death he could not understand, and he ventured in his self-confidence to
say, "Lord, that shall never be; Thou canst not be crucified and die." And
Christ had to rebuke him: "Get thee behind me, Satan. Thou savorest not the
things that be of God." You are talking like a mere carnal man, and not as
the Spirit of God would teach you. Then Christ went on to say, "Remember,
it is not only I who am to be crucified, but you; it is not only I who am
to die, but you also. If a man would be my disciple, he must deny self, and
he must take up his cross and follow me." Let us dwell upon this one word,
"self." It is only as we learn to know what self is that we really know
what is at the root of all our failure, and are prepared to go to Christ
for deliverance.

Let us consider, first of all, the nature of this self life, then denote
some of its works and then ask the question: "How may we be delivered from
it?"

Self is the power with which God has created and endowed every intelligent
creature. Self is the very center of a created being. And why did God give
the angels or man a self? The object of this self was that we might bring
it as an empty vessel unto God; that He might put into it His life. God
gave me the power of self-determination, that I might bring this self every
day and say: "Oh, God, work in it; I offer it to thee." God wanted a vessel
into which He might pour out His divine fullness of beauty, wisdom and
power; and so He created the world, the sun, and the moon, and the stars,
the trees, and the flowers, and the grass, which all show forth the riches
of His wisdom, and beauty, and goodness. But they do it without knowing
what they do. Then God created the angels with a self and a will, to see
whether they would come and voluntarily yield themselves to Him as vessels
for Him to fill. But alas! they did not all do that. There was one at the
head of a great company, and he began to look upon himself, and to think