How to Die to Self - G. D. Watson Sermon

Summary

"How to Die to Self," a sermon by G. D. Watson, offers a profound exploration of the spiritual journey towards selflessness and the pursuit of complete union with God. In a world focused on personal gain and happiness, Watson challenges believers to adopt a life of humility, sacrifice, and total surrender to divine providence. He warns against false notions of self-denial and emphasizes the importance of embracing our daily crosses to achieve true spiritual maturity. Watson's insights serve as a call to reflect on our spiritual motives and seek deeper unity with Christ through enduring trials and cultivating divine love.

Highlights

• Watson challenges believers to deny themselves and follow Christ wholeheartedly 🌟
• The sermon explores the difference between true and false self-denial 🧐
• Enduring trials with grace leads to spiritual maturity and deeper faith 💪
• Genuine union with Christ requires letting go of personal desires and goals 🌈
• Suffering is portrayed as a divine tool for cultivating spiritual strength and love 💖

Key Takeaways

• Die to self to live fully in Christ's love 🙏
• Embrace daily crosses as a pathway to spiritual growth ✝️
• False self-denial can be a trap; seek true humility 🚫
• Let go of earthly attachments to gain heavenly rewards 🌌
• True spiritual maturity involves a deep, abiding union with God 🌿

Overview

G. D. Watson's sermon, 'How to Die to Self,' serves as a beacon of spiritual insight, calling believers to transcend the pervasive culture of self-indulgence that dominates modern Christianity. Watson implores individuals to deny themselves, take up their crosses, and follow Christ, emphasizing that true discipleship requires a commitment to spiritual self-sacrifice.

The sermon cautions against common misconceptions of self-denial, such as pursuing personal mortifications or overwork, which can ironically feed the ego instead of extinguishing it. Watson reminds listeners that true dying to self involves embracing God's will in all situations, accepting daily crosses with humility and love as essential steps towards spiritual enlightenment.

Amidst worldly distractions and desires for self-fulfillment, Watson's words challenge believers to seek a deeper, more profound relationship with God. By willingly enduring suffering and relinquishing self-centered motives, individuals can experience a transformative journey towards divinely inspired love and genuine spiritual maturity, ultimately finding peace in selfless devotion.

Chapters

• 00:00 - 00:30: Introduction The chapter titled 'Introduction' sets the stage for discussing the theme of selflessness in contrast to the prevalent cultural and religious focus on personal gain and happiness. It highlights how both the secular world and the visible church have largely moved away from the idea of submitting to God's will in everyday life, opting instead for a pursuit of personal affluence and selfishness.
• 00:30 - 01:30: Biblical Principles This chapter discusses the concept of freedom in life according to Biblical teachings, emphasizing that as long as individuals do not break explicit commands from God as outlined in the Bible, they can enjoy life and pursue personal desires. It presents the idea that seeking pleasure often becomes a continuous pursuit of enjoyment.
• 02:30 - 07:30: False Notions of Dying to Self The chapter explores the biblical concept of 'dying to self' as expressed in the scriptures, particularly focusing on the verses from Mark 8:34-35. It emphasizes the Christian call to self-denial and taking up one's cross as a path to true life, contrasting the idea of preserving one's life with losing it for the sake of Christ and the gospel.
• 07:30 - 11:30: Prerequisites to Dying to Self This chapter delves into the biblical concept of 'dying to self', based on Luke 14:33, which states that anyone who does not forsake all cannot be a disciple of Christ. G. D. Watson explores how individuals can practically apply this challenging teaching in their lives. The chapter encourages those sincerely seeking God's kingdom and righteousness to examine their commitment and willingness to forsake personal possessions and desires to truly follow Christ's teachings.
• 11:30 - 18:30: Humiliation and the Christ Life Chapter 1 titled 'Humiliation and the Christ Life' focuses on the spiritual concept of dying to self. It discusses how deeply spiritual individuals often mold their faith based on scripture and the holy spirit, rather than being confined by rigid human interpretations of theology. The chapter urges readers to be mindful of this spiritual journey.
• 18:30 - 30:30: Embracing the Daily Cross This chapter delves into the concept of 'death to self' following sanctification, highlighting a middle ground between sinfulness and Christ-likeness. It explores the nuances of creaturely activities that aren't overtly sinful but also fall short of reflecting a truly Christ-like life. The discussion encourages readers to recognize the subtle influences of the self that the spirit reveals, urging an embrace of the daily cross in the pursuit of genuine sanctification.
• 30:30 - 47:00: The Benefit of Deep Crucifixion In this chapter, the author discusses the concept of 'deep crucifixion' as a necessary process to achieve a profound and lasting union with God. This spiritual state is described as one where the individual's sense of self is entirely surrendered to embody the presence of Christ Jesus. The author argues that this transformation is critical for those who deny the state of grace, highlighting that their lives often exhibit clear signs of needing to transcend self-centeredness. The author clarifies that this message is not intended for individuals who merely hold theoretical beliefs about spirituality.
• 47:00 - 48:30: George D. Watson's Background This chapter provides an insight into George D. Watson's background, highlighting his philosophies and the idea of selflessness in spiritual context. It discusses misconceptions about the concept of 'dying to self,' emphasizing that it doesn't mean harboring self-hatred.
• 48:30 - 49:00: Conclusion The conclusion chapter reflects on the theme of enlightenment and self-awareness. It suggests that as individuals gain divine illumination, they become more aware of the vast ignorance and pettiness of their previous lives. This newfound awareness can lead to feelings of bitterness towards oneself unless managed with humility and gentleness.

