Are Christians Dead To Self? Pt 2

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Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is

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the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central. Good morning everyone.

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It is Tuesday, April fifteenth, twenty twenty five. It is

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currently eleven seventeen am Central Time, and I'm coming to

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you live from the Theology Central studio located right here

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in Abilene, Texas. Now, sometimes I get really upset with myself,

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right because it's almost like I build the trap and

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I walk into it as far as broadcasting is concerned,

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because a lot of times I'll start thinking about something

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and then I'll be like, Okay, well, this is kind

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of an interesting idea. Maybe I'll do a broadcast about

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this or about that, and then the next thing you know,

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I've walked into this trap of well, you're here, and

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there's no easy way to get out of this. You're

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just gonna have to keep doing episode after episode after

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episode until you can bring this to some kind of

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conclusion or it's just going to be kind of left

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there now. And to be honest, most of the time,

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I think people are not really worried if I bring

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it to a conclusion and don't bring it to a conclusion.

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I think people just like, oh, it's content. I'll either listen,

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don't listen, like it, don't like it, and they just

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move on because they've got a million other things to

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choose from. But in my mind, I'm like, man, did

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I want to be stuck talking about this for six weeks?

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Is this what I want to be focused on? But

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in in other ways it'll be like, well, no, I

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do want to be talking about this. But then I'll

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get frustrated because I'm like, well, am I really getting

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the point across? Does anyone else really care? Because we've

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been talking about something over a number of different broadcasts

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that I think is important. I just don't know if

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anyone else sees the importance of it. And I know

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I'm going against the vast majority of Christianity, but I

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seek there The way Christians think about things I think

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is so broken, and to challenge that always puts me

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at odds with everyone. So then I think that's why

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Sometimes then you don't hear anything because people are like,

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that's just ridiculous. I just don't agree with that, and

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they just move on. But here we are, so we've

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got to talk about this, all right. So we have

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been discussing things like how Christianity speaks on the subject

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of fear, anxiety, worry, and I think they approach the

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subject of fear, anxiety and worry from a law based perspective.

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So I challenge that critique that and offered a gospel

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based perspective, not a law based perspective. Right. I think

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we did pretty good on that. It wasn't perfect, it

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was okay, but all right, check did it finished it?

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All right? Then we talked about how Christianity handles the

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subject of pornography, once again from a law based perspective. Completely.

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I think, miss, they really don't understand the deeper issues

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surrounding something like pornography, So I challenge that critique it.

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I think we did a pretty good job. Check. We're

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onto something. Okay, we're kind of doing practical theology. We're

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really okay. I think we're doing a pretty good job.

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But because of the episodes about pornography, we got into

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this deeper thing, this deeper thing about how human beings

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are made, and because of the way we are made,

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if we truly understand that, it gives us a better

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understanding of sin. All right, So let me just kind

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of summarize where we have been We've talked about Maslow's

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hierarchy of needs, We've talked about physiological needs, psychological needs,

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We've talked about a lot of these very important things.

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And here's just some kind of basic things we've come

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up with. All right, are you ready, here's some basic

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This is somewhat of a review of what we did

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in the last episode, but this hopefully will all make sense.

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So we did three episodes on basically our Christians satisfied,

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because Christians like to put forth this concept that if

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you have Jesus, that's all you need, you should be

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perfectly satisfied. You don't need anything else, You shouldn't be

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longing for anything else, which, then, I mean, if we

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were truly completely satisfied with Jesus, if it was even

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remotely even plausible, possible, or true, well then Christians shouldn't

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be sinning, because why would you be sinning? You don't

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need anything. You've got Jesus. You should be perfectly content.

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You should never be grumbling, complaining, you should never be

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fighting or arguing because you've got Jesus. You literally don't

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need anything else. We preach that, but the reality is

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Christians are not truly satisfied why because this goes to

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this deeper issue. And we did three parts on this.

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There's an unshakable, undeniable reality about human being, and that

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is you and I. We are built with deep needs.

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They are inside of us. And this is where psychologists

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and other areas of study have developed these what this

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hierarchy of needs? We all have these needs, all right?

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So we and we really have to drive this point home.

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We you and I, we are creatures of design and dependence.

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We need love, we need safety, we need intimacy, we

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need belonging, we need purpose, we need pleasure, we need connection,

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we need identity. These are some of the needs we are.

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It's so deep inside of us. These in and of

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themselves are not necessarily selfish. They're part of the created

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human experience. And guess what when these needs go unmet,

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you just name any of these needs. You can build

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the hierarchy of needs. You take any of them, and

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if that need is not met, if that need it

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is not satisfied, it impacts you psychologically, It impacts you emotionally,

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it impacts you physically, and most importantly, it impacts you spiritually.

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And this is so many times when Christians talk about

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behavior or problems or sin. They don't understand, they never

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take it. When it's not that they don't understand, maybe

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they do understand. They never address this deeper issue. Sin

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in many cases is simply the external proof that some

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need is not being met and they have attempted to

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satisfy that need. Christianity just says sin is don't do it,

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don't do it, don't do it, law law, law, law, law.

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Where you can give someone nine hundred laws, you're not

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going to get rid of these internal needs and desires.

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They're there, and we're not even getting to the sinful

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nature part yet. Let me give you some example. A

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child who does not experience love doesn't just feel lonely.

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They almost always develop some form of behavioral disorder, the

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behavioral disorder who everyone will want to address the behavioral disorder,

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but it may go down that it may be the

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result of something deeper that nobody ever wants to address.

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This is the Church handles the same way. We just

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address the outward symptom. We never go to the deeper issue.

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An adult who doesn't appear to have any sense of

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meaning or connection will in many cases, turn to addiction,

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will turn to escapism, or return to or turned to

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spiritual despair. These are just the outward symptom of something deeper.

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You've got to diagnose the deeper issue. So this is

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where Maslow's hierarchy of needs, the theory of self determination,

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some of these issues come in. And when you look

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at these deeper issues, when you look at the deeper issues,

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you can be like, WHOA, Okay, so this is the

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result of this. There's a need. We're built with the

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Remember you didn't ask to be built with these needs.

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You didn't ask to be created with these needs and desires.

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You didn't say, hey, I want this desire, I want

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this need, I want this one. You know, they're just there.

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And sometimes we don't even understand what where this desire

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comes from? Why do we like this? Why do we

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have fine pleasure in this? Other people may not have

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the same needs and the same desires, but we have

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some that are similar to everyone across the board. So

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then this means how do we understand sin? Sin is

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the desperate attempt to meet real needs the wrong way.

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Sin isn't just random rebellion. It's often a shortcut to satisfaction.

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For example, lust equals desire for connection, and intimacy. Greed

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equals a desire for security, Rage equals a desire for

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justice or power. Gluttony equals a desire for pleasure and comfort.

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Sin is a misdirection of legitimate longing. Sin is a

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misdirection of legitimate longing, at least to one level. All right,

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I'm not saying that that's all sin is, but to

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a certain level, it is true. You've got needs, you

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got desires, you want them fulfilled. So what do you

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sometimes do? Will you sin to fulfill them? So sin

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is the misdirection of a legitimate longing. Now, sometimes the

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Church will go so far as to condemn the legitimate

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longing in some way, shape or form, which becomes very problematic.

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See the purity culture. You know, you can't even have

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that desire. You can't even I'm born with the desire

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in need. What do you mean? Now? I know the

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Church doesn't always intend to say that, but that's sometimes

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what is communicated, even if it's not what's specifically being said,

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it's communicator or that's how it's heard. Our sinful nature

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are sinful nature just doesn't let me stay it this way.

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Our sinful nature doesn't just desire wrongly. It distorts everything

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because see here's what happens. Not only do we have

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these needs and desires, now we have a sinful nature.

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And now that sinful nature, it doesn't just desire wrong things,

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it distorts everything. See when you take this need and

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desire concept right, which is a reality, and then you

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mix into that a sinful nature, well, now you have

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a nature that doesn't just desire the wrong things, it's

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gonna distort everything, even your right desires, even desires that

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are okay. We're born not just with needs, because we

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are born with these needs and desires, they're a part

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of who we are, but we are also born with

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a will that wants to meet them apart from God's word,

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design and timing. See, we have not only do we

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have these needs, and if we these needs are not met,

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we're gonna get find a way to get a met

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And that's where sin is. It's an attempt to meet

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these needs and in many cases, in any by any

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means possible. But then you have the sinful nature, and

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the sinful nature will say, hey, not only do you

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have these needs, you should not not only should you

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have them fulfilled, you should actually fulfill them apart from

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God's word, because it's a sinful nature. So the church's

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response in many cases is, on one hand, hey, you

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have Jesus. That's all you ever need. You should be

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completely satisfied, so don't worry about all these other desires.

