April 18, 2025

Are Christians Dead To Self? Pt 3

Are Christians Dead To Self? Pt 3

We continue our discussion about christianity and the teaching of dying to self.

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We continue our discussion about christianity and the teaching of dying to self.

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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 Friday, April eighteenth, twenty twenty five. It is

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currently eleven five 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, in churches across the country, many

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will have a good Friday service today, a day to

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remember Jesus Christ and his death for us. And I

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hope in all of those churches the focus really is

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on Christ dying for us, on what He has done

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for us. And I hope today that is the focus.

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I hope that is what is proclaimed. I hope everyone

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leaves those good by services really understanding Jesus died for us.

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Jesus did this for us, his death, burial, his resurrection

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for us for us. That idea of for us is

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what we would theologically refer to is a gospel message.

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The gospel is what God has done for us in

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Jesus Christ, what Christ did for us. That's a gospel message.

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But over and over and over the church likes to

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flip it and we'll say it's preaching the gospel. But

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it immediately becomes what you must do. You must do this,

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you must do this, you must do this, you must

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do this, you must do this. Now they'll play a

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little game and they say, well, you don't have to

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do it in order to be saved, but you have

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to do it in order to prove you are saved,

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meaning if you don't do it, well, then you're not saved.

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And it all becomes about what you must do. And

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time and time again, when we talk about what we

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must do as Christians, you'll hear something along these lines.

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If any man will come after me, let him deny himself,

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take up his cross and follow me. And so typically

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it will be proclaimed something like you must die to yourself.

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You must deny yourself, and you must stop following yourself

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and following Christ. That is what you must do. You

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must consider the cust this is what it means to

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be a Christian. You have to do this. Now again

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they'll say, you don't have to do it to be saved,

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but you have to do it if you are saved. Well,

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if I have to do it in order to prove

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that I'm saved, I don't know if I've ever actually

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truly ever died to self, deny self and stop following self.

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So then that means I don't know if anyone is saved.

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And all of a sudden, the gospel is no longer

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about what Christ has done for you. It's all about

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what you must do. And this happens over and over

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in the evangelical world. So I hope today, at least

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for this one day, the focus will be Christ died

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for you. Christ died for you. He did this for you,

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and I hope that can last throughout all of the

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attempts to turn the gospel into what you must do,

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because the Gospels the good news of what Christ did

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for us because we cannot, we never will be able

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to do what is necessary. So I hope that somehow

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becomes the message today, and that message fits perfectly with

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what we've been trying to do in this series. Because

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what we've been trying to do in this series is

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be very honest and very real with I don't know ourselves,

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very real with ourselves. And here's what we've discussed that

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as human beings, we are created with needs and desires

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that are inside of us. And we talked about Maslow's

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hierarchy of needs. We have these needs. These needs are

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a part of who we are as human beings. They

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are there, and if one of those needs are not met,

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two of those needs are not met, it impacts us physiologically, psychologically,

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it impacts us in every way, and it also impacts

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us spiritually. So we talked about that in many cases,

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sin is simply us attempting to fulfill these unmet needs

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and desires, but in a sinful way. And and and

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it's very frustrating in Christianity because some people have much.

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They can take Masslow's hierarchy of needs and they can

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say I get that check, I get this check. They

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got almost everything listed, right, they have almost everything listed.

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But then they'll look at other people who don't have

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those things listed, and if they commit some sin, they'll

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be like, well, just stop doing it, Just stop doing it.

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It's like, well, hey, you talk a big game. Your

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spirituality is not because you're spiritual, it's because most of

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your needs are being met. If your psychological needs, physiological

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emotional needs, need for intimacy, need for physical pleasure, if

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they're being met, well, then it's much easier for you

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to pack yourself on the back going look at how

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godly I am. Yeah, look at people who don't have

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those needs met. Then it becomes something different. We talked

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about all of this and great detail. And not only

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do we have these needs and if they're not met,

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we have all of these problems we often forget, we

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also have a sinful nature. So we have needs. We

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have a sinful nature. Now the sinful nature it has

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needs too. Its needs are just automatically just wrong and corrupted.

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And then the sinful nature will take those needs that

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we have that are not sinful in and of themselves.

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But if we don't get them met, we have a

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tendency to try to pursue getting them fulfilled in a

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sinful way. Well, your sinful nature will say, always fulfill

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them in a sinful way. And so you mix this

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together and well it makes the human life very difficult

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and very complicated. And we talked about all of the issues.

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And Christianity comes along, and on one hand they will say,

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all you need is Jesus. All you need is Jesus.

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He satisfies completely, you should be completely satisfied. Again, the

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people who tend to preach this are the people who

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have all of those needs met. So are they really

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satisfied in Jesus. Are they just simply satisfied because they

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have most of their needs in life met? And it's

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a game the church loves to play. And then if

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it's not Jesus is all that satisfies, the next thing

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the church will say is, well, take up your cross,

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die to yourself, deny self, and stop following self. So

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you have these needs, you have those desires, will just

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die to yourself. If you'll just die to yourself, you

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can you can live a life without those needs being met. Again,

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it's always easy for the people who are getting most

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of their needs met to say that. We talked about

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how the game is kind of played within Christianity. We

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talked about some of the very messed up ways it

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can take place. Right, you can have people in the

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church who are married, get divorced, get remarried, and possibly

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according to a biblical definition, they're literally living in adultery.

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They're committing adultery. The church will be like, that's okay,

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you got divorce, you got remarried, but there's nothing you

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can do about it, so you go on. So they

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can have all of their needs met, but if anybody

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else does something else, they'll be no, no, no, no, you

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can't like, wait a minute, Biblically, you're living in adultery.

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But you're condemning this person and this person telling them

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they have to abstain. They can't be satisfied. Why is

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it the game played this way? And we talked about

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a number of other examples as well. So we've been

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having this conversation about needs, satisfaction, dying to self. We've

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been talking about all of this, and as we've been

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discussing it, what I've noticed, and I've paid close attention

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to myself, is I have discovered over and over and

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over that in my own life how all this plays out. Needs, desires,

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sinful nature, not being truly dead to self, having expectations,

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and when things don't go very well, things don't work out,

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how it can impact you, even when it's something small.

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It's just amazing. One little thing can go wrong, and

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the way we react though, our emotions, our frustrations, our

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irritations are we see that, man, we're not dead to self.

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Self is very much a lot. We want things to

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go our way, we want things to we want to

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be happy, we want to be content, and it just

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takes one little thing and it manifests itself and even

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this week, I've seen it in my own life, my

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own frustrations and irritations and just downright depression and discouragement

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and just like, oh man, some weeks can just go

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bad in your life and you're just like, what do

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I do? And well, Christianity's just like, well, you've got

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Jesus be satisfied. Hey, just die to yourself. And there's

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a part of me I wish I could. I wish

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I could just completely be dead to self. I have

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no desires, no needs, no wants. I wish I could

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be there, but I just can't get there. So we've

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been talking about this. Now what we're going to do

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today is and that's just trying to I know that's

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a little long introduction, but it just puts it all

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back together. Our goal today is we're going to just

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kind of back up a little bit, kind of do

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just a reminder of some basic concepts that we put forth,

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and then we're going to go through the history from

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the eighteen hundreds to twenty twenty five showing how Christianity

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has handled this subject of die to self. We're going

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to look at how lordship salvation has handled this, and

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then we'll move forward. At some point we're gonna come

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to a very in depth exegetical study of Matthew sixteen

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twenty four, which is the famous verse about deny self,

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take up your cross that passage and see if there's

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a better way to actually understand it. So that's what

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we're going to try to do. Hopefully this will be beneficial.

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I hope, so, I hope. So it's Friday. Now, it's

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been a long weeks. I don't know how your week

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has impacted you, but I know this. I know I'm

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not supposed to say this, But the good thing is

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I can say it in a podcast, where if I

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said it in a church, I'd be fired, but I

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can say it in a podcast. I cannot say that

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because I have Jesus this week I've been truly satisfied

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or been truly content, because I haven't. I cannot say

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that this week I've so died to self and denying

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self and not following self that nothing bothered me and

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everything was just perfect and wonderful and great. I cannot

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say that because that would all be a lie. It

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would be horrible lie. So you could say, well, you're

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going into this bias. Maybe I am, but I'm trying

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to go into it being as realistically as possible. So

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let's just remind ourselves if someone truly and fully and

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consistently died to self, denied self, and no longer followed

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their self, but followed Christ. If someone truly did that, fully,

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did that, consistently did that, that would be perfection. It

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would be sinless obedience. It would be a life of

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unbroken alignment with God's will, without rebellion, without selfishness, without distraction,

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without divided desire. I mean, you would be content. I

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mean basically, it would be heaven. So in other words,

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it would be glorification. It wouldn't be just sanctification. You

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would already be in a glorified state. If you could

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do this, it would be it would be the end

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goal of the Christian life, not its ongoing struggle. It

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wouldn't be like something we're struggling to do. If we

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could really do it, it would be the goal. Would

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we have reached it, we would have accomplished it. Now,

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Christianity teaches it's possible die to self, deny SOLF. Now,

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sometimes Christianity plays this game. Sometimes it preaches it as

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if it's achievable, but then by doing so, they kind

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of reduce actually what it's called. Well, it's just it's

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trying to do it. I mean, you can't do it perfectly. No,

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either you are dead or you're not dead. Okay, there's

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not like this in between the situation. So most Christians teaching,

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most Christian teaching, I should say it that way, most

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Christian teaching tends to treat die to self as an

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ongoing lifestyle or daily command, but then fails to acknowledge

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what it's actually demanding. That's how a lot of Christians

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play this game. They they want to say it's something

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they're supposed to do every day. It's a daily command,

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So every day you have to die. Every day you

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have to deny. Well, so then it's like, well some

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days you will, some days you won't. That's kind of weird,

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Like I'm dead today, but then tomorrow I'm back alive again.

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I'm dead for an hour, And in many cases they

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have to I don't think they really want to acknowledge

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what's actually being demanded, because what's actually being demanded is

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a total rejection of every single impulse, every single motive,

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every single thought, or action rooted in my own will.

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If I'm truly dead to self, if I'm truly denying self,

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then I'm rejecting every impulse. I'm rejecting every motive. I'm

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rejecting every thought or action that's rooted in my own will.

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I've never experienced that for two seconds. In fact, that's

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not even discipleship, that's not growing spiritually. I think that's

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if you could really do that, you've reached perfect holiness.

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So what these verses are actually describing. If we truly

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can take up across, die, deny and no longer follow,

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is I mean you would have no You would have

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no more sinful desires? How could you have a sinful desire?

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You're dead, You're denying self. You would have no more

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self centered thoughts? How many of your thoughts is about you?