How to Die to Self - G. D. Watson Sermon Transcription

• 00:00 - 00:30 how to die to self is a wonderful beacon in the current evangelical landscape simply because the world and much of the visible church with it has turned its back on submission to the will of god in daily life instead it is an all-out quest for personal affluence and happiness in a word selfishness there is an assumption that
• 00:30 - 01:00 goes like this as long as we do not directly violate one of god's overt commands in the bible we are free to enjoy life and do what we want and what we want becomes a never-ending pursuit for the next pleasurable thing that is what would i enjoy today
• 01:00 - 01:30 but the scriptures speak plainly that 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 the same shall save it mark 8 34 and 35 and whosoever he be
• 01:30 - 02:00 of you that forsaketh not all that he had he cannot be my disciple luke 14 33 g d watson speaks from the heart in searching out how to practically apply these verses to our lives let every person truly seeking first his kingdom and his righteousness take
• 02:00 - 02:30 heed how to die to self by g d watson 1845-1923 chapter 1 how to die to self many deeply spiritual persons who allow their faith to be molded by the words of scripture and by the illumination of the holy spirit instead of a narrow human theology
• 02:30 - 03:00 are clearly convinced that there is a real death to self which comes after the work of sanctification they detected many manifestations of the creature life which are not clearly sinful on the one side nor yet really christ-like on the other side but a middle zone of creaturely activity and self which the spirit shows them
• 03:00 - 03:30 must be passed beyond or crucified in order to reach deep abiding union with god where there is none of self and all of christ jesus the very persons who deny this state of grace are the ones who most positively manifest in manifold ways their need of being dead to self i am writing this not for those who have any theory to
• 03:30 - 04:00 maintain but for the humble and simple-hearted things who really hunger to think out of self into god i remark in the first place that there are some false notions as to how to die to self false notions of dying to self one false notion is the conceiving of a wrong hatred to ourselves
• 04:00 - 04:30 the more we are divinely illuminated the more minutely and astonishingly do we apprehend the almost infinite blindness and meanness of our past lives unless we are kept very mellow and subdued this sight of our meanness may tempt us to form a bitter revengeful feeling toward ourselves and under such an
• 04:30 - 05:00 impression we may feel like punishing ourselves in some unnatural way or by the making of unscriptural and rash vows this is the source of cruel and unnatural penances another folk notion is the choosing of some line of mortification for ourselves or the selection of some special
• 05:00 - 05:30 cross this will defeat the very end we want to attain which is the loss of our will in all things but the very act of choosing a cross for ourselves keeps alive our own preferences and furnishes a secret nourishment to self-will and furnishes a little place for self to live under the very pretext of dying to self
• 05:30 - 06:00 another erroneous view is that we can think to a deeper death by overwork by engaging ourselves to a heavier task than we can reasonably accomplish even if the extra work be of the most religious kind still it supplies a field for self-activity it is in this respect that saint paul speaks of persons
• 06:00 - 06:30 under a false veal going to every extreme of self-imposed poverty and even burning at the stake yet all under the principle of self-action and not that complete abnegation of self which is caused by being entirely possessed by divine love another false notion is
• 06:30 - 07:00 that we are to indolently leave ourselves to the mere law of development and if we can only be kept from well-defined sins we are not to tax ourselves with anything deeply spiritual but leave ourselves to grow without a diligent attention to growth this is the opposite error from some of the foregoing
• 07:00 - 07:30 it is to be feared that this last error is the one that most persons drift into prerequisites to dying to self but now let us face the real question how to die to self and let christ be all and all in us in the first place do we really believe such a state is attainable have we looked at the
• 07:30 - 08:00 blessed christ until we have obtained a clear conception of what it is to lose ourselves in union with him have our spiritual eyes surveyed this blessed possibility until if attainability in this life has become a settled conviction with us then have we calmly deeply irreversibly settled it that there shall be none of self
• 08:00 - 08:30 and all of christ are we prepared to make that the motto of our lives do we think it dream it pray it breathe it drink of it bathe ourselves in it until it becomes a subtle steady all-prevailing passion in our minds none of self and all of jesus