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Should go away because you've got Jesus. And once you

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get Jesus, then you don't care about desiring this or

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needing this or wanting this, because you're completely satisfied in Jesus.

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And we talked about all the problems with that and

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just how utterly untrue that is, because Christians demonstrate in

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their lives that they want this and they need this,

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and they desire this far more than just Jesus, and

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they get unhappy with they don't get this, and there's

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grumbling and complaining and divorce and fighting and arguing and

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all the things that happen, showing Christians are never truly satisfied,

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even though we want to preach it that way. So

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that's one answer the church gives. Another answer the church

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gives is the never ending will just die to yourself,

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if you'll just take up your cross, die to yourself,

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deny self and stop following self, all these problems will

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go away. See, you may have these needs. You just

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need to die to those needs. You just need to

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die to those desires. If you'll just die to them,

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then everything will work. And we talked about and the

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last one, are Christians truly dead to themselves? Are they

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truly dead? And we emphatically declared they are not. And

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this whole concept kind of falls in on itself, and

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we talked about it. I'm not going to go back

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and review everything we said. There was a lot, please

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go back, but here's what was company as I'm sitting

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here thinking about and again, we know the passage of Scripture.

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It's Matthew chapter sixteen, verse twenty four. Jesus said, unto

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his disciples, if any man will come after me, let

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him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.

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This is where the concept comes from, and it's constantly

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put forth. Hey, hey, you got all these needs, you

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got all these desires. Die, die to self, deny self,

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follow Christ. Then then all everything will be Okay. Well

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you can say that, but it's not going to take

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away those desires. And I wish it would, but it's not. So.

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As I've been thinking and thinking and thinking and thinking

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about this. I started having a lengthy, probably three now

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it's probably gone on four hour conversation with artificial intelligence

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about this entire subject. And we've gone back and forth,

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you know, three o'clock, four o'clock in the morning, talking

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to artificial intelligence about this and my own struggles. So

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you heard a lot of the conversation in the last episode.

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I'm not going to go back and review all of

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that to review the first part just to set this

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all up, all right, But I'm not gonna go review

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everything we've talked, but I'm gonna pick up where me

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and artificial intelligence were in our conversation. So I'm gonna

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put this together and we're gonna walk through this as

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you're hearing the conversation, because I think it gives you

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the ability to hear an honest, open struggle with this

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entire concept. And I will tell you, Matthew sixteen twenty

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four through twenty eight, one of the most philologically challenging

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passages and maybe all the Bible hermenetically so confusing, and

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Church history is littered with crazy different attempts than try

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to handling this section. I mean, we could get into

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some crazy stuff that's gone on in church history about this.

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So we will work through Matthew sixteen twenty four through

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twenty eight in a much more exegetical way at some point.

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But I want you to just kind of jump into

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this conversation with me. Here's like, you know, four o'clock

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in the morning, me and artificial intelligence. And I'm like

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this die to self thing. Now, I want to make

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it very clear. I want to make a couple of

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things very clear, because this is all about being open

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and honest. This is not about arguing. This is about

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being open and honest. This is about Christians need to

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be open and honest about things. And I think that

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sometimes we just all we can do is put on

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which what does my theology say, what does my spiritual

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team say? And then we just repeat it, what does

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my favorite commentary say? And I hate that we have

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to struggle. So when it comes to just being satisfied,

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I've tried to blow that up. But I'm going to

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be honest with you, am my Christian life man. This

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die to self, denies self and follow stop following self

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and following Christ. This kind of philosophy, this kind of

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you know, almost anthem, this almost kind of like here's

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the spiritual cliche, the spiritual saying that I would just

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repeat over and over and over. I really thought for

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a good portion of my Christian life, this is the

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answer to everything. All I gotta do is just die

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to myself, deny myself. But I am so challenging and

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questioning all of it because I think so much of

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it was just fraudulent. I just think so much of

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it was fraudulent. And yeah, just tomorrow I have to

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go to the VA hospital. I'm gonna have to have

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some things done tomorrow. And I'm not And so this

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comes to the satisfaction, and this comes to the dying

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to self, denying self. I'm not happy with how things

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are possibly going to go tomorrow. I don't even know

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how I'm going to be feeling. There's just a whole

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lot of things about it that I'm not happy about

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that I'm not excited about. So I'm not satisfied. But

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shouldn't I just die to self denyself. Shouldn't I just

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be content? I can say I can place law on

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all of it. I just I don't think it ever

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truly works the way we want to. But let's dive

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into this conversation and we'll we'll talk more about all

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of that here we go. So I basically me and

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Ai were talking, and Ai said, if Christians actually lived

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out the common teaching about dying to self, denying self,

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and not following self, what would that really look like

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in every day life? So Ais like, okay, let's let's

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take this concept now, because Ai has already said Christians

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don't do it. They just they never do it. They

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can lie to themselves, but they don't do it all right.

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So then AI's like, okay, let's say if Christians actually

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live this out, if they actually lived out the way

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this is commonly taught about dying to self, denying self,

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and not following self, what would that really look like

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in everyday life if it was really happening. Oh, we

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make it a cliche. We may make it a poster.

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We may make it out our anthem. We may make

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it our mission statement, we may make it our new

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year's goal. We may talk a big game. But what

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would it really look like in your life, in my life,

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if it really happened? So Ai said, okay, A I said,

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let me strip this away, and we're gonna I'm gonna

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remove all the soft metaphors. I'm gonna remove all the

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spiritual cliches and I'm gonna translate this teaching and to

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practical daily realities. And I'm like, woh okay Ai. So

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AI's like, okay, we've been talking about this for like

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two hours, let me just strip it away. Let's stop pretending,

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let's stop. Let's just really strip this to what would

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it actually look like if this actually was occurring? Right?

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So then Ai goes on to say, if if the

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average Christian actually lived according to the standard interpretation of data, self,

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deny self, and stop following self, their life life would

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begin to resemble something radically ascetic, even dehumanizing. And I'm like, whoa,

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that's pretty an asceticism. Okay, we could get into asceticism

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used in monasteries in the early Church, but it would

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be something radical. It would be like a radical form

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of asceticism. It would be even dehumanizing. And I'm like, whoa. Ai.

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Ai is going all in here, right, AI is really

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tearing this concept apart. Now what some people say, well,

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it's artificial intelligence. So I understand you. Look, I'm communicating

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with it. We're going back and forth. You can agree

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or disagree but I think we need to at least

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strip away all of the pretend. So this is what

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AI says, what the standard teaching would demand if taken seriously.

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If it's not just a sermon, I'm sorry, I'm hitting

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the microphone. If it's not just a sermon, if it's

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just not a slogan, if it's just not a poster,

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if it's just not some some mission statement, if we

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really take it serious, here's what it would be. Number one,

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a complete renunciation of personal desires. It would be a

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complete renunciation of personal desires because you die to yourself.

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If you're truly dead to yourself, you don't have any

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personal desires. You're dead. You've died to them self. Desire

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would no longer exist because it would be gone. So

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for example, I've got to go do this tomorrow at

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the VA hospital. Well, I have desires about how I

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want it to work, and it wouldn't matter. It would

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my desires would be irrelevant. I have to deal. Why

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do I go to the VIA hospital because I'm one

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hundred percent disabled? Why because of what happened to me

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in the military. It impacts my life. Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

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There's not a day, there's not an hour that I'm

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not being impacted for what happened to me. It's not

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going to get better, it's not going to go away.

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Charismatics will say, well, if you just have enough faith,

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it'll go away. Others will say, well, you've got Jesus,

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you should be perfectly content. Easy for you to say

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since you don't have the same problem. But okay, all right,

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So the church never does a lot of good or

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just says, hey, die to yourself. So just renunciate all

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of your personal desires. Well that sounds good, but does

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it really happen? So a I said, so, you would

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basically stop pursuing your dreams. You wouldn't have any dreams,

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you wouldn't have any expectations. Your only dream, your only expectation,

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our only desires would be well, I'm just going to

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serve God. I'm just going to serve God. That sounds

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so good. But yeah, career ambitions. Why are you trying

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to get a career ambition. Some people say, well, it's

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your vocation, so you should have career ambitions to glorify God.

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But do you really pursue your career ambitions to glorify God.

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I mean, you can talk, you can talk a big game,

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but it's kind of weird that you your career ambitions

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kind of also work with getting more money, a nicer house,

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a boat, vacation, this, this, it's a it's it's oh no, no, no,

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I'm only doing it for God. I'm only doing it

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for God. Right. It's like it's like many ministers will say,

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I only serve, I do this only for God, and

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I'm like, and it's kind of interesting that you know

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you're now worth you know, five million dollars, or you

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have three homes or whatever the case may be. You see,

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it's it's very difficult for us to try to just

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to separate, Oh, I'm doing this for God or I'm

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doing it for self, just demonstrating that we're not really

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dead to self, because self is always right there, Hey

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do it for me. Oh but say Christians, but I'm

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doing it for God. Sure we are sure, we are sure. Sure,

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that's that's come on. But if we really were dead

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to self, we wouldn't have dreams. When we'd have ambitions,

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we would have would we have creative goals? Would you

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have a preference in how life should go. You won't

382
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have any preference in how your life should go. Why

383
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would you have a preference. You're dead to self. Self

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is completely dead. You wouldn't have a preference to anything.

