Let me demonstrate how immediately practical and freeing this is.

1. My goal today is that each of you leave with a very good grasp of the danger of your own egocentrism, and your need to be theocentric. The best way for me to be at peace is to get rid of my own personal thoughts that provide the internal sparks, my reactions to the uncontrollable actions provided by others. Let me demonstrate how immediately practical and freeing this is. Without doubt the largest reason people come for counseling is because of personal offense. Believe me, people ARE going to offend you, and the best way to avoid offense is NOT trying to teach the world how to do what you want. They really don’t care what you want.

2. A husband had a hard day at work, comes home and says, “The house is a pig sty! When did you get out of bed – 3?” What does she immediately think? “What could be more fitting than a pig sty for the PIG who comes home? What a jerk!” What caused the reaction in either one of them? Each will be inclined to blame their mood on external forces and circumstances, but it is a LIE! Our reactions are always the result of our FOCUS.

3. A husband had a hard day at work, comes home and says, “The house is a pig sty! When did you get out of bed – 3?” And FOCUS is always a matter of choice which is always something we control. Let’s track the basics of her process and see where she missed God’s escape. What does she immediately think? “What could be more fitting than a pig sty for the PIG who comes home? What a jerk!” Most of the time we don’t think about how we think; we just react according to our focus, which is what makes our study today so important. So slowing down a little bit and viewing the process is extremely helpful. What caused the reaction in either one of them? Each will be inclined to blame their mood on external forces and circumstances, but it is a LIE! Our reactions are always the result of our FOCUS.

4. What she thought: “That is the worst, undeserved greeting I ever heard.” “I planted flowers in the back yard all day and mowed your lawn and all you do is complain!” “I don’t require much to be happy, but you talk to me like that again and I’ll leave you.” “My mother was right – you are a self-absorbed pig.” She could have thought: “Wow, something really hit him hard today – I have to help him.” “Lord, help me restore him to peace and joy in You.” “He’ll feel better as soon as I pull his favorite dinner out of the oven and he sees the candles and setting on the dinner table.” “Let me draw you a hot bath and work your shoulders while you soak and we’ll have a nice dinner.”

5. What she thought: “That is the worst, undeserved greeting I ever heard.” “I planted flowers in the back yard all day and mowed your lawn and all you do is complain!” “I don’t require much to be happy, but you talk to me like that again and I’ll leave you.” “My mother was right – you are a self-absorbed pig.” She could have thought: “Wow, something really hit him hard today – I have to help him.” “Lord, help me restore him to peace and joy in You.” “He’ll feel better as soon as I pull his favorite dinner out of the oven and he sees the candles and setting on the dinner table.” “Let me draw you a hot bath and work your shoulders while you soak and we’ll have a nice dinner.” Same situation, completely different outcomes. How can we explain the difference in one word? FOCUS!

6. What she thought: “That is the worst, undeserved greeting I ever heard.” “I planted flowers in the back yard all day and mowed your lawn and all you do is complain!” “I don’t require much to be happy, but you talk to me like that again and I’ll leave you.” “My mother was right – you are a self-absorbed pig.” She could have thought: “Wow, something really hit him hard today – I have to help him.” “Lord, help me restore him to peace and joy in You.” “He’ll feel better as soon as I pull his favorite dinner out of the oven and he sees the candles and setting on the dinner table.” “Let me draw you a hot bath and work your shoulders while you soak and we’ll have a nice dinner.” EGOCENTRIC! THEOCENTRIC! Which produces the more desirable results for all involved including the Lord?

7. Last week we finished by comparing Samuel’s view of God, to that of Cain, where we saw egocentrism in a pure form. The net result of egocentrism is first the instantaneous reduction of the majesty of God, which is actually prerequisite to the deification of SELF.