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How self centered are you? Everything is about you? You? You,

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every situation, what do you get from it? It's all

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about you? You, Your needs are being made, your being happy,

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You're being satisfied. No more resistance to God's will. If

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we truly died, deny and no, we would not be

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resisting God's will. Do you still resist God's will? In

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any way? Shape? Or form. There would be no more

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attachment to comeffort, to ego, to personal ambition. There would

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be no attachment to any of that. There no there

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would be no more choosing your way over his way,

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not even once, because well, there's no your way because

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you've died. You're denying, you're not following self. It would

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be moral perfection. And here's where the Christian teaching typically

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breaks down. It says, die to self, deny self, stop

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following yourself, follow Christ. But then at the same time,

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some will then say, however we all sin, Well, so

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are you giving me something to pursue which I can

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never do? Then what do I How do I understand this?

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You see, we can't really have this both ways. This

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is what you're supposed to do. However, you're never going

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to do it, unless maybe we realize that the command

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these commands to deny I die, all of the all

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of these, these three, these commands in Matthew sixteen twenty

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four deny self, take up your cross, meaning die to

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self and follow Christ. Unless we can truly understand those

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are what we would call law philologically, you cannot fulfill it.

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In practice, you cannot, you will not. It's impossible. That's

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why Paul says, I do not do the good I want,

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but I do the very thing I hate. Wretched man

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that I am, who will deliver me. Thanks be to

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God through Jesus Christ, our Lord. That's Roman seven nineteen,

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Roman seven twenty fourth through twenty five, and it's that famous.

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The things I want to do I don't. The things

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I don't want to do, well, Paul, just die to yourself,

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deny self, follow Christ. Now we put forth the law

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gospel idea. I'm gonna repeat it again. I said we

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would be repeating it. The law says, if you truly

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followed Christ and deny it yourself fully, you would be holy.

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And that's true, but it condemns you because you haven't

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and you can't. So the law says, do this to

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be holy, do this, do this to follow him, And

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you're like, yes, but you can't. It's impossible. But then

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this is what the gospel says. Hey, Jesus denied himself perfectly.

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He died the death you couldn't. He followed the Father

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perfectly and by faith, his obedience is yours. That's what

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good Friday is all about. He died because you you

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you can't die to yourself, you can't do He did

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everything for you. So in Romans sixty six, you have

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died in Christ. I have died Colossians three to one.

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I have been raised in Christ. I'm seated with Christ.

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Ephesians two six. My life is hidden in Him. Positionally

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I'm perfect, even while practically weak. So take up your

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cross and die. I do that, and deny self. I

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do that in Christ. Follow him in Christ. I do that.

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All of that is done for me in Christ. So

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positionally it is true. I wish it was true. Practically,

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Oh do I wish it was true. What would my

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life be if I just could be completely dead to

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my own wants, my own needs, my own desires. There

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would be no anger, there would be no frustration, there

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would be no depression, there would be no discouragement, there

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would be no irritation. It would be peace. It would

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be wonderful. But I cannot find a way to do

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it in any meaningful way. So if we're truly honest,

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this dying and denying would be perfection, which then means

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no one but Jesus has ever done it. We're called

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to it, but we're crushed by it unless we understand

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it's law driving us to Christ. And in Christ we

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now walk not to achieve that perfection, but as those

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already covered by His. But this brings the question, how

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is the Christian Church interpreted this? Deny, die, take up

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your cross, these verses. And I'm just gonna go back

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to the eighteen hundreds and move forward. I'm just gonna

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go back to the eighteen hundreds. We could go back

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to even earlier. Now. If you go back early enough,

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I can tell you how it was basically understood. People

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left and joined monasteries. Remember there's the famous joke that

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in the early Church there were more Christians and monasteries

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than they were in the cities because they would see

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him verse like that and like, well, there's no way

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I can do this. I'm gonna go join it. I'm

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gonna renounce everything, I'm gonna die to self, deny self,

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follow Christ. I'm gonna be living in a monastery. I'm

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gonna take a voleus celibacy of a vowl poverty. I'm

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not maybe a vow as silent silence. It's not gonna

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be I'm not gonna do anything. It's just all gonna

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be about God. But see people say, well, that's crazy,

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that's to the extreme. Yeah, because you want to be

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able to say you're dying to self, denying self and

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following Christ, yet get most of all your needs met

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and still make everything about us. But how is the church,

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at least since the eighteen hundreds have handled this, right?

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I think when we look, we're going to see kind

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of a clear historical trajectory where the interpretations shifts dramatically

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across eras. And I think that's important. Whenever sometimes we

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go back in church history, we can sometimes see wild

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shifts and interpretations based on the era in which we're

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looking at, which is kind of bizarre, right, because you

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think there should just be one interpretation. But I don't

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care what the scripture is, I don't care what the

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area of theology is. If you study church history, you

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see these wild shifts. Oh this is the error where

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everyone thought this, Oh, all of a sudden it changed,

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then it changed back, or it modified, And well why

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the scripture say what the scriptures say, which then comes

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to demonstrate to all of us then what the scriptures

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actually say. We never truly figure out because we change

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our views throughout church history. But I think we see

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a clear trajectory where interpretation shifts dramatically across different eras

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shaped by cultural forces. That's interesting philological movements now that

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one makes more sense, and evolving views on human nature. So,

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in other words, once again, our interpretations of scripture are

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more a lot of times influenced by things outside of

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the church, more than we want to admit, or can

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be influenced by what's happening in the church. In other words,

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we are typically what influences our interpretation of the scripture

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most is not the scriptures themselves, it's these external factors culture,

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what our theological team is currently saying, what our favorite

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pastors are saying, what the books are saying, what's going

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on in Christianity. There's always external factors, see, which just

356
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strives me crazy because from a hermeneutical standpoint, external factors

357
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should have no influence on how you interpret scripture, but

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the reality is it does. So let's trace somewhat briefly

359
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from eighteen hundred to today. All right, are you ready?

360
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Let's try to do this. Let's start the eighteen hundreds,

361
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the eighteen hundreds. Welcome to the eighteen hundreds. All right,

362
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are you here? Okay? Good? All right, let's talk about revivalism, pietism,

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and moralism. Revivalism, pietism and moralism, right, eighteen hundreds, So

364
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we'll classify this error as the era of revivalism, pietism,

365
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and moralism, and the nineteenth century, especially in Protestant evangelicalism,

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that deny yourself language was intensely moralistic and emphasizes external behavior,

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personal piety, and strict discipline. Were urged to abandon worldly amusements,

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deny bodily pleasure, and dedicate themselves to revival, to missions

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and to prayer. Stop that worldly amusement, stop this, stop that, okay,

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just dedicate yourself to the things of God. Revival is here, pietism, moralism.

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It's this kind of concept. Pietism from early Lutheran and

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Reform traditions had already pushed inward focused spirituality, self examination,

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renunciation of pride, and intense introspection. So we had already

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kind of seen this already taking place within the earlier

375
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forms of pietism that showed up in Lutheranism and Reform traditions.

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This is like look inward, kind of an inward focused spirituality,

377
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examine yourself, renounce your pride, renounce this a lot of introspection. Now,

378
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what was the key result? Denying self became a spiritual

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lifestyle or of self suspicion and relentless striving, often confused

380
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with sanctification. So basically, die to self, deny self. This

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is to become your life, and it becomes relentless striving

382
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every day, trying to die every day, trying to deny

383
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every day, trying to fall. I'm going to do it.

384
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I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna try harder, I'm gonna

385
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try harder, I'm gonna do it. I'm gonna do it.

386
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And sometimes, you know, how do you accomplish that way?

387
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We could get into a greater discussion about that. But

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that's what this all turns into. This is what it

389
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all turns into, all right, So I think I think

390
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everyone kind of understands that period in time. It's like

391
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this kind of daily thing we're trying. It's about discipline,

392
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it's about just it's very it's not put it this way.

393
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There's no focus on that Christ did it for you.

394
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It's all about what you need to do. It's all

395
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how about your striving. I'm pulling this off. Now we

396
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jump to the nineteen hundreds. Now we have the Holiness

397
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Movement and what is known as Keswick theology. And I'm

398
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hoping I'm saying that correct. I'm hoping I'm saying that correct. K. E.

399
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S Wick Keswick theology. That's how it looks. The reason

400
00:25:21.599 --> 00:25:24.160
I'm hesitanting because I think i've I think I realized

401
00:25:24.200 --> 00:25:26.000
one time that I was saying it incorrectly. So if

402
00:25:26.039 --> 00:25:30.880
I'm saying it incorrectly, I apologize Holiness Movement and Keswick theology.

403
00:25:31.880 --> 00:25:36.640
All right. These movements taught that the self life had

404
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to be completely crucified. You've got to crucify that self life.

405
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The believer needed a second blessing or deeper surrender, sometimes

406
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referred to his entire sanctification or the victorious life. You

407
00:25:51.440 --> 00:25:53.720
had to let go and let God. So it was

408
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the idea that, okay, you may be a Christian, you've

409
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come this far, but you need this second blessing. You

410
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need something to happen to get you. And it says

411
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over the hump so you can get there. You need

412
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this entire sect of sanctification, the second blessing, this complete

413
00:26:08.759 --> 00:26:12.000
surrender you need, and then if you get there, then

414
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you will truly experience what the Christian life is supposed

415
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to be, true victory, true surrender, and then the the

416
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in a sense, the battle will be over because you've

417
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completely died to yourself. This almost elevated dying to self

418
00:26:29.160 --> 00:26:33.079
into a mystical breakthrough experience. And if you notice how

419
00:26:33.119 --> 00:26:36.119
this works. In the eighteen hundreds, it was about discipline.

420
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Do it, renounce this, renounce that daily struggle, do it,

421
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do it. And finally, after from the eighteen hundreds, by

422
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the time you get to the nineteen hundreds, I think

423
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someone looked around and going like, you know what, people

424
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keep failing, failing, failing. Nobody's pulling this off, nobody's pulling

425
00:26:52.359 --> 00:26:53.880
how do we do that? Well, we've got to have

426
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some answers. Oh, we got to have this second blessing.

427
00:26:58.519 --> 00:27:02.000
We got to have this break through. We something mystical,

428
00:27:02.200 --> 00:27:07.599
something spiritual has to happen, and once we experience it, boom,

429
00:27:07.680 --> 00:27:09.640
then all of that struggle and all that fighting and

430
00:27:09.680 --> 00:27:13.680
all that failing will just disappear because now we've reached it,

431
00:27:13.799 --> 00:27:16.920
which just makes sense after all of that time of

432
00:27:17.000 --> 00:27:19.480
telling everyone to struggle, you know what you saw from

433
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the eighteen hundreds to the nineteen hundreds failure, failure, failure, failure, failure, failure, failure.

