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What a wondrous fact, I’m crucified with Christ;
Of my flesh and passion I’m relieved;
What a glorious fact, with Christ, the Lord, I live,
Resurrection life in Him received.
Of my flesh and passion I’m relieved;
What a glorious fact, with Christ, the Lord, I live,
Resurrection life in Him received.
On the Cross of Calvary the Lord and I
Were crucified, were crucified;
Now in resurrection life with Him I live
And in Him e’er abide.
Were crucified, were crucified;
Now in resurrection life with Him I live
And in Him e’er abide.
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DEALING WITH THE SELF
Now we come to see the matter of dealing with the self. This experience is very closely related to dealing with the flesh. This is an important experience in the stage of the cross.
If we desire to deal with the self, we need first to define what the self is. There are many spiritual terms that we use quite often, but when we press for the real meaning, it is difficult to explain them. So it is with the self. We often hear people speak about the self, but few can define it. What, really, is the self? Simply, the self is the soul-life with the emphasis on human thoughts and human opinions. We can discover this from the Bible, where the self is clearly mentioned.
Let us first read Matthew 16:21-25 : “From that time Jesus began to show to His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised. And Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, God be merciful to You, Lord! This shall by no means happen to You! But He turned and said to Peter, Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men. Then Jesus said to His disciples, If anyone wants to come after Me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. For whoever wants to save his soul-life shall lose it; but whoever loses his soul-life for My sake shall find it. ”
THE PROCESS OF DEALING WITH THE SELF
Seeing That the Old Man Has Been Crucified
The process in dealing with the self is quite similar to that of dealing with the flesh. The first requirement is to see the fact that our old man has been crucified. This means that we must receive revelation from God so that we may see that our old man has been crucified with Christ.
Seeing That Our Opinions Are One of the Expressions of the Old Man
The second requirement is to see that one aspect of the expression of the old man is our opinions. The old man expresses itself not only in the flesh but also in the opinions, which are the self. If one only sees that the old man has been crucified and yet does not recognize the manners or ways in which the old man is being expressed, he cannot have the subjective experience. Therefore, the first step in our dealing with the self subjectively is to see that our opinions are one of the expressions of the old man.
Applying the Crucifixion of Christ to Our Opinions
Once we know that our old man has been crucified and done away with in Christ, and once we realize that opinions and ideas are the expression of the old man, we naturally will not allow the old man to express itself again in opinions. Therefore, we will apply the crucifixion of Christ through the Holy Spirit to our opinions. This is our subjective experience in dealing with the self. This is also what the Lord refers to in Matthew 16 as the denying of the self and the bearing of the cross.
The Experience of Life
CHAPTER 10 DEALING WITH THE SELF
CWWL, 1953, vol. 3 (lsm)
Tampa, FL, United States
♥️ Resurrection life in Him received. ♥️
London, United Kingdom
Amen! What a wondrous fact!
[To be conformed to Christ’s death is] to take Christ’s death as the mold of one’s life. Paul lived a crucified life continually, a life under the cross, just as Christ did in His human living. through such a life the resurrection power of Christ is experienced and expressed. The mold of Christ’s death refers to Christ’s experience of continually putting to death His human life that He might live by the life of God (John 6:57). Our life should be conformed to such a mold by our dying to our human life to live the divine life. Being conformed to the death of Christ is the condition for knowing and experiencing Him, the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings. (Footnote 4 on Philippians 3:10, New Testament Recovery Version)
Hallelujah, we are crucified with Christ and Christ lives in us! Amen, Lord, live in us today. Live Thyself, Lord Jesus, through us! We want to live by faith, the faith of the Son of God who loved us and gave Himself up for us. Oh Lord Jesus, may we realize that our old man has been crucified with Christ so that we no longer serve sin as a slave. May we remain in the organic union with You so that we may live by faith, even live out Christ!
I was recently enjoying this hymn and the HWMR.