8. Cain is not unique to this near instantaneous degradation of the glory and majesty of God from the consciousness of man. We know it isn’t good to diminish the majesty of God in our minds, but have we ever really measured the risk and loss of doing it, or how deeply we already are progressed in it? We all know that if we maintain the sense of awe for God, we will experience a fruitful life. But according to Tozer, most Christians are not doing that, and frankly, I’m not sure that we have much of a grasp of what happens if we follow the steps of Cain relative to the majesty of God.

9. “You said, ‘Behold, the Lord our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire; we have seen today that God speaks with man, yet he lives. Now then why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer, then we will die. For who is there of all flesh who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived? Go near and hear all that the Lord our God says; then speak to us all that the Lord our God speaks to you, and we will hear and do it.’”Dt 5:24-27

10. “You said, ‘Behold, the Lord our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire; we have seen today that God speaks with man, yet he lives. Now then why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer, then we will die. For who is there of all flesh who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived? Go near and hear all that the Lord our God says; then speak to us all that the Lord our God speaks to you, and we will hear and do it.’”Dt 5:24-27 Do you think that they have a healthy and an accurate view of the majesty and the glory of God? God says they did and He agreed with them. Their conclusion that they would do whatever God said was the proper response to His glory.

11. “The Lord heard the voice of your words when you spoke to me, and the Lord said to me, ‘I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken to you. They have done well in all that they have spoken. ‘Oh that they had such a heart in them, that they would fear Me and keep all My commandments always, that it may be well with them and with their sons forever! Dt 5:28-29 What do you see in God’s words? He says that they are correct in what they said, but then He said the most amazing thing. What did God mean by the last statement?

12. “The Lord heard the voice of your words when you spoke to me, and the Lord said to me, ‘I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken to you. They have done well in all that they have spoken. ‘Oh that they had such a heart in them, that they would fear Me and keep all My commandments always, that it may be well with them and with their sons forever! Dt 5:28-29 He knew that they were simply spewing correct doctrine, like so many spewing Christians today, the doctrine which had little if any impact on their way of life. He knew that their reverence today would be gone tomorrow and they would go back to serving themselves soon enough. It grieved Him.

13. “Now when the people saw that Moses delayed to come down from the mountain, the people assembled about Aaron and said to him, “Come, make us a god who will go before us; as for this Moses, the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him. Aaron said to them, “Tear off the gold rings which are in the ears of your wives, your sons, and your daughters, and bring them to me.” Then all the people tore off the gold rings which were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. He took this from their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool and made it into a molten calf; and they said, “This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt.” Ex 32:1-4

14. “Now when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.” So the next day they rose early and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.”Ex 32:5-6 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Go down at once, for your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.“They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have made for themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it and have sacrificed to it and said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!’”Ex 32:7-8

15. What happened to them? How could they have gone from, “We will die if we hear His voice again so you tell us what God says and we will do it” to “God who?” and having a wild orgy at the base of the same mountain where they formerly shook in reverent fear? Did you catch the shift in identity, responsibility, and the spiritual divorce in God’s statement? “Now when Aaron saw this, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made a proclamation and said, “Tomorrow shall be a feast to the Lord.” So the next day they rose early and offered burnt offerings, and brought peace offerings; and the people sat down to eat and to drink, and rose up to play.”Ex 32:5-6 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Go down at once, for your people, whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves.“They have quickly turned aside from the way which I commanded them. They have made for themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it and have sacrificed to it and said, ‘This is your god, O Israel, who brought you up from the land of Egypt!’”Ex 32:7-8

16. What is critical to our every day existence to shield us from making the same mistake? Each of us MUST constantly nourish and cultivate a thriving concept of the glory and the majesty of God, and guard against every distraction, every self-centered thought that we find in our hearts. How far can a Christian actually wander, should God not intervene in our foolish self-focus?

17. “Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

In the fell clutch of circumstance
I have not winced nor cried aloud.
Under the bludgeonings of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.

Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.

