself or condemning yourself it's still self the same self that Jesus said must be put to death now I talked a lot about concomendation already and I think all of us will leave this room thinking yeah I don't want to be one of those braggers whether it's outwardly or inwardly but condemnation this is something many Christians suffer with I tell you brothers and sisters and friends children even you we let it go somehow we feel good that I've condemned myself because of what a bad thing I did a few days ago or a few hours ago somehow I think that if I condemned myself over that bad thing I did somehow it'll be I'll prove to God I prove to myself that I actually don't want to be that bad person but whether it's self-commendation or self-condemnation it is still self and that's why self-condemnation will never lead you to victory please remember this self-condemnation will never lead you to victory because the problem is still there on the throne self condemning you it'll never lead you to victory because it's it's just basically self-centeredness self on the throne with a spiritual looking garb veneer show it's religious talk oh I'm such a bad person oh I keep feeling oh Lord you must hate me or I'm never gonna make it that's self-condemnation but who's talking self is that Jesus talking is Jesus really the one saying oh you're such a bad person you'll never get it you're not gonna make it there's no hope for you no that's self and self is still very much alive in self-condemnation as it is in self-command so it's really the same thing I hope and that's what I really wanted the the self condemnation part to be what you took away from this message dear friends because we deal with that often I think we preach a very high standard the highest in fact I don't even think we preach it high enough we're still figuring out how high the holiness and the righteousness and the perfection and the purity of Christ is we haven't seen the tenth of it or the hundredth of it the righteousness and the holiness the purity of Christ is so great and we're pressing on towards that and we're raising the standard as it were but in the midst of that it must never result in self-condemnation self must be put to death you know boasting is saying oh I did pretty well self is telling yourself I did pretty well self-condemnation is saying self saying you should have done better right you see that when I self-commendation boasting is self saying I did pretty well self-condemnation is saying self you should have done better which means you're saying you're actually better than that you see how it's still pride when yourself when you're condemning yourself you're saying self is saying you're better than that and that's what the world is saying you're better than that self so yourself is saying I'm better than that self that should be put to death is saying I'm better than that you didn't do as good as you should have so be condemned you see the pride there ultimately in self-condemnation as well so I should be better than that how many of you don't raise your hand please how many of you in your heart answer this when you've fallen into sin and you thought now I should be better than that that's the problem I who should be put to death is thinking I should be better than that you see the problem and when that I can be truly put to death and Jesus is replaced with him I'll tell you you'll find the secret to victory the true answer comes not in I saying I should be better than that and whether you're proud of it because you've got victory or you're condemning yourself because you didn't say Lord I want your victory Jesus I is not whether I is capable of good or not it doesn't matter I should be dead and it doesn't matter whether that person who should be dead was a good person or a bad person he deserves to be dead so does it matter that he failed yesterday if he failed yesterday I'll tell you what the reason he failed is because he's not dead dead person can't fail dead people can't fail remember that the next time you fail the reason you failed was not because you weren't good enough it's because you're not yet dead a dead person can never fail because he's dead and so if you're worrying about failing and all that you think you failed it's just because you're not yet dead now I'll close with this if you think about self con common condemnation self condemnation here's the secret there's a little thought I read this once in a book by a W Tozer I think it's a book he writes called man the dwelling place of God he wrote this it really I've never I wrote it down somewhere and I read it again recently if you really are struggled with self condemnation here's the secret to being freed from it and recognizing it for the subtle danger that it is those things that you tell yourself when you're condemning yourself now imagine that it's not you telling yourself but somebody else telling you the same thing think about it for a moment you're hard on yourself you beat yourself up now let's say somebody else says that to you about you publicly the same thing the same thing that you were beating yourself up over now publicly somebody says exactly the same thing about you in front of everyone how would you feel you'd be like no man how dare he say that about me you were just the one saying that about yourself to yourself you see the pride if somebody was to publicly get up in front of everyone and say exactly the same things about yourself that you're condemning yourself over you would have a problem with it that's the secret to seeing really at the root of it is self self feeling good that I should be better and I wasn't as good as I was so I'm gonna beat yourself up self condemnation we've heard it from my dad often no entry roads discouragement and self condemnation you should never go there at all why not because well let me think let me ask you this question when you thought about when