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TOPIC: Gordon, Samuel Dickey - Quiet Talks About the Tempter (Other Topics in this Collection)
SUBJECT: 028. The Spirit That Won
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The Spirit That Won
In sharpest contrast with this is the spirit that controlled Jesus when living His human life among us. It was a spirit of selflessness, a spirit of utter self-abnegation. He did not go to the unwise extreme of neglecting what was needful for His strength as a man. He surely did not over-use His strength though that was one of His constant temptations, as with the man now who feels the needs of others pressing in so sorely upon him. For the sake of these multitudes He conserved His strength that He might minister to them the better. The whole spirit of His life was for others.
And underneath that was something deeper, explaining that. He had a passion for the Father. In the place of the passion for self was the God-passion. And if you will mark it very keenly this was revealed most in the obedience of His life. This is the very inner heart of the Jesus-spirit—obedience. This was the one unfailing warp into which all the cross threads of His earthly life were woven.
Cut in underneath at any point in His character, and this is the controlling motive. He reveals His passion for the Father in this—His glad, full obedience to the Father, no matter what it meant. The obedience reveals the passion. The passion found its full expression in the obedience. That passion and obedience were revealed much in the Nazareth life, but most on Calvary. The obedience was not simply in life, but unto death, even the worst sort of death that could be devised, with all the horrible cruelties and indignities that sin could think of. The sacrificial spirit is the very heart of the Jesus-spirit. Not seeking sacrifice, but yielding to it, as it comes in the pathway of obedience.
This is the innermost spirit of the Jesus-spirit—the passion for the Father, which leads to utter self-obliteration in the good sense, in a life of glad obedience, even to the point of keenest suffering and severest sacrifice.
This sharp contrast between these two spirits will help us to understand the defeat of Satan, how crushing it was, and further it points out the way on our side, and the only way whereby he can be defeated on the battlefield of each of our lives.