In the most recent Berean Search Light, Pastor Sadler writes a piece entitled "The Twilight of Grace". In it, as it typical of Sadler's doctrine, there are portions of it that are solid and others that are not. Is it just me or does anyone else feel like Sadler just tries too hard? He seems to over react to things and ends up coming off corny, reductionist and quite unsatisfying really.
Let's look at a portion of Sadler's article as an example of what I'm talking about....
The difference is not a small one! The “old man” was crucified with Christ, but that does not mean the person God created in His image is worthless or to be despised. It means the sinful nature, inherited from Adam, has been judged and put to death in Christ. To say that the believer’s self is nothing but sin is to do the opposite of what Paul teaches. It is to resurrect what God has already crucified and identify with our flesh rather than Christ and to ignore the newness of life Paul so carefully describes in Romans 6.
The self is not identical with the flesh. The self is who you are. The flesh is that corrupted principle of sin that once enslaved you. Notice that Pauls says, “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live” (Gal. 2:20). He does not vanish as a person. He does not become worthless. Rather, he lives as a new man in Christ, freed from bondage to the flesh and made alive to God.
If we collapse self into flesh, we end up preaching a hyper-humility that may sound pious, but effectively denies the resurrection. It tells believers to despise themselves rather than to reckon themselves dead to sin and alive to God. It forgets that Christ did not come to erase humanity but to redeem it, not to obliterate the self but to transform it into His image. The Cross killed the old man, yes. Yet the Resurrection raised a new man, alive in Christ. That is who you are now. Not flesh, but a new creation. Not worthless, but valued by God at the price of His own Son.
Now, of course pride is just as wrong as self-loathing. Our self-worth comes from our identity in Christ not from anything in and of ourselves. The Laodiceans said, “I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing.” In other words, they were satisfied with themselves. They were confident in their own sufficiency. Yet Christ cuts right through that illusion and declares their true condition as being "wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked", which is precisely the condition we cannot find ourselves in because Christ's righteousness has been imputed to us but, the point here being, we have to remember that it's been imputed not acheived by our own strength.
So Sadler has it backward! It isn't the we are not to esteem ourselves, it's that we, because of Christ, are the only ones who have any right to do so!
Let's look at a portion of Sadler's article as an example of what I'm talking about....
“For men shall be lovers of their own selves.” As we approach the end of this age, men will become more and more self-centered. A case in point is the present-day teaching of self-love, self-esteem and self-worth. The influence of this unsound teaching has nearly permeated every strata of Christianity today. Like the beat of a drum, this theme is heard almost constantly from the pulpits of America, and frequently appears on the pages of Christian literature. Beware when you hear or read: “It is important to feel good about yourself,” “Learn to love yourself,” “Probe your innermost being to understand why you think and feel the way you do,” “God sent His Son to die for you because you are of great value.” Satan never rests in his insatiable desire to corrupt the Word of God. On the surface these phrases may seem admirable, but in reality they are diametrically opposed to the Scriptures. The above has been weighed in the balances and found to be wanting. For example: “The heart [innermost being] is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jer. 17:9). Paul concurred when he said, “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) [old nature or self] dwelleth no good thing...” (Rom. 7:18).
The old man (self) is at enmity against God (Rom. 8:7). He hates God and the things of God, and left to himself he will not seek God. The Scriptures, from beginning to end, speak with a unified voice that the old nature is rotten to the core (see Rom. 3:9-18). Consequently, our old man (self) has been crucified with Christ. Paul made reference to this when he wrote to the Galatians, “I am crucified with Christ [i.e., his old nature]: nevertheless I live [Paul’s new nature]; yet NOT I [self], but Christ liveth in me....” We are to put off the old man and put on the new, which is created in holiness and righteousness (Eph. 4:22-24). It is futile to attempt to improve one’s self-image, especially since God abhors any attempt to do so. Rather, we are to conform ourselves to the image of His dear Son (Rom. 8:29).
With that said, those of the household of faith are to live accordingly: “Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves” (Phil. 2:3). Self takes great pleasure in acclaim, indulgence, approval and praise—it glories in all these things. But are we not robbing God when self is esteemed more highly than His glory? “What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s” (1 Cor. 6:19,20). Shall we permit the “love of one’s self” teachings to overshadow the love of God in Christ Jesus? God forbid! May God help us to stand against this insidious satanic philosophy. - Paul Sadler - "The Twilight of Grace" - Berean Searchlight August 2025
Notice that Sadler equates the flesh with the self, as if Paul were telling us that everything about who we are is corrupt to the core. This is a serious mistake. Paul never says the self is evil, he says the flesh is.The difference is not a small one! The “old man” was crucified with Christ, but that does not mean the person God created in His image is worthless or to be despised. It means the sinful nature, inherited from Adam, has been judged and put to death in Christ. To say that the believer’s self is nothing but sin is to do the opposite of what Paul teaches. It is to resurrect what God has already crucified and identify with our flesh rather than Christ and to ignore the newness of life Paul so carefully describes in Romans 6.
Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it? 3 Or do you not know that as many of us as were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into His death? 4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
5 For if we have been united together in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that we should no longer be slaves of sin. 7 For he who has died has been freed from sin. 8 Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him, 9 knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more. Death no longer has dominion over Him. 10 For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God. 11 Likewise you also, reckon yourselves to be dead indeed to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus our Lord.
The self is not identical with the flesh. The self is who you are. The flesh is that corrupted principle of sin that once enslaved you. Notice that Pauls says, “I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live” (Gal. 2:20). He does not vanish as a person. He does not become worthless. Rather, he lives as a new man in Christ, freed from bondage to the flesh and made alive to God.
If we collapse self into flesh, we end up preaching a hyper-humility that may sound pious, but effectively denies the resurrection. It tells believers to despise themselves rather than to reckon themselves dead to sin and alive to God. It forgets that Christ did not come to erase humanity but to redeem it, not to obliterate the self but to transform it into His image. The Cross killed the old man, yes. Yet the Resurrection raised a new man, alive in Christ. That is who you are now. Not flesh, but a new creation. Not worthless, but valued by God at the price of His own Son.
Now, of course pride is just as wrong as self-loathing. Our self-worth comes from our identity in Christ not from anything in and of ourselves. The Laodiceans said, “I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing.” In other words, they were satisfied with themselves. They were confident in their own sufficiency. Yet Christ cuts right through that illusion and declares their true condition as being "wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked", which is precisely the condition we cannot find ourselves in because Christ's righteousness has been imputed to us but, the point here being, we have to remember that it's been imputed not acheived by our own strength.
So Sadler has it backward! It isn't the we are not to esteem ourselves, it's that we, because of Christ, are the only ones who have any right to do so!
