In this sermon, David Ord addresses the common question of who we are and the purpose of life. He introduces the concept that human nature is actually the expression of Satan's nature through man, and that it must be replaced by the nature of Jesus Christ. Ord invites listeners to request a free booklet called "What is the Mystery of the Gospel?" which delves deeper into this topic. He also mentions the significance of Jesus' death on the cross, emphasizing that his shedding of blood is evidence of his sacrifice for our sins.

Week four, program one. This is David Ord with today's Union Life broadcast. One of the things that people are most interested in in our day and age is finding out who they are. It seems like everybody wants to know, who am I? What am I here on this earth for? What's the purpose of life? What's the meaning of it all? People want to become the full person they're meant to be. One man I've talked with on many occasions and who has written articles for Union Life magazine is a man who I believe can really help us in knowing who we are. His name is Norman Grubb and we've got him on our program today. We're beginning a new series of programs and we're titling them, Who Am I? Norman is author of the book, Who Am I?, which we're going to tell you about at the end of this program. I want to welcome Norman and ask you, Norman, if you would begin to unfold for us now in these programs, how you see it from the scriptures and from your life's experience as a Christian, beginning on the mission field and to where you finally come now as a person who has a real grasp of the subject of who am I. Norman, would you like to take over for us here? Well, thank you, David. It seems obvious to me that there's no greater question that I as a human being or any human being can ask than who am I. In fact, it's really the only question I can ask because when I get down to it, all I have is myself and the reasons of my existence is how can I be a satisfied self and conscious that I'm the kind of person I ought to be, want to be, and am, and so on. So it centers around the solution of this major question, who am I and why am I? So I think to ask a very simple question, and I take it for granted for myself and for us, I suppose, that our authority in what we say is the scriptures. We believe them to be God's written revelation and I wouldn't wish to say anything which hasn't got its foundations in what is already there in the Bible. And if I start from that basis, one thing obviously stands out, there is one person in the Bible, in the beginning God, that's all. Therefore the whole start, we understand, of the universe is one person, in the beginning God, and the name he gave himself a little later on when he was speaking with Moses is, my name is I Am. I Am, that I Am, that I Am, the I Am I Am, I Am, I Am. So here we start with the heart of the universe, a living person, one person. Jesus, in speaking of him when he was talking with the woman of the well, the woman of Samaria, made another important statement about him. He said God is spirit. So now we're getting a little closer. Now we understand what spirit is because the Bible also says that we're spirits. The Bible says he fathered our spirits, so the basis of our being is spirit. What spirit? Again I Am, and Paul defines a spirit like this, he says spirit is this, your spirit is this. What man knows the things of a man, say the spirit emerges in him. So my spirit is my knower, my knower is I Am. A person is a person who knows, we all operate from our knower, from our know-how. So an I Am is a knower. Then one other thing which is obvious of God and man, the whole universe, all being is created of desire, all life is desiring, outreaching love. So whether we look at the animate or inanimate creation, everything runs from the atoms upwards, it consists of the urgency of desires, one seeking another and so on. So now we've got a person to be a person who is compounded of I desire, I love, I want, and I know. I know certain things, I desire certain things. Now the way a person, a spirit, an inner person functions is, out of my knowing and desiring I make choices. I have an invitation to go to a home, I know I can go, then I desire to go. If I know I can go, I desire to go, what do I do? I say I'll go. Now that's my inner self which has made a choice. So a person is a person who has knowing and desiring and willing and that's what God is. So we start from the beginning because he's spirit and he follows our spirit. He says we made us in his image so we know like father like son. So he is the first person in the universe who knows himself and desires and we find as we go on that that desire means love and in God's, in the reality of God, love means that his love is for others not for himself. We talk about that a little later on. With love in the sense I, my meaning of my being is to fulfill and complete and bless everything. I'm love. So God is knowing and desiring and then after his knowing and desiring he chooses. Now what's the first thing he chooses? The bible says his son, his only begotten son who is spoken of as the word. In the beginning was the word, the word was with God and the word was God, the only begotten son. Why a word? Because the word is expressing yourself. I know, I desire, I'll go, I'll do that, I'll go there. So the word is that which moves us into action and so the word meant the father now coming out in his, in his eternity in his own manifested form as his son. So it was the same with himself in the son form as it were. It was his spoken word which became a manifest fact like our spoken word. I take a thing and I take it becomes a fact. So here's the next process. This invisible eternal immortal person comes out in a manifested person because the fact is about any universal. It's meaningless unless it comes out in a form. For instance the electricity is universal. What do we know about electricity? Nothing except that it has a certain form like a lamp or it expresses itself as a light. Here I am, I'm a light or a power, a wire. Here I am as a power or a heat. It has some means by which he expresses himself in the form of light or heat or power. So a universe must have a form which expresses itself and it comes out in its variety of forms. Now the heart, the bible reveals the heart of the universe is one person and this is the first form which he manifests himself, father son. He couldn't call himself father until he had a son so he's become manifested now as a son. It is his word. So here's the first, the first page of Revelation given from the bible and if we are to see that this is the first stage of one person manifesting himself in the whole universe we find it says at the end of all things when the end time has come and everything's been settled up, it says when the last enemy has been destroyed which is death, it says the son will raise up the kingdom to the father that God may be seen to be all in all. Well if God's all he isn't son. If God's all in all the whole universe is one person in infinite variety of forms all in