• 08:30 - 09:00 as we tread this golden shore let us go slow and walk softly on these shining sands let us not launch out in those fathomless waters without duly counting the cost and without ample ballast in our ships if we have determined to make this celestial excursion entirely out of self into the depths of the divine nature
• 09:00 - 09:30 let us remember that the first step toward this perfect death is to have a pure divine motive that motive must be nothing less than the ever blessed triune god himself that is it must be the seeking of god as our all and in all our last end our exceeding great reward so that it will be for his glory
• 09:30 - 10:00 his beauty and praise through us and by us and that we have no desire to exist except as a channel for his outflow a chosen vessel for the embodiment of his life and the out beaming of his glorious attribute through i the deepest depth to self lies in the motives
• 10:00 - 10:30 and intentions and this all-consuming motive to want to be nothing but a capacity for christ to live in lies at the foundation of the death of self and the highest life of christ with this pure motive fixed in the heart we are to habitually and willingly accept of every occasion for humiliation
• 10:30 - 11:00 and self-abasement which god's providence brings to us while on the one hand we are neither to make or seek a cross on the other hand we are to sweetly and willingly accept of every blow or mortification or inconvenience or painful annoyance which comes to us
• 11:00 - 11:30 in the order of god providential will steps in dying to self humiliation is the very quintessence of the christ life and we must appreciate every opportunity of thinking into humility hence when reproaches unkind treatment poverty loneliness persecution
• 11:30 - 12:00 mental distresses seeming failure in our work disappointments deep perplexities or any disagreeable thing comes to us if we are in a state of divine recollection we are to calmly face these things as appropriate occasions for losing our own will and letting the omnipotence of god take charge of them
• 12:00 - 12:30 we can thereby in these humiliations be more delicately and firmly knit to the will of god another effectual method of dying to self is to be exceedingly careful not to receive human honor or praise into our heart if we are worthy of having enemies who will seek opportunities of humiliating us
• 12:30 - 13:00 we will also have some friends who will love and honor us as a rule the more bitter our enemies are the stronger our friends will love us and there will be times when we will be honored in spite of ourselves but if we open our hearts to receive this honor and in our thought feed upon it as a social honey or if we allow human praise to
• 13:00 - 13:30 inflate our thought it will instantly breed a human self-esteem and this becomes a hot bed of the self-life it requires great humiliation and divine reconciliation for evangelists preachers holiness teachers and singers and writers not to lose the christ life at this
• 13:30 - 14:00 point another step in the death of self is to seek in everything to be child alike and extremely simple in our manners words dress taste and interior experiences self naturally feeds on complexity and things grand and large and loud christ is the very embodiment of divine and eternal simplicity the deeper we
• 14:00 - 14:30 think into the christ life the more we become disappointing to the people our learning or talents will not show off to such fine advantage we talk less we live more quietly and interiorly our labors are less ostentatious we do more hard fighting with fewer dress parades we bring things to pass
• 14:30 - 15:00 through prayers and faith in god more than by outward showy methods we love to live like god a profound hidden life in which people think we don't amount to very much this is one of the tests of thinking out of self another step in the death of self is the living more keenly by pure faith depending less on all spiritual phenomena and the clear
• 15:00 - 15:30 apprehension by pure faith that the three persons of the godhead possess and pervade us and that every atom of our lives is in the grasp of his will by a perpetual act of entire abandonment we are by the simple act of believing most blessedly united in the deep of our being to the father
• 15:30 - 16:00 son and holy ghost whenever we enter a new and higher region in the christ life there will be some distinguished marks of grace some memorable and blessed manifestations of the holy spirit working within us in the shape of conscious fullness or a flow of sweetness or spoken words or bright mental illumination
• 16:00 - 16:30 or prophetic premonitions or abounding joy some gracious phenomena will serve as the memorial or a spiritual landmark to linger too much on these things or to rest on them will furnish a refined nourishment of the self-life hence the deepest conformity to jesus will lead us to be weaned from
