Saving self, the ultimate in self-serving
“Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid. Sanctify the Lord of hosts Himself; and let Him be your fear, and let Him be your dread. And He shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling and for a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel, for a gin and for a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken.” (Is. 8:12-15).
“For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not. But ye said, No; for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall ye flee: and, We will ride upon the swift; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift. One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five shall ye flee: till ye be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on an hill.” (Is. 30:15-17).
“Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.” (1Cor. 10:11).
“Enquire, I pray thee, of the Lord for us; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon maketh war against us; if so be that the Lord will deal with us according to all His wondrous works, that He may go up from us. Then said Jeremiah unto them, Thus shall ye say to Zedekiah: Thus saith the Lord God of Israel; Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, wherewith ye fight against the king of Babylon, and against the Chaldeans, which besiege you without the walls, and I will assemble them into the midst of this city. And I Myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath. And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast: they shall die of a great pestilence. And afterward, saith the Lord , I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those that seek their life: and he shall smite them with the edge of the sword; he shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy. And unto this people thou shalt say, Thus saith the Lord ; Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death. He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth out, and falleth to the Chaldeans that besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a prey. For I have set My face against this city for evil, and not for good, saith the Lord: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.” (Jer. 21:2-10).
“I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by My great power and by My outstretched arm, and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto Me. And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him. And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son, until the very time of his land come: and then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him. And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the Lord , with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand. Therefore hearken not ye to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, which speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon: For they prophesy a lie unto you, to remove you far from your land; and that I should drive you out, and ye should perish. But the nations that bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, those will I let remain still in their own land, saith the Lord ; and they shall till it, and dwell therein.” (Jer. 27:5-11).
“For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not.” (Is. 30:15).
I am hearing more and more unrest from a certain Adventist sector. They see trouble on the horizon—the big “time of trouble.” And what is their response? Save myself. Save myself? What does that mean? It means to take measures to protect my monetary assets, my stuff, my food, my life. It means to protect myself, to save myself. But he that saves his life will lose it.
From the beginning of sin, saving self has been man’s inherited lot. Naked but fearful Adam and Eve in the garden immediately sought to escape death by making clothes and then acting like nothing had gone wrong. They were still naked to Jesus and so was their scheme. He saw right through it.
Their denial of responsibility, no doubt angrily accusing each other and the serpent long before the Son of God arrived, was simply a symptom of the fear of rejection and sure eternal punishment that they had been forewarned of. Were it not for His instituting the bloody sacrifice to bring them back to sorrow for sin, one of the two would have quickly murdered the other as anger turned to hatred and revenge, and the murderer would have committed suicide.
All because of saving self. And it was with the act of saving self that the serpent tempted the woman. “Think of how much better you would be, how much smarter you would be without God. You can be your own God. You can call the shots for yourself. Think of how much better your life would be if you could choose what you deemed best for you.” Saving self. She was saving herself because she was no longer needing to trust in her Maker to choose correctly for her best interests. She was protecting herself against liability in God, that He might make a mistake in how He commanded her to order her life. She was going it alone without God. She was saving herself and being God.
The animal sacrifice was what jarred them back to reality; it violently shook them out of their self-salvation. Nothing else but a rude shaking of conviction and mercy could have brought them back to the truth again except to see with their own eyes what death would have meant, but without having to die. Grace extended toward them, revealing infinite love which they had forgotten, brought their proud demigod hearts down to the dust again.
The sacrifice of Christ, revealing the suffering of God, is the only thing that will stop us in our tracks as we attempt to be God of our lives. Nothing is more efficient in humbling us into the dust and bringing us back to childlike trust and love and wisdom. The school of Christ is a cross-bearing school. It is all about His work to save me; it is about Him saving us and Him alone making us into something good, and not we ourselves.
Until we learn this lesson, we will be miserable and lonely for the Eden experience. Why are so many people miserable today, the world round? Because they are loaded down with the burden of trying to be God. It has been many years since they were a child, depending perfectly on Mommy and Daddy. So many years that they have lost the memory of it and don’t know that they need to go back there, and to stay there—this time with their Creator as the parent.
If they only knew that they could approach their Maker as a little child, and that a little child is the only way to approach Him, what a difference it would make in them! They would have some good news to give to the world! No more saving self! No more having to be God!
In every crisis, they would turn to Jesus, their pattern of childlike faith, like the flower turns to the sun. Come the time of trouble and tribulation before Jesus returns, they would enter it all in full faith, nothing wavering. They might not look forward to the physical pain and suffering, but they would have settled confidence that Jesus would see them through and that He would not allow anything that is not for their best interest, their eternal reward with Him.
Would they run and hide before the trouble came? No. All self-saving gone, they would be the first to be willing to give up their lives if that is what it takes. They would see the world still un-evangelized and ignorant of the knowledge that anyone and everyone can come to God as a little child, as a “tender plant” like Jesus. They would stay with the people who are under the curse of God and labor to reclaim them. They have found it to be so true as Jesus tendered, that he who loses his life finds it.
“He saved others; Himself He cannot save.” (Mat. 27:42).
“Whosoever will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mk. 8:34-36).
“For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not. But ye said, No; for we will flee upon horses; therefore shall ye flee: and, We will ride upon the swift; therefore shall they that pursue you be swift. One thousand shall flee at the rebuke of one; at the rebuke of five shall ye flee: till ye be left as a beacon upon the top of a mountain, and as an ensign on an hill.” (Is. 30:15-17).
“Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come.” (1Cor. 10:11).