all his forms. The whole universe is one person there is only one person in the universe, one living person the knowing person and the loving person and the choosing person which means he comes out in his variety of forms. It's all there is in his forms and the first form inside the deity himself is his own son and then the bible goes on to say that as we move out in our choices like a then they take form. Like I say I say well I'll go and I go. I do the thing I do it and my word becomes takes a form. That's what the bible means by spirit. It means a re-expression of ourselves uh so his own first expression of his own perfect self was his son. Now through his son he expresses himself in further forms. Somewhat like uh if you get the father of any uh genius finds the firm like Henry Ford as a genius in producing a certain kind of automobile. Now he can't develop his automobile yet he makes the first form then he has another level of sons and executives who take his his automobile and bring bring out the variety of automobiles in a variety of situations makes a universal uh re-application of the original invention. Now that's how the living father uh is universal. Now he only can express himself when he has comes out in a form and then through that form continuously re-expresses himself which is the creation. So here you find the bible says through the son is called the word in the name of the word uh then himself as a person speaks a word. He himself is a reproduction of the person so he speaks a word. So we read the creation is let there be light let there be so and so. This is how the father is coming out through his son in the forms and and the forms then are the spirit is the one who who brings the form to reality. For it says the creation it's the spirit moves upon the face of the water and produces so and so and so and so. Now the marvel of the expansion of that revelation in the bible uh is it from eternity it always was its purpose not just to have its own son in the deity but through his son there are vast numbers of created sons who will be sons as he's a son uh and uh who who would themselves become uh co-sons and co-brothers with himself in fulfilling his eternal postage in the universe. So we find this this revelation that the the summit of the creation was uh making man in his own image he made that's the ultimate of the creation. Norman I want to thank you for what you've said on this program now I mentioned before we're beginning on a whole new series of programs on the subject of who am I Norman Grubb is a noted author and teacher his books are available through this radio program and when you write to us at the address which will be given at just a moment at the close of this program or call the number that will be given we're going to be happy to send you a copy of Union Life magazine. Union Life is a bi-monthly magazine it's absolutely free of charge we're delighted to send it to you and every issue it has a plethora of articles which get right down to the nitty-gritty of what is a Christian and how does it work out in real life. Now in one of our issues recently we had an article by Norman himself entitled the foundation of Union Life and it's all about who am I about the way God wants to come and indwell his people and express himself through them. We'd like you to have these articles if you write for Union Life magazine there's no charge there's no request for money we're delighted to send it to you just write to the station to the address that you'll be given or call the number that's going to be given in just a moment request Union Life magazine we're on the station five days a week at the same time be sure to tune in for all of this series of programs on who am I. Program two this is David Ord with today's Union Life broadcast we began on a whole new series of programs in our last broadcast about the subject of who am I. Today there's a tremendous interest among people of wanting to know who they are wanting to be the true person that they believe they are intended to be wanting to find and discover themselves. Our guest on this series of programs is a man who is a noted author and teacher many of you know him through his book Reese Howell's Intercessor he's the author of many other books and one of them is right on the subject we're discussing who am I. I want to welcome Norman Grubb to our broadcast today and Norman we began to talk yesterday about the fact that God is expressing himself in his creation and I'd like to ask you if you'd continue talking now with us on this subject of who am I. Well we were saying that the the supreme question a person can and must ask is who am I and why am I what is a self and the bible answer is that the universe is a part of one self that one self is the living God in the beginning God and the bible then says through the word of Jesus that this person's spirit therefore an I am isn't an outer form it's a spirit and spirit isn't some vague mystical idea spirit is a is the what a person consists of the bible shows the spirits of it means a spirit a person says I know and I desire and I choose I know I love I choose and that's what this original person is he's a knower he's a lover and he's a chooser the willer and we human spirits are the same now we read the bible then says that this this original person in himself in order to begin to manifest himself he had to come out in a form and the form he first came out of was his own son he'd the only begotten son in the trinity so the father has a son from the re-expression of himself and that all comes into being by what's called the word that's why it's called the word because the word is how everything does come into being I know I can go to a home I want to go I say I'll go that's the spirit acting then I go there then the world becomes fact there I am so the word turns into deed in reality that's why everything that's how everything comes into being so God's first word was as it were um that his son should come into being express themselves so the father has a son and then the word goes on the bible goes on there to say the son is the means of which he could he continues to re-express himself as we said like any kind of a of a firm has to have his executives and sons to develop his firm and make it a rational firm so it's through his own son the creation began to come into being and the son began to speak his word let there be let there be life let there be so and so and by the same process then by the let there be meant that he knew what his father um purpose to come in in what form he's purpose to reveal himself light and matter and materials and so on um and he says that word let there be which is his word and then through his word the spirit operates like when we say we'll go to a place we go to it the next form is we're there so in this case when the son speaks the spirit comes out and the spirit comes out and begins to bring creation into being and light and all everything else and the summit of the creation the last form was um it says let us make man in his own image the bible would