• 16:30 - 17:00 ecstasies and bright inward lights which are very essential in their place but to be constantly drinking the christ life by an act of pure faith is the path to the deepest death of self another way of dying to self is to thoughtfully avoid making our religious life an unnecessary burden or cross or tax to our families
• 17:00 - 17:30 and loved ones sometimes those who want to be real christ-like for lack of wisdom adopt some mode of life or devotion or theory of sanctity which is a source of positive pv smith and disagreeableness to those with whom they live this is exactly opposite to christ and feeds self instead of
• 17:30 - 18:00 killing it we should seek to be yielding and client obliging and accommodating in all non-essentials where a well-defined principle of right is not involved we must surrender our little choices and tastes and ease for the well-being and gratification of others to be rigid and stubborn on non-essentials simply
• 18:00 - 18:30 self-righteousness and a stronghold of self lastly in everything we are to seek our nothingness and the all-ness of god this is to become a daily habit of our motives and intentions to distrust ourselves to ignore our own wisdom to look to christ for the most minute guidance that we may be one
• 18:30 - 19:00 in all things chapter 2 the daily cross whosoever will come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me mark 8 34 it is only after we are crucified to the carnal nature that we can bear our daily cross in the true spirit of our master
• 19:00 - 19:30 it is by the denial or death of sinful self that we enter the state of perfect obedience in which the daily trials and crosses can be born in deep fellowship with jesus the very order of the words our savior uses seems to indicate the theft of experience if any man will come after me let him deny himself and take up his
• 19:30 - 20:00 cross and follow me here we have first crucifixion of the natural self-life then the purified soul bearing its daily sufferings and hindrances which brings it into constant walking and fellowship with christ it is this daily cross which leads the sanctified soul into a deeper death to self
• 20:00 - 20:30 according to its love and fervor of obedience what is the daily cross what is our daily cross it is that one or more things which are unavoidable in our lives and which produce suffering of body or mind or heart it is that thing which in our poor judgment seems to hinder the easy flow
• 20:30 - 21:00 of our religious life sometimes our cross may be composed of a combination of things but as a general rule it is some one instrument or cause of suffering to the soul were there no suffering of some kind involved then there could be no cross at all for the only thing in a cross is its pain
• 21:00 - 21:30 the outward form of the daily cross may change with years or the same cross may continue till death but in some form it abides it is as impossible for the true saint not to have some cross as it is to walk in the sunshine without having shadow the holy ghost gives us to understand plainly that the multitudes of jolly ease
• 21:30 - 22:00 loving and easy going religionists who bear no daily suffering with jesus are only sectarian-born religious bastards and not really kingdom-born soul see hebrews 12 8 it is your daily cross that makes you weep more than any other thing that sends you to frequent prayer that leads you to ransack the
• 22:00 - 22:30 promises that makes you cry out like jesus father why is this that causes you to put both arms around the neck of your savior in yearning love that makes you sick of earth and self that gives you wistful longings for heaven oh precious old homily daily cross what deep tender far-reaching
• 22:30 - 23:00 effects thou hast wrought through all these prayer paved years a false conception there is an hallucination about getting free from our daily cross which needs to be broken it is a daydream worked up in our minds a beautiful vision that hangs just ahead of us that someday we will be rid of our
• 23:00 - 23:30 cross that we will have no painful annoyances and then our feet can fly unimpeded toward heaven alas that so many saints should get their eyes set on this will of the wisp dream if you want deep union with jesus getting rid of your cross is the very thing to defeat it there is a better victory than freedom from the daily instrument of pain
• 23:30 - 24:00 and that is to pass into that ocean death of the christ life where every trial can be born in exactly the same spirit that jesus bore boundless tender love is the condition for triumphant bearing of our daily cross when our cross has driven us so deep into the warm ocean heart of jesus that we are kept melted and flooded
• 24:00 - 24:30 with quiet lowly tender yearning love for god and his kingdom then the cross will have proved its own balsam and then every trial will be fuel to the flame of love to love the cross is understood by only a few christians people fancy it means loving the cross on which
• 24:30 - 25:00 christ died no it means loving that very cross in our lives that drives us into deep oneness with christ it is too meekly patiently lovingly embraced to our inner heart the very principle of self-abnegation and self-nothingness it is often the case that devout romanists wear hair cloth
