We always go from the outward to the inward; let us do so here; let us consider from these words of the text the one word, “self.”  Jesus said to Peter:  “If any man will come after me let him deny himself, his own self, and take up the cross and follow me.”  That is a mark of the disciple; that is the secret of the Christian life—­deny self and all will come right.  Note that Peter was a believer, and a believer who had been taught by the Holy Spirit.  He had given an answer that pleased Christ wonderfully:  “Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”  Do not think that that was nothing extraordinary.  We learn it in our catechisms; Peter did not; and Christ saw that the Holy Spirit of the Father had been teaching him and He said:  “Blessed art thou, Simon Barjonas.”  But note how strong the carnal man still is in Peter.  Christ speaks of His cross; He could understand about the glory, “Thou art the Son of God;” but about the cross and the 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 of the wonderful powers with which God had endowed him, and to delight in himself.  He began to think:  “Must such a being as I always remain dependent on God?” He exalted himself, pride asserted itself in separation from God, and that very moment he became, instead of an angel in Heaven, a devil in hell.  Self turned to God is the glory of allowing the Creator to reveal Himself in us.  Self turned away from God is the very darkness and fire of hell.