be the origin there to have out of this um reproducing process would come sons created sons who be lined up with the creator son and make the vast family to who we'd operate and this is how humans came into being and we're told that the um the the destiny the bible tells us is this when we know we're sons of god we're also told we're co-heirs with christ his son and the bible says his son has been appointed by the father to be heir of all things so the inheritance of the his son is the whole universe and therefore if we're co-heirs we're co-inheritors of the universe now the whole point of inheritance is it may be wonderful to receive it but it's a responsibility to manage it and develop it now this is a safe universe because the bible reveals us that the original person is a lover person he's love his knowledge that is light his knowledge god is light and he's love and so god is is a lover self-giving love the universe has a basic harmony to it that's why they have the lord's universe because they're products of a harmonious person who brings everything into being in harmony just like mathematics is harmony everything else therefore if if the ultimate purpose of the universe is it to be a harmonious universe those imagined must be harmonizing people there must be lover people like the father of lover father so it's essential therefore he has a vast family of first his own son then sons who are lover sons and whose motivation would be not that the universe will serve them but they serve the universe that they like to be a server and a fulfiller of those whom they're responsible this is what the bible reveals be the basic meaning of the the existence of the human family now if we move up from that that's saying a great deal we'd have just to pick out certain we haven't in any length of time picked out any the scriptures which which bear those truths out we then have to to examine more closely how i am the kind of person i am to be if this is the truth if as a creative be a son of god if a son of god has the same motivation as the father which is the father lives to serve and fulfill the complete universe he's delighted and if so he's delighted that his universe may be fulfilled therefore the sons who express the father must have the same motivation that whatever they're responsible for they're there to perfect and fulfill it they're lover sons so we look at the history of humans to find out how we how we are the lover sons that we've been created to be that starts in the the genesis record of the creation of man the god of eden and we come across the first few to propose one is the atmosphere of love there the father poured all on the son and they said they're all due to you for you to you to have the meaning of them you'll develop them there for your benefit because he's a lover father but one other central fact with that was that there was in the midst of this garden full of blessing an alternative there was there were uh everything that was there uh including a tree of life a tree of knowledge of good and evil and the father had said that everything is yours except one you shouldn't eat of that tree of knowledge of good and evil so here is something opposite to come into this this uh revelation of god's purposes through through us the human race at the start of it as we look into that we find that we find the reason because everything everything has this perfect reason and we look into the reason for that the reason is that uh consciousness is a consciousness of opposites you are only conscious of something because it has the opposite you're not conscious of truth if it wasn't there's such a thing as a lie you are conscious of love if there wasn't such a thing as the hate you are conscious of sweet if there wasn't something as bitter a conscious of male is a thing of the female you can't say yes but behind yes is no so every every reality is known by its opposite it has its opposite and the meaning of life is to combine those opposites so that the positive builds up builds on the foundational negative kind of swallows it up uh you know that in cooking uh if you if you want to think sweet sweets got to take things that are not sweet as a foundation swallow them up and make them into agencies of sweetness if you want to think non-sweet you've got to get some non-sweet element and take the sweet elements and they become a foundation through which it creates non-sweetness so everything consists of opposites which combine together and the one builds its foundation on the other which it swallows up for instance uh if you uh if you make a decision yes i'll do something behind that decision it's half a dozen no's you said no i won't do that no i won't do that no i won't do that yes i will do that and the sexual yes is built up on the fact that behind the yes you settle out all the no's but all those things you say that's what i'll do and yet they only have this thing because its foundation is its negative which is swallowed up so consciousness only of all the universe only built uh on on the opposite um both right in that position and then the the the the one that's needful that's built on the foundation the other swallowed up that's why the bible for instance says life swallows up death in bible terms mortality swallowed up of life now it swallows up death that's why in the beginning the first verse of scripture isn't isn't light it's darkness was on the face of the deep so at the beginning god darkness was there then light shines on swallowing up darkness you couldn't see light in the morning at dawn unless it was swallowing up the darkness now uh the uh the supreme opposite upon which a human being is based in which the god himself is based is the the the uh opposite the opposite possibility in the self now he said the self consists i know things i desire things i choose them i'm a knower and a lover and a willer now meet it i get an opposite um my my opposite is this um which forms of my love take my love may be say i love things for my ends all i care is get what i the hell with you all my love can be i love you i'll be for you i'll go to hell for you so immediately right in the heart of search you get the point is it going to be a self-getting self and a hell with the rest of you or is it going to be self-giving so i'll go to hell for you which is what god is says he's going to hell for us he's a lover father so you get right to the heart of the of the self of the universe uh it can only be a conscious self because it has two alternatives one swallowed up the other that's why it's so remarkable the bible says of god he cannot lie oh you say how could god lie no he couldn't be true if it isn't it's truth it's because it isn't a lie now cannot lie a liar is a self-getter if i lie to you i'll lie to get my ends at your expense i think what happens to you now when it says god cannot lie it means god cannot be a person who does things his own end he cannot be a self-getting self-seeking self-gratifying he cannot be what's that mean it means the other opposite which he'd be for others for the other up it's