This is an interesting topic that I believe Oscar recommended . It was , yeah , yeah , Oscar's into knowing himself . That's his passion in life . But this might sound weird to the ears of some of our friends . Like what do you mean ? Know yourself ?
Speaker 3It sounded weird to me . I had to call you and say what's this about ?
Speaker 1Yeah . So , Oscar , why don't you introduce this subject to us ?
Speaker 3Yeah , help us . What do we mean ?
Speaker 1by know thyself .
Speaker 2Yeah , I think it's a valuable subject because , while you know , depending on what generation you grew up in , that might not be that appealing to you , that idea , but the younger generations are definitely asking that question how do I know myself ? You may hear people talk about it as the authentic self to become who you were meant to be . It's a pursuit that many young people are taking on now , and we can listen to that language and reject it entirely , or we can listen to that language and recognize the longing of their heart and redirect that longing to knowing God .
This generation , this generation of this modern time modernity is the word that Oscar used that they cannot escape . Even when they fall asleep , they will ask these questions what is going on ? Is it really us versus them , and why ? If there's no meaning , well then why is it us against them ? And then it just becomes a yelling match . You know You'll never understand your identity until you start with your origin . Well then , why is it us against them ? And then it just becomes a yelling match . You'll never understand your identity until you start with your origin . And this is where Genesis 127 comes in . So God created man in his own image . You were created with a purpose and with a plan to know your maker . This is nothing new . This has been argued and discussed since the beginning of time . This has been argued and discussed since the beginning of time .
Speaker 4Augustine he said in his book Soliloquies , or book one , he said , grant Lord , that I may know myself , that I may know thee . In other words , you cannot truly know who God is until you recognize who you are . And that's where the law of God , the commandments , come into play . Have you ever come into the place where you said , god , the commandments come into play . Have you ever come into the place where you said , man , I can't believe I did that sin ? Or when we hear of a pastor falling into sexual sin , or he dipped into the benevolent fund , we begin to think how dare he ?
Speaker 4Paul Washer said the only reason why there's not eight billion Adolf Hitlers walking this planet is because of God's grace and mercy . You and I are both capable of doing the exact same thing , or much worse , when you get to realize that there's no good thing that dwells within you , that your heart is deceitful and desperately wicked above all things . You are capable of that and much worse . Why haven't you God's sustaining grace upon a society that has snubbed its nose against God ? You want to know yourself . You must know yourself in light of the commandments , and then you turn to Christ and you can live . That's the
ultimate solution .
Speaker 2I love it , mark . Do you know that that Augustine quote is the reason why , after reading that , I texted EZ and was like we need to do a podcast on knowing yourself ?
Speaker 4Oh , is that really .
Speaker 3Yeah , that's the one that was resonating in my mind too . This is what I have to say that we're living in incredibly dark times where we look at news items of people committing suicide that are an absolute success and popular and good-looking and young and they take their lives . And if any time in history the church needs to step up to the plate , it's now , because we're not Very few Christians share their faith with a sense of urgency , which was a long time ago . There was a song called Is that All there Is . Any of you guys heard of it ? It was the most hopeless , sad song and it was a hit .
Speaker 2Can you sing it for us .
Speaker 3The words yeah , I won't sing it , but I could if I was alone . Is that all there is , my friend ? Then let's keep dancing , let's bring out the booze and have a ball . And it just starts off this lady talking . Her name was Peggy Lee and she says when I was a little girl , my daddy loved me and I ran to him and hugged him and then , as I grew up , I did this and I did that , and it just comes back to is that all there is , my friend ? Then let's keep dancing , let's bring out the booze and have a ball .
Speaker 3Yeah , it's ecclesiastes . And the futility of life when death is coming , the hopelessness of having no hope in your life or reason to live , and no hope in your death . And it's coming closer and closer and it's haunting , as Hebrews says . I think what's happened to this generation is what happened to me in my testimony . I actually grew old prematurely . I had attained everything in life at the age of 20 , absolutely everything . I had attained everything in life at the age of 20 , absolutely everything . Not the degree of Solomon , but a smaller degree Own home , beautiful wife , made a kid , money go surfing when I wanted just everything I wanted . I thought what ?
Speaker 4do I do next ?
Speaker 3And this generation has seen the world via its phone . It's had sex and done everything via the phone and there's nothing left . It's just is that all there is , and they take their lives . So they're in darkness , they're like groping blind men and we've got to get an urgency in our heart as Christians and say Lord , take away my fears , let me live daily for the lost and be concerned about them and not myself . What firefighter would ever stand around while people are burning to ?
