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Selfish “Christianity” 49

April 25, 2017

John 6:26 Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.

Philippians 2:19 But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, so that I also may be encouraged when I learn of your condition. 20 For I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare. 21 For they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus.

John 7:7 “The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil.

John 15:24 “If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well.

Romans 5:10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

And when, in addition to these measures, the general strain of what is said to sinners is adapted to work upon their selfish feelings and animal passions, as most of what I have heard has been, and some of it extremely well adapted to work up those feelings to a high pitch, it would be strange if some affections were not excited which they might readily mistake for true religion. When God is represented as desiring their salvation, without the least qualification, and that his desire for it is infinitely strong, what impenitent sinner, that has the least seriousness of mind, is not prepared to be pleased? If “sinners love those that love them,” as our Lord assures us, they can love such a being as God is represented to be, without any change of heart. A God of all mercy, is just such a God as sinners desire. Will it be said that his justice is also brought into view, and that the terrors of hell are exhibited? True; but in what light are they exhibited? Is it not commonly in a light to which the selfish heart will as readily accord?

WILLIAM R. WEEKS.

The claim that has been set forth in this Blog is that the selfish heart is really trying to be as God, that is, it is trying to play God to self and others. The selfish heart serves self in all it does and self is its primary motive in all it does. The selfish heart will be very religious and have words and works that proclaim a service to God, but the heart of that person is really serving self. When a person is unconverted, then the more religious the person is then the more the person is using religion and God to serve self. This should show us that the most religious of people can be those who have more of self and that the self is the god of that person.

This is very hard for people to accept, especially with the whole heart. It is a terrifying and awful thing to realize that “I” have been so very religious for such a long time have been in the depths of idolatry the whole time. It is a sickening thing for a minister to realize that he has preached for self and has done all he has done in the ministry for self. It drives the minister to utter despair when he sees that he was so concerned to be a good preacher and yet his concern was for the honor and reputation of self. It will make the minister sick to his stomach of himself when he sees that he has prayed for self and counseled for self. In the most religious of our actions we can serve self and in the most religious of our actions we can play God to self the most.

It is easy for a fallen heart to deceive itself regarding its exalted feelings about religious self and the god it has worked up in the image of self and think it loves God and serves God. It is easy for the religious self to think that it is loved by God despite the evidence because it loves self no matter what. It is imperative that we understand that a selfish heart will and can turn the evidence about itself as it wants to and it will interpret evidence about itself in terms of itself. The selfish heart has a god that it has invented out of a heart of self-love and so when it judges itself by its god it will always be like its god. This is a vicious way of deceiving our own hearts.

When the selfish heart comes up with a god that mirrors its own understanding and love, the selfish heart will of course love that god because it is nothing but a way of loving self. When a selfish heart reads the Bible or is informed about sin, that selfish heart will judge itself by itself and will find nothing wrong. The selfish heart is the god of self and so as the judge of self it will not find much wrong as it will always justify itself. This is once again the selfish heart playing god to self and in doing so it is at enmity with the living and true God. The living God demands our whole heart as a total sacrifice to Him and it is to do all out of love for Him. When the selfish heart serves self with its whole heart, it is at enmity with God with its whole heart.

But again, and not in an effort to state something over and over, but this is so vital. The most religious person in the world that is not regenerate is perhaps the most idolatrous. The minister who speaks well and does so with charisma, charm, giftedness, and with an orthodox understanding may in fact be at the height of idolatry. God judged the Israelites harder than He did the rest of the world and that is because they had more truth of Him than the others did and so they rejected more of Him than the others did. Not only can the minister be idolatrous, however, but entire churches (in name) and denominations can be given over to the pursuit of selfish things rather than the true things of God. Entire churches (in name) that pursue self are simply groups of people who have the same idol of self and they reflect that idol to each other. They can tag that selfish heart with orthodox names and they can tag the god that reflects self with orthodox names, but all they do is enmity toward the true God.

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Selfish “Christianity” 48

April 23, 2017

John 6:26 Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.

Philippians 2:19 But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, so that I also may be encouraged when I learn of your condition. 20 For I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare. 21 For they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus.

John 7:7 “The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil.

John 15:24 “If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well.

Romans 5:10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

And when, in addition to these measures, the general strain of what is said to sinners is adapted to work upon their selfish feelings and animal passions, as most of what I have heard has been, and some of it extremely well adapted to work up those feelings to a high pitch, it would be strange if some affections were not excited which they might readily mistake for true religion. When God is represented as desiring their salvation, without the least qualification, and that his desire for it is infinitely strong, what impenitent sinner, that has the least seriousness of mind, is not prepared to be pleased? If “sinners love those that love them,” as our Lord assures us, they can love such a being as God is represented to be, without any change of heart. A God of all mercy, is just such a God as sinners desire. Will it be said that his justice is also brought into view, and that the terrors of hell are exhibited? True; but in what light are they exhibited? Is it not commonly in a light to which the selfish heart will as readily accord?

WILLIAM R. WEEKS.

The selfish heart has self as its own god and is in the service of self. The devil promised the original couple that they would be like God or as God and that is what enticed them. We can also see from Psalm 51 and II Samuel 12:9-10 that when David sinned in the matter with Bathsheba and Uriah her husband that this was his sin. David’s sin was not so much in what he did with Bathsheba and to Uriah, but in what he did to God. This is not always what man is conscious of, and in fact it is rare for something to know that sin is directly against God, but that is the very essence of sin. The essence of sin is that in some way it is against God, yet that is precisely what a selfish heart is and what comes from a selfish heart. A selfish heart desires to be as God and as such what it does it does against the living and true God whether it is conscious of that or not.

II Samuel 12:9 ‘Why have you despised the word of the LORD by doing evil in His sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the sons of Ammon. 10 ‘Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’

Psa 51:3 For I know my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me. 4 Against You, You only, I have sinned And done what is evil in Your sight, So that You are justified when You speak And blameless when You judge.

The passage in II Samuel (just above) shows us God’s view of things as He spoke through Nathan the prophet. The words of God to David were that David had despised God in doing what he did. It was David who planned the execution of Uriah, though indeed he was miles and miles away and Uriah was killed in battle. Nevertheless, the Lord said it was David who killed Uriah with the sword of the sons of Ammon. It was David who committed adultery with Bathsheba. The words of God were brought to David and his sins of adultery and murder were declared to be specifically against God.

Psalm 51 shows us David’s confession. In confessing his sin he said that his sin was against God and God only. It is when we begin to understand the nature of sin that we start to understand the grievous nature of sin as being against God. This is precisely what a selfish heart is. The selfish heart is directly opposed to God in terms of who He is and in terms of His doing all for Himself. Bathsheba was God’s and not David’s. Uriah belonged to God and not to David, even though he was king. David belonged to God and not to David. King David sinned when he thought he could take the place of God and take Bathsheba to himself and take the life of Uriah. David played God in a very real sense in this whole sordid matter. David’s selfish heart desired Bathsheba over God and he took her. David’s selfish heart desired the life of Uriah for his own purposes and he took that. David’s selfish heart desired to have things for self rather than do all for the honor and glory of God. His selfish heart played God, his selfish heart ignored the Word of God, his selfish heart justified his sin, and in all that David opposed God and played God.

While it may be easy to see the sin of David, it may not be so easy to see our own. While we may not commit adultery and have the power to use the military to execute people in battle, we can see how David did so. It may also be that we have justified our sin as David did and that is why we cannot see it. When we justify our sin by coming up with reasons and excuses for it, that is simply our selfish hearts playing God. The living God never makes excuses for sin and we have no right to do so. We are never given the right to do anything but do all we do to the glory of God. We should see David’s confession as a pattern for us rather than shake our heads at him. All of our sin is a despising the Word of God. All of our sin is a despising of God Himself as well. A selfish heart is in direct opposition to God playing God and making decisions to do things that God has forbidden. A selfish heart loves self when we are told to love God with all of our being. A selfish heart seeks self when we are to seek his glory. How awful is the sin of a selfish heart! Have you really and truly been broken by God for your own selfish heart?

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Selfish “Christianity” 47

April 21, 2017

John 6:26 Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.

Philippians 2:19 But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, so that I also may be encouraged when I learn of your condition. 20 For I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare. 21 For they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus.

John 7:7 “The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil.

John 15:24 “If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well.

Romans 5:10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

And when, in addition to these measures, the general strain of what is said to sinners is adapted to work upon their selfish feelings and animal passions, as most of what I have heard has been, and some of it extremely well adapted to work up those feelings to a high pitch, it would be strange if some affections were not excited which they might readily mistake for true religion. When God is represented as desiring their salvation, without the least qualification, and that his desire for it is infinitely strong, what impenitent sinner, that has the least seriousness of mind, is not prepared to be pleased? If “sinners love those that love them,” as our Lord assures us, they can love such a being as God is represented to be, without any change of heart. A God of all mercy, is just such a God as sinners desire. Will it be said that his justice is also brought into view, and that the terrors of hell are exhibited? True; but in what light are they exhibited? Is it not commonly in a light to which the selfish heart will as readily accord?

WILLIAM R. WEEKS.

The statement of William Weeks just above is also quite demonstrative of the power of the selfish heart in its opposition to the true God. The selfish heart will twist the teachings of the Bible to fit it and its own desires. Some of the teachings it can twist quite easily, but others it must work harder to do so. Either way, the selfish heart will not have the true God in its mind and so it will invent one to fit its own selfish imaginations.

Following the order of the quote above, we can see that the selfish sinner changes God from being God-centered to being centered upon the sinner. In other words, the sinner is now sovereign over his own salvation rather than being in the hands of a sovereign God. The selfish heart represents God as desiring for the sinner to choose Him and be saved rather than that the sinner must be changed to desire the true God. The selfish heart must change the nature of the true God to love him or her first so that the sinner can then love God, but the reality of the matter is that the sinner must have a new heart in order to love God. The selfish heart will not change its essential selfishness though it will change morals or outward behavior, but instead it will change who God is so it will not have to change.

The selfish heart will see in the Bible that God is a God of great mercy, but what it does is change that mercy from a sovereign mercy in Christ to a mercy that will be shown to the sinner when the sinner desires and is always available to the sinner when s/he desires it. The selfish sinner will not have a God of perfect justice but will have a god who is just to some degree but not enough to send a selfish sinner to hell or that will bring judgment on the selfish sinners sin. The selfish sinner does not mind hearing certain things about hell as long as it is a watered down hell, or perhaps even taught in some orthodox way, but it will not have a hell for which it is liable.

The selfish heart opposes the truth of who God is but at times it does so in such a way that it is not obvious to people, and especially not obvious to selfish hearts which love a God that loves them and leaves their selfish hearts alone. As long as there is a version of Christianity which leaves the selfish heart untouched it can be popular. Versions of Christianity that focus on the selfish heart can be wildly popular, though it is nothing but the spawn of hell. The devil, as a selfish being, does not care if people are religious and even very religious as long as they are selfish. This is so hard for people to get into their thinking. The devil does not just go around and try to get people to be as outwardly wicked as he can, but instead he also gets people to be as religious as they can and in doing so he deceives them. It is the selfish heart that is opposed to God whether it is outwardly wicked or outwardly religious and very devout. The selfish heart is the child of the devil whether it is openly wicked or is a very devout appearing minister.

The devil is at home in selfish hearts and he reigns and rules there. He dwells in those selfish hearts through pride and self-seeking. He loves the morality of the moral and the religiosity of the religious. He loved to work with and in the Pharisees as much as those who lived flagrantly sinful lives. He loves to work in popular evangelists and the health and wealth ministers as much as in those who are openly sinful in Hollywood. He can deceive the selfish hearts in many ways and so he uses many ways. The evangelists of the devil can wear white suits and can be quite charming and nice. The evangelists of the devil can also be orthodox in many ways, but of course we are told not to judge. If the Lord will show us and drive it into our hearts that selfish hearts can be religious and very religious, we will never see things the same way. A selfish heart is incompatible with true Christianity regardless of how religious a person that has that selfish heart is. A selfish minister and selfish leaders can gain many, many followers, but so can many other forms of religious leaders. We must be wise and we must seek the Lord for wisdom in these things.

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Selfish “Christianity” 46

April 19, 2017

John 6:26 Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.

Philippians 2:19 But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, so that I also may be encouraged when I learn of your condition. 20 For I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare. 21 For they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus.

John 7:7 “The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil.

John 15:24 “If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well.

Romans 5:10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

And when, in addition to these measures, the general strain of what is said to sinners is adapted to work upon their selfish feelings and animal passions, as most of what I have heard has been, and some of it extremely well adapted to work up those feelings to a high pitch, it would be strange if some affections were not excited which they might readily mistake for true religion. When God is represented as desiring their salvation, without the least qualification, and that his desire for it is infinitely strong, what impenitent sinner, that has the least seriousness of mind, is not prepared to be pleased? If “sinners love those that love them,” as our Lord assures us, they can love such a being as God is represented to be, without any change of heart. A God of all mercy, is just such a God as sinners desire. Will it be said that his justice is also brought into view, and that the terrors of hell are exhibited? True; but in what light are they exhibited? Is it not commonly in a light to which the selfish heart will as readily accord?

WILLIAM R. WEEKS.

A selfish heart hates God and all that He really is. A selfish heart will oppose God and all He really is. Romans 1:18-32 also teaches us that men suppress the truth of God and God judges that by turning them over to hardened hearts which deny Him even more. Since the truth of God has indeed been revealed to men in ways that they cannot deny fully, what we have then is a constant work in the hearts of men to deny the true God. If the previous statements are true, then clearly we have a lot of people who are involved in religious activity who are busily denying the truth of God. A selfish heart will deny the truth of God and must deny the truth of God because of the nature of that heart which is opposed to God. The selfish heart is a heart that is by nature opposed to the things of God though it is not opposed to the things of religion.

Ephesians 2:1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

In the passage just above (Eph 2:1-3) we see a great description of the selfish heart living in opposition to the true God. The selfish heart is dead to spiritual life and to living by the grace of the true God and as such it is dead in trespasses and sins. The very nature of sin is that it does all it does in opposition to the glory of God. The selfish heart lives according to the course of this world because the course of this world is selfishness. The course of this world is that it goes according to the prince of the power of the air and that prince lives in the power of selfishness and works that in his children who are sons of disobedience. The lusts of the flesh that people live in are the lusts of the selfish heart. The desires of the flesh and of the mind are the desires of the selfish heart.

When someone speaks the words of God regarding the true character of God to a selfish heart that selfish heart will rise in opposition to that God. We will make a great mistake if we think of the desires of the flesh and of the mind as consisting only in gross sexual sins, but instead the desires of the flesh and of the mind can be religious things as well. The selfish heart does not just want to dismiss God entirely, but it wants to change Him to be something the selfish heart can deal with and that the selfish heart can love. The selfish heart will love a god that loves it and will leave that selfish heart alone.

A selfish heart will go after the teaching concerning the true God and water it down to where it can love the god of its own imaginations. The selfish heart can love Arminian theology and it can love Reformed theology as long as it leaves the self untouched. Some selfish hearts can love a version of Christianity that will allow it be legalistic which is really to live by its own power and righteousness. Some selfish hearts can love a version of Christianity that will allow it to be academic which is to live quietly and seek honor through writing books. Some selfish hearts can love a version of Christianity that is very moral, which is once again in the power of a selfish heart which can take pride in its morality. Some selfish hearts can love a version of Christianity which is Reformed or orthodox in doctrine, outwardly moral, and yet essentially leaves the heart untouched. This does not mean that the heart is not mentioned or talked about, but it is essentially untouched and people can have their theology and morality and go on in their visible church lives thinking that they are on the road to heaven. Oh what a wide swath that selfishness has cut through Christianity!

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Selfish “Christianity” 45

April 17, 2017

John 6:26 Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.

Philippians 2:19 But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, so that I also may be encouraged when I learn of your condition. 20 For I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare. 21 For they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus.

John 7:7 “The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil.

John 15:24 “If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well.

Romans 5:10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

And when, in addition to these measures, the general strain of what is said to sinners is adapted to work upon their selfish feelings and animal passions, as most of what I have heard has been, and some of it extremely well adapted to work up those feelings to a high pitch, it would be strange if some affections were not excited which they might readily mistake for true religion. When God is represented as desiring their salvation, without the least qualification, and that his desire for it is infinitely strong, what impenitent sinner, that has the least seriousness of mind, is not prepared to be pleased? If “sinners love those that love them,” as our Lord assures us, they can love such a being as God is represented to be, without any change of heart. A God of all mercy, is just such a God as sinners desire. Will it be said that his justice is also brought into view, and that the terrors of hell are exhibited? True; but in what light are they exhibited? Is it not commonly in a light to which the selfish heart will as readily accord?

WILLIAM R. WEEKS.

The nature of a selfish heart is seen early on in the Garden. It was the promise of the devil that the man and the woman would be as God. This desire to be as God is seen in each sin and it is also seen in the enmity of the heart of fallen man toward the true God. Man always wants to be like God and in that desire to be God to self man sins and seeks himself and his own glory. God is self-existent and has no need for anything or anyone. God exists in and of Himself as triune and since He has no need there is no one who can do anything for Him and assist Him in any shape, form, or fashion.

The selfish heart, however, does not want to submit to the living God from whom all things come. The selfish heart wants to be like God in being self-existent in some way, so it fights God and does not want to be totally reliant upon Him in all things. Man wants to take credit and glory in his own work and in his own religion. Selfish hearts seek glory and honor by the power of self and as such seek to be like God in a sense by having all their religion come from self. Men are righteous in a way that comes from self and in that they are trying to usurp God as being the only source of true righteousness. Preachers want to glory in their preaching as if there can be such a thing as true preaching that comes from them rather than received from God. Preachers want others to glory in their preaching rather than to glory in the God who is supposed to be preached.

Selfish hearts are like the Pharisees in wanting to establish laws that self can keep and that self is pleased with. Again, this is an effort of the selfish heart to be like God. The selfish heart will search the Bible and old religious books to find laws and ordinances that it can keep that will make religion within its own power. The selfish heart may not understand what it is doing, but it is always watering down true religion and making rules it can keep so that it does not have to depend on the cross of Christ completely. The selfish heart does not want to rely upon free-grace alone and as such it will find a way of grace that depends on it just a little if not more than just a little. The selfish heart wants a gospel that it can control by accepting and that it can talk people into, but again this is nothing more than enmity against the true God who is sovereign over all things.
The Arminian and the modern Calvinist (Arminian in practice) are really cut from the same cloth. They do not want to rely upon God alone for all things. They seem to think that relying upon God alone for all things is some form of Hyper-Calvinism, but in reality relying upon God alone is simply the biblical message. The selfish heart, however, does not want to depend on God to break it and to humble it. The selfish heart does not want to rely completely upon the grace of God to give it faith. The selfish heart does not want to look to free-grace alone for all things as it wants to be able to do some little something to move God to save it. The selfish heart does not want to be so broken that it has no plea from itself and no strength to do anything. The selfish heart simply refuses to die to all of self and so wants a god and a gospel to fit that.

The problem with that, however, is that there is no god like that and no gospel close to that that will actually save sinners. However, the selfish heart will cling to a god like that and a gospel like that in order to retain something of self. The selfish heart does not want to be broken and it does not want to be crushed so that it is dead to self. The selfish heart will resist this in all ways at all times. It is much like a religious wife who knows that she is to submit to her husband as to the Lord and yet self is there and she will only submit when she feels like it. In that way the selfish heart will submit in many things and at many times, but it will not bow down to the Lord Jesus Christ and submit completely and totally.

Interestingly enough, however, the selfish heart may hear that self must be denied and it will set out to do that. As is clear from the situation, however, when self is moving the selfish heart to deny self it is not self that is being denied. It is the true and living God that is being denied as only He can break the proud heart and overpower the self by His grace. Self will always try to be like God even when it is trying to deny self. Oh that the Lord would break our hearts of self by grace alone and give Himself to us by His grace alone.

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Selfish “Christianity” 44

April 15, 2017

John 6:26 Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.

Philippians 2:19 But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, so that I also may be encouraged when I learn of your condition. 20 For I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare. 21 For they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus.

John 7:7 “The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil.

John 15:24 “If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well.

Romans 5:10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

And when, in addition to these measures, the general strain of what is said to sinners is adapted to work upon their selfish feelings and animal passions, as most of what I have heard has been, and some of it extremely well adapted to work up those feelings to a high pitch, it would be strange if some affections were not excited which they might readily mistake for true religion. When God is represented as desiring their salvation, without the least qualification, and that his desire for it is infinitely strong, what impenitent sinner, that has the least seriousness of mind, is not prepared to be pleased? If “sinners love those that love them,” as our Lord assures us, they can love such a being as God is represented to be, without any change of heart. A God of all mercy, is just such a God as sinners desire. Will it be said that his justice is also brought into view, and that the terrors of hell are exhibited? True; but in what light are they exhibited? Is it not commonly in a light to which the selfish heart will as readily accord?

WILLIAM R. WEEKS.

The very heart of Christianity is the life of Christ in the soul of men that He has purchased by His blood. When Christ lives in that soul, His Spirit is united to the soul of the person and so that person loves. A selfish heart, however, has no ability to love God and to truly love fellow human beings. Scripture teaches us that apart from true love (which comes from God) there is nothing we can do that is good, which is clear evidence that a selfish heart (which loves self and all things for self even when doing things for others) is the very opposite of true Christianity. The heart that is at enmity with God cannot at the same time truly love God with a love that God gives that soul. If it is true as Scripture teaches that all spiritual blessings are in Christ, then assuredly a selfish heart that does not love is not blessed of God.

One of the intents of this series of postings on this Blog is to try to show just how opposite of Christianity that a selfish heart is and yet also try to show just how prevalent selfishness is in the professing churches. As you cannot have ice cold boiling water, so you cannot have selfish Christianity. The selfish heart will take on a religious disguise and will give itself to many works for the sake of religion, yet the selfish heart must be born again to be a heart that is delivered from selfishness as its ruling power. The selfish heart can take on a religious disguise and become a