434
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So someone's always got to come along, going well, if

435
00:27:27.599 --> 00:27:30.920
everyone keeps failing at this, we need a solution. And

436
00:27:30.960 --> 00:27:34.920
the solution is this holiness movement, Keswick theology, this kind

437
00:27:35.000 --> 00:27:38.279
of Hey, it's we gotta, we gotta, we need to.

438
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We gotta have something that can get us to completely

439
00:27:41.400 --> 00:27:47.039
crucify completely, and that's this second blessing, something that happens

440
00:27:47.240 --> 00:27:50.480
that we can we can finally get to. So it

441
00:27:50.519 --> 00:27:54.920
becomes a mystical breakthrough experience where true Christians were expected

442
00:27:54.960 --> 00:27:57.039
to be free from selfish desire. See if you can

443
00:27:57.079 --> 00:28:01.640
get this breakthrough, this mystical one, and hey, you finally

444
00:28:01.720 --> 00:28:05.680
you finally reached it. So in this case, the denying

445
00:28:05.799 --> 00:28:11.000
self becomes an emotional, almost crisis like experience of total surrender.

446
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And if you haven't had it, your spiritual life was

447
00:28:14.240 --> 00:28:18.160
in question, like your your spiritual life is suspect until

448
00:28:18.160 --> 00:28:21.000
you get this breakthrough. So you got to get this breakthrough.

449
00:28:21.039 --> 00:28:23.240
You got it, and you could probably mix into this,

450
00:28:23.720 --> 00:28:27.759
you know, maybe the baptism of the Holy Spirit. See,

451
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especially once you get to the doctrine of subsequence, and

452
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and it becomes that the baptism of the Holy Spirit

453
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is subsequent to your salvation. You become saved, but now

454
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you have to pursue the baptism of the Holy Spirit.

455
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And you know you have the baptism of the Holy

456
00:28:42.279 --> 00:28:45.519
Spirit because you've spoken in tongues. Well, there's your spiritual breakthrough.

457
00:28:45.640 --> 00:28:47.759
And now that you've spoken in tongues, now you've been

458
00:28:47.799 --> 00:28:51.720
baptized with the Holy Spirit. Now now you can truly

459
00:28:51.759 --> 00:28:54.279
die to self. Now you have a greater holiness, a

460
00:28:54.319 --> 00:28:57.200
greater fervency for God, a greater love for God. You

461
00:28:57.559 --> 00:29:00.880
can It's almost like this is the secret. The bottom

462
00:29:00.960 --> 00:29:03.119
line is in the nineteen hundreds, because you've got the

463
00:29:03.160 --> 00:29:06.279
birth of the Charismatic movement and everything happening there holding

464
00:29:06.319 --> 00:29:08.880
some movement Keswick theology. You got all of this kind

465
00:29:08.880 --> 00:29:14.039
of there you can kind of see what this era is. Well,

466
00:29:14.359 --> 00:29:16.599
it's got to be now more than just trying. It's

467
00:29:16.640 --> 00:29:18.599
got to be more than struggling. It's got to be

468
00:29:19.200 --> 00:29:21.400
more than just failing. We've got to be able to

469
00:29:21.440 --> 00:29:25.240
tap into some kind of experience, some kind of power.

470
00:29:25.799 --> 00:29:28.440
And once we get that that we're there. And that's

471
00:29:28.640 --> 00:29:32.480
language used throughout the Charismatic world, but it's even used

472
00:29:32.519 --> 00:29:36.359
in many non charismatic circles as well because it became

473
00:29:36.799 --> 00:29:41.000
so built into our mindset. Right, So now we get

474
00:29:41.039 --> 00:29:47.839
to the mid twentieth century evangelical application theology. So let's

475
00:29:47.880 --> 00:29:51.319
go back eighteen hundreds we have revivalism, Pietism, and moralism.

476
00:29:51.759 --> 00:29:54.839
Nineteen hundreds we have the holiness movement, Keswick theology. I

477
00:29:54.880 --> 00:29:56.799
probably could do a little bit more work in the

478
00:29:56.799 --> 00:29:59.799
early nineteen hundreds, but I'm trying to summarize these. Right,

479
00:30:01.119 --> 00:30:05.759
the mid twentieth century, we have evangelical application theology. By

480
00:30:05.759 --> 00:30:10.680
the nineteen fifties through the nineteen eighties, popular evangelicalism, Billy

481
00:30:10.759 --> 00:30:15.640
Graham campus crusade for Christ Navigator movements, they adopt a

482
00:30:16.079 --> 00:30:20.799
deny yourself as a daily lifestyle principle, and they link

483
00:30:20.880 --> 00:30:25.519
this to quiet time obedience simply saying no descent, and

484
00:30:25.640 --> 00:30:31.759
moral restraint. Devotional books and sermon series focused on daily crossbarring,

485
00:30:32.039 --> 00:30:37.000
victory over self and resisting culture. So they kind of

486
00:30:37.000 --> 00:30:40.519
then there's almost a shift back. They kind of move

487
00:30:40.559 --> 00:30:45.559
away from maybe the experiential breakthrough, and now it just

488
00:30:45.640 --> 00:30:48.720
becomes this is a daily back to your daily routine.

489
00:30:49.160 --> 00:30:51.119
All right, you got to have your quiet time. You

490
00:30:51.200 --> 00:30:53.000
need to be reading your Bible. You need to be

491
00:30:53.079 --> 00:30:55.759
memorizing scripture. You need to be a part of a group.

492
00:30:55.920 --> 00:30:57.640
You need to be a part of a Bible study.

493
00:30:57.759 --> 00:30:59.759
You need to do this. You need to We're right

494
00:30:59.759 --> 00:31:02.240
back to the Look, guess what it was from the

495
00:31:02.279 --> 00:31:04.680
eighteen hundreds to now we're in the nineteen fifties to

496
00:31:04.720 --> 00:31:07.839
the nineteen eighties. Guess what nobody was referring to? Christ

497
00:31:08.000 --> 00:31:10.119
did this for you? No? No, no, no, no, Now

498
00:31:10.160 --> 00:31:16.519
it's all back to us, right, So I don't even

499
00:31:16.559 --> 00:31:19.240
know that. I mean the mid to twentieth the mid

500
00:31:19.279 --> 00:31:22.920
twentieth century, nineteen fifties to the nineteen eighties. I mean,

501
00:31:22.960 --> 00:31:24.880
come on, I mean, there's not really a lot here.

502
00:31:24.920 --> 00:31:27.400
It's just kind of your typical just keep doing it.

503
00:31:27.440 --> 00:31:30.440
You got to do this, you gotta do this. So

504
00:31:30.480 --> 00:31:33.680
this error began to confuse self denial, and so this

505
00:31:33.759 --> 00:31:35.920
is what they kind of, I guess in this period.

506
00:31:36.119 --> 00:31:38.000
I think this will give us some idea maybe of

507
00:31:38.039 --> 00:31:40.119
the difference. If you look at it from the kind

508
00:31:40.119 --> 00:31:42.400
of from a bird's eye view, it doesn't really look

509
00:31:42.400 --> 00:31:45.880
that different to the eighteen hundreds. But there's a there's

510
00:31:45.920 --> 00:31:51.079
a slight difference here, right, So the error of the

511
00:31:51.160 --> 00:31:54.440
nineteen fifties to the nineteen eighties, they begin to confuse

512
00:31:54.480 --> 00:31:58.200
self denial with things like this, give up your television,

513
00:32:00.359 --> 00:32:06.480
stop listening to rock music, don't watch MTV, stop cussing,

514
00:32:07.960 --> 00:32:13.559
attend church on a regular basis, dressed modestly, say no

515
00:32:14.000 --> 00:32:18.200
to sexual temptation. So it kind of flattens the command

516
00:32:18.279 --> 00:32:24.119
of die to self deny self to something manageable, and

517
00:32:24.160 --> 00:32:27.799
it typically ignored what the law was actually saying. Okay,

518
00:32:27.960 --> 00:32:30.079
I know it says die, I know it says deny,

519
00:32:30.279 --> 00:32:33.240
but we're just gonna focus on well, hey, give up

520
00:32:33.240 --> 00:32:36.839
your television, don't do that. Just like these things that well,

521
00:32:36.880 --> 00:32:40.920
you could from a fleshly perspective probably accomplish to some

522
00:32:41.079 --> 00:32:45.519
level because with the right amount of self discipline, I mean,

523
00:32:45.559 --> 00:32:49.079
you can stop watching television. Probably with the right amount

524
00:32:49.079 --> 00:32:52.880
of self discipline, you could probably stop cussing. Right, with

525
00:32:52.960 --> 00:32:54.799
the right amount of self discipline, you can go to

526
00:32:54.920 --> 00:32:58.680
church Sunday, school, Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday. I mean,

527
00:32:58.680 --> 00:33:01.960
all that requires is discipl plan, schedule, or you gotta

528
00:33:02.039 --> 00:33:04.160
you just gotta do it. I mean, I know I

529
00:33:04.240 --> 00:33:06.559
pulled that off of all the other problems I have

530
00:33:06.559 --> 00:33:08.799
in my Christian life. From the time I was saved

531
00:33:08.839 --> 00:33:13.480
till till forever, I go to church, Sunday, school, Sunday morning,

532
00:33:13.480 --> 00:33:16.559
Sunday night, Wednesday. I mean that was never a problem.

533
00:33:17.039 --> 00:33:20.079
Even if I worked all night, I still went got

534
00:33:20.160 --> 00:33:22.279
up and went to church. I mean it was just like,

535
00:33:22.480 --> 00:33:26.839
this is what you do, all right, modest dressed, modest dress.

536
00:33:27.039 --> 00:33:30.440
Obviously someone can pull that off. Now saying no to

537
00:33:30.519 --> 00:33:33.799
sexual temptation, now this is where the church once again

538
00:33:37.920 --> 00:33:41.799
has a very confused view of sexuality, very very They

539
00:33:41.839 --> 00:33:44.119
don't see it as a as an I mean, it's

540
00:33:44.119 --> 00:33:47.279
on Maslow's hierarchy of needs. It's an actual need, it's

541
00:33:47.319 --> 00:33:50.640
an actual desire. Like they they think it was just

542
00:33:50.759 --> 00:33:54.240
it's just disciplined. Well, it becomes much more complicated than that,

543
00:33:54.319 --> 00:33:58.920
but okay, But the bottom line is die deny just

544
00:33:59.119 --> 00:34:01.640
turns into here's these list of things you do in

545
00:34:01.680 --> 00:34:04.000
the list of things you don't. And it's much more

546
00:34:04.119 --> 00:34:08.199
manageable than truly dying to self. Because let's make it

547
00:34:08.320 --> 00:34:12.960
very clear, you can follow a list appear not to be.