18. It matters not how strait the gate,
How charged with punishments the scroll,
I am the master of my fate:
I am the captain of my soul.” Invictus by William Ernest Henley I find this attitude in Christians more commonly than I find reverence for God. Henley is famous for this poem. Why do you think it is so popular in the world? It reeks of the confidence, the pride of Cain, that unbowed arrogance that remains defiant even in failure. It stands for everything the flesh dreams for self in its bid to be like the Most High. But it fails miserably.

19. Without reviewing and refreshing our focus on the majesty and glory of God on a daily basis, we will degenerate just as rapidly as the Israelites at Mt. Sinai and just as easily into the idea that “I am the master of my fate, the captain of my soul.” Are we truly that vulnerable?

20. My goal with what we have studied so far is to give you a glimpse into what happens to those who lose their vision of the glory and majesty of God, so that you would have a hunger to possess as much of Him as you can get.  With all of that as a foundation for our study, let’s look more closely at some of the things Tozer wrote in The Knowledge of the Holy.

21. We begin our study with how man perceives God, who is essential to man’s being, his spiritual, emotional and mental health.  Tozer makes the point that since God is the “All in All”, we must therefore begin literally EVERY thinking process with Him as the origin and the standard of measurement. Nothing on earth or in the universe can be properly identified or understood apart from God. If we fail to begin our thoughts with the sovereignty of God and the drive of His purpose in our lives, we begin in pure error.

22. That is to say, we cannot accurately see ourselves, our personal value; we cannot accurately identify what is going on around us – if we are looking at our selves or our circumstances from an egocentric point of view, rather than a theocentric point of view! Here is what he said. We begin our study with how man perceives God, who is essential to man’s being, his spiritual, emotional and mental health.  Tozer makes the point that since God is the “All in All”, we must therefore begin literally EVERY thinking process with Him as the origin and the standard of measurement. Nothing on earth or in the universe can be properly identified or understood apart from God. If we fail to begin our thoughts with the sovereignty of God and the drive of His purpose in our lives, we begin in pure error.

23. “The much-quoted advice of Alexander Pope, ‘Know then thyself, presume not God to scan: The proper study of mankind is man,’ if followed literally would destroy any possibility of man’s ever knowing himself in any but the most superficial way. We can never know who or what we are till we know at least something of what God is. For this reason the self-existence of God is not a wisp of dry doctrine, academic and remote; it is in fact as near as our breath and as practical as the latest surgical technique.”Tozer, A.W. The Knowledge of The Holy, Chpt 5

24. “The much-quoted advice of Alexander Pope, ‘Know then thyself, presume not God to scan: The proper study of mankind is man,’ if followed literally would destroy any possibility of man’s ever knowing himself in any but the most superficial way. We can never know who or what we are till we know at least something of what God is. For this reason the self-existence of God is not a wisp of dry doctrine, academic and remote; it is in fact as near as our breath and as practical as the latest surgical technique.”Tozer, A.W. The Knowledge of The Holy, Chpt 5 Is that true, that we cannot know who or what we are, or properly identify what is going on around us if we do not use God as our point of reference and see things from His point of view?

25. “The much-quoted advice of Alexander Pope, ‘Know then thyself, presume not God to scan: The proper study of mankind is man,’ if followed literally would destroy any possibility of man’s ever knowing himself in any but the most superficial way. We can never know who or what we are till we know at least something of what God is. For this reason the self-existence of God is not a wisp of dry doctrine, academic and remote; it is in fact as near as our breath and as practical as the latest surgical technique.”Tozer, A.W. The Knowledge of The Holy, Chpt 5 Not only do we not know who or what we are apart from God, but we can’t accurately interpret what is going on around us either, without a perspective of God!

26. True or false: Nearly, if not all conflict in marriage comes from not knowing who God is, how He identifies circumstances, or what He wants in any given situation. Since the works of the flesh, such as outbursts of anger, strife or hostility, have nothing to do with the Holy Spirit, even though we might tell ourselves that we are fighting a righteous cause, if the emotions are doing the fighting, it is FLESH at work. So what does that tell us regarding so many of our relationships?

27. It tells us that at least with regard to that issue in that relationship, and probably much more, we do NOT know God, and are inserting our egocentric will into that relationship, which will certainly do damage to it. True or false: Nearly, if not all conflict in marriage comes from not knowing who God is, how He identifies circumstances, or what He wants in any given situation. Since the works of the flesh, such as outbursts of anger, strife or hostility, have nothing to do with the Holy Spirit, even though we might tell ourselves that we are fighting a righteous cause, if the emotions are doing the fighting, it is FLESH at work. So what does that tell us regarding so many of our relationships?

28. We can insert our egocentrism into all of our relationships and damage them - our relationships with our mates, children, friends and coworkers. True or false: Nearly, if not all conflict in marriage comes from not knowing who God is, how He identifies circumstances, or what He wants in any given situation. If I’m inserting egocentrism into one troubled relationship, what do you suppose the chances are that I’m doing it in all of them? Since the works of the flesh, such as outbursts of anger, strife or hostility, have nothing to do with the Holy Spirit, even though we might tell ourselves that we are fighting a righteous cause, if the emotions are doing the fighting, it is FLESH at work. So what does that tell us regarding so many of our relationships?

29. ALL confusion that man suffers with respect to marital relationships, parental, business, friendship and association to the physical world ALL comes from an interpretational reference point that is disassociated from God! Not ONE THING in the universe can be properly identified, understood or appropriated apart from the One who created it! Can you give me some examples of this fact?

30. ‘Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. Rev 3:17-18 First of all, why would anyone say something like that?

31. ‘Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. Rev 3:17-18 Could they have had it more wrong? These are the statements of people who are entirely egocentric, not in any way theocentric. How do we know that?

32. ‘Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. Rev 3:17-18 At this point we have to ask HOW it is possible for the human brain to be THAT WRONG on an evaluation.

33. ‘Because you say, “I am rich, and have become wealthy, and have need of nothing,” and you do not know that you are wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked, I advise you to buy from Me gold refined by fire so that you may become rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself, and that the shame of your nakedness will not be revealed; and eye salve to anoint your eyes so that you may see. Rev 3:17-18 So here, we are looking at an assessment of the self, which is exactly WRONG! The ONLY way to have things wrong is to be egocentric, because, to be theocentric would have made this horrible evaluation utterly impossible! If we go back to Tozer’s comment, how is this confusion possible?

34. We have demonstrated that we cannot possibly identify our personal condition if we are egocentric. What about reading our circumstances or our situations? Can egocentrism obliterate our ability to accurately identify our situations as well?

35. “Now it came about as they were emptying their sacks, that behold, every man’s bundle of money was in his sack; and when they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were dismayed. Their father Jacob said to them, “You have bereaved me of my children: Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and you would take Benjamin; all these things are against me.” Then Reuben spoke to his father, saying, “You may put my two sons to death if I do not bring him back to you; put him in my care, and I will return him to you.” But Jacob said, “My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he alone is left. If harm should befall him on the journey you are taking, then you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.”Gen 42:35-38

36. You know the facts – how accurate is Jacob’s assessment of his situation? “Now it came about as they were emptying their sacks, that behold, every man’s bundle of money was in his sack; and when they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were dismayed. Their father Jacob said to them, “You have bereaved me of my children: Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and you would take Benjamin; all these things are against me.” Then Reuben spoke to his father, saying, “You may put my two sons to death if I do not bring him back to you; put him in my care, and I will return him to you.” But Jacob said, “My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he alone is left. If harm should befall him on the journey you are taking, then you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.”Gen 42:35-38

37. The Bible is FILLED with examples. Our most recent and most shocking was Jacob’s statement “Joseph is no more; Simeon is no more; all these things are against me. You are bringing my gray hair to the grave in sorrow.” Gen 42:36ff Because Jacob began with a perspective of SELF rather than God, he came to conclude the exact opposite of the reality!