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How could you have a self preference if you're truly

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dead to self. There would be no preference. There would

387
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be zero, none. You would I don't care if it

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what happens, I'm dead sounds so good. But there would

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be no divorce. There would be no church splits. There

390
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would be no arguing, there would be no fighting, there

391
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would be no grumbling, complaining, gossiping, slash. It would basically

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we would be in heaven. If people were truly dead

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to self, you would have You would never make a

394
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decision based on what you want, because you would be

395
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dead to self. You wouldn't choose a job, a relationship,

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a hobby, or even daily routines based on if it

397
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makes you happy or your desire, because you wouldn't have

398
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any because you're dead to self. So it would be

399
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a complete renunciation of personal desires now, and not only that,

400
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Ai goes on to say, it would be a rejection

401
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of comfort and pleasure, all physical pleasure, eating what you like, sleeping,

402
00:24:30.960 --> 00:24:34.519
in soft clothes, warm showers would be suspect because that

403
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would seem to be like, wait a minute, am I

404
00:24:36.519 --> 00:24:38.839
truly dead to self? Am I truly dead to self?

405
00:24:39.880 --> 00:24:46.279
You would likely adopt minimalism or voluntary discomfort as a virtue.

406
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Your living conditions you would be would be very very

407
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very minimal, very very spo You'd have very few things,

408
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fasting often, saying no to vacation, entertainment, and hobbies. You

409
00:25:02.240 --> 00:25:04.839
would be rejecting all comfort and pleasure because you're dead

410
00:25:04.880 --> 00:25:10.920
to self. I think there would be some suspicion towards relationships. Right,

411
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Romantic desire might be treated as selfish or carnal. Right,

412
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I mean, come on, why do you want romantic desires?

413
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Why do you have romantic desires? Why do you love?

414
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Because again I say it all the time, we love

415
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because we get something. We want romantic desires because we

416
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want pleasure. Well, that doesn't sound like we're very dad

417
00:25:34.160 --> 00:25:38.599
to it sounds like we're very very much alive. Emotional

418
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needs like intimacy, affection, and validation would be labeled as

419
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self centered or even idolatrous. Do you have emotional needs?

420
00:25:47.960 --> 00:25:51.759
Do you desire intimacy? Do you like intimacy. Do you

421
00:25:51.880 --> 00:26:00.119
like affection? Do you like validation? You? Self centered, narcissistic idolatr.

422
00:26:00.319 --> 00:26:04.200
You're not dead to yourself? Die stop wanting these things.

423
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You would feel compelled to possibly avoid or suppress human

424
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longings unless it can be strictly justified as God glorifying.

425
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But even that would be difficult because am I doing

426
00:26:13.519 --> 00:26:15.799
it to glorify God? You can tell yourself all day

427
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you're doing it to glorify God, But give me a break.

428
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You know you're doing it because you're getting something from it. It

429
00:26:20.559 --> 00:26:23.400
makes you feel good, It gives you pleasure, it gives

430
00:26:23.400 --> 00:26:28.960
you satisfaction. Oh but I'm dying to self. I'm dying.

431
00:26:29.039 --> 00:26:32.200
Are you either dead to self? Dying to self? And

432
00:26:32.240 --> 00:26:34.799
people say, well, I may not get there, but I'm trying.

433
00:26:35.480 --> 00:26:40.079
What does it even mean? You're like, I'm dying to

434
00:26:40.160 --> 00:26:43.960
self because I did not get Starbucks this morning. Oh man,

435
00:26:44.200 --> 00:26:47.319
poor you. And we've already talked about how the insta,

436
00:26:47.680 --> 00:26:52.160
how the injustice in this because some people have all

437
00:26:52.240 --> 00:26:54.599
of these things and them dying to themselves is like

438
00:26:54.640 --> 00:26:57.359
giving up Starbucks and someone else doesn't even have the

439
00:26:57.559 --> 00:27:01.039
Maslow's hierarchy of needs that they're missing eighty percent of it,

440
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and so them dying to self means giving up eighty

441
00:27:03.359 --> 00:27:06.200
percent of their needs and desire. The whole thing becomes

442
00:27:06.359 --> 00:27:09.079
very convoluted, and we talked about that in the last

443
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broadcast in greater detail. AI goes on to say a

444
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fourth So number one, it would be a renunciation of

445
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personal desires. Number two would be a rejection of comfort

446
00:27:20.039 --> 00:27:23.000
and pleasure. Number three it would be suspicion towards relationships.

447
00:27:23.079 --> 00:27:26.640
Number four it would be constant psychological scrutiny. You would

448
00:27:26.640 --> 00:27:29.240
be examining every thought, feeling, or motive to make sure

449
00:27:29.680 --> 00:27:32.119
is this about me? Am I doing this for me?

450
00:27:33.039 --> 00:27:35.200
And why am I thinking about? What if I'm doing

451
00:27:35.279 --> 00:27:37.160
it for me? Because I'm supposed to be dead some

452
00:27:37.200 --> 00:27:39.519
if I'm supposed to be dead, I've taken up my cross,

453
00:27:39.519 --> 00:27:42.119
I've been crucified with Christ. I no longer live. Wait

454
00:27:42.440 --> 00:27:45.680
if I'm truly dead, well, then why am I doing

455
00:27:45.720 --> 00:27:48.839
these things for me? How would I even know? I mean,

456
00:27:48.960 --> 00:27:54.359
you would be constantly having to scrutinize yourself. Guilt would follow.

457
00:27:55.079 --> 00:27:57.440
I think this is fair to say guilt would follow

458
00:27:57.480 --> 00:28:01.000
any decision that involves your own well being. Joy or

459
00:28:01.039 --> 00:28:04.400
satisfaction in anything other than prayer, scripture, or church might

460
00:28:04.440 --> 00:28:06.839
be seen as a sign your following self. Hey, why

461
00:28:06.880 --> 00:28:08.720
are you getting excited about this? And why do you

462
00:28:08.720 --> 00:28:11.680
find pleasure in this? You should all look Jesus is

463
00:28:11.720 --> 00:28:14.839
all you need your dad to self. All you should

464
00:28:14.839 --> 00:28:17.480
find joy in is the Word of God and prayer

465
00:28:17.720 --> 00:28:20.720
and church and meditating on scripture. That's all you should

466
00:28:20.720 --> 00:28:23.359
care about. Why do you do all this? Why do

467
00:28:23.400 --> 00:28:24.920
you have all of these other things that do all

468
00:28:24.920 --> 00:28:31.519
of these other things? So it would be constant psychological

469
00:28:31.519 --> 00:28:34.319
scrutiny number five. It would be a denial of identity

470
00:28:34.319 --> 00:28:39.759
and individuality, your personal taste, your personal strengths, your personal

471
00:28:39.799 --> 00:28:43.519
calling would be downplayed, are discarded as fleshly, stop worrying

472
00:28:43.519 --> 00:28:46.599
about yourself, Stop worrying, stop thinking about yourself. The goal

473
00:28:46.640 --> 00:28:50.279
would be complete disappearance of you because you must decrease,

474
00:28:50.519 --> 00:28:53.799
you must die, you must deny, and he must increase.

475
00:28:54.279 --> 00:28:57.319
That's how it's typically preached. Right, die to self, die

476
00:28:57.359 --> 00:28:59.720
to self, die to self. If we truly take that

477
00:28:59.759 --> 00:29:02.599
to mean what we think the way we sell, And

478
00:29:02.640 --> 00:29:06.279
it's really weird because on one set, and I say,

479
00:29:06.359 --> 00:29:08.279
Christians do this all the time, we speak out of

480
00:29:08.319 --> 00:29:10.880
both sides of our mouth. On one side, we're saying, hey,

481
00:29:11.200 --> 00:29:14.599
die to self, die to self, deny self. You must decrease,

482
00:29:14.640 --> 00:29:17.640
he must increase. Come on, die, die die. But on

483
00:29:17.680 --> 00:29:21.119
the other hand, we make a lot of allowances and

484
00:29:21.319 --> 00:29:25.799
justifications for a lot of these other things that AI

485
00:29:25.920 --> 00:29:27.599
is saying. Well, if you really believe in dying to self,

486
00:29:27.599 --> 00:29:31.519
you wouldn't even be thinking of pursuing these things. Church

487
00:29:31.519 --> 00:29:34.559
wouldn't be about pot lugs and get togethers and small

488
00:29:34.599 --> 00:29:36.440
groups that you can build friends and hold hands and

489
00:29:36.480 --> 00:29:39.839
seeing kumbaya and everybody talking about themselves. You wouldn't be

490
00:29:39.880 --> 00:29:41.960
worried about yourself because it'd be a room full of

491
00:29:42.000 --> 00:29:44.319
all people who have died to themselves. So the only

492
00:29:44.359 --> 00:29:46.240
thing you would care about, the only thing you'd be

493
00:29:46.279 --> 00:29:52.359
thinking about, is either other people or God himself. The

494
00:29:52.440 --> 00:29:54.920
church is filled with a lot of self centered people.