548
00:34:13.400 --> 00:34:16.199
You can appear to be denying and dying and The

549
00:34:16.280 --> 00:34:19.119
reality is you're very much alive, and you've seen this.

550
00:34:19.559 --> 00:34:24.719
Have you ever been a part of a very conservative, independent,

551
00:34:24.719 --> 00:34:28.880
fundamental Baptist church. Externally, everyone looks like they've died to self,

552
00:34:28.960 --> 00:34:35.119
under denying self, modest dress, pious language, don't watch maybe

553
00:34:35.159 --> 00:34:40.519
not have televisions. They all look so godly, And how

554
00:34:40.519 --> 00:34:45.719
many of those churches have church split? There's gossip, backbitding,

555
00:34:45.920 --> 00:34:49.679
a lack of love, judgmental. They're not dead to self.

556
00:34:50.320 --> 00:34:56.639
They've just covered their rotting fleshly sinful nature with as

557
00:34:56.760 --> 00:35:01.039
much pietism and self righteousness as they can. But it's

558
00:35:01.079 --> 00:35:04.280
still there. And many times the sins that are happening

559
00:35:04.480 --> 00:35:06.760
have to be kept secret. Nobody can be truly open

560
00:35:06.800 --> 00:35:10.880
and honest. So I guess in the fifties to eighties

561
00:35:11.320 --> 00:35:15.639
it's about reducing what the law actually says to truly

562
00:35:15.719 --> 00:35:18.440
die itself and just reduce it to hey, just follow

563
00:35:18.480 --> 00:35:23.719
this list of rules. Now, late twentieth century to the

564
00:35:23.719 --> 00:35:29.039
present we get a lot of psychological blending comes in

565
00:35:30.000 --> 00:35:38.119
and prosperity spin will use that word. Psychological blending and

566
00:35:38.239 --> 00:35:42.559
prosperity spin. A lot of this comes in today. You

567
00:35:42.599 --> 00:35:45.400
could see we have kind of almost two contradictory trends

568
00:35:45.440 --> 00:35:47.760
happening in the church. One, you have this kind of

569
00:35:47.800 --> 00:35:52.599
prosperity victory theology. You're a new creature, you have power,

570
00:35:52.880 --> 00:35:59.039
You're more than conquerors. You're a new creature, the Oldest

571
00:35:59.039 --> 00:36:01.840
pass away. Everything has become new. You've got power, You've

572
00:36:01.880 --> 00:36:04.320
got the power of the Holy Spirit in you. You're

573
00:36:04.400 --> 00:36:08.400
more than a conqueror. It's really this victorious kind of preaching.

574
00:36:09.320 --> 00:36:14.079
Denying self becomes stop doubting yourself or silence negative thinking.

575
00:36:14.400 --> 00:36:18.639
You stop thinking incorrectly, stop confessing wrong things with your mouth.

576
00:36:18.960 --> 00:36:21.760
Just confess that you are a new creature, the oldest God.

577
00:36:22.719 --> 00:36:25.360
Everything is taken care of you. You have the power

578
00:36:25.400 --> 00:36:30.159
to do it. So the cross in a sense almost

579
00:36:30.199 --> 00:36:35.880
becomes a symbol of empower meant not a symbol of death.

580
00:36:36.480 --> 00:36:39.519
About this all really kind of in the modern church.

581
00:36:39.559 --> 00:36:42.760
It becomes about your power. You get, you get, not

582
00:36:42.920 --> 00:36:46.119
about no, no, no. The cross is where Jesus died

583
00:36:46.800 --> 00:36:49.599
in my place and my and my faith. I am

584
00:36:49.719 --> 00:36:54.039
unified in that death. So I am dead in him positionally.

585
00:36:54.119 --> 00:36:56.679
No no, no, no, no no, it's all out. What Jesus

586
00:36:56.719 --> 00:36:59.519
did is there to give you power. Now you have power,

587
00:37:00.199 --> 00:37:03.280
have freedom. You now have the ability you can do it.

588
00:37:06.519 --> 00:37:10.159
So this is kind of this victorious theology, this prosperity thing.

589
00:37:10.880 --> 00:37:14.039
Confess positive things with your mouth, believe it, and it

590
00:37:14.079 --> 00:37:17.599
becomes this kind of weird mix. On the other side,

591
00:37:17.639 --> 00:37:22.000
we get this therapeutic Christianity. The focus is on self care,

592
00:37:22.599 --> 00:37:28.480
emotional well being and balance. Deny yourself is soft and

593
00:37:28.519 --> 00:37:31.159
as much as possible, and too well, don't let your

594
00:37:31.159 --> 00:37:36.719
emotions control you. The Cross almost becomes metaphorical, not a

595
00:37:36.719 --> 00:37:41.159
call to die, but a call to manage stress. This

596
00:37:41.199 --> 00:37:44.079
is kind of this therapeutic Christianity that you may hear

597
00:37:44.320 --> 00:37:46.239
and a lot of maybe not all, but in some

598
00:37:46.360 --> 00:37:50.679
megachurches that things get reduced down to this like and

599
00:37:50.719 --> 00:37:53.360
they say, we're just making it practical, We're trying to

600
00:37:53.360 --> 00:37:56.280
apply it to the daily stresses of people's lives. But

601
00:37:56.320 --> 00:38:01.159
the whole concept gets really destroyed. So what happens in

602
00:38:01.159 --> 00:38:04.559
this therapeutic Christianity is that once again the full weight

603
00:38:04.679 --> 00:38:07.320
of Jesus' words, the full weight of the law, is

604
00:38:07.320 --> 00:38:15.800
completely destroyed. Now, so those are the from the eighteen

605
00:38:15.880 --> 00:38:20.559
hundreds to modern day revival. So eighteen hundreds revivalism, Pietism, moralism,

606
00:38:21.000 --> 00:38:26.000
the nineteen hundreds, holiness movement, Keswick theology, the mid twentieth century,

607
00:38:26.039 --> 00:38:32.239
evangelical application theology, and the late twentieth century we get

608
00:38:32.239 --> 00:38:36.320
this kind of psychological blending and prosperity spin. Now what

609
00:38:36.480 --> 00:38:43.320
has been consistent throughout across the centuries, most interpretations, and

610
00:38:43.360 --> 00:38:49.079
I think this is true throughout the centuries, most interpretations

611
00:38:49.199 --> 00:38:55.599
make the command to die, deny and stop following yourself achievable,

612
00:38:56.880 --> 00:39:00.679
as if we can actually do it through effort, through

613
00:39:01.159 --> 00:39:03.719
quiet time, through chuch, that we can do it. Now,

614
00:39:03.760 --> 00:39:06.039
some will say, well, God does it through you, But again,

615
00:39:06.079 --> 00:39:07.880
if God does it through me, then I should be

616
00:39:07.920 --> 00:39:10.119
dead to self and I should be perfect and there

617
00:39:10.159 --> 00:39:12.679
should be no more issues, so that all that breaks

618
00:39:12.719 --> 00:39:16.760
down already there. But the point is, throughout church history

619
00:39:17.480 --> 00:39:20.400
it's you can do it. You can do it. It's achievable.

620
00:39:21.920 --> 00:39:25.239
It's treated as a process, which is weird, not as

621
00:39:25.239 --> 00:39:28.840
an actual death sentence. It says die to self, take

622
00:39:28.920 --> 00:39:32.480
up your cross, and die deny. It doesn't say start

623
00:39:32.519 --> 00:39:35.360
the process. It says to do it. We have to.

624
00:39:35.519 --> 00:39:37.960
We have to minimize it so that it can be

625
00:39:38.039 --> 00:39:45.000
somewhat achievable. And I think it confuses moral effort or

626
00:39:45.039 --> 00:39:48.599
discipleship goals. I think it kind of just turns this

627
00:39:48.760 --> 00:39:53.920
all into about morality trying to meet goals. I here's

628
00:39:53.960 --> 00:39:59.440
what happens. It completely ignores law and gospel. It completely

629
00:39:59.559 --> 00:40:03.480
ignores long gospel that's consistent throughout church history. Law and

630
00:40:03.559 --> 00:40:07.239
gospel gets abandoned right here. There's no long gospel understanding

631
00:40:07.239 --> 00:40:11.880
of any of this. Now, what the church should have

632
00:40:11.920 --> 00:40:15.760
done is they should have well looked at it from

633
00:40:15.800 --> 00:40:18.440
a law gospel perspective. So let me break it down. Law.

634
00:40:19.679 --> 00:40:24.559
Deny yourself shows you that you cannot save yourself. The

635
00:40:24.639 --> 00:40:30.360
gospel Christ denied himself for you. See, deny yourself shows you,

636
00:40:30.400 --> 00:40:32.960
Oh no, I'm in trouble. I'm never truly going to

637
00:40:33.000 --> 00:40:36.119
deny myself. I'm never truly good because my sinful nature

638
00:40:36.159 --> 00:40:38.039
is going to be there, and the sinful nature is

639
00:40:38.079 --> 00:40:40.599
all about the exaltation of the of the self. So

640
00:40:40.679 --> 00:40:43.280
you're never going to truly deny yourself. But the Gospel says, hey,

641
00:40:43.320 --> 00:40:46.800
I've got good news. The law says, deny yourself. Christ

642
00:40:46.800 --> 00:40:49.760
did he denied himself for you. The Law says, take

643
00:40:49.840 --> 00:40:53.920
up your cross means death to self centered righteousness. Die

644
00:40:54.000 --> 00:40:58.199
to self. Christ took the cross before you and for you.

645
00:40:59.320 --> 00:41:02.400
The law follow me is not a lifestyle upgrade. It's

646
00:41:02.400 --> 00:41:05.360
a call to die and rise with Him by faith.

647
00:41:05.400 --> 00:41:08.400
You've already died and risen with Christ Galatians two twenty.

648
00:41:09.079 --> 00:41:11.880
The law, this command is not a method. It's a

649
00:41:11.920 --> 00:41:15.639
mirror showing your need for the gospel, the gospel. Jesus

650
00:41:15.719 --> 00:41:20.039
fulfilled the command and gave you his righteousness. That's a

651
00:41:20.119 --> 00:41:24.280
proper law gospel perspective. Now, I know Christians don't like that,

652
00:41:24.480 --> 00:41:26.760
right because you say, well, you're just looking at it

653
00:41:26.800 --> 00:41:28.360
as you can do it. Christ did it for you,

654
00:41:28.480 --> 00:41:30.880
so you can do whatever you want. Now, I'm you

655
00:41:30.880 --> 00:41:32.960
know what, Here's the reality is. You can get mad

656
00:41:33.000 --> 00:41:35.320
about that all day. You still do whatever you want,

657
00:41:35.360 --> 00:41:37.039
no matter how much you try to disguise it and

658
00:41:37.079 --> 00:41:44.800
pretend that you don't. So, since the eighteen hundreds, the

659
00:41:44.880 --> 00:41:48.480
Church has largely treated deny yourself as a formal a

660
00:41:48.760 --> 00:41:54.760
formula for spiritual growth. That's how's typically been treated. It

661
00:41:54.920 --> 00:42:01.480
overlooks the crushing legal demand that is found in those words,

662
00:42:03.480 --> 00:42:07.800
and it underpreached the finished work of Christ as our substitute.

