We are continuing to look at God’s motives in salvation. We are looking at this primarily from information revealed to us in Scripture. The issue of God’s motives is very important. We know how important motives are for human beings. The goodness or badness of the outward act, though important itself, is determined by the motives. If I saved a person from drowning, that would normally be thought of as a good thing. On the other hand, if I saved the person to the glory of Satan that would not be a good thing in terms of my motives. If I saved a person from drowning in an effort to gain glory and honor, then I would have saved them for a selfish reason and that is the same thing as idolatry. I am commanded to do all things out of love for God and all things are to be done for His glory. What is motivated by anything other than love for God and His glory is a sin in the motives and the heart.
When we look at God’s motives in salvation, we are looking at His highest and purest intentions in saving sinners. From the human point of view we think that the greatest thing that God can do is to save sinners from hell. That is the view of a fallen man who has fallen so far from seeing and loving God that he thinks that what is good is determined by what happens or does not happen to himself. In other words, man views things in terms of himself rather than in terms of God. Man now determines what is good or bad as how it relates to himself rather than God. So when man thinks of salvation, he looks at it in terms of himself and how it benefits him. He thinks of salvation as being all about man and sees it as good mainly because it keeps man from paying for his own sin in hell. Man can think of no higher motives in God than His doing something to benefit man. We must also continue to keep the issue of Augustinianism and Arminianism in our minds as that is the overall point of the discussion. The reason that God’s motives are important in this context is that the Gospel is of grace alone. The motives of God should help us see the issue of the will in a different light. If God is motivated to save sinners by an act of man’s free-will, then salvation is not totally motivated by God’s love for Himself and so is not totally of grace,
There are many texts which tell us what motive God has in forgiving sins. A few verses are given to demonstrate the prayers and desires of those men who desired God. Notice that their prayers were for His name’s sake. Only a few will be listed below, but enough will be given to get the point across:
Psalm 79:9 – Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Your name; And deliver us and forgive our sins for Your name’s sake. 106:8 Nevertheless He saved them for the sake of His name, That He might make His power known.
Isaiah 43:25 – “I, even I, am the one who wipes out your transgressions for My own sake, And I will not remember your sins.” 48:9 “For the sake of My name I delay My wrath, And for My praise I restrain it for you, In order not to cut you off. “For My own sake, for My own sake, I will act; For how can My name be profaned? And My glory I will not give to another.
Jeremiah 14:21 – Do not despise us, for Your own name’s sake; Do not disgrace the throne of Your glory; Remember and do not annul Your covenant with us.
Ezekiel 20:9 – “But I acted for the sake of My name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations among whom they lived, in whose sight I made Myself known to them by bringing them out of the land of Egypt. 14 “But I acted for the sake of My name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations, before whose sight I had brought them out. 22 “But I withdrew My hand and acted for the sake of My name, that it should not be profaned in the sight of the nations in whose sight I had brought them out.
Ezekiel 36:22 – “Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD, “It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went.
Daniel 9:19 – “O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive! O Lord, listen and take action! For Your own sake, O my God, do not delay, because Your city and Your people are called by Your name.
God Loves... Himself 
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