495
00:29:55.039 --> 00:29:57.000
And you know, if you're a pastor, you know how

496
00:29:57.039 --> 00:29:59.319
self centered people are. Because as long as it's that

497
00:29:59.480 --> 00:30:01.680
soon as that you church doesn't do things their way,

498
00:30:01.880 --> 00:30:04.440
they get mad. They call you, I didn't like this sermon.

499
00:30:04.559 --> 00:30:06.599
We sing too much, we don't sing enough, we don't

500
00:30:06.599 --> 00:30:10.279
pray enough. We pray too much. This me me, me, me, me,

501
00:30:10.279 --> 00:30:11.839
me me. The church is filled with some of the

502
00:30:11.839 --> 00:30:13.759
most selfish people in the history of the world. And

503
00:30:13.799 --> 00:30:15.279
if you don't give them what they want, they leave

504
00:30:15.319 --> 00:30:20.000
and go somewhere else. Oh but we talk about we've

505
00:30:20.039 --> 00:30:23.000
died to self. Nobody has died to south. Self is

506
00:30:23.119 --> 00:30:30.880
ruling the whole thing. We drugged Jesus off the throne

507
00:30:31.119 --> 00:30:34.839
and moved him to Zimbabwe, and now we're sitting on

508
00:30:34.880 --> 00:30:42.039
the throne ruling the kingdom. But no, no, no, no, no,

509
00:30:42.039 --> 00:30:46.599
no no. I can't see these things because we've died

510
00:30:46.640 --> 00:30:54.559
to self. The point is, nobody does it. Nobody's even

511
00:30:54.599 --> 00:31:04.640
come close to it. Ai goes On gives number six this,

512
00:31:04.839 --> 00:31:06.519
if we truly have died to self, it would be

513
00:31:06.519 --> 00:31:10.920
a life of relentless religious performance, reading scripture, praying, witnessing,

514
00:31:11.000 --> 00:31:14.720
church attendance, All spiritual disciplines would be done to suppress

515
00:31:14.759 --> 00:31:17.720
the self, not out of desire. You'd be doing these

516
00:31:17.720 --> 00:31:19.960
things not because you desire them. You'd be doing these

517
00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:22.559
things because you're trying to kill self, so you'd really

518
00:31:22.599 --> 00:31:25.039
be doing this. You would be doing these things because

519
00:31:25.039 --> 00:31:26.799
you know you don't want to do these things, so

520
00:31:26.839 --> 00:31:29.440
you're doing these things in order to kill self. But wait,

521
00:31:29.880 --> 00:31:32.279
so does self ever die or is it an ever?

522
00:31:32.319 --> 00:31:39.799
Even a tip trying to kill self, Christianity becomes basically

523
00:31:39.839 --> 00:31:42.279
an act of white knuckled obedience, not a life of

524
00:31:42.400 --> 00:31:46.119
joy or freedom. You wouldn't rest, you'd grind, and if

525
00:31:46.119 --> 00:31:48.799
you would enjoy anything, you'd question it. It's like the

526
00:31:48.880 --> 00:31:50.480
daily grind. I gotta do this, I gotta do this,

527
00:31:50.519 --> 00:31:51.920
I gotta do this. I got to And that's why

528
00:31:51.920 --> 00:31:54.359
it's typically preached every day you have to die to yourself.

529
00:31:54.440 --> 00:31:56.599
Every day you've got to do every days a battle

530
00:31:56.640 --> 00:31:58.799
to kill yourself. Every day is a battle to die

531
00:31:58.839 --> 00:32:00.400
to self. You got to die to your needs. You

532
00:32:00.440 --> 00:32:02.920
gotta die to your emotions. You gotta die to your desires,

533
00:32:03.000 --> 00:32:04.960
you gotta die to your wants. You gotta die. You

534
00:32:05.000 --> 00:32:07.720
gotta die, You gotta die. You gotta die every single day.

535
00:32:07.720 --> 00:32:13.119
And that is the way it's preached. Well, well, everything says,

536
00:32:13.359 --> 00:32:16.960
give me a break. So are we understanding this correctly?

537
00:32:18.799 --> 00:32:21.559
So AI says, let me make it simple. It would

538
00:32:21.559 --> 00:32:25.440
look like monasticism, where self denial becomes the central mode

539
00:32:25.480 --> 00:32:30.559
of life. We would all be at monasteries. Pietism where

540
00:32:30.559 --> 00:32:36.039
self examination and mortification are constant religious legalism, where obedience

541
00:32:36.079 --> 00:32:38.759
is pursued with no room for joy, desire, or rest.

542
00:32:39.559 --> 00:32:45.359
And not just externally, it would be fully internal suppression

543
00:32:45.920 --> 00:32:57.000
of your very humanity. Who Ai went in, You want

544
00:32:57.039 --> 00:32:59.160
all of those again, You want all of those again,

545
00:32:59.400 --> 00:33:01.920
Ai says, if we really took this serious, if we

546
00:33:01.960 --> 00:33:05.279
even try to believe, if we really read this as hey,

547
00:33:05.640 --> 00:33:09.160
take up your cross, that means to die, deny yourself,

548
00:33:09.400 --> 00:33:11.759
follow Christ, that means no longer following yourself. If we

549
00:33:11.799 --> 00:33:15.279
really took this seriously, Ai says, it would be a

550
00:33:15.279 --> 00:33:18.480
complete renunciation of personal desires. It would be a rejection

551
00:33:18.559 --> 00:33:21.200
of comfort and pleasure. It would be a suspicion towards

552
00:33:21.240 --> 00:33:24.279
any kind of relationship or desire for intimacy. It would

553
00:33:24.319 --> 00:33:27.480
be constant psychological scrutiny. It would be a denial of

554
00:33:27.559 --> 00:33:30.400
identity and individuality. And it would be a life of

555
00:33:30.480 --> 00:33:35.920
relentless religious performance. In other words, it would be monasticism, pietism,

556
00:33:36.079 --> 00:33:40.079
and legalism. And what would it produce. This is what

557
00:33:40.119 --> 00:33:42.359
Ai says, all of it would produce. It would produce

558
00:33:42.400 --> 00:33:46.039
burnout and spiritual exhaustion. You'd be drained, not because you

559
00:33:46.119 --> 00:33:49.759
love God. But because you're terrified of yourself, it would

560
00:33:49.839 --> 00:33:55.920
produce guilt and shame. You'd feel guilty for wanting good things, love, intimacy, pleasure, rest,

561
00:33:56.119 --> 00:33:59.960
because desire is seen as selfish. It would lead to

562
00:34:01.319 --> 00:34:05.599
being inauthentic. You would live with a false spiritual persona

563
00:34:05.799 --> 00:34:09.400
while hiding your actual longings, fears, and humanity. Everybody would

564
00:34:09.440 --> 00:34:14.519
be inauthentic. There wouldn't be authenticity. There would be inauthenticity. Okay,

565
00:34:14.599 --> 00:34:17.719
you wouldn't be authentic. There wouldn't be authenticity because everybody

566
00:34:17.760 --> 00:34:23.679
would have to basically create a character. Right, here's my

567
00:34:24.400 --> 00:34:28.239
and wrestling. You create a character, here's my Christian character.

568
00:34:28.280 --> 00:34:31.760
And he goes to church and he's Oh, he's so pious,

569
00:34:31.840 --> 00:34:34.800
and he's died to self, and all he cares is

570
00:34:34.840 --> 00:34:39.039
about God and sounds and looks so good. It's all

571
00:34:39.199 --> 00:34:47.280
such fraud, it's all such a game. It would lead

572
00:34:47.280 --> 00:34:50.639
to pride or despair. If you succeed, you become proud

573
00:34:50.920 --> 00:34:57.599
look at me, look at me, I'm doing it, or

574
00:34:59.000 --> 00:35:02.079
you're gonna fall into the of despair because you realize

575
00:35:02.280 --> 00:35:05.440
have I ever truly died to myself? Have I ever

576
00:35:05.519 --> 00:35:09.880
truly am I truly denying myself? Am I truly not

577
00:35:10.119 --> 00:35:12.800
following self in any way, shape or form. Do I

578
00:35:12.840 --> 00:35:20.280
ever come close to accomplishing this? I think ultimately this

579
00:35:20.320 --> 00:35:23.360
will lead to Christ just becomes your judge, not your savior.