663
00:42:07.840 --> 00:42:09.760
So since the eighteen hundreds, this is what the Church

664
00:42:09.800 --> 00:42:12.599
has done. It's treated deny yourself as some formula for

665
00:42:12.639 --> 00:42:14.920
spiritual growth. Hey, here's what you need to do to

666
00:42:14.960 --> 00:42:20.760
grow spiritually. It really overlooked or downplayed what was actually

667
00:42:20.800 --> 00:42:25.599
being demanded by this verse. It's a legal demand. It's

668
00:42:25.760 --> 00:42:31.079
crushing and over and over. The Church has not preached

669
00:42:31.079 --> 00:42:33.800
the finished work of Christ as our substitute. He did

670
00:42:33.840 --> 00:42:37.079
this for you because the church doesn't have the law

671
00:42:37.119 --> 00:42:45.119
gospel approach. The command is not less radical than we think.

672
00:42:45.199 --> 00:42:48.559
It's even more radical than we can even begin to understand.

673
00:42:49.280 --> 00:42:52.760
It was never meant to be your project. It was

674
00:42:52.800 --> 00:42:55.159
always meant to drive you to the one who already

675
00:42:55.199 --> 00:42:59.559
did it all. Now, if we go from the eighteen

676
00:42:59.599 --> 00:43:02.760
hundred to today, and if you look at all the

677
00:43:02.760 --> 00:43:06.519
things we covered, one thing was left out. One thing

678
00:43:06.639 --> 00:43:12.159
was completely left out, and that was lordship theology. Now,

679
00:43:12.199 --> 00:43:17.440
I think lordship theology is a significant movement in church

680
00:43:17.519 --> 00:43:21.559
history that has so even though people may not use

681
00:43:21.639 --> 00:43:23.920
the term, may not even know what it is, they've

682
00:43:23.920 --> 00:43:27.559
been influenced by it. So let's now add in lordship

683
00:43:27.599 --> 00:43:32.679
theology as its own separate era and see how this

684
00:43:32.800 --> 00:43:38.440
approaches the take up your cross, deny and follow. All right. Now,

685
00:43:38.519 --> 00:43:45.199
lordship theology as developed most prominently in the late twentieth century,

686
00:43:45.320 --> 00:43:48.719
especially through figures like John MacArthur and response to what

687
00:43:48.800 --> 00:43:53.079
they called easy believism or what they would call free

688
00:43:53.199 --> 00:43:58.199
grace theology. They put an enormous of emphasis on Jesus'

689
00:43:58.199 --> 00:44:02.480
command to deny self, take up your cross, and follow him.

690
00:44:03.880 --> 00:44:06.800
But it does so in a way that elevates the

691
00:44:06.840 --> 00:44:11.440
command to our requirement for proving your salvation, rather than

692
00:44:11.480 --> 00:44:14.760
interpreting it through a law gospel category. Now, this is

693
00:44:14.760 --> 00:44:18.599
what I was confronted with the lordship way early in

694
00:44:18.639 --> 00:44:20.920
my Christian life. I've told the story a million times.

695
00:44:21.920 --> 00:44:24.679
Going to the Bible bookstore abling Texas, seeing this book

696
00:44:24.760 --> 00:44:27.280
the Gospel according to Jesus, hearing the people in the

697
00:44:27.280 --> 00:44:30.400
bookstore talk about how controversial it was, didn't really know

698
00:44:30.440 --> 00:44:33.880
what was going on, bought the book, and really, in

699
00:44:34.000 --> 00:44:37.440
my understanding, I just kind of like, well, this is Christianity.

700
00:44:37.599 --> 00:44:40.280
Like I didn't have any I didn't have a framework

701
00:44:40.320 --> 00:44:43.719
really to understand what was going on other than oh,

702
00:44:43.760 --> 00:44:46.360
this is Christianity. So then it was like, Okay, I

703
00:44:46.400 --> 00:44:47.760
got to do this and this and this and this

704
00:44:47.800 --> 00:44:49.039
and this and this and this and this and this

705
00:44:49.079 --> 00:44:50.360
and this and this and this and this and this

706
00:44:50.400 --> 00:44:53.639
and this or I'm not saved. So then I basically

707
00:44:53.639 --> 00:44:55.199
went on a war path, and I'm like, well, then

708
00:44:55.920 --> 00:44:58.639
nobody in this stinking churches say, because nobody does this,

709
00:44:58.719 --> 00:45:01.199
Nobody does this, nobody does this, nobody does this, nobody

710
00:45:01.239 --> 00:45:04.039
does this, nobody reads their Bible, nobody studies the Bible.

711
00:45:04.119 --> 00:45:06.000
For crying out loud, we have this. Many people show

712
00:45:06.039 --> 00:45:08.559
up on Sunday morning. Nobody comes back on Sunday night.

713
00:45:08.679 --> 00:45:11.000
So all those stinking people aren't saved. And the youth

714
00:45:11.039 --> 00:45:13.639
group is a stinking joke, and the pastor's a stinking joke.

715
00:45:13.719 --> 00:45:16.519
It's all fun food fellowship. None of you people are saved.

716
00:45:16.559 --> 00:45:19.800
Nobody here loves God, nobody cares. You're all trash, you're

717
00:45:19.840 --> 00:45:22.400
all garbage. But look at me. I read more than

718
00:45:22.400 --> 00:45:25.519
anybody else. I don't miss a church service. I study more,

719
00:45:25.639 --> 00:45:28.199
I read more Christian books, I listen to Christian radio,

720
00:45:28.360 --> 00:45:30.960
I listen to sermons. Look at me. And so I

721
00:45:31.800 --> 00:45:35.239
fell into this and went all in right, But what

722
00:45:35.400 --> 00:45:37.880
was baffling to me is like many of the people

723
00:45:37.920 --> 00:45:40.840
would say, yeah, this lordship idea is right, but I'm like, well,

724
00:45:40.840 --> 00:45:43.920
if the lordship idea is right, you shouldn't be say

725
00:45:43.920 --> 00:45:46.000
it with such a smug look on your face, because

726
00:45:46.039 --> 00:45:49.960
you're trash. You don't read, you don't study, you barely

727
00:45:50.000 --> 00:45:52.320
show up to church when you're supposed to. You don't

728
00:45:52.360 --> 00:45:54.239
do this. You don't do this. You don't do this.

729
00:45:54.639 --> 00:45:56.960
You should be con questioning your own salvation. But they

730
00:45:57.000 --> 00:45:59.920
never used it to question their salvation. They always use

731
00:45:59.920 --> 00:46:03.039
it to question everyone else's salvation. And I was always

732
00:46:03.079 --> 00:46:06.400
baffled by that. How can people in lordship only question

733
00:46:06.440 --> 00:46:09.320
everyone else's salvation? But for some weird reason, they all

734
00:46:09.360 --> 00:46:11.679
think that they do it. So I would take the

735
00:46:11.719 --> 00:46:15.599
lordship test, well, if you truly, if you truly are saved,

736
00:46:15.840 --> 00:46:18.440
you will love God above everything else. You will not

737
00:46:18.639 --> 00:46:21.360
love the world. You will do this. And all I

738
00:46:21.440 --> 00:46:23.480
could do is try to find the things on the

739
00:46:23.559 --> 00:46:27.719
test that I knew that I was achieving, doubled down

740
00:46:27.840 --> 00:46:32.800
on those, triple down, do them even more, and make

741
00:46:32.840 --> 00:46:35.639
sure the whole world knew that I was doing these things.

742
00:46:35.960 --> 00:46:38.480
And then I could but guess what, even all that

743
00:46:38.760 --> 00:46:41.519
the facade would would would crack time and time again

744
00:46:41.840 --> 00:46:44.840
because I was I was well, I was a sinner

745
00:46:45.360 --> 00:46:47.599
and I was a teenager. Doesn't matter if I was

746
00:46:47.599 --> 00:46:50.199
a teenager, if I was adult. The facade still cracks

747
00:46:50.239 --> 00:46:54.199
and fades and falls apart. And I began I kept struggling. Well,

748
00:46:54.280 --> 00:46:57.239
I keep sinning, I keep sinning. I got so concerned

749
00:46:57.239 --> 00:46:59.239
about it that I went to the pastor and asked,

750
00:46:59.280 --> 00:47:03.360
possibly am I and possessed? Because I keep sinning? Right, Well,

751
00:47:03.400 --> 00:47:06.159
it may not be demon possession, it's it could be

752
00:47:06.199 --> 00:47:09.400
demonic oppression. That was the answer. Now the answer is

753
00:47:09.559 --> 00:47:13.440
this stupid theology is insane. That's what the problem is,

754
00:47:13.480 --> 00:47:17.800
because it's a complete destruction of law gospel understanding. Now,

755
00:47:17.800 --> 00:47:19.800
when I finally go to the Lutheran Church, I get

756
00:47:19.840 --> 00:47:22.679
a little bit of reprieve. I start learning about the

757
00:47:22.760 --> 00:47:26.280
law gospel distinction, but it still didn't really register in

758
00:47:26.320 --> 00:47:28.920
my mind what was going on here. I still didn't

759
00:47:29.360 --> 00:47:32.320
have the philological knowledge to put it all together. So

760
00:47:32.360 --> 00:47:35.320
then I leave the Lutheran Church, go to independent fundamental Baptist,

761
00:47:35.480 --> 00:47:38.719
and then I tripled down on the lordship theology. I

762
00:47:39.559 --> 00:47:43.559
tripled down on it until well, it was Catholic University

763
00:47:43.599 --> 00:47:48.400
where they were like, this lordship salvation is basically Catholicism.

764
00:47:48.400 --> 00:47:50.400
How do you not see that you should just become

765
00:47:50.400 --> 00:47:52.760
a Catholic? And I'm like, wait a minute, wh whoa whoa,

766
00:47:52.760 --> 00:47:54.760
whoa whoa whoa whoa whoa whoah woah. No, no, no, no, no,

767
00:47:55.199 --> 00:47:58.920
I'm lordship. I'm not Catholic. No, Like, it's Catholicism, Okay,

768
00:47:59.159 --> 00:48:02.320
you just change it's the wording, but it's works base

769
00:48:02.400 --> 00:48:05.119
and I'm like, no, it's not. Yes, it is okay.