“Enquire, I pray thee, of the Lord for us; for Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon maketh war against us; if so be that the Lord will deal with us according to all His wondrous works, that He may go up from us. Then said Jeremiah unto them, Thus shall ye say to Zedekiah: Thus saith the Lord God of Israel; Behold, I will turn back the weapons of war that are in your hands, wherewith ye fight against the king of Babylon, and against the Chaldeans, which besiege you without the walls, and I will assemble them into the midst of this city. And I Myself will fight against you with an outstretched hand and with a strong arm, even in anger, and in fury, and in great wrath. And I will smite the inhabitants of this city, both man and beast: they shall die of a great pestilence. And afterward, saith the Lord , I will deliver Zedekiah king of Judah, and his servants, and the people, and such as are left in this city from the pestilence, from the sword, and from the famine, into the hand of Nebuchadrezzar king of Babylon, and into the hand of their enemies, and into the hand of those that seek their life: and he shall smite them with the edge of the sword; he shall not spare them, neither have pity, nor have mercy. And unto this people thou shalt say, Thus saith the Lord ; Behold, I set before you the way of life, and the way of death. He that abideth in this city shall die by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence: but he that goeth out, and falleth to the Chaldeans that besiege you, he shall live, and his life shall be unto him for a prey. For I have set My face against this city for evil, and not for good, saith the Lord: it shall be given into the hand of the king of Babylon, and he shall burn it with fire.” (Jer. 21:2-10).
“I have made the earth, the man and the beast that are upon the ground, by My great power and by My outstretched arm, and have given it unto whom it seemed meet unto Me. And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, My servant; and the beasts of the field have I given him also to serve him. And all nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son, until the very time of his land come: and then many nations and great kings shall serve themselves of him. And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the Lord , with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand. Therefore hearken not ye to your prophets, nor to your diviners, nor to your dreamers, nor to your enchanters, nor to your sorcerers, which speak unto you, saying, Ye shall not serve the king of Babylon: For they prophesy a lie unto you, to remove you far from your land; and that I should drive you out, and ye should perish. But the nations that bring their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, and serve him, those will I let remain still in their own land, saith the Lord ; and they shall till it, and dwell therein.” (Jer. 27:5-11).
“For thus saith the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel; In returning and rest shall ye be saved; in quietness and in confidence shall be your strength: and ye would not.” (Is. 30:15).
I am hearing more and more unrest from a certain Adventist sector. They see trouble on the horizon—the big “time of trouble.” And what is their response? Save myself. Save myself? What does that mean? It means to take measures to protect my monetary assets, my stuff, my food, my life. It means to protect myself, to save myself. But he that saves his life will lose it.
From the beginning of sin, saving self has been man’s inherited lot. Naked but fearful Adam and Eve in the garden immediately sought to escape death by making clothes and then acting like nothing had gone wrong. They were still naked to Jesus and so was their scheme. He saw right through it.
Their denial of responsibility, no doubt angrily accusing each other and the serpent long before the Son of God arrived, was simply a symptom of the fear of rejection and sure eternal punishment that they had been forewarned of. Were it not for His instituting the bloody sacrifice to bring them back to sorrow for sin, one of the two would have quickly murdered the other as anger turned to hatred and revenge, and the murderer would have committed suicide.
All because of saving self. And it was with the act of saving self that the serpent tempted the woman. “Think of how much better you would be, how much smarter you would be without God. You can be your own God. You can call the shots for yourself. Think of how much better your life would be if you could choose what you deemed best for you.” Saving self. She was saving herself because she was no longer needing to trust in her Maker to choose correctly for her best interests. She was protecting herself against liability in God, that He might make a mistake in how He commanded her to order her life. She was going it alone without God. She was saving herself and being God.
The animal sacrifice was what jarred them back to reality; it violently shook them out of their self-salvation. Nothing else but a rude shaking of conviction and mercy could have brought them back to the truth again except to see with their own eyes what death would have meant, but without having to die. Grace extended toward them, revealing infinite love which they had forgotten, brought their proud demigod hearts down to the dust again.
The sacrifice of Christ, revealing the suffering of God, is the only thing that will stop us in our tracks as we attempt to be God of our lives. Nothing is more efficient in humbling us into the dust and bringing us back to childlike trust and love and wisdom. The school of Christ is a cross-bearing school. It is all about His work to save me; it is about Him saving us and Him alone making us into something good, and not we ourselves.
Until we learn this lesson, we will be miserable and lonely for the Eden experience. Why are so many people miserable today, the world round? Because they are loaded down with the burden of trying to be God. It has been many years since they were a child, depending perfectly on Mommy and Daddy. So many years that they have lost the memory of it and don’t know that they need to go back there, and to stay there—this time with their Creator as the parent.
If they only knew that they could approach their Maker as a little child, and that a little child is the only way to approach Him, what a difference it would make in them! They would have some good news to give to the world! No more saving self! No more having to be God!
In every crisis, they would turn to Jesus, their pattern of childlike faith, like the flower turns to the sun. Come the time of trouble and tribulation before Jesus returns, they would enter it all in full faith, nothing wavering. They might not look forward to the physical pain and suffering, but they would have settled confidence that Jesus would see them through and that He would not allow anything that is not for their best interest, their eternal reward with Him.
Would they run and hide before the trouble came? No. All self-saving gone, they would be the first to be willing to give up their lives if that is what it takes. They would see the world still un-evangelized and ignorant of the knowledge that anyone and everyone can come to God as a little child, as a “tender plant” like Jesus. They would stay with the people who are under the curse of God and labor to reclaim them. They have found it to be so true as Jesus tendered, that he who loses his life finds it.
“He saved others; Himself He cannot save.” (Mat. 27:42).
“Whosoever will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for My sake and the gospel's, the same shall save it. For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mk. 8:34-36).
posted by David | 5:03 AM
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