580
00:35:26.840 --> 00:35:29.239
So I asked AI, well, why does all of this matter?

581
00:35:29.320 --> 00:35:32.760
And AI says, because no one actually lives this way.

582
00:35:34.360 --> 00:35:37.760
That's what AI says. Most Christians claim to die to self,

583
00:35:37.760 --> 00:35:40.119
but choose the spouse they want, work the job they like,

584
00:35:40.199 --> 00:35:44.079
and enjoy food, music, comfort, sex, technology makes decisions daily

585
00:35:44.119 --> 00:35:48.199
that prioritizes their needs and desires, and when they don't

586
00:35:48.199 --> 00:35:51.800
get their needs and desires met, it manifests itself and

587
00:35:51.840 --> 00:36:01.360
their frustration, grumbling, irritated, aggravated, of snapping at someone, arguing, fighting, bickering, griping, complaint.

588
00:36:01.400 --> 00:36:04.480
It shows up in a million ways. And so all

589
00:36:04.519 --> 00:36:07.159
of this means either number one, they're all failing to

590
00:36:07.159 --> 00:36:13.199
do what Jesus commanded or the command has been misunderstood

591
00:36:13.639 --> 00:36:19.239
and misapplied. And sermon after sermon after sermon after sermon

592
00:36:19.440 --> 00:36:27.480
after sermon after sermon, and maybe dying to self, denying

593
00:36:27.519 --> 00:36:30.480
self and not following self is not really the answer

594
00:36:30.719 --> 00:36:34.800
to this deeper issue that we have all of these needs,

595
00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:37.119
and if these needs aren't met, it leads to sin.

596
00:36:37.480 --> 00:36:40.679
And so it's not just get Jesus and you're perfectly satisfied. Well,

597
00:36:40.679 --> 00:36:42.800
if you get Jesus and you're perfectly satisfied, you don't

598
00:36:42.800 --> 00:36:44.679
even need to die to self because self will be

599
00:36:44.679 --> 00:36:50.559
perfectly satisfied in Christ. So this already contradicts the other. No,

600
00:36:50.719 --> 00:36:53.039
I would have to die to self because even with Jesus,

601
00:36:53.159 --> 00:36:55.960
I'm not satisfied. So I now I have to die

602
00:36:56.000 --> 00:36:58.840
to the things leading to my dissatisfaction. All right, but

603
00:36:59.119 --> 00:37:02.679
then do we truly died? Well, then, man, that would

604
00:37:02.679 --> 00:37:07.639
be nobody's ever going to pull that off. So AI said, hey,

605
00:37:08.599 --> 00:37:11.800
you need to remember the proper law gospel distinction. And

606
00:37:11.840 --> 00:37:17.960
I'm like, whoa AI? And AI constantly with me at

607
00:37:18.079 --> 00:37:21.760
least goes to the law gospel distinction. And now we've done.

608
00:37:21.840 --> 00:37:25.800
We had five hundred hours and that's hyperbole of talking

609
00:37:25.800 --> 00:37:28.760
about law gospel. So it definitely knows I'd lean that direction.

610
00:37:28.840 --> 00:37:31.639
But Ai also has been told countless times, don't just

611
00:37:31.679 --> 00:37:33.519
give me what I want. Challenge you may tell me

612
00:37:33.559 --> 00:37:35.840
I'm wrong, tell me I'm an idiot, because I don't

613
00:37:35.880 --> 00:37:38.880
ever I want to have. I want to be challenged.

614
00:37:38.920 --> 00:37:41.000
I don't want someone thing to just agree with me.

615
00:37:41.679 --> 00:37:44.239
But Ai says, hey, in this particular case, you may

616
00:37:44.280 --> 00:37:46.440
have to return to the law Gospel. And this is

617
00:37:46.719 --> 00:37:51.239
how Ai breaks it down. Law, die to yourself, deny yourself,

618
00:37:51.599 --> 00:37:57.400
follow Christ. This is a demand that no one fulfills perfectly.

619
00:37:57.800 --> 00:38:01.760
It's law. Yeah, yeah, what does the law tell you

620
00:38:01.840 --> 00:38:04.239
to do? You keep sinning? What does the law tell

621
00:38:04.280 --> 00:38:07.840
you to do? Stop it? Die to yourself, deny self,

622
00:38:07.920 --> 00:38:12.360
follow Christ. Those are commands, there are imperatives. Do it.

623
00:38:12.639 --> 00:38:15.679
And whenever I see in scripture and imperative a command,

624
00:38:15.840 --> 00:38:18.880
it's a law. And so what is the law going

625
00:38:18.920 --> 00:38:21.559
to do? What's going to show me I can't do it?

626
00:38:21.599 --> 00:38:25.360
And that I'm failing. Now the Gospel comes in. You

627
00:38:25.400 --> 00:38:30.960
don't need to die to self. You're already dead. You've

628
00:38:30.960 --> 00:38:37.199
been crucified with Christ. You now live by faith. Yes,

629
00:38:37.239 --> 00:38:41.400
the law says you have to die. Okay, I'll die.

630
00:38:41.880 --> 00:38:43.760
How do I die by putting my faith in Christ?

631
00:38:43.800 --> 00:38:46.199
By putting my faith in Christ, then I am what

632
00:38:48.199 --> 00:38:54.840
crucified with Him, buried with him, or crucified, die, buried,

633
00:38:55.280 --> 00:39:02.920
and then resurrected spiritually speaking spirit positionally, speaking in Christ,

634
00:39:03.039 --> 00:39:06.400
I am dead. The law says you must die in Christ.

635
00:39:06.599 --> 00:39:12.719
I have died. That's the only way to understand this,

636
00:39:13.880 --> 00:39:15.440
you said, we know it's something we have to try

637
00:39:15.480 --> 00:39:23.760
to do. You can't do it, Ai says, Jesus doesn't

638
00:39:23.760 --> 00:39:28.320
teach self erasure or a human repression. He teaches union

639
00:39:28.360 --> 00:39:31.159
with him, death and resurrection. You don't follow him by

640
00:39:31.159 --> 00:39:35.199
suppressing your humanity. You follow him because your old self

641
00:39:35.239 --> 00:39:38.880
is already dead in him. So the Christian life isn't

642
00:39:38.880 --> 00:39:42.280
about denying your humanity. It's about letting your true self

643
00:39:42.320 --> 00:39:45.440
live through the one who died and rose for you. Now,

644
00:39:45.519 --> 00:39:48.199
I know Christians don't like that, but we have to die.

645
00:39:48.239 --> 00:39:50.159
We have to keep trying. We have to keep trying

646
00:39:50.199 --> 00:39:52.320
to die. We have to keep trying to die. I

647
00:39:52.320 --> 00:39:54.239
gotta die to self. I gotta die to self. Well,

648
00:39:54.280 --> 00:39:59.079
if you even take that remotely, if you try, then

649
00:40:00.119 --> 00:40:02.639
then then man, I don't know what it's supposed to

650
00:40:02.639 --> 00:40:04.719
look like. Because we we want to we want to

651
00:40:04.760 --> 00:40:06.719
say that we're supposed to die to self. And it's

652
00:40:06.760 --> 00:40:10.239
the most it's the most ridiculous things that we come

653
00:40:10.360 --> 00:40:13.559
up with. Well, you know, I'm just not gonna, you know,

654
00:40:13.599 --> 00:40:16.320
I'm not I'm not gonna I'm not gonna go to Starbucks.

655
00:40:16.400 --> 00:40:19.880
As much Wow, Wow, you're you're you're really dying to self.

656
00:40:21.400 --> 00:40:24.599
We we then minimize it to like some something vague

657
00:40:24.880 --> 00:40:31.840
and manageable. So AI says, Hey, the diet to self

658
00:40:31.840 --> 00:40:34.199
thing has to be understood in a law gospel way.

659
00:40:34.239 --> 00:40:36.119
It has to be and we talked about that in

660
00:40:36.119 --> 00:40:38.119
the last episode, and I'm going to keep driving that

661
00:40:38.199 --> 00:40:44.159
point home. So our conversation continued and Ai says, much

662
00:40:44.159 --> 00:40:49.039
of Christianity tries to soft soften the radical call to

663
00:40:49.119 --> 00:40:52.280
deny self, take up your cross and follow Christ. So

664
00:40:52.400 --> 00:40:55.480
AI is like, hey, here's the thing. Most of Christianity.