770
00:48:05.360 --> 00:48:07.480
And then finally I was like, man, I've been such

771
00:48:07.519 --> 00:48:12.400
an idiot. All right, So so let's walk through how

772
00:48:12.480 --> 00:48:16.159
Lordship Salvation interprets these texts. Right, Let's go through number one,

773
00:48:16.519 --> 00:48:20.599
Lordship theology handles how the lordship theology handles deny yourself,

774
00:48:20.679 --> 00:48:23.480
take up your cross, and follow me. Basically, it would

775
00:48:23.480 --> 00:48:28.039
go like this, saving faith includes submission to Christ as Lord.

776
00:48:28.519 --> 00:48:30.719
If you're truly saved, you will live a life of

777
00:48:30.880 --> 00:48:35.760
self denial, cross bearing, and obedience to Christ. If you're

778
00:48:35.760 --> 00:48:38.800
truly saved, you will do it. No, this is what's

779
00:48:38.840 --> 00:48:44.039
such trash is And I get so mad about it because, oh,

780
00:48:44.320 --> 00:48:47.239
the game is so rigged the way it works, right,

781
00:48:47.480 --> 00:48:50.159
because if you look at the way the demographics of

782
00:48:50.280 --> 00:48:54.760
most churches. Right, we've talked about this. The demographic of

783
00:48:54.840 --> 00:48:59.079
most churches are people who are married, have kids, have

784
00:48:59.239 --> 00:49:03.119
a job, have a home, They fit, they get so

785
00:49:03.199 --> 00:49:06.360
if you take Maslow's hierarchy of needs, they got most

786
00:49:06.400 --> 00:49:09.320
of their needs met. But they got most of their

787
00:49:09.360 --> 00:49:11.079
needs met. So you get so a lot of times

788
00:49:11.119 --> 00:49:14.039
what people are doing when they're young, they may leave

789
00:49:14.159 --> 00:49:17.039
the church, right because I know they're I know this

790
00:49:17.159 --> 00:49:18.920
is hard to believe, but they have needs and they

791
00:49:18.960 --> 00:49:21.719
have desires, and Christianity says they can't have these needs

792
00:49:21.800 --> 00:49:23.960
or desires met. So you kind of move way, you

793
00:49:24.079 --> 00:49:26.159
pull back from the church. You get those needs and

794
00:49:26.239 --> 00:49:29.159
desires met. Well, then he lo and behold you get married.

795
00:49:29.480 --> 00:49:34.400
Oh now good. You've got physical intimacy, you've got mental intimacy.

796
00:49:34.639 --> 00:49:37.440
You've got all your needs. You've got your kids. You've

797
00:49:37.480 --> 00:49:40.000
got you're you're raising them, or you have a job,

798
00:49:40.199 --> 00:49:42.320
or you're going to school and you're trying to do this,

799
00:49:42.519 --> 00:49:44.719
and you're trying to do that. So you've got purpose,

800
00:49:45.039 --> 00:49:49.639
you've got meaning, you've got responsibilities, you've got intimacy. You

801
00:49:49.760 --> 00:49:52.280
may have friends and family because you're a young couple.

802
00:49:52.519 --> 00:49:55.760
You've got everything. But now you can sit there and say,

803
00:49:56.000 --> 00:49:58.960
I'm dying to self and denying something because most of

804
00:49:59.079 --> 00:50:02.079
your needs are We're met. What are you dying and

805
00:50:02.199 --> 00:50:05.480
denying too? Not going to Starbucks twice in a week?

806
00:50:05.760 --> 00:50:08.440
Like what are you doing? You got everything? But and

807
00:50:08.559 --> 00:50:11.880
then they sit there so smug and pious and look

808
00:50:11.960 --> 00:50:14.960
down at everyone, Oh, how dare you do that? How

809
00:50:15.119 --> 00:50:18.400
dare you do that? And it's like, don't you remember

810
00:50:18.480 --> 00:50:20.920
before your needs were being met what you were doing?

811
00:50:21.320 --> 00:50:26.159
Also a holy and godly liar. So the church is

812
00:50:26.199 --> 00:50:29.280
sometimes made up of these younger couples are very older people.

813
00:50:29.559 --> 00:50:32.199
Those needs and desires are radically different now they're in

814
00:50:32.199 --> 00:50:37.000
their fifties or sixties, seventies, eighties, Like, it's radically changed.

815
00:50:40.840 --> 00:50:43.800
It's such a game the way this is played. So

816
00:50:44.119 --> 00:50:46.679
on one hand, hey, if you're really saved, then you're

817
00:50:46.719 --> 00:50:49.760
gonna die deny. Well okay, well how can I pull

818
00:50:49.840 --> 00:50:52.119
this off? Well, this is the way you pull it off.

819
00:50:52.239 --> 00:50:54.400
You look at Maslow's hierarchy of needs. You try to

820
00:50:54.519 --> 00:50:56.880
ensure all of those needs are being met, and then

821
00:50:56.920 --> 00:51:01.079
you can say I'm dying and denying. Yeah, you're dying

822
00:51:01.159 --> 00:51:05.519
and denying to what all your needs being met? It's such,

823
00:51:06.199 --> 00:51:12.039
it's the game is rigged right. So this is the

824
00:51:12.119 --> 00:51:16.480
basic claim in lordship. Saving faith includes submission to Christ's lord.

825
00:51:16.559 --> 00:51:18.960
If you're truly saved, you'll live a life of self denial,

826
00:51:19.079 --> 00:51:22.360
cross bearing, and obedience to Christ. The interpretive framework goes

827
00:51:22.400 --> 00:51:25.320
something like this. Jesus words in Matthew sixteen twenty four,

828
00:51:25.400 --> 00:51:28.719
which I now referred to fifty times, Luke nine twenty three,

829
00:51:28.880 --> 00:51:32.119
Mark eight thirty four are not seen primarily as law

830
00:51:32.440 --> 00:51:36.559
that exposes sins, but as conditions of true saving faith.

831
00:51:36.880 --> 00:51:40.320
And this view, denying self equals turning from sin and

832
00:51:40.360 --> 00:51:46.519
selfish ambition, taking up your cross, embracing suffering, dying to self, will,

833
00:51:46.920 --> 00:51:50.760
following Christ as continual obedience. All of this is evidence

834
00:51:50.800 --> 00:51:57.559
of salvation. All of this is evidence of salvation. And

835
00:51:57.639 --> 00:52:01.719
I know how the game is played. See see when

836
00:52:01.719 --> 00:52:03.679
I was a teenager, I struggled with a lot of

837
00:52:03.760 --> 00:52:06.320
this because certain needs and desires were not being met.

838
00:52:06.599 --> 00:52:09.000
So I was not always handling myself in such a

839
00:52:09.079 --> 00:52:13.320
godly way. But then once you get married, that the

840
00:52:13.480 --> 00:52:17.719
early stages of marriage, a younger couple needs and desires

841
00:52:17.800 --> 00:52:21.199
of being met, so wonderful and great. Now now you

842
00:52:21.280 --> 00:52:24.159
can double down. Now you can talk about how godly

843
00:52:24.280 --> 00:52:26.360
you are. Now you can really go all in with

844
00:52:26.480 --> 00:52:30.639
the lordship until something may change dramatically in your life,

845
00:52:30.679 --> 00:52:33.039
and then all of a sudden, there's those same needs

846
00:52:33.079 --> 00:52:35.360
and desires. Because the needs and desires never go away,

847
00:52:35.559 --> 00:52:38.199
they're built into us. Go back to Maslow's hierarchy of

848
00:52:38.320 --> 00:52:42.639
needs and so then and that way, you're still gonna

849
00:52:42.679 --> 00:52:45.159
be sinning. Of course, we're always sinning, but you're gonna

850
00:52:45.159 --> 00:52:48.559
be sinning in much more socially acceptable ways. And you

851
00:52:48.639 --> 00:52:51.599
won't necessarily perceive that as you're not truly dying to yourself,

852
00:52:51.800 --> 00:52:53.960
you won't be as bothered by As long as you

853
00:52:54.000 --> 00:52:56.920
can avoid the big scandalous sins, you can get most

854
00:52:56.960 --> 00:53:00.639
of your needs met within the confines of Christianity, and

855
00:53:00.679 --> 00:53:02.440
then you get you can get friendship. You can you

856
00:53:02.519 --> 00:53:05.760
can pursue this, you can pursue that. It's oh man,

857
00:53:05.920 --> 00:53:09.760
the whole thing is so messed up. Uh. This kind

858
00:53:09.760 --> 00:53:13.360
of a paraphrase of MacArthur. You cannot, you cannot receive

859
00:53:13.519 --> 00:53:17.679
Christ as savior and reject him as lord. True believers obey,

860
00:53:18.400 --> 00:53:23.000
true faith follows. A true Christian dies to self, lives

861
00:53:23.079 --> 00:53:27.360
to Christ, not perfectly, say, there's always they catch, but

862
00:53:27.559 --> 00:53:31.519
directionally and demonstratably, So you're not gonna do it perfectly. Well,

863
00:53:31.559 --> 00:53:33.519
then if I'm not doing it perfectly, then how do

864
00:53:33.639 --> 00:53:37.000
I like? It's how do that prove my salvivation? My

865
00:53:37.239 --> 00:53:41.119
and perfect not following Christ, not dying to self, not

866
00:53:41.239 --> 00:53:45.599
denying self can somehow be proof of salvation? Well, if

867
00:53:45.679 --> 00:53:49.000
I this just becomes so like, if I'm not doing

868
00:53:49.039 --> 00:53:51.760
it perfectly, that means I'm in sin. And if I

869
00:53:51.800 --> 00:53:53.639
break one point of the law, I'm guilty of all.

870
00:53:53.880 --> 00:53:57.519
So how do I measure this? But it's the little

871
00:53:57.599 --> 00:54:00.519
game that is played. What they mean is, well, you're

872
00:54:00.559 --> 00:54:04.360
not gonna do it perfectly, but you will avoid all

873
00:54:04.440 --> 00:54:06.519
big sins because if you commit one of the big sins,

874
00:54:06.559 --> 00:54:08.760
then we're you know, we'll have a stoning at midnight

875
00:54:08.840 --> 00:54:11.800
or a crucifixion or a burning at the stake. But

876
00:54:11.920 --> 00:54:17.599
you can commit one hundred small sins. And just so

877
00:54:17.760 --> 00:54:20.159
that we know, if we'd even take MacArthur, if you

878
00:54:20.280 --> 00:54:24.000
just take Macarthurs as an individual, die to self, deny self,

879
00:54:24.400 --> 00:54:28.559
follow Christ, that is proof of salvation. MacArthur has how

880
00:54:28.639 --> 00:54:35.239
many homes? One? Two, three? He has three homes all

881
00:54:35.360 --> 00:54:38.920
worth considerable amounts of money? Is that dying to self?