foundation is it swallowed up the self-loving getting itself to become a self-giving self norman i want to thank you for that we'll be picking up with a subject on our program tomorrow we're heard five days a week on this same station at the same time be sure to tune in catch all of the programs in this series which we've entitled who am i norman grubb a noted author and speaker has written on this subject in his book who am i you can learn about that book when you write to the address that will be given or call the number that will be announced in just a moment and request union life magazine union life is a full color cover magazine it's 36 pages it's well produced it's a quality magazine with a vast variety of articles on what the christian life really means of how god is expressing himself through his people on earth today how we are the body of christ are in this in this world now we'd like you to have this magazine it's called union life it's bi-monthly it's no charge whatever just write to the address in just a moment mention union life magazine no request for money we're happy to let you have it program three this is david ord with today's union life broadcast years ago as a young christian i noticed that a great many believers have a daily experience of life that's a long way short of the joy unspeakable and a peace which passes understanding that jesus talked about and i asked myself why is it that so many christians are discouraged why is it that they feel such failures how do we live the victorious life now and i was over a process of many years to find the answer in an understanding of the question who am i who am i in christ what does the christian life mean what does it mean in the scriptures when it says christ in you the hope of glory and so we've begun a series of programs in which we're discussing this whole subject of who am i and we have on the program a guest whose name is known to many of you through his book reese howell's intercessor and he's written many other books one of which is entitled who am i and we've begun to talk about the fact of opposites and how we know a thing by knowing its opposite so i want to welcome to the program once again in this series norman grubb norman would you pick up here for us please well it does mean as i have to understand what it is to be a human self and how i function as such uh if i'm to um discover what it is to be a completed human self and we discover that a human self exists to be a expression of the divine self and the divine self is a the living person the spirit who knows desires and chooses and out of that basic spirit self came all selves of creative selves and a self is only a self because it's a consciousness can only be two opposites if you can't don't know you're not conscious uh you've got to know that if such things are lies no truth and such things as hate no love and such things as dark no light and so on so consciousness always is is the relationship between the opposites uh and how one builds its foundation by uh swallowing up its opposites the truth follows up a lie love follows up hate and so on so if uh if we're created to become expressions of god as as uh operating selves we have to find out what it is to be a self therefore um right in the garden of eden when he first made man he possessed him with opposites he he expressed all his love in the creation of the garden and all the fullness of his giving which he gave to them but then he put the opposite there and there's two trees and one uh was the one which there was everything everything else but not that tree um why because uh uh the fundamental of all opposites is myself what which kind of self am i like a material maybe sweet or bitter or hard or soft and so on a self a self can be either a self self getting self or self giving self i can express myself i can express myself love my self-fulfillment by getting everything for myself or i can set myself fulfilled by giving myself for other people uh the gods fixing itself because he's the the lover self that's why i said he can't lie he can't be himself getting so so if we're to be uh uh his three agents uh by whom he marries universe uh we have to confront that that those opposites have been settled and that was the record in the garden of eden when adam and eve were came face to face with the the opposite tree the tree of knowledge of good and evil uh behind that tree uh and through it was this one who was there in the form of a serpent um called the devil in the revelation speaks of that old serpent the devil now when we trace back you find the devil was the first being who chose to be the opposite to god uh god who can't lie means he's fixed he cannot be a liar for self-gratification he cannot be that it's his own selfhood standing between the opposites as everywhere they cross in the sense of his deity not the lord jesus christ the deity itself where he dies to be a selfish to be a self for self-interest and his love is so for other people's interests and the first being who was the opposite of that was this created being who was called lucifer in those days who was there to reveal to bear light light was the way way by which the universe was to understand the real being of god that's right suppose this thing as it really is but uh in the beauty of his own self he chose not to be that he said i'll be for myself life for me with self-interest and yet after he's revealed as a person in as our 14 years equal 28 who who said i'll take god's place i'll replace god i'll be a self for self so he opened the false kingdom false unknown kingdom in god the kingdom of self self-getting self-seeking self as himself that's why it's called the god of that kingdom because he originated it now god has a purpose through that his purpose was to use use this one who had to be cast out of heaven because he's the opposite spirit to heaven the spirit self-giving love there's a spirit of self-getting love and therefore god purposely used him because god god always uses the devil and evil his own purposes there's just agencies and his purposes and this case his purpose was that uh the his human family uh whom he's destined to inherit his universe imagine his universe must themselves find out uh the reality of the of these of these these alternatives and become settled in in the right one the alternatives being either be a self-getting self or self-giving self and that came about through this temptation in the garden of eden when the this this um false deity of self-getting self says there's something here god's not giving you she'd like to have he's hiding something for you in stimulated self-getting self self-getting love in eve even that was the wisdom of god because only when you're stimulated to want something can you discover that you've got wants so until you've got an option you don't know it now before adam and eve were confronted with the opposite in the in the in the theological and evil they just lived in the sea of god's love they didn't know it unconscious like a little infant of a conscious love just lives in the in