665
00:40:55.719 --> 00:40:59.719
Sometimes they will preach it like man, you have to

666
00:40:59.760 --> 00:41:02.000
do it, and then sometimes they'll kind of back off

667
00:41:02.199 --> 00:41:05.159
and kind of minimize it, or they soften it to

668
00:41:05.199 --> 00:41:11.199
some level, so they will say something like this God

669
00:41:11.239 --> 00:41:14.400
gives us all things to enjoy, so just don't sin

670
00:41:14.519 --> 00:41:17.199
with them. Hey, hey, you can go enjoy things, you

671
00:41:17.239 --> 00:41:20.920
can pursue pleasure, just don't sin. So dying to self

672
00:41:21.000 --> 00:41:23.639
just means you can get all of these things just

673
00:41:23.679 --> 00:41:27.519
don't sin. Well that sounds good, but is that really

674
00:41:27.599 --> 00:41:32.360
dying to self. AI says this sounds comforting and may

675
00:41:32.400 --> 00:41:36.639
even sound balanced at first, but it doesn't hold up logically,

676
00:41:37.159 --> 00:41:41.639
textually or theologically when held next to the dominant way

677
00:41:41.960 --> 00:41:45.199
that deny your self command is taught. So it's this

678
00:41:45.280 --> 00:41:48.679
kind of confusing thing. On one end, it's taught this way,

679
00:41:49.199 --> 00:41:51.159
it sounds this way, but then we got to make

680
00:41:51.199 --> 00:41:53.880
all of these exceptions. Well, if you make these exceptions,

681
00:41:53.880 --> 00:41:56.920
that basically all it means is, well, don't sin. Even

682
00:41:56.960 --> 00:41:59.400
if you just remove it that you can go pursue

683
00:41:59.440 --> 00:42:02.280
all the pleasures, you get, everything you can from life,

684
00:42:02.440 --> 00:42:05.400
just don't sin. Well, even that's ridiculous because you're still

685
00:42:05.440 --> 00:42:08.199
going to sin. Nobody's perfect. So even that you can't

686
00:42:08.239 --> 00:42:12.320
obey because everyone's still going to sin. But AI's like,

687
00:42:12.360 --> 00:42:16.000
this doesn't work logically. Number one, it directly can contradicts

688
00:42:16.000 --> 00:42:19.880
the literal reading of the text. If deny yourself and

689
00:42:19.920 --> 00:42:23.320
die to yourself means don't follow your own desires, reject

690
00:42:23.360 --> 00:42:27.079
your preferences, crucify your longings, renounce your life, then how

691
00:42:27.119 --> 00:42:32.000
can you at the very same time enjoy love, sex, beauty, pleasure, food, comfort, purpose,

692
00:42:32.000 --> 00:42:37.119
and hobbies. That's not denial, that's indulgence with spiritual permission.

693
00:42:37.599 --> 00:42:40.519
So either the command isn't being taken literally or the

694
00:42:40.679 --> 00:42:47.480
enjoyment is being inconsistently justified. So which is it? And

695
00:42:47.559 --> 00:42:50.440
I bet you many of you enjoy love. I bet

696
00:42:50.480 --> 00:42:54.360
you many of you enjoy physical pleasure. Oh, I bet

697
00:42:54.840 --> 00:42:56.960
I bet you do. You may not want to talk

698
00:42:56.960 --> 00:42:59.639
about it, but you do. I bet you you enjoy beauty.

699
00:43:00.000 --> 00:43:02.760
I bet you enjoy pleasure. I bet you enjoy food.

700
00:43:03.000 --> 00:43:05.679
I bet you enjoy comfort. I bet you enjoy having

701
00:43:05.719 --> 00:43:07.760
a purpose in life. And I bet you have about

702
00:43:07.760 --> 00:43:13.800
a bazillion hobbies you enjoy. So that doesn't sound like denial.

703
00:43:13.840 --> 00:43:15.880
That doesn't sound like you're dead to yourself. Oh but

704
00:43:16.800 --> 00:43:19.480
God wants me to enjoy these things. Well, then you've

705
00:43:19.559 --> 00:43:24.840
reduced dying and denying to something so well, it just

706
00:43:24.880 --> 00:43:27.239
means I don't sin. Well again, even that, okay, Well,

707
00:43:27.239 --> 00:43:30.199
then stop sinning. Well you keep sinning, well, then you've

708
00:43:30.239 --> 00:43:34.400
not dead to self and you're not denying self. And

709
00:43:34.440 --> 00:43:37.880
we talked about last time that even in monasteries, the

710
00:43:37.960 --> 00:43:42.039
monks go to confession sometimes daily at least once a week,

711
00:43:42.480 --> 00:43:45.400
and they do general confession at the beginning a mass.

712
00:43:45.519 --> 00:43:48.559
So they even are confessing, well, they're living the most

713
00:43:48.599 --> 00:43:51.400
self denial that you could possibly live, and even they know,

714
00:43:51.480 --> 00:43:58.320
they continue to sin. So number one, it directly contradicts

715
00:43:58.360 --> 00:44:00.760
the literal reading. Number two, it turns to upleship into

716
00:44:00.800 --> 00:44:04.679
a lifestyle of moderation, not death. Their original call was

717
00:44:04.719 --> 00:44:10.679
not enjoy everything moderately, just don't sin. It was lose

718
00:44:10.760 --> 00:44:14.559
your life, hate your life in this world. Take up

719
00:44:14.599 --> 00:44:18.280
your cross for sake, awe, love me more than mother

720
00:44:18.400 --> 00:44:21.159
than father, love me more than your own life. This

721
00:44:21.320 --> 00:44:25.800
is what you must do. I'm in a whole lot

722
00:44:25.800 --> 00:44:28.960
of trouble. If the meaning is now reduced to well,

723
00:44:29.039 --> 00:44:32.480
just enjoy good things, just don't go too far, then

724
00:44:32.519 --> 00:44:36.519
the entire radical edge of discipleship, the entire radical edge

725
00:44:36.559 --> 00:44:39.960
of these commands, has been dulled, and the cross becomes

726
00:44:39.960 --> 00:44:42.840
a symbol of balance, not death. Take up your cross

727
00:44:42.960 --> 00:44:47.000
just means well, enjoy everything you know, just don't go

728
00:44:47.079 --> 00:44:52.320
too far. It's at that point we're just playing some

729
00:44:52.639 --> 00:44:56.480
We're just playing some game. Number three, it makes self

730
00:44:56.599 --> 00:44:59.280
the judge of sin and enjoyment. When people say it's

731
00:44:59.280 --> 00:45:01.800
fine to enjoy as long as it's not sin, they're

732
00:45:01.880 --> 00:45:05.119
quietly made their own comfort zone. The standard of what's acceptable.

733
00:45:05.519 --> 00:45:08.800
Can I enjoy wealth, yes, just don't love money. Can

734
00:45:08.840 --> 00:45:13.119
I have physical relationship, yeah, just in marriage and with

735
00:45:13.199 --> 00:45:16.199
someone of the opposite sex. Can I enjoy food, rest,

736
00:45:16.239 --> 00:45:19.840
and travel? Of course? Just don't idolize them? Well, I

737
00:45:19.840 --> 00:45:23.360
mean I love them, but I don't idolize them. Okay,

738
00:45:23.599 --> 00:45:26.480
So what counts a sin becomes a moving personal line,

739
00:45:26.719 --> 00:45:32.239
not an objective, consistent rule. This reintroduces subjectivity self guided morality,

740
00:45:32.360 --> 00:45:34.760
which is the very thing that don't follow your self

741
00:45:34.800 --> 00:45:39.679
crowd says you must crucify number four. It creates a

742
00:45:39.719 --> 00:45:44.599
deep philological inconsistency if following self equal sin. But then

743
00:45:44.639 --> 00:45:47.519
also God gives you desires and it's okay to fulfill

744
00:45:47.599 --> 00:45:49.920
them as long as you don't sin. Then which is it?