you heard him say those are no entry roads for you discouragement and self condemnation you're like I guess he wants me to be happy that's why he's telling me that I tell you you will be happy but if you are not going down those no entry roads of self condemnation because you want to be happy I tell you that's just still you but you realize how self condemnation is ugly in the face of God because it's self rearing its ugly head and saying I deserved I should be better and God says I hate that yeah you know what I hate more than your failure God is saying is that self has gotten up even higher God hates self more than he hates the fact that you failed God hates that self that rises up more than he hates the fact that you failed and I hope you'll see it that way now that yes failure is bad but you know what's worse than failure is beating yourself over up up over it self rearing its ugly head so the next time you start to beat yourself up just take your voice away and imagine it's somebody else something you don't really like speaking that about you publicly and says okay no I don't want to hear that so tell self I don't want to hear that either it's a very simple way to be freed of it all right I'll close with this Galatians chapter 2 this is where I love that this this verse of Paul that you know well Galatians chapter 2 verse 20 I have been crucified with Christ self has been crucified with Christ and it's no longer self who lives whether it's to be proud of what I've done or to beat myself up over what I've not done self is dead it is no longer self who lives but Christ lives in me and Christ is always full of hope Christ always speaks hope Christ always speaks a future for you Christ always speaks encouraging words yes he'll rebuke you yes he'll chase in you yes he'll correct you but with a hope with a future with a way to go somewhere Christ lives in me so the next time you're tempted to beat yourself up and to be condemned over something you have done or shouldn't or should have done and shouldn't have done or whatever it might be say it is no longer I who live self doesn't live in me say Lord Jesus will you speak to me oh what a difference it will be after you fail maybe you lost your temper maybe you spoke in a harsh way maybe you fell into lust maybe you found the love of money whatever it might be stop before you go charge down that road of self condemnation stop and read Galatians 2 or remember Galatians 2 it says it's no longer I yesterday I used to beat myself up over it today it's not I who lives but Christ lives in me and let Christ be the one speaking to you after that failure let me ask you friends oh I hope you know this but it should be an obvious answer after you fail who wants to speak to you the most I know you've been used to hearing the voice of self saying oh you bad person oh you did it again you're never gonna get it a million years you'll never get it I know that's the voice that you always heard but will you put that voice to death will you allow him to be put to death and say Lord Jesus I want to hear you because it's Christ living in me now and Christ says I love you my son I love you my daughter hold on to me I'm holding on to you we'll get this I've written on the last page of your life that you will be conformed into my image and that's still there written in my blood there's no longer I who live but Christ lives in me so the focus the Christians focus must be shifted from self to Christ because often we just focus on self death but for shift that focus from the death to self to the life of Christ and let Christ speak in you if you're if you're just busy shutting off the voice of self and not replacing it with something self will come back seven times stronger remember the story Jesus said if you're just busy shutting off the voice of self but not replacing it with the voice of Christ then self will come back seven times stronger the next time you fall you'll find the voice of self even stronger so when you fall if you fall fall on your face a Lord Jesus I'm sorry I fell I don't want to be that person I don't want to speak that way to my spouse I don't want to speak that way to my children I don't want to be captivated by the things of this earth will you help me and will you speak to me Lord will you come and fill this heart so much with thoughts of you in the kingdom of heaven and and who you are to me let it be you living and speaking in me where it used to be self and you'll find a difference I tell you not me but the Holy Spirit says from his Word he will lead you to victory he will lead you to triumph I'm tasting a little bit of that I that's my honest testimony and the more I put self to death whether it is in the self that reared its ugly head and pride or reared its ugly head and self-condemnation as self has been put to death Christ speaking in his place it's been wonderful CS Lewis said I think humility is not thinking less of yourself but it's thinking about yourself less you see the difference it's not thinking less of yourself because it's still self thinking less oh okay I guess I'm a little bit lower not dead it's thinking it's not thinking less about yourself but thinking about yourself less because that self has been dead and buried that's what baptism represents and so you're done thinking about him he's dead and buried now you're thinking about Christ humility is thinking about Christ amen let's pray father I thank you for challenging my heart again through what you spoke to me and I hope Lord that in the feeble words I've expressed the burden of my heart that others will be encouraged as well that all of us who heard this will not just take away a cute idea Lord but a decision that from this day onwards it will no longer be I who lives and speaks but Christ who lives and speaks in me we believe you will do that from the youngest to the oldest by the power of your spirit in Jesus name amen