the you know um care of his parents but they were the opposite yet so adam and eve until they were confronted with this this tree they shouldn't take off and god's wisdom in saying that and if they did they'd lose lose their way they'd die and then being tempted to want it what did that made them realize they got wants and so he suddenly found i've got appetite i didn't know i had that before so it had to be a temptation to want something they couldn't have or shouldn't have to make you find they had once and then suddenly see that the thing is beautiful they've observed before beauty was oh that's beautiful to look at i didn't see it or i could find out the way art and development is through um uh eyes and then the statements temptation to them that they that things got hidden from their knowledge they didn't realize that they had a capacity for developing knowledge and mind so the temptation was necessary to bring them to find first of all they're real people appetites and faculties and wills and desires could function as such but even then the uh the preparation was only partial because um um you when they are opposite you only you only uh operate when you're conscious of both opposites and then how they intermingle uh cooks got the consciousness of sweet and bitter to make them intermingle carpenters the conscious of soft and hard to make them make a comfortable chair and so on so the human race had to be conscious that it's possible for them to be self-getting selves or self-giving selves so they're confronted with this temptation all right take that take that for your own benefit no matter what god says you shouldn't take it take it in other words follow a line of self-getting self which they did that was the the first indication able to have of the fact um that a human person is has the nature of himself he he operates the nature of the of the of the the deity who controls him um therefore when this this temptation came to Adam also Eve to take it now uh the human self was coming under the influence of this piece of self-getting Satan to be the self myself they were not under the control here but kind of under the influence of him and so that self wanted to have a thing its own way now the only way Eve could have escaped she was a free person she knew what heavenly father said to her she shouldn't have it but she could have said god i want this thing and if you don't stop me i'll take it because it's attracting my attention i'll take it it's a way out and then the father said yes that's another tree so i better add another tree a tree of life if if you just take the fruit of the tree of life uh you find no solution because the tree of life indicated tree of life would indicated the spirit of love coming into them because it says if they take the tree of life they receive eternal life or eternal life we know isn't the fruit it's simple of a person the holy lord jesus christ is alive he's the the the the lover person and if they received the spirit of love in them at that time that would have swallowed up the spirit of self-getting which was grabbing hold of them through Satan but they didn't do that so there was a choice Adam and Eve made a conscious choice and they chose to go Satan's way they put him in the power of Satan so by the way a symbol of fruit if you eat a fruit goes inside you like in the holy communion if you take eat of christ he dwells in you so if they'd eaten of the right fruit symbolized taking him who is the truth and the life jesus christ if you took the wrong fruit then they got Satan's one he was their better nature they now came as an expression of the nature of the god of self-getting self-getting god self-loving self-gratifying god the spirit of error the bible they became slaves of that spirit there was one important difference between satan and adam and eve satan from his very center which is your spirit your choice he chose to be so he said i'll i'll kick god out and take his place of course he had him put up himself he became his own god and we were tricked they were deceived they didn't mean to cut out the head and the father they just thought as it were he wouldn't be looking but they took the opposite that's as at this moment you've been listening to norman grubb who's our guest on this series of programs which we've entitled who am i we're discovering what god's purpose is for humanity and where each of us as individuals fits into it we're going to be picking up with a series of programs again tomorrow we're heard on this station five days a week at the same time be sure to join us for it now if you'd like to understand this whole subject of man's nature we talk about human nature but in reality as norman is showing us and we're beginning to develop in this series of programs now man's nature is actually that of the deity who indwells him it's either that of the god of this world or the god of our lord jesus christ you'd like to understand this write to the address or call the number in just a moment and request the booklet what is the mystery of the gospel just mentioned the mystery of the gospel it explains this whole thing about two natures be sure to tune in to our program tomorrow when we're going to be picking it up the subject just right where we left off until tomorrow this is david ord program four this is david ord with another union life broadcast a flood of graduates are emerging from colleges and universities around the world at this time of year commencement as graduation is called in this country is the moment when the preparation for living that has eaten up 15 to 20 years in the life of young men and women comes to an end and life begins in full but for the majority of those who commence living in 1980 life isn't going to be the fulfilling experience that they hope for people today are searching for meaning and reality in their lives but most of our schools and colleges our educational programs are failing to satisfy their longings witness the fact that americans consume 130 000 pounds of marijuana a day at an estimated annual cost of 25 billion dollars some 16 million people are believed to use marijuana every single day in the united states and more than half of all of our college students have tried the drug and one in four high school seniors admit to using it regularly the answer to our problems clearly doesn't lie in the field of modern education where then is the answer you know it once took centuries for the world's fund of knowledge to double but with the birth of modern science knowledge began doubling much more rapidly by the 1960s it was doubling every decade and today knowledge doubles every two to three years well over 90 of the scientists who've ever lived are alive in our generation but people are still searching for a meaning in life and for fulfillment people want to know who am i what am i doing on this earth what's the purpose of my being here so we've begun a series of radio programs in which we're addressing this very subject of who am i and a man who wrote a book on that subject titled who am i it's available in many christian