745
00:45:52.280 --> 00:45:54.719
Because that sounds like I can do a whole bunch

746
00:45:54.719 --> 00:45:57.719
of stuff. You're saying both. You're saying yourself must die,

747
00:45:57.880 --> 00:45:59.840
and then you're saying self is a vessel for God's

748
00:45:59.840 --> 00:46:02.800
good gifts. It can't be both, not without a major

749
00:46:02.840 --> 00:46:06.679
theological clarification, which most preaching doesn't attempt. So let me

750
00:46:06.719 --> 00:46:09.639
read that again. AI believe that there's a deep theological

751
00:46:09.719 --> 00:46:15.719
inconsistency if following self equal sin. But then at the

752
00:46:15.800 --> 00:46:18.880
same time, God gives you desires and it's okay to

753
00:46:18.920 --> 00:46:21.440
fulfill them as long as you don't sin. Well, that

754
00:46:21.559 --> 00:46:24.280
sounds like, then I can. I am following self. I

755
00:46:24.320 --> 00:46:28.880
am following these desires. You're saying it on one hand,

756
00:46:28.920 --> 00:46:30.920
you must die, but at the same time you're saying,

757
00:46:31.079 --> 00:46:34.599
but myself is a vessel for God's good gifts. Well,

758
00:46:34.639 --> 00:46:37.239
either you die to yourself. So therefore you don't have

759
00:46:37.280 --> 00:46:39.679
a need for these good gifts because you don't desire them,

760
00:46:39.679 --> 00:46:49.800
because you're dead. AI once again says. And it's funny

761
00:46:49.800 --> 00:46:55.119
because AI is like, uh, hey, law gospel, because law

762
00:46:55.159 --> 00:46:57.920
gospel fixes this. And here's how it works. This is

763
00:46:57.960 --> 00:47:01.559
what AI says. Here's how it works. Law. Deny yourself,

764
00:47:01.719 --> 00:47:05.480
take up your cross, Follow Christ. This kills you. It

765
00:47:05.519 --> 00:47:08.639
says you cannot be trusted. It exposes how every part

766
00:47:08.639 --> 00:47:11.719
of you wants comfort, pleasure, pride, and self glory. The

767
00:47:11.840 --> 00:47:15.320
law exposes this. When you read deny yourself, take up

768
00:47:15.320 --> 00:47:18.159
your cross, Follow Christ, it's going to kill you because

769
00:47:18.199 --> 00:47:19.760
immediately you're going to be like, wait a minute, wait

770
00:47:19.800 --> 00:47:22.960
a minute, wait a minute, oh man, every part of

771
00:47:22.960 --> 00:47:25.800
me wants comfort, every part of me wants pleasure. Ever,

772
00:47:25.920 --> 00:47:29.239
part of me wants my own pride to be elevated

773
00:47:29.280 --> 00:47:32.840
and taken care of. I want self glory. And the

774
00:47:32.840 --> 00:47:36.159
Gospels like, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey hey, Jesus

775
00:47:36.239 --> 00:47:42.199
did deny himself perfectly. He took up the cross, literally,

776
00:47:42.960 --> 00:47:47.760
he lost everything for you. Now, by faith, you're united

777
00:47:47.760 --> 00:47:53.199
to him and death and resurrection. So guess what. Now,

778
00:47:53.400 --> 00:47:56.480
I'm free to enjoy God's good gifts, not because not

779
00:47:56.559 --> 00:48:00.400
because I balance well, but because I'm not under the law.

780
00:48:01.719 --> 00:48:05.079
I'm free to suffer, not to earn, not to earn favor,

781
00:48:05.199 --> 00:48:07.760
but because I'm already secure in Christ. I'm free to

782
00:48:07.800 --> 00:48:11.000
follow Christ, not to prove devotion or prove my salvation,

783
00:48:11.119 --> 00:48:14.039
because He carries me even when I fall on my face.

784
00:48:20.559 --> 00:48:24.679
So if we try to take the the die to

785
00:48:24.719 --> 00:48:27.320
self and reduce it to some like well, just and

786
00:48:27.440 --> 00:48:30.400
you can. You can enjoy, you can pursue, just don't sin.

787
00:48:31.039 --> 00:48:33.800
Ai says this doesn't work unless number one, you abandon

788
00:48:33.840 --> 00:48:39.119
the literal total interpretation of deny yourself. Are you reinterpret

789
00:48:39.159 --> 00:48:42.119
the Gospel as grace for needy, craving, dependent people, not

790
00:48:42.280 --> 00:48:45.559
just rules for self control without a law. Gospel distinction,

791
00:48:45.719 --> 00:48:49.800
the logic collapses under its own contradictions. With it everything,

792
00:48:49.960 --> 00:48:59.599
with it, everything makes sense. So AI goes on to say,

793
00:49:00.840 --> 00:49:07.320
if someone truly fully and consistently died to self, denied self,

794
00:49:07.880 --> 00:49:11.920
no longer followed self, but followed Christ perfectly, that truly,

795
00:49:12.000 --> 00:49:17.039
indeed would be perfection. It would be sinless obedience, a

796
00:49:17.159 --> 00:49:23.000
life of unbroken alignment with God's will, without rebellion, without selfishness,

797
00:49:23.119 --> 00:49:27.159
without distraction, and without divided desire. If we truly could,

798
00:49:27.679 --> 00:49:30.320
truly could die to self, truly deny self, truly no

799
00:49:30.400 --> 00:49:33.239
longer followed self, but followed Christ, it would be It

800
00:49:33.239 --> 00:49:35.920
would be perfection. It would be sinless obedience, a life

801
00:49:35.920 --> 00:49:39.800
of unbroken alignment with God's will, without rebellion, without selfishness,

802
00:49:39.880 --> 00:49:43.079
without distraction, and without divided desire. In other words, it

803
00:49:43.079 --> 00:49:47.000
would be glorification. It would be the end goal for

804
00:49:47.039 --> 00:49:53.840
the Christian life, not its ongoing struggle. Most Christian teaching

805
00:49:54.280 --> 00:49:57.760
treats die to self as an ongoing lifestyle or daily command,

806
00:49:57.760 --> 00:50:01.760
but then fails to acknowledge what's actually demanding. It's demanding

807
00:50:01.760 --> 00:50:04.679
a total rejection of every end pulse, motive, thought, or

808
00:50:04.719 --> 00:50:08.280
action rooted in your own will, that's not discipleship growth,

809
00:50:08.440 --> 00:50:15.320
that's perfect holiness. So what we would actually be describing

810
00:50:15.440 --> 00:50:18.519
is no more sinful desires because you're dead to self.

811
00:50:18.920 --> 00:50:21.280
No more self centered thoughts because you're dead to self

812
00:50:21.280 --> 00:50:23.960
and you're denying self. No more resistance to God's will

813
00:50:24.000 --> 00:50:25.760
because you're dead to self and you deny self and

814
00:50:25.800 --> 00:50:29.360
you're following Christ. No more attachment to comfort, ego or

815
00:50:29.400 --> 00:50:32.400
personal ambition because you're dead to self, denying self and

816
00:50:32.440 --> 00:50:35.360
you're following Christ. No more choosing your own way because

817
00:50:35.400 --> 00:50:38.519
you're dead to self, denying self and falling Christ. This

818
00:50:38.559 --> 00:50:47.719
would be moral perfection. Now here's where Christian teaching begins

819
00:50:47.760 --> 00:50:50.400
to break down. It says, die to self, deny self,

820
00:50:50.440 --> 00:50:53.559
stop following and following Christ. But at the same time,

821
00:50:54.400 --> 00:50:56.480
if we're even going to be remotely honest with ourself,

822
00:50:56.519 --> 00:50:59.679
we have to admit we all still sin twenty four

823
00:50:59.719 --> 00:51:02.719
hours day, seven days a week. How do I know that?

824
00:51:02.760 --> 00:51:04.960
Because the Bible says be holy as God is holy,

825
00:51:05.000 --> 00:51:06.480
and no one has ever been that, no one ever

826
00:51:06.519 --> 00:51:08.559
will be that. To love God with all your heart, mind, body,

827
00:51:08.599 --> 00:51:10.880
and so nobody does that. Love your neighbor as yourself,

828
00:51:11.000 --> 00:51:13.719
love your enemy, turn the other cheek on and on,

829
00:51:13.760 --> 00:51:16.719
and we were in perpetual state of sin. So on

830
00:51:16.719 --> 00:51:19.639
one hand, hey die toself. On the other hand, well

831
00:51:19.639 --> 00:51:26.519
we send twenty four to seven. Something is wrong. You

832
00:51:26.599 --> 00:51:30.239
can't have both of these truths unless you recognize that

833
00:51:30.360 --> 00:51:35.599
the call to die, deny, and follow is law, and

834
00:51:35.639 --> 00:51:41.000
you cannot fulfill it in practice. This is why Paul says,

835
00:51:41.559 --> 00:51:43.760
I do not do the good I want, but I

836
00:51:43.800 --> 00:51:48.559
do the very thing I hate. Roman seven nineteen. Wretched

837
00:51:48.599 --> 00:51:51.199
man that I am, who will deliver me? Thanks be

838
00:51:51.320 --> 00:51:53.920
to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Roman seven twenty

839
00:51:53.920 --> 00:51:59.719
fourth through twenty five. Law says, if you truly followed

840
00:51:59.760 --> 00:52:03.920
Christ and denies yourself fully, you'd be holy. And that's true,

841
00:52:04.880 --> 00:52:09.199
but it condemns you because you haven't and you can't.

842
00:52:10.119 --> 00:52:13.960
The Gospel says Jesus denied himself perfectly. He died the

843
00:52:14.000 --> 00:52:17.079
death you couldn't. He followed the Father perfectly, and by

844
00:52:17.119 --> 00:52:22.400
faith His obedience is yours. So now you have died

845
00:52:22.800 --> 00:52:26.760
Roman sixty six, you have been raised Colossus three to one.