• 25:00 - 25:30 and iron or knotted cords next to their skin all that is too superficial it does not enter deep enough jesus did no such foolish thing to bear our daily trial as jesus did we must take it into our very hearts love and bear it meekly quietly lovingly as unto god and not
• 25:30 - 26:00 to man daily trial how long it takes to accept our daily trials as a gift direct from the hands of our lord his eyes are on us he notices our inner feelings thoughts and choices as to our cross the spirit in which we bear our trials here will mark the grade of our standing in the world to come
• 26:00 - 26:30 it is by persevering prayer that we get on the sunny side of every sorrow and on the triumphant side of every trial it is the sharp grain of sand cutting its way into the oyster that is enveloped with the life juices of the creature and turned into a pearl so our daily cross cutting its way into our life's core by being folded round and round
• 26:30 - 27:00 with many tears and loving prayers becomes in our soul the very pearl of christ's likeness and more valuable than all our own chosen blessings the holy ghost can reveal to us the very disposition in which jesus bore his daily trials and when we bear ours in the same spirit then indeed do we have fellowship
• 27:00 - 27:30 with him if it does not please our father to remove our trials it is because he wants us to seek and receive an overflow of tender love that will bear us on over the trials and in spite of them pure limitless love is the only true victory over trial intense love
• 27:30 - 28:00 for jesus is the only water that can make our thorny cross ripen its fruit so do not cut down your cross but water it with more love and prayer and wait for its golden apple chapter 3 the benefit of deep crucifixion i am crucified with christ
• 28:00 - 28:30 nevertheless i live yet not i but christ liveth in me and the life which i now live in the flesh i live by the faith of the son of god who loved me and gave himself for me galatians 2 20 but god forbid that i should glory save in the cross of our lord jesus
• 28:30 - 29:00 christ by whom the world is crucified unto me and i unto the world galatians 6 14 the word crucifixion as it applies to us in a christian sense may be defined as any pain or suffering which renders us dead to sin or to self or to the things of time and sense there may be many
• 29:00 - 29:30 kinds of sorrow and suffering which do not serve the purpose of true crucifixion suffering in order that suffering may be a thorough mortification to us it must be put in the will of god and yielded to the operation of the holy spirit when we yield ourselves absolutely up to god and trust him to take
• 29:30 - 30:00 charge of every particle of our being and life and circumstances it is then that his omnipotent takes gentle and firm possession of all our trials and sufferings and makes them work a true crucifixion in us it does not matter what the occasion of the suffering may be it may come from our own sins or
• 30:00 - 30:30 poverty or ill health or loss of friends or separations or terrible and protracted temptations or assaults of evil spirits or the hatred of others or great disappointment or divine chastisement it may come from many of these sources but let it come from any cause in the universe if we give it over entirely into the hands of god and sink
• 30:30 - 31:00 ourselves into his will with a perfect desire for him to work his best will in us he will make every pain every groan every tear every particle of our suffering work in us a death to sin and to self and to all things on earth which will be for our highest perfection and for his glory degree
• 31:00 - 31:30 of crucifixion the depth and power of the spiritual life in every person depends exactly on the degree of their crucifixion there is a divine mystery in suffering a strange and supernatural power in it which has never been fathomed by the human reason there never has been known great
• 31:30 - 32:00 saintliness of soul which did not pass through great suffering there is such a thing as suffering reaching a state of perfection when we suffer so severe and so long that we become dead to it and divinely indifferent as to how much we suffer or how long it will continue when the suffering soul reaches a calm
• 32:00 - 32:30 sweet carelessness when it can inwardly smile at its own suffering and does not even ask god to deliver it from the suffering then it has wrought its blessed ministry then patience has its perfect work then the crucifixion begins to weave itself into a crown it is in this state of the
• 32:30 - 33:00 perfection of suffering that the holy spirit works many marvelous things in our souls in such a condition our whole being lies perfectly still under the hand of god every faculty of the mind and will and heart are at last subdued a quiet mess of eternity settles down into the whole being the tongue
