God gave the children of isreal laws to guide them walk with Him and these laws or instructions were shadows of heavenly realities. One of the laws as seen in Deuteronomy chapter 21:18-23 is a type of spiritual that God was still to bring to light the time of regeneration.

In Deut 21:18-21, a case of an incorrigible son and how to handle him is well explained. The only option for the parents to take in this case after applying all necessary measures of correction was to hand him over to the elders to deal with him and the final judgement was death.

Gal. 3:13,14 tell us the place where the death on the cross is the only way for our sinful nature so this passage of the scripture is similar to Deut 21:21

…..so shall you put away the evil from among you.

Self is just like a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother and who when they have chastened him will not heed to them. Once he has chosen a course of action, he cannot change. His habits are hard to break hard and unbinding.

He is also rebellious. He opposes everything and every instructions of his parents. He is insensitive to any plea from the mother, his lifestyle is different from that of his parents. No measure of chastening helped him rather he become more hardened.

“A carnal mind is enemy enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be, so then they that are in the flesh cannot please God” Rom 8:7-8(KJV)

Self takes delight in keeping rules and regulations of “touch not”, “taste not”, “look not”, “handle not” in which He will boast of his holiness and self discipline. He will condemn others and will take for granted the grace of God because He is devoted to God already. Col. 2:20-23

No human effort can deal with the human nature-self. Even when you discipline or pamper, him, determine to change or make resolutions, the flesh remains flesh with all his original contents. Only Jesus Christ can deal with Mr flesh.
Self takes pride in spiritual gifts, wants to lord over others instead of using the gifts to serve them. Even the grace of God upon his life is something he uses to condemn others for whatever God has helped him to do. He also takes the glory that should be given to God for excelling in any work. Self is indeed stubborn and rebellious.

What to do with self is in vs 19a of Deuteronomy chapter 21:

“Then shall his father and his mother of lay hold on him…”

The issue of dealing with self is a personal issue,. In the case of the stubborn and rebellious son, the father and the mother had lay hand on him not any other person. So as the owner of yourself, you are the one to lay hold on yourself because you know where it pinches you. You know your weakness and pitfalls.

Do not pamper self, lay hold firmly on the works of the flesh in your life. Use the word of God to examine your life, don’t explain away any manifestations of the works of the flesh. Don’t mind its defence and cover up with blanket of religion: for example, praying, fasting, giving and what have you. Self will always show sign of remorse because of embarrassment but no repentance. Don’t pity self, lay him down.

Image source

After laying hold on their son, they brought him out. Vs 19b say

…..And bring out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place.

This point is extremely important because if self is allowed the privacy of darkness or covering, he thrives. When Adam ate the fruits, the first manifestation of self was for him to cover his nakedness with leaves. Self hates exposure so THE LORD demands”…bring him out”. To conquer self, he must be exposed and to the right people

“…And bring him out to the elders…”.

Image source

The Lord Jesus Christ is the only Elder that can successfully terminate your self-life. Don’t hide your self-life take it the Lord and say.

“..this our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice, he is a glutton, and a drunkard”. Vs 20

Start your handing over notes from where self troubles you and say to the LORD Jesus “this myself…” you are the one to confess your sins as you pin-point the various manifestations of self in your life to Him in a feeling of deep sadness. You dare not cover any sin otherwise you will still be under the bandage of self. Give the LORD the freedom to handle this self in the best way He wants and that is by putting him to certain death Deut. 21:21-23

God bless you as you do according to his word. Amen

Thanks for visiting my blog

I am @you34

Posted using Partiko Android