882
00:54:39.199 --> 00:54:43.039
Is that denying self that seems like you're getting all

883
00:54:43.119 --> 00:54:46.360
those needs? Want? You want nice things? You want luxury,

884
00:54:46.599 --> 00:54:49.840
you want this. You want to have a house next

885
00:54:49.920 --> 00:54:51.920
to a world class golf course. You want to be

886
00:54:51.960 --> 00:54:54.199
able to Oh, you get to do all this stuff.

887
00:54:54.480 --> 00:55:01.800
But it's such See it takes die and deny, and

888
00:55:02.000 --> 00:55:04.760
all it means is just stay away from certain sins.

889
00:55:04.800 --> 00:55:10.519
That's all it really means. Now, what does this result end?

890
00:55:10.599 --> 00:55:15.000
Practically well, these verses become a salvation criteria. Have you

891
00:55:15.079 --> 00:55:18.719
denied yourself enough? Have you? Because if you haven't, you're

892
00:55:18.760 --> 00:55:22.559
probably not saved. Have you died to yourself sufficiently? Are

893
00:55:22.599 --> 00:55:24.800
you sure? Because if you haven't, you're probably not saved.

894
00:55:25.039 --> 00:55:29.960
Are you following Christ every single day? Sincerely, sincerely and sacrificially?

895
00:55:30.119 --> 00:55:32.840
If not, you're probably not saved. Instead of pointing you

896
00:55:32.920 --> 00:55:35.840
to what Christ did, these verses become tests to determine

897
00:55:35.840 --> 00:55:40.519
if you're truly saved. So what happens It blends justification

898
00:55:40.639 --> 00:55:44.480
and sanctification, the call to ongoing sanctification. Growth in grace

899
00:55:44.760 --> 00:55:47.920
gets read back into justification. What saves you? The result

900
00:55:48.000 --> 00:55:51.480
you're saved by grace through faith plus proof, And guess

901
00:55:51.559 --> 00:55:53.239
what if you have to have the proof to prove

902
00:55:53.280 --> 00:55:54.880
that you're saved, meaning you have to do it in

903
00:55:55.039 --> 00:55:56.679
order to be saved, because if you don't do it,

904
00:55:56.760 --> 00:55:58.840
you're not saved. So you can't say it's just proof

905
00:55:58.880 --> 00:56:01.119
of salvation. You have to do in order to be saved.

906
00:56:01.400 --> 00:56:03.599
And then they'll play some weird games saying well, no, no, no, no,

907
00:56:03.840 --> 00:56:05.519
Christ is the one who does it through me. Well,

908
00:56:05.519 --> 00:56:07.360
if Christ does it through me, then I'm going to

909
00:56:07.440 --> 00:56:09.360
do it perfectly. But you already said I'm not going

910
00:56:09.440 --> 00:56:12.480
to do it perfectly. So which is it? It's a

911
00:56:13.639 --> 00:56:19.159
it's a never ending circle of contradiction. It's convoluted, it's fraudulent,

912
00:56:19.440 --> 00:56:24.480
it's fake, and it's a game that's played and it

913
00:56:24.599 --> 00:56:27.920
works good for people and the rights and the right

914
00:56:28.039 --> 00:56:31.239
conditions in life where you have all most of your

915
00:56:31.320 --> 00:56:34.800
needs being met. Again, go back to Maslow's hierarchy of needs.

916
00:56:37.280 --> 00:56:40.719
So what does this ultimately do? So these verses basically

917
00:56:40.760 --> 00:56:44.400
become a salvation criteria. It blends justification and sanctification, and

918
00:56:44.519 --> 00:56:48.039
it creates insecurity. You're told you're justified by faith alone,

919
00:56:48.119 --> 00:56:51.639
but then evaluated on how well you deny yourself, carry

920
00:56:51.679 --> 00:56:55.679
your cross, and submit submit to Christ's lordship. The outcome

921
00:56:55.760 --> 00:56:58.760
typically is nothing more than fear based obedience, driven by

922
00:56:58.800 --> 00:57:01.559
the need to assure yourself your faith is real enough,

923
00:57:01.639 --> 00:57:04.039
and it becomes about you. You you, you, what you do,

924
00:57:04.360 --> 00:57:07.599
not what Christ has done. Now, why does this fall

925
00:57:07.679 --> 00:57:10.880
apart theologically? What fails to let the law be the law?

926
00:57:11.559 --> 00:57:15.960
These commands are total deny yourself, take up your cross,

927
00:57:16.039 --> 00:57:19.960
follow me. They're not partially, they're not directionally. They are

928
00:57:20.039 --> 00:57:24.039
to be understood completely. To say true Christians do this

929
00:57:24.199 --> 00:57:27.280
at least sincerely is to lower the standard and turn

930
00:57:27.360 --> 00:57:32.519
the law into law light. And we don't want law light. Right,

931
00:57:32.840 --> 00:57:36.719
people were boycotting bud light. We need to be boycotting

932
00:57:37.159 --> 00:57:43.039
law light. The law does not demand sincerity. The law

933
00:57:43.119 --> 00:57:46.679
does not demand direction. The law does not demand just

934
00:57:47.000 --> 00:57:54.199
partial obedience. The law demands absolute perfection. If you are

935
00:57:54.239 --> 00:57:57.480
guilty of one point, you're guilty of aw be holy

936
00:57:57.599 --> 00:58:03.800
as He is holy. It demands absolute perfection. So you can't.

937
00:58:04.000 --> 00:58:06.880
You can't do this and then minimize the law. Well,

938
00:58:06.920 --> 00:58:09.800
then it completely misses the gospel. These commands are not

939
00:58:09.960 --> 00:58:13.800
steps to salvation. They're the diagnosis of our inability to

940
00:58:13.880 --> 00:58:17.199
save ourselves. They should drive drive. This is what the

941
00:58:17.440 --> 00:58:19.320
when you read these verses, this is what you should

942
00:58:19.400 --> 00:58:22.599
drive you to say. I've not denied myself. I still

943
00:58:22.679 --> 00:58:27.719
follow myself. I cling to Christ because only he denied

944
00:58:27.760 --> 00:58:32.760
himself perfectly for me. See, if you truly were gonna

945
00:58:32.800 --> 00:58:35.519
present the gospel, you're like, hey, guys, guys, the law

946
00:58:35.599 --> 00:58:37.480
says you have to die. The law says you have

947
00:58:37.559 --> 00:58:42.320
to you can't do it. You've got to surrender completely

948
00:58:42.400 --> 00:58:45.599
to Christ and it because He did the denying and

949
00:58:45.719 --> 00:58:50.679
the dying and the following for you. That's what good

950
00:58:50.760 --> 00:58:53.800
Friday is all about. It was done for you on

951
00:58:53.960 --> 00:59:00.480
your behalf. Another problem that confuses fruit with root. Obedience

952
00:59:00.559 --> 00:59:04.480
is the fruit of salvation, not the root. Lordship theology

953
00:59:04.559 --> 00:59:08.599
turns the inspection into salvation. Basically, like you know you're

954
00:59:08.679 --> 00:59:13.280
you're you're seveilling someone. It's like salvation, saveliance surveillance in

955
00:59:13.400 --> 00:59:16.840
some way, shape or form. Now, I will say obedience

956
00:59:16.920 --> 00:59:19.840
is the fruit of salvation. I even call that into question.

957
00:59:20.360 --> 00:59:24.239
I even call that. I would say obedience is the desire.

958
00:59:25.039 --> 00:59:28.960
The desire for obedience may flow from salvation, but I

959
00:59:29.000 --> 00:59:31.519
don't know how you measure that obedience is the fruit

960
00:59:31.639 --> 00:59:35.119
of salvation. I'm not even sure. I like, I think

961
00:59:35.159 --> 00:59:38.079
I said that incorrectly, because I would. I mean, I know,

962
00:59:38.159 --> 00:59:40.119
we want to say obedience is the fruit of salvation,

963
00:59:40.360 --> 00:59:42.199
and some people say, well, then we're just inspecting fruit

964
00:59:42.239 --> 00:59:43.840
to see if you're saved. But that once again you

965
00:59:43.960 --> 00:59:46.760
fall right back into the same See, it's hard to

966
00:59:46.800 --> 00:59:50.679
stop using the language obedience. I'm going to say obedience

967
00:59:50.760 --> 00:59:52.400
is not the fruit of salvation. I'm not. I'm going

968
00:59:52.440 --> 00:59:56.239
to reject that because because then how do you measure it?

969
00:59:57.719 --> 01:00:01.079
How do you measure it? If the Bible says be

970
01:00:01.199 --> 01:00:03.880
holy as God is holy, I've never obeyed that one

971
01:00:03.920 --> 01:00:07.119
time in my life, not one time. Well, if obedience

972
01:00:07.199 --> 01:00:09.119
is the fruit of salvation, I can't even obey that.

973
01:00:09.880 --> 01:00:11.719
Love God with all my heart, mind, body, and soul.

974
01:00:11.840 --> 01:00:14.119
I've never done that one time. If obedience is the

975
01:00:14.159 --> 01:00:16.480
fruit of salvation, shouldn't have done that at least once

976
01:00:16.599 --> 01:00:19.440
or twice. Love my neighbor as myself. I have never

977
01:00:19.559 --> 01:00:23.119
done that. Do all things without grumbling and complaining, Love

978
01:00:23.199 --> 01:00:26.960
my enemy, turn the other cheek, resist not evil. I

979
01:00:27.000 --> 01:00:29.960
could go on and on and on. No backbiting, no gossip,

980
01:00:30.079 --> 01:00:32.800
no anger, no wrath, no bitterness, no complaining, no anxiety,

981
01:00:32.920 --> 01:00:36.280
no worry. Like I'm finished, guys, Okay, then I got.

982
01:00:36.519 --> 01:00:38.800
Then there is no oh no, If obedience is the

983
01:00:38.840 --> 01:00:40.960
fruit of salvation, there would be. We always have to

984
01:00:41.000 --> 01:00:43.800
find some tanks. We have to find some little thing

985
01:00:43.880 --> 01:00:47.360
that we can say we're doing. Come on. No, obedience

986
01:00:47.440 --> 01:00:50.440
may be the desire. The desire for obedience may flow

987
01:00:50.559 --> 01:00:54.360
from salvation because because I've changed my mind about sin

988
01:00:54.480 --> 01:00:56.800
and God, and now I believe God, and I believe

989
01:00:56.800 --> 01:00:58.800
what the Bible says, so I desire to want to

990
01:00:58.880 --> 01:01:07.840
follow him. But how to perform it is beyond me. So,

991
01:01:08.000 --> 01:01:11.079
lordship salvation, you must deny yourself to prove you're truly

992
01:01:11.159 --> 01:01:14.440
saved a law gospel framework. You cannot deny yourself as

993
01:01:14.480 --> 01:01:17.840
the law demands. But Christ did, lordship theology, take up

994
01:01:17.880 --> 01:01:20.679
your cross to show your faith is real law gospel.