Speaker 3death concerned about them and not myself . What firefighter would ever stand around while people ?
Speaker 1are burning to death . So we have this incredible obligation that we must fulfill , amen . So let's get a little practical and get into knowing ourselves as it relates to our temperament , our weaknesses
.
Speaker 3You mean ?
Speaker 1as a Christian , yeah , as believers . Now I'd love to hear from you guys on some of those sorts of things and maybe how you can encourage people Like how do you examine yourself ? How do you get others involved in helping you to know yourself ?
Speaker 2I think Paul Tripp's a huge help here . I can't remember what book he says this in , he's probably said it multiple times , but I think you know a path forward . I call it the three D's discern , dismantle and desire . And so the first one is definitely Paul Trippian , if I can say that , which is discerning our idols . He points out that every strong emotion that we have , whether it's anger , fear or anxiety , what it's actually doing is revealing something we love most . Like you're interacting with your family and your spouse says something , your kids do something , a situation happens and out of you comes fear , anxiety , anger . What Tripp points out is that , ultimately , what's happening is , when somebody puts one of your idols in danger , you respond out of anger and fear and anxiety . And so , instead of like there's something wrong with them , that's a sign there's something wrong with me .
Speaker 2I need to discern what is the idol of my heart in this moment . Is it comfort ? Is it reputation ? Is it power ? What could it be ? And once you discern your idol , then you have to dismantle it . You have to ask yourself what lie am I believing ? What truth of the gospel am I not believing ? How is Christ on the throne , the true fulfillment of my deepest desires , where I will find true humility and grace . And then , finally , is to desire Christ Ultimately , how do we repent ? It's when we come to desire him above all else , as Thomas Chalmers calls it , the expulsive power of a new affection . True , deep repentance is when we see Christ as so great that our idols simply no longer make sense and they melt away .
Speaker 1Wow .
Speaker 4That's so good . I mean , it really is a good thing to examine yourself , it's a good thing to recognize that you are decrepit , because if you're decrepit , you need help . Yeah , and you're without hope , and Christ is both our help and our hope
. Yeah Right , psalm 139 , search me and try me . Oh , you just stole it .
Speaker 3That's where I was heading . I was thinking they're going to praise me for this when I mentioned that verse Search me , oh God .
Speaker 1Right right , right , it was a humble revelation Carry on Mark .
Speaker 3I've got it in front of me here , so do I . Yeah , yeah , boy , carry on .
Speaker 1Go ahead , carry on .
Speaker 4You ruined my day there's liberty , and there's freedom in handing God a flashlight and saying check out any hidden areas of my heart . Right , Search me , right . Have you ever lost something that's valuable to you ? It's like you want everybody to help you find it . This is the most important thing . And everybody pulls out their phone , they turn on the flashlights , full speed , full brightness , and you're down on your hands and feet and you're looking for that .
Speaker 1Ultimately , our identity is to be found in Christ . Paul put it best in Galatians 2.20, . I've been crucified with Christ . It is no longer I who live , but Christ lives in me and the life which I now live in the flesh . I live by faith in the Son of God , who loved me and gave himself for me .
Speaker 1You know those again that try to claim that the Bible is just this made up , fabricated thing . You hear words like that . This is a human being who was transformed and revolutionized . These are not human words . I have been crucified with Christ . It's no longer I who live , but Christ lives in me , the life that I live in the flesh . I live by faith in the Son of God who loved me and gave himself for me .
Speaker 1I mean , oh , as Christians like , we resonate with that , you know , and that's the ultimate in how we know ourselves . This is who I am . I am now the crucified one with the crucified one . I'm now the resurrected one with the resurrected one , and his life now is manifested through me . I live to magnify Christ who's living in me and through me . And ultimately , ray , to tie it in with what you said , that I mentioned is the heartbeat to our ministry , that God now , through Christ Galatians , 2 Corinthians 5 , he now wants to plead through us to the world be reconciled to God . And so let that Christ who's in you , who now defines you as you learn who you are and know yourself , let him now plead through you to the world to be reconciled to God .
Speaker 3Amen .
Speaker 1Amen . Thank you for tuning in to this week's highlights from the Living Waters
podcast . Friends , we value your time , so we've created a bite-sized version of our podcast for listeners who want to get equipped . Without the jokes and fellowship , Be sure to check out the full episode every Thursday where we dive deeper into the topic . Until then , you can watch the full podcast episode available now on livingwaterstv .