• 33:00 - 33:30 grows still and has but few words to say it stops asking god questions it stops crying why hast thou forsaken me the imagination stops building air castles or running off on foolish lines the reason is tame and gentle it stops debating and quits all dogmatism the will ceases
• 33:30 - 34:00 from its own activity the bluster and zeal of self-action are taken out of it the choices are annihilated it has no choice in anything but the purpose of god the affections are weaned from all creatures and all things it loves nothing but god and god's will in any given thing it has no private ends to serve
• 34:00 - 34:30 it has no motives except to please god it is so dead that nothing can hurt it nothing can offend it nothing can hinder it nothing can get in its way for let its circumstances be what they may it seeks only for god and his will and it feels assured that god is making everything in the universe good or bad
• 34:30 - 35:00 past or present work together for its good oh the blessedness of being absolutely conquered of losing our own strength and wisdom and goodness and plans and desires and being where every atom of our nature is like placid galilee under the omnipotent feet of our
• 35:00 - 35:30 jesus resulting blessings among great blessings resulting from sanctified suffering is that it gives a great wideness to the heart and a universality of love this utter most crucifixion destroys the littleness and narrowness of the mind it gives an immensity to the sympathies and an ocean-like divine love which
• 35:30 - 36:00 is beyond words this is because creature love is crucified and divine love floods the whole being it is as if every drop of blood had been drawn out of the body and the blood of a divine being had been poured into all the veins the heart which has been perfectly crushed with suffering until
• 36:00 - 36:30 it is dead to all its desires will be so inundated with divine charity that it will stretch itself out and wrap the world round with fold on fold of boundless spotless impartial love for every creature that god has made this immensity of heart loves all nations alike it is absolutely free of all bigotry or caste or natural
• 36:30 - 37:00 prejudice or political partisanship or sectarian feeling it is emphatically a citizen of heaven it takes as much interest in the kingdom of god in one place as another it feels as much interest in souls being saved in one denomination or one country as in another this may seem strong meat and many
• 37:00 - 37:30 christians will disagree with these words but when they reach this condition they will find the foregoing word perfectly true to their experience when we reach the deepest death of self we love all creatures with god's love and as god loves them up to our measure it is not so much that we love others as it is that god loves them through
• 37:30 - 38:00 us we become the channels through which the holy spirit flows he pours his thoughts through our minds his prayers and loves through our hearts his choices through our will he breaks away all the banks and boundaries of our narrow education or creed or theology or nationality or race and takes us up into
• 38:00 - 38:30 the boundlessness of his own life and feelings another great benefit of perfect suffering is an inexpressible tenderness it is the very tenderness of jesus filling the thoughts the feelings the manners the words the tones of the voice the whole being is soaked in a sea of gentleness everything hard bitter severe critical
• 38:30 - 39:00 plenty have been crushed into powder great sufferers are noted for their quiet gentleness as we approach them it is like going to a tropical climate in midwinter the very air around them seems mellow their slow quiet words are like the gentle ripple of summer seas on the sand
• 39:00 - 39:30 their soft pathetic eyes put a hush upon our rudeness or loudness of voice there are many souls who are earnest christians nay many who are sanctified who have an indescribable something in them which needs the crushing and melting of some great crucifixion their tongues rattle so much their spirit is dictatorial
• 39:30 - 40:00 or harsh they measure other people by themselves there is something in their constitution which seems to need the grinding into fine flour it is well worth the crushing of hearts with an overwhelming sorrow if thereby god can bring us out into that beautiful tenderness and sweetness of spirit which is the very atmosphere of heaven
• 40:00 - 40:30 this kind of tenderness cannot be voluntarily put on it cannot come from training neither is it a transitory sweetness which is like a spring day intruding itself into winter but it is that fixed and all-pervading gentleness of spirit which is like the fixed climate of the torrid zone it is the finest outgrowth of
• 40:30 - 41:00 perfect suffering detachment from earthly things another benefit of complete crucifixion is the detachment from all earthly things which it produces the mind has a thousand fold attachment to the things in this world which it is not aware of until they are grounded to pieces by suffering did you ever notice how your soul stretches itself out into ten