bookstores this man is norman grubb and he's a guest on our program for this series of broadcasts and we've been discussing what god is doing in his universe what is what is he doing with man we've been considering the fact that god reveals himself through opposites so i'm going to ask you norman if you would continue just right on now with the subject of who am i well the bible gives a very simple answer to that and that there is only one i am in the universe only one i am and he is the the living god of love and wisdom and all and the whole universe is his re-expression of himself and as a person he expresses himself by persons first of all in his own trinity by his own son and then through his son his sons and so it's a simple purpose universe is to have millions of sons us humans who re-expression of himself who is the person of uh the basis of his being a self-giving love he exists not to be fulfilled but to fulfill and the history of the human race is how how we uh uh become settled in who we're destined to be uh sons of self-giving love who merge his universe on the basis of its interests not their interests we began to see this had to start by us humans confronting the fact that the person is only a conscious person by opposites a thing is only known by its opposite light only known by darkness truth by lie and so on and in each case uh one finds its foundation by builds its foundation on its opposite which he swallows up light swallows up darkness truth swallows up lie and so on and so we humans have to have to confront this from the garden of eden which as a human self i can be one of two kinds of self i can either be a self self-loving a self-getting self-seeking self uh self-seeking self or i can be a self-giving self a self-getting self or self-giving self god is fixed as a self-giving self so we he he came to that eternal fixation in himself which is he can't lie now for us to become um the humans who can who can merge his universe which is our distance we have to become fixed as he's fixed how does that take place it takes place by us being confronted first by the opposites that's the two trees in the garden of eden and where god is manifesting all his fulfillment of love to them but he says one thing you shouldn't do one thing you shouldn't take we should take the wrong way that shouldn't take the thing which is which is stimulating them self-getting self so self-giving self through that tree that came into the presence of the humans this other being whom god always intended to use that way who'd self-chosen to be the opposite that was he's called satan by us originally called chose to be a self for self and not to be an agent to reveal god's life but but being fulfilled of his own interests and this is the one attempted tempted human race to to follow its own interests and we were saying last time how that took place um and uh the humans had to learn their first lesson a human exists to contain a deity who expresses himself by them a human has no energy of his own he's an agent he's a vessel he's a branch he's a temple he's a slave like a computer let's have a programmer and so at the uh in by confronted the garden of eden by the spirit of self-getting self satan and responding to them adam and eve became possessed by the spirit of self-getting self became dead to the father who rejudicated the god of self-giving self this had to be because nothing could ever be can be experienced except by its opposite so if if one if were to be people who settle in being the right kind of people self-giving so we first had to find the disillusionment of being a self-getting self which is what this fallen world uh experiences and so here is the start of the human history but uh because god's purpose always had been that on the negative self-getting self he'd build a self-giving self and the self-getting self had been a it would be a foundation which we swallowed up by self-giving self it always had been his purposes what the bible calls the first adam by whom he had our the first adam there comes the last adam the last adam is his own son who took flesh in order that he might make a new human family because the adam is the progenitor of a new of a race the first adam was progenitor of a very wonderful race gave us our gave us our wonderful human bodies but we got caught up by the false deity and now on expressing the spirit of self self-getting self spirit of error spirit of satan this last adam jesus christ came he could come as art because he was a creator so he could take our place and that's why he came by virgin birth and he confronted the god of self-certainty and rejected him at a temptation when he was when he was tempted to marry things for his own ends but he came to found this kingdom not a self-getting self but a self-giving self where the basis of the kingdom of the spirit the kingdom of heaven is people whose whose love is other love not self-love they express their self-love in other love they satisfy their self-love by self-giving not by self-getting and this was this was jesus jesus christ and so he went all the way uh and uh manifested before humanity that the the the his own father's nature he said if you see me you see the father his father's nature was self-giving love so he wasn't interested in the outward parades of of uh self self-displaying religion he's interested in people loving people so this jesus went about loving people healing lepers and showing something the power of god at the same time he didn't pull any punches in confronting those who pretended to to manifest god and didn't manifest the god of self-giving self-giving love who built a religion which is only really building up their own selves and he confronted them exposed their hypocrisy in this day who crucified him he accepted crucifixion on the on behalf of us because he they they he had to be or opposite opposite that he had as representing us he had to uh uh die to representing a people who are occupied by the spirit of self-getting self spirit of error the spirit is in all of us so he died as representing us and then he rose by in his death out representing us with the old spirit of error that's why i said he died to sin and in came in his own resurrection his own spirit of self-giving love so he made it possible for us humans uh to uh have a uh a change of inner deity recognizing our nature always is the expression of our of the our deity nature that's why jesus has said in our fallen nature you of your father devil lust of your father you will do we're so deceived we think we do our own lusts the reason we do that is this the whole quality of satan was self-interested self-reliant self his quality was claiming to be an independent self-reliant person he wasn't really he's only serving the god anyhow god uses him he didn't he that he was to see himself in that respect i suppose and so he infected us humans the idea was self-reliant independent selves we didn't know really early being expressing um the spirit of self-certainty that's why jesus said it's not your lust you do it's the lust of your father