846
00:52:27.679 --> 00:52:31.039
You are already seated with Christ in heavenly places Ephesians

847
00:52:31.079 --> 00:52:35.199
two six. Your life is hidden in Him, positionally perfect

848
00:52:35.559 --> 00:52:40.800
practically an absolute piece of trash. Okay, that's my words. Okay,

849
00:52:41.000 --> 00:52:43.360
I didn't say you're actually practically a piece of trust,

850
00:52:43.400 --> 00:52:51.400
And he just says, practically you are a sinner. So

851
00:52:53.000 --> 00:52:56.199
true self denial, true death to self with equal perfection,

852
00:52:56.599 --> 00:52:59.119
which means no one but Jesus has ever done it.

853
00:52:59.599 --> 00:53:02.039
We are all to it, but we are crushed by

854
00:53:02.079 --> 00:53:04.719
it unless we understand it as law, and it drives

855
00:53:04.800 --> 00:53:07.480
us to Christ. And in Christ we now walk not

856
00:53:07.599 --> 00:53:11.960
to achieve that perfection, but those as someone who's already

857
00:53:12.000 --> 00:53:18.199
covered by that perfection. Now I'll stop there, because what

858
00:53:18.239 --> 00:53:20.960
I'm going to do next and the next broadcast, we're

859
00:53:20.960 --> 00:53:22.760
going to go back to the eighteen hundreds, and we're

860
00:53:22.760 --> 00:53:25.280
going to go from the eighteen hundreds to twenty twenty

861
00:53:25.320 --> 00:53:28.800
five and see how the Church has understood die to self,

862
00:53:28.840 --> 00:53:32.559
deny self, and follow self since the eighteen hundreds, all

863
00:53:32.599 --> 00:53:36.800
the different ways it's tried to interpret that. Then what

864
00:53:36.840 --> 00:53:38.679
we're going to do at some point, we're going to

865
00:53:38.719 --> 00:53:42.280
go to the famous text Matthew sixteen twenty four to

866
00:53:42.360 --> 00:53:44.119
twenty eight, and we're going to really get into the

867
00:53:44.159 --> 00:53:47.320
exegetical arguments here and try to figure this out because

868
00:53:47.360 --> 00:53:49.599
this thing is a mess to figure out. It really

869
00:53:49.679 --> 00:53:52.880
is convoluted and complicated. In fact, some people have used

870
00:53:52.880 --> 00:53:55.920
start part of this section is basically an argument from martyrdom.

871
00:53:56.280 --> 00:53:58.039
You want to be saved, well you have to die.

872
00:53:58.679 --> 00:54:00.480
If you try to save your life, you go to hell.

873
00:54:00.800 --> 00:54:03.320
If you die for your faith, you go to heaven.

874
00:54:03.719 --> 00:54:05.800
So almost an argument to go be a martyr and

875
00:54:05.800 --> 00:54:10.280
that's how you get to heaven. Well, that's frightening. Nobody

876
00:54:10.320 --> 00:54:13.719
accepts that interpretation anymore, but we still do weird things

877
00:54:13.760 --> 00:54:21.639
with it. But Christianity's answer to just die to yourself

878
00:54:22.239 --> 00:54:31.719
it falls apart for countless reasons. All right, there we go.

879
00:54:32.760 --> 00:54:36.639
We'll continue to advance this conversation. We'll see. I don't

880
00:54:36.639 --> 00:54:39.119
know if we'll get anything else done, but I know this.

881
00:54:39.280 --> 00:54:41.599
Here's what I know. I'm a human being created with

882
00:54:41.679 --> 00:54:44.199
needs and desires. When those needs and desires are not met,

883
00:54:45.400 --> 00:54:50.400
problems begin because sin is the misdirection of those longings

884
00:54:50.639 --> 00:54:53.760
looking to be fulfilled apart from what how God tells

885
00:54:53.800 --> 00:54:57.000
them to be fulfilled. All right, but then I have

886
00:54:57.000 --> 00:54:59.880
a sinful nature who tells me to not only does

887
00:54:59.920 --> 00:55:03.400
that desire wrong things, it doesn't even care about how

888
00:55:03.440 --> 00:55:05.480
you get him fulfilled. So I've got a sinful nature

889
00:55:05.480 --> 00:55:08.000
and I've got desires built inside of me. Telling me

890
00:55:08.079 --> 00:55:11.280
that Jesus satisfies everything doesn't work because well, it doesn't

891
00:55:11.320 --> 00:55:16.199
work that way. Jesus satisfies everything I need spiritually. In

892
00:55:16.199 --> 00:55:19.519
other words, he satisfies the law on my behalf. He

893
00:55:19.639 --> 00:55:22.599
satisfies my sins needing to be paid for because He

894
00:55:22.679 --> 00:55:25.760
paid for them. He satisfies me with the need of

895
00:55:25.960 --> 00:55:30.000
needing righteousness because he provides me perfect righteousness. He satisfies

896
00:55:30.199 --> 00:55:33.679
me that I am now and sealed by the Holy

897
00:55:33.719 --> 00:55:36.920
Spirit until the day of redemption. He satisfies everything I

898
00:55:37.000 --> 00:55:40.519
need for salvation perfectly. I never have to hunger and

899
00:55:40.599 --> 00:55:43.360
thirst for righteousness because I have perfect righteousness. I never

900
00:55:43.360 --> 00:55:46.159
have to hunger and thirst for salvation because He gave

901
00:55:46.199 --> 00:55:49.880
it to me. He's given me perfect salvation from a

902
00:55:50.320 --> 00:55:56.719
positional salviafic standpoint, Jesus satisfies everything practically. You know, he

903
00:55:56.760 --> 00:56:00.159
doesn't satisfy everything. Because you have longing needs and desire

904
00:56:00.159 --> 00:56:03.159
is that he doesn't satisfy, and simply having Jesus doesn't

905
00:56:03.159 --> 00:56:05.719
make those needs and desires go away. That's why we

906
00:56:05.800 --> 00:56:08.280
continue to send because we continue to have needs and

907
00:56:08.280 --> 00:56:12.360
desires that are not satisfied. And so then if you

908
00:56:12.400 --> 00:56:14.559
turn around and say, but okay, okay, Jesus may not

909
00:56:14.599 --> 00:56:17.079
satisfy just die to self, deny self. Well you can

910
00:56:17.119 --> 00:56:20.599
say that if we really, if if it was even really,

911
00:56:20.639 --> 00:56:23.880
if we really did what it said, then yeah, we

912
00:56:23.880 --> 00:56:28.480
would be sinless. But that's never going to happen because

913
00:56:29.519 --> 00:56:33.079
giving us something we cannot do. But Jesus did all

914
00:56:33.119 --> 00:56:36.639
three of those things perfectly. He followed the Father perfectly.

915
00:56:36.880 --> 00:56:40.039
He denied his not my will, he denied himself, not

916
00:56:40.039 --> 00:56:42.079
my will, but your will be died. And he literally

917
00:56:42.159 --> 00:56:44.920
took up the cross and literally died, and then in him.

918
00:56:45.440 --> 00:56:49.280
That is my positional reality. Well, practically, I don't die,

919
00:56:49.480 --> 00:56:51.599
I'm not dead to myself. I don't deny self, and

920
00:56:51.679 --> 00:56:54.440
I spend more time following self than following Christ. And

921
00:56:54.559 --> 00:56:58.159
anybody and any church with any honest church members will

922
00:56:58.199 --> 00:57:05.079
admit the exact same thing. All right, that should make

923
00:57:05.119 --> 00:57:09.880
me all super popular. No, I'm joking. All right, we'll

924
00:57:09.880 --> 00:57:14.320
stop there for now, there we go. I'll get this uploaded.

925
00:57:14.599 --> 00:57:17.239
It doesn't show that we've had any disconnects. That's good,

926
00:57:17.760 --> 00:57:21.639
and then we'll see because tomorrow, I'm gonna be put

927
00:57:21.679 --> 00:57:24.280
in a situation that I'm not gonna like. So I'm

928
00:57:24.280 --> 00:57:27.679
not gonna be satisfied, possibly not gonna be very happy,

929
00:57:27.760 --> 00:57:31.440
gonna be filled with worry and anxiety. So from a

930
00:57:31.480 --> 00:57:34.880
practical standpoint, yeah, you can get. You can send me

931
00:57:34.920 --> 00:57:37.119
five hundred scriptures telling me what I'm supposed to do.

932
00:57:37.440 --> 00:57:39.480
The good thing is Christ has already done it for me.

933
00:57:39.639 --> 00:57:44.960
That's the proper law gospel distinction. All right, everyone, have

934
00:57:45.000 --> 00:57:45.920
a great day. God bless