995
01:01:21.079 --> 01:01:23.559
Christ took up the cross for you, and your old

996
01:01:23.599 --> 01:01:28.880
self died with him Galatians two twenty. Lordship theology, Following

997
01:01:29.000 --> 01:01:33.920
Christ equals ongoing evidence of justification. Following Christ is sanctification.

998
01:01:34.280 --> 01:01:37.360
But you're justified even when you stumble, and even when

999
01:01:37.400 --> 01:01:41.679
you don't follow Christ because He followed for you, Lordship.

1000
01:01:41.760 --> 01:01:45.079
If you aren't doing these things, your salvation is in doubt, Law, Gospel.

1001
01:01:45.320 --> 01:01:48.000
These things crush you. So you fall on the sufficiency

1002
01:01:48.039 --> 01:01:51.000
of Christ's obedience, have no proof on whether you're saved

1003
01:01:51.079 --> 01:01:57.920
or not saved. So here is how lordship theology deals

1004
01:01:57.960 --> 01:02:01.280
with this. It moralizes and weaponizes the passage, is using

1005
01:02:01.360 --> 01:02:05.280
it to sort true from false converts. It doesn't deny grace,

1006
01:02:05.320 --> 01:02:08.280
but it makes grace something you must verify by your behavior,

1007
01:02:08.719 --> 01:02:11.840
especially through dying to self and obedience. It turns the

1008
01:02:11.960 --> 01:02:15.320
call to die into a performance metric rather than a

1009
01:02:15.400 --> 01:02:19.039
pointer to the cross, and trying to preserve the seriousness

1010
01:02:19.079 --> 01:02:23.400
of discipleship, lordship theology burdens the believer with a softened

1011
01:02:23.519 --> 01:02:28.199
version of the law disguised as evidence of salvation, rather

1012
01:02:28.280 --> 01:02:31.079
than preaching Christ as a one who fulfilled it all

1013
01:02:32.000 --> 01:02:40.679
on your behalf. Now there we go. We've gone from

1014
01:02:40.679 --> 01:02:43.159
the eighteen hundreds all the way to modern times, and

1015
01:02:43.280 --> 01:02:46.119
we also took a little side detour to say, lordship,

1016
01:02:46.239 --> 01:02:50.760
salvation and all of Christianity throughout from the eighteen hundreds

1017
01:02:50.800 --> 01:02:53.480
on have all failed to even handle this. Even remotely.

1018
01:02:53.559 --> 01:02:56.519
In the law Gospel context, it's all about doing it,

1019
01:02:56.679 --> 01:02:57.960
doing it. You can do it, you can do it.

1020
01:02:58.039 --> 01:02:59.119
You can do it, you can do it, you can

1021
01:02:59.159 --> 01:03:02.039
do it. They believe it's achievable, believe it's accomplishable, that

1022
01:03:02.119 --> 01:03:05.280
it's am it can be accomplished. But to make that claim,

1023
01:03:06.239 --> 01:03:09.599
they have to water it down, that it becomes something

1024
01:03:09.960 --> 01:03:15.480
less than truly dying, truly deny, and truly following. It

1025
01:03:15.639 --> 01:03:28.000
just becomes something less. Now, I'll stop there. What's frustrating is,

1026
01:03:28.119 --> 01:03:31.280
even right here broadcasting, hear that sound in the background.

1027
01:03:33.880 --> 01:03:37.760
My neighbor's mowing their yard. You know what I feel

1028
01:03:37.800 --> 01:03:39.320
right now while I'm talking about all of this, I

1029
01:03:39.360 --> 01:03:43.239
feel irritated. I feel frustrated because I'm trying to broadcast

1030
01:03:43.480 --> 01:03:45.800
and that's messing up my broadcast. So I'm gonna go

1031
01:03:45.880 --> 01:03:47.519
back and listen to this and I'm gonna hear that

1032
01:03:47.639 --> 01:03:49.559
sound in the background, and I'm gonna be bothered, and

1033
01:03:49.599 --> 01:03:51.639
I'm gonna be irritated, and I'm gonna want this to

1034
01:03:51.679 --> 01:03:54.639
be deleted. Why Because I'm not dead to self and

1035
01:03:54.719 --> 01:03:57.280
I'm not denying self. Because I have a desire, I

1036
01:03:57.320 --> 01:03:59.960
have a need for things to be perfect. For things

1037
01:04:00.159 --> 01:04:02.039
to work a certain way, and when they don't, I

1038
01:04:02.119 --> 01:04:04.280
get frustrated and I get irritated. So I'm going to

1039
01:04:04.320 --> 01:04:07.639
be frustrated and irritated after sixty four minutes of broadcasting

1040
01:04:07.800 --> 01:04:10.519
the things did not go whose way my way, because

1041
01:04:10.519 --> 01:04:11.960
I want it to be a right way. I want

1042
01:04:11.960 --> 01:04:13.639
it to be a certain way, because I want people

1043
01:04:13.679 --> 01:04:15.320
to tell me that it was good. I want people

1044
01:04:15.360 --> 01:04:16.920
to tell me it was great. I want people to

1045
01:04:16.960 --> 01:04:19.480
tell me it was wonderful. And then when that's over

1046
01:04:19.639 --> 01:04:21.400
and I get done with that, that guess what the

1047
01:04:21.480 --> 01:04:22.960
rest of the day is going to be. I'm going

1048
01:04:23.000 --> 01:04:24.960
to be frustrated that I don't have this or I

1049
01:04:25.039 --> 01:04:27.920
don't this, and because I got needs, and I got

1050
01:04:27.960 --> 01:04:30.920
once and I got desires, and sometimes life doesn't work

1051
01:04:30.960 --> 01:04:32.960
in a way that you get any of them fulfilled.

1052
01:04:33.880 --> 01:04:36.360
So I'll be frustrated and irritated, which proves that I'm

1053
01:04:36.400 --> 01:04:38.599
not denying self and I'm not dead to sell, which

1054
01:04:38.639 --> 01:04:41.199
will just constantly remind me over and over and over

1055
01:04:41.280 --> 01:04:47.840
why I need Christ. But people have needs and desires,

1056
01:04:48.639 --> 01:04:51.199
and the way the game is played in Christianity, the

1057
01:04:51.440 --> 01:04:55.920
more you can get your needs and desires met, the

1058
01:04:56.079 --> 01:04:58.559
more ways you can get a met. The more ways

1059
01:04:58.639 --> 01:05:01.559
you can have your needs and desis, the easier your

1060
01:05:01.719 --> 01:05:05.079
Christian life becomes. You really don't have to deny and

1061
01:05:05.239 --> 01:05:08.559
die to anything because you can have everything. You just

1062
01:05:08.639 --> 01:05:11.199
got to have it in the approved way and then

1063
01:05:11.239 --> 01:05:12.840
you can get this and get this, and get this,

1064
01:05:13.000 --> 01:05:15.000
and get this and get this. And if your life

1065
01:05:15.079 --> 01:05:18.440
finds yourself without getting those things met, then you have

1066
01:05:18.599 --> 01:05:20.840
to die, and you have to deny, and the other

1067
01:05:20.920 --> 01:05:23.239
people can pretend to be all godly well you have

1068
01:05:23.400 --> 01:05:27.920
to live in shame, sin, and frustration. The game is

1069
01:05:28.079 --> 01:05:31.400
rigged in so many ways. Now, am I saying everyone

1070
01:05:31.440 --> 01:05:33.360
should just do whatever they want? I'm not saying that.

1071
01:05:33.880 --> 01:05:36.280
I'm just saying I think sometimes the people who get

1072
01:05:36.400 --> 01:05:39.360
most of their needs met it's real easy to pretend

1073
01:05:39.360 --> 01:05:42.800
you're dying to self and denying self. Let's start pulling

1074
01:05:42.920 --> 01:05:45.440
some of your your wants and your needs from you.

1075
01:05:47.039 --> 01:05:52.000
What do you do when you don't get this? Pick

1076
01:05:52.079 --> 01:05:54.800
whatever it is, because I guarantee you you see it

1077
01:05:54.880 --> 01:05:58.400
in your life right Because even though you've got everything,

1078
01:05:59.480 --> 01:06:04.280
you just certain little things go wrong. What shows up

1079
01:06:04.719 --> 01:06:10.280
your selfishness, your frustration, your irritation, your worry, It can

1080
01:06:10.400 --> 01:06:14.800
show up. Now. Just imagine if you've got most things,

1081
01:06:15.079 --> 01:06:18.159
how easily it shows up. Now, take someone who's missing

1082
01:06:18.239 --> 01:06:23.480
a large portion of Maslow's hierarchy of needs. Oh, but

1083
01:06:23.599 --> 01:06:30.840
you're gonna look down on them. The church does not

1084
01:06:31.039 --> 01:06:34.679
have a good grasp on this, and it hasn't. It

1085
01:06:34.800 --> 01:06:38.000
doesn't understand the basic needs and desires, and its answer

1086
01:06:38.679 --> 01:06:43.159
is just ridiculous. Jesus completely satisfies. What if Jesus completely

1087
01:06:43.199 --> 01:06:45.639
satisfies them, why do you seem to need to have them?

1088
01:06:45.880 --> 01:06:49.400
I don't know your physical needs met? You have emotional intimacy,

1089
01:06:49.559 --> 01:06:51.679
physical intimacy. Why do you seem to get all of

1090
01:06:51.719 --> 01:06:54.000
these things? If Jesus is enough, you shouldn't need any

1091
01:06:54.079 --> 01:07:01.320
of that. If you're truly eyeing to self and denying yourself,

1092
01:07:01.360 --> 01:07:03.079
why do you need this and want this? And you

1093
01:07:03.119 --> 01:07:05.079
shouldn't want to need anything. Your life should just to

1094
01:07:05.119 --> 01:07:08.840
be dedicated. Silk, stop playing like we we are all

1095
01:07:09.000 --> 01:07:17.400
about this. Now someone's calling my daughter, So I'm gonna

1096
01:07:17.400 --> 01:07:21.039
go because now everything is irritating me because I am

1097
01:07:21.159 --> 01:07:23.880
not dead to self. But you know what today is about.

1098
01:07:25.000 --> 01:07:29.440
Christ died for me, and that's my only hope. God

1099
01:07:29.519 --> 01:07:29.760
bless