CHAPTER XII – Exercise self-denial: Ten cases in which self must be denied
CHAPTER XII.
In what respect self must be denied.
II. And here I beseech you, take heed of Self in all these following respects.
1. You must deny Self as it is opposite to God, and a competitor with him, and the idol of the soul and of the world; and this is in all the ten respects which I mentioned in the beginning, and therefore shall not now rehearse. And this is the principal part of self-denial.
2. Self must be denied as it is conceived as separated from God, and would be an end in a divided sense from God. For ourselves and all things else are created, contingent, dependent beings, and must not be once thought of as if we were either our own beginning, or end, or in any capacity but subservient unto God. Self becomes a Satan when it would cast off its due subordination to God, and would be any other than the workmanship of God—depending on him, ruled by him, living to him, loving him, desiring him, and seeking after him, and either mourning when we miss him, or rejoicing when we find communion with him.
3. Self must be denied as it stands up against the truth of the Gospel, and blindly and proudly quarrels with that word which faith relies upon for justification and salvation. Carnal self is both the most incompetent judge of the Word of God and of spiritual affairs, and also the most forward, arrogant, and audacious, for all it is so incompetent. And this is the damnable fountain of unbelief.
That self is an incompetent judge of the Word and ways of God is evident. For:
1. It is a natural enemy to them; and an enemy is no competent judge (Rom. 8:7): "Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the Law of God, neither indeed can be." Deny therefore this enemy the power of judging the Word of God. Ill-will never speaks well. Enmity is credulous of all evil, and overlooks the good, and is accompanied with false surmises, and wrests every word, and suspects or makes an evil sense where there was none.
There is not a worse expositor in the world. And therefore no wonder if such a nature of enmity can find matter of quarrel with the very
Scripture itself, and with a holy life—yes, with God himself; for it is him especially that the enmity is against.
2. Moreover, self is a party, and therefore an incompetent judge. It is self that the Scripture principally speaks against. All over the Gospel there are the words of disgrace, and the arrows of death directed against the very heart of carnal self. God there proclaims and manages an open war against it. And shall a party be the judge? Shall the traitorous delinquent be the judge? A child will hardly speak well of the rod, whatever he do by the corrector; but it's not to be expected that a thief should love the halter or the gallows. God's
Word is the weapon that self must be slain by; and therefore self is an incompetent judge of it.
3. Moreover, self is quite blind in the matters of God: "The natural man discerneth them not, neither can he, because they are spiritually discerned" (1 Cor. 2:14). And the ignorant and blind are incompetent judges.
4. And the selfish man is no good student in the Laws of God. Even when he reads the letter, he does not mind or savor the spirit of them
(Rom. 8:5): "For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit."
A fair world it would be, if every collier should judge the Privy Council and the Judges of the land! Or if every thief should sit upon his accuser and his judge, and every traitor should judge the prince.
And a thousand-fold more insufficient is self to judge the Word of God.
And yet, as insufficient as it is, it is exceedingly arrogant, and steps up into the judgment-seat at every CHAPTER that is read or heard.
And if this blind and malicious judge be unsatisfied, forsooth the Scripture must be dark, or contradictory, or what he pleases. This horrible presumptuous arrogancy of self is it that has opened so many mouths against the blessed doctrine of salvation, and made so many wretched apostates in the world, and cast so many others into doubtings of that Word by which at last they must be judged, and which should have been the ground of their faith and hope.
4. Moreover, self must be denied as it stands up against the Lord Jesus Christ. When Christ is presented in his wonderful condescension—in his incarnation, and mean despised life, and in his ignominious death—proud self is offended at so low a Savior, and disdains that humiliation which his own necessities required, and despises Christ because he became despised and a man of sorrows in our stead.
When he is proposed as the remedy of a miserable soul, and as our only life, and righteousness, and hope, self seduces the soul to
undervalue him. It will not easily be convinced of so much misery as to need such a remedy; it is too well to value such a physician; it is too righteous to value the righteousness of a Mediator; it has too much life and hope at home, in its own supposed innocence or sufficiency, to set much by the hopes that Christ has purchased, and to live in him.
O down with self, that Christ may be Christ to you. How shall he come in, while self is the porter that keeps the door? How shall he pardon you, when self will not suffer you to feel the want and worth of pardon? How shall he bind up your hearts, when self will not suffer them to be broken? How shall he clothe you with his righteousness, while self keeps on your own defiled, rotten rags?
Down therefore with self, that Christ may be exalted. Away with your own conceited righteousness, that he may be your righteousness.
Down with your selfish, foolish wisdom, that the supposed foolishness of God may be your wisdom. Level this mountain which Satan has built up in enmity against the holy mountain of the Lord.
5. Moreover, Self must be denied as it is the great resister of the Holy Ghost. The sanctifying Spirit has no greater enemy—at least, except the Devil himself. One half of the work of sanctification is to destroy this carnal self. And therefore, no wonder if from hence it finds the chief resistance. Not a holy motion can be made to the soul but self is against it. No work has the Spirit to do upon us, but self is ready to gainsay it, and contradict it, and work against it. Whenever therefore this mortal principle is contending against the Spirit of God, dishonoring holiness, dissuading you from duty, persuading you to
sin—down with it, and deny it, as you would be true to the Spirit and to yourselves.
6. Moreover, self must be denied as it traitorously complies with the enemies of Christ and your own salvation: when it takes part with Satan, and pleads for sin, and says as wicked men say, and enters a conspiracy with all that would undo you—and all this under the pretense of your own good. Whenever it speaks for sin, you may be sure it speaks against God and you; and therefore, it is reason you should deny it. Self also must be denied when it rises up against the supposed tediousness or difficulty of duty: when it grudges at a holy life, and says, "What a stir is here? What a weary life is this? What do I get by serving God?" Now self is playing the traitor against God and you; and therefore deny it.
7. Moreover, when self rises up against sufferings, and makes you believe that they are intolerable, and that it is unreasonable for a man to forsake all that he has for fear of a sinful word or deed, when we sin every day even when we have done our best—it is time now to stop the mouth of self; for it plays the Devil's game against God and you, and would persuade you to prefer a short, uncertain, miserable life before eternal life, and to give up yourself to willful sin because
God bears with the sins of men's infirmity. It is reason that you should deny so unreasonable an enemy to God and to you.
8. Moreover, self must be denied when it stands up against the ordinances of God. When it pleads against the arguments of the Word, and finds fault with the Law that it should obey, and quarrels with prayer and all holy duties, and would make all instituted means ineffectual for your saving good—it is time now that you deny it.