• 41:00 - 41:30 thousand things of earth and time and how the fingers of your thoughts grasped thousands of things just look at your mind for every friend you have on earth there is a distinct attachment for every piece of property you own on earth there is a distinct attachment for the 10 000 recollections in your bygone life there is a
• 41:30 - 42:00 particular sentiment or attachment for all the themes of earth and associations of time there is an attachment and besides all these outward things look at that vast invisible world within your own self your own desires and hopes and dreams and prospects and gratifications for yourself your family your church your nation your particular
• 42:00 - 42:30 party see how you have become attached to your own thoughts until your heart seems to have a million springs to it which flow round and round countless objects in this world i am not speaking of things positively wicked i am not speaking of things which are stigmatized deaf sinful but of those things which christian people recognize as innocent and yet in a thousand ways they setter
• 42:30 - 43:00 of a heart and bind it to earth perfect suffering will untie the heart and gently loosen every cord that binds us to our foes or friends to all our possessions to all the things of the past to all attractive sights and sounds and give us such perfect inward liberty from everything on earth that the things of heaven
• 43:00 - 43:30 can flow down into us until we feel that we are citizens of the new jerusalem a hundred times more powerfully than that we are the citizens of any earthly city or country we feel deep in our hearts that like saint paul we have already come to an innumerable company of angels and the church of the firstborn and the spirits
• 43:30 - 44:00 of just men made perfect the coming of the lord is so real to us our whole being is pervaded with the sweet attractive powers of the world to come like the detached balloon we float toward the supernatural the heavenly world comes into us exactly in proportion as all the affairs of earth are emptied out of us and nothing so perfectly empties
• 44:00 - 44:30 us and detaches us as perfect suffering it is in this way that god makes our perfect crucifixion our crown of unfading joy george d watson 1845 through 1923 was born in virginia in the united states into a committed christian family with
• 44:30 - 45:00 six children as the youth he was self-willed his conversion came during the american civil war after he joined the southern army at age 18 during a camp meeting for soldiers when he gave his life to christ he began holding prayer meetings of his own with endless enthusiasm for his new master in poor health after the war he attended a bible
• 45:00 - 45:30 institute and began to preach the gospel in 1868 pastoring several churches he came to an unusual wholehearted commitment to the lord a death to self that allowed him long periods of uninterrupted communion and spiritual fervor with the living god this we see in his many writings notably soul food pure gold
• 45:30 - 46:00 and our own god later he traveled extensively throughout the usa several times to england and the far east this reformation audio track is a production of stillwater's revival books swrb makes thousands of classic reformation resources available free and for sale in audio video
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• 46:30 - 47:00 by phone at 780-450-3730 by fax at 780-468-1096 or by mail at 4710-37a avenue edmonton that's e-d-m-o-n-t-o-n alberta abbreviated capital a capital b
• 47:00 - 47:30 canada t-6-l 3-t 5 you may also request a free printed catalog and remember that john calvin in defending the reformation's regulative principle of worship or what is sometimes called the scriptural law of worship commenting on the words of god which i commanded them not neither came into my heart from his commentary on jeremiah 7 31 writes god here cuts off from men
• 47:30 - 48:00 every occasion for making evasions since he condemns by this one phrase i have not commanded them whatever the jews devised there is then no other argument needed to condemn superstitions than if they are not commanded by god for when men allow themselves to worship god according to their own fancies and attend not to his commands they pervert true religion and if this principle was adopted by the papists
• 48:00 - 48:30 all those fictitious modes of worship in which they absurdly exercise themselves would fall to the ground it is indeed a horrible thing for the papists to seek to discharge their duties towards god by performing their own superstitions there is an immense number of them as it is well known and as it manifestly appears were they to admit this principle that we cannot rightly worship god except by obeying his word
• 48:30 - 49:00 they would be delivered from their deep abyss of air the prophet's words then are very important when he says that god had commanded no such thing and that it never came to his mind as though he had said that men assumed too much wisdom when they devised what he never required nay what he never knew