you're doing it's his self it's his hates and fears and lusts that you're expressing we didn't even know that and so uh we we then uh uh are brought by the grace of god through the the process by which we this this this change of inner deity can take place and the the deity of spirit of area of self-getting self can be replaced with the deity of our lord jesus christ the deity of self-giving self the other nature so norman in actual fact you are saying that what people call human nature is actually the nature of the god of this world who you might call mr self yes that's right that he indwells them it's a self-centered self yes because it's good to be a mr self only so long as your surface for self brothers not a self for service good self is good it's a misuse of self it's a self sense of quality of self which is wrong the self is beautiful god itself we're selves under satan we misuse ourselves because they did the self-interest itself we're expressing the god of self-interest itself with jesus christ we express the god of self-giving self so our very self becomes a basis of expression of self-giving god in place of self-getting god uh-huh that's what the basis of the gospel is and um we have to examine more closely how this how this this change actually takes place in experience so we're not talking about a bible theory talking about experiential fact we shouldn't be saying you see if they weren't true to us ourselves we're saying so what we're saying then is that human nature is satan's nature expressed through man yes or of your father the devil you do his lust yes and there has to be a change whereby that nature is removed from us the one who indwells and expressed himself through us and a new nature which is the divine nature in christ jesus comes to indwell us yes that's right well now we're going to be picking up with this right in our next program we're going to question we've uh heard norman explain some of these things to us and i know that this is very different to the way that many of us have understood it many of us have thought that we have two natures battling one another but norman's explaining to us that there is just one nature at a time and the nature is the deity who indwells us so we're going to be picking this up and we're going to be talking with him and questioning him about this in the next programs in the series which we've entitled who am i now if you'd like to understand this whole thing of human nature and why it is actually satan's nature expressed through man and how that nature must be replaced by the nature of jesus christ himself as he comes to indwell us we want to invite you to write for the booklet what is the mystery of the gospel it's free of charge we'd be glad to send it to you it's called what is the mystery of the gospel just mention the the booklet the mystery of the gospel 76 pages and it'll come to you without any request for money whatever until next time this is david ord we're on the station five days a week be sure to tune in to tomorrow's program program five this is david ord with another union life broadcast we have on our program a man whose books many of you have read he's well known for the book reese howell's intercessor he's written many others who am i the spontaneous you the law of faith and the liberating secret being just among a few of them his name is norman grubb he's been a missionary for many years on the mission field as the general secretary of the worldwide evangelization crusade and norman came to a deep understanding of why it is that many christians don't know the success the fair the the victory life that is meant to be a christian's experience and why they're bogged down in failure why they're bogged down in in discouragement and the answer to this he found lies in a real understanding of who we are in christ so we've been discussing this whole subject of what man is who is man and we've seen that instead of having two natures as is popularly believed man in fact only ever expresses one nature at a time and we were talking about the fact that jesus said you are of your father the devil and the lust the desires of your father you will do and that what is popularly known as which is the cause of all of our problems on this earth today is actually the nature of satan expressed through man now norman i want to ask you what is satan he's simply uh the the person is self-loving self see us a self must love itself we're made of love we made with desire so self the right self god loves himself for that pleasure we created but god loves itself by by by giving himself for us he loves himself by perfecting us his his self-love expression self-giving now satan is a self-love express self-getting i'll be from the self remember what happened to you i'll get what i want my own way so satan is simply mr mr self-centered it's a self misused self self for self and i the idea that i'm an independent self i'll i'll run my life for my own ends that's why jesus said if the light within you is darkness how great is that darkness if your light is a self for self is right how great is that darkness that's what the world is world thinks itself for self is right and that's how great is that darkness and so the one problem we have we say satan is people got the queer idea satan is only some murderer runs about burglaring and killing and so on no it's a highly respectable it's selfish itself why do you know because i've been that everyone who i speak everyone here unless you've been born again you already are that now you're geared to separate itself that is satan's character it's in your character at all because you haven't got a character you've got your your appetites the fact that you express the character the deity in you you're a vessel expressing liquid in you the branch expression the vines which you're joined so you are saying then that satan is self-interest he is he is a being who expresses a self that is concerned only for himself yes and that is what is reflected in man when he indwells man that man then becomes a self for self yes and that means i can actually be mr nice guy yes that's the problem the the subtlety of that word in the good jealousy it's not just a tree of evil it's true not good and evil so there's an evil good what evil good good done for self-interest and all are good before we have christliness is done with self-interest basis so very evil are very good it's still full of evil because it's it's a it's a self-centered good it's self-centered this is the evil it isn't the good it's self-centered any pose evil nothing's wrong with itself it's only the spirit that's in it when the spirit is self-centered in interest this is the trouble is so satan is just he take any form of highly respectable person but the interest the basis of that life is selfish itself which is true of all of us until the revelation has come to us and the change has taken place and this in fact then is what repentance is all about when we come to an awareness of the fact that that we have been expressing satan's nature yes uh this is god's beautiful way with us uh it's first way he must take a means of exposing to us that we got we got uh this mistaken concept of life this divert this uh perverted concept of life he does that uh by what the bible talks about is the law which came through moses like we talk about the ten commandments now the reason is this we did say previously uh humans were stolen by satan he didn't make them we're preciously wonderfully made by god they're a bit of as beautiful uh bible even says we all have our being in god because our very being our human being is the expression of god because of that deep down we all know what we ought to be every human being that we ought to love one another we ought to have laws which which which which uh help we ought to as nations on uh to be in brotherhood we all know uh the ideals of life it's love and brotherhood we we we can't attain it but that means other than you know what we ought to be because we can we're in basically uh we're lost beings we're lost we're prodigal sons uh but underneath you know what we ought to be now then god says his law he says his laws moses say well if you want to be you ought to be that then you shouldn't lie you shouldn't have false witness you shouldn't murder so then the purpose of the law is to show us what we are yes uh uh yes to show us what we uh i was going to say i'm not because we ought to be keep us in the law it shows we're not by the law is the knowledge of sin not knowledge of righteousness because uh the law says you shouldn't do these things but but because satan's self-getting nature he laughs at you can't stop that you i'll make you tell now you need to you can't stop it you do the things that interest you so the law exposes us as as sinners that's the first stage of the wisdom and love of god um uh to expose sin it has to be a law because the world the world doesn't recognize god so they don't call it sin we call them mistakes we call alcohol or these things mistakes or something not mistakes at all because sins against god it's only when the law comes says uh this is this is the eternal reality you're breaking the eternal reality then we call it sin now once god through the law exposes the fact that we are sinners he shows us that we cannot live up to to the standard what is his solution to the sin problem in man first of all he can only show it to us partially on the external level because we the bible says that the spirit the god of this world in us has blinded us so we're ignorant we don't know we're under his control we don't know this inner satanic nature expressed through us we can't see as deeply as that so the only first impact of law on us is not what we are inside what we are outside otherwise it pinpoints uh sins theft murder lie adultery hate idolatry and so on that's all you can see so its first impact on us it is uh a consciousness we have committed outer sins and then the bible has shown us that that uh if you've broken the law you're under condemnation but the bible calls you out of the curse of the law um and um you have the the the the destiny of which of uh lawbreakers under god's condemnation and says in the book of revelation that caused the lake of fire and so on um so the effect of the law is to give us a um uh an outer sense of our guilt because it is in a sense it comes from inside we're not dealt with what's inside us we're in fact we've done certain things which have the that their consequences the consequences are death and hell so you're saying that at first god merely reveals to us the fact that that we've committed certain acts of sin yes at first we don't realize that indeed it's our nature which is a problem that's right so he doesn't deal on that level uh he deals the act of their consequences curse guilt wrath condemnation the great white soul the judgment cast out into everlasting fire uh the bible expression is uh everlasting destruction from the presence of the lord or the glory of his power or where the worm dieth not the fire is not quenched um these are expressions in the bible of uh of uh this this uh condition we're in in the hands of satan um it's our hell really it's our own self-centeredness but it takes all those different forms it takes um now how does god begin to deal then uh with that problem of sin once he's brought us to awareness of the fact that we have committed these sins um that awareness is as it's the fear of the lord which is beginning with it isn't the wisdom it's the beginning of wisdom the fear of the lord is fear that we're in wrong um wrong relationship to god it even presented to us first of all as if it's god angry with us it isn't angry with us in the sense of of punishing us we punish ourselves it's angry with us being such fools as to be in the house of the devil um so the the wrath of god isn't something in god it's something we get because we are in the being of god misusing their being and so the consequence is where within us as our hates and our fears are all produced at their effect and their destiny now the way in which uh god has brought um this first stage of deliverance within our reach is by his outer coming of his own son in the the the gospel record of jesus christ and um uh we see him coming as god and uh see the kind of person he was um and the fact that he and uh accepted death because he represented us on our behalf and then rose again uh and uh paul explains that to us um that uh uh in one phrase that sets us on the sharing of the blood of christ um uh in whom we have redemption through his blood even the forgiveness of sins whom god has set forth to be appreciated through faith in his blood why blood because uh blood is it's a word which has and should have an unpleasant connotation because it's um it's an indication of the life of a person so in the old levitical sacrifices the law was never never take the blood don't never eat the blood the blood's the life when you make a sacrifice don't uh don't ever participate in the blood because the blood is the life now the uh uh other meaning of that was that uh to present to us the fact that when when it was seen on on calvary when lord jesus christ hanged there was crucified and died and the the soldiers came up and according to their ways in those days they broke the legs of a cruel system of the of the criminals who hadn't died to quicken their death when the soldier came to jesus he didn't break his legs he said that man's died and as a kind of evidence i suppose he touched his fear into his side out came blood and water and uh that blood therefore is the shedding of the evidence he really died so this is where the whole gospel begins then in the fact of man as a sinner and of christ death to atone for those sins but there's a lot more to it than that yes because there is the body side of the cross there is how we ourselves died in in christ on that cross and we're getting into that in our next program we're on the station five days a week monday through friday be sure to join us in the meantime write to the address in just a moment and request union life magazine until next time this is david ord