43 when a believer begins to discover something of the awful tyranny of the self-life, or has been endlessly struggling against that tyranny, he becomes intensely concerned about the denial of self with the resultant freedom to rest and grow in Christ. man has many ways of seeking to escape the thralldom of self; God has but one way. first then, some of these man-centered methods.
MORTIFICATION Denying oneself certain things for a time, or even for all time, is not even close to the answer since the old nature will adjust and thrive under any conditions - anything short of death to self. 'there have been those who have thought that to get themselves out of the way it was necessary to withdraw from society; so they denied all natural human relationships and went into the desert or the mountain or the hermit's cell to fast and labor and struggle to mortify the flesh. while their motive was good it is impossible to commend their method. for it is not scriptural to believe that the old Adam nature can be conquered in that manner. it yields to nothing less than the death of the cross. it is altogether too tough to be killed by abusing the body or starving the affections'. A.W.Tozer
CONQUEST Probably the most drawn out and exhausting effort of all is the believer's struggle to conquer and control this rebel self. more meetings, more Bible study, more prayer are all resorted to, but neither are these God's answer to this problem.
44 TRAINING here is a favorite that has been tried and found wanting down through the ages. good christian training and culture in the right homes, churches, and schools have been relied on to subdue the old nature and bring it into line.
REVIVALISM another failure has been the practice of holding special meetings once or twide a year. this involves outside leadership (a stranger to the individual problems), and the devastating revival routine (confession, new resolutions, etc.), in the hope that something will change - but it rarely does, and then not for long.
GROWTH so many dear christians just keep plodding (or racing) through the deadening routine of their multitudinous church activities and duties, expecting that in time self will change for the better as they grow. but self never changes into anything but more of the same! 'that this self is entirely bad, as when it is angry, spiteful, unkind, unjust, untruthful, unloving, catty. in other cases a good exterior conceals an evil heart, as when we are proud of our humility, conceited about our christian service, boastful of our orthodoxy. and an overforwardness and obvious conceit at the sound of one's own voice spoils many a prayer meeting'.
CLEANSING up-to-the-moment confession and consequent cleansing have also constituted a popular method. however, I John 1.9 has to do with sins already committed, and not with the source (self) from which they emanate. '[our sins are dealt with by the blood, we ourselves are dealt with by the cross. the blood procures our pardon, the cross procures deliverance from what we are in Adam. the blood can wash away my sins, but it cannot wash away my old man: I need the cross to crucify me - the sinner'.
EXPERIENCES today one of the prevalent attempts for something better is to go in for 'the baptism of the Spirit', speaking in tongues, etc. this is by far
45 the most dangerous and pathetic trap of all, as it is simply self, neurotically and religiously rampant. 'Calvary precedes Pentecost. death with Christ precedes the fullness of the Spirit. Power! yes, God's children need power, but God does not give power to the old creation, nor to the uncrucified soul, satan will give power to the 'old Adam', but not God.'
which of us does not know something of the failure of our ways, well-intentioned as they may be? what most do not know is what this very failure is the path to learning and entering into, god's way. 'for My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, saith the Lord. for as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts'. Isaiah 55.8,9 now just what is God's way of self-denial? he has but one way and it is no the basis of all His other ways: the principle of the finished work. his way for us in everything is the way He has already traveled, conquered and completed in Christ.
THE CROSS, GOD'S WAY it was on the Cross of Calvary that god, in Christ, dealt fully and finally with self, the nature from which all our sins flow. 'we know that our old (unrenewed) self was nailed to the cross with Him in order that (our) body, (which is the instrument) of sin, might be made ineffective and inactive for evil, that we might no longer be the slaves of sin' rom. 6.6, Amplified
the reason there is no other way for self to be denied is that God has done the work in this way: our identification with Christ Jesus in His death and resurrection! it is done; now ours to believe.
'the 'flesh' will only yield to the cross; not to all the reslutions you may make at a conference, not to any self-effort, not to any attempted self-crucifixion; only to co-crucifixion, crucified together with Christ. falatians 2.20 it is not by putting yourself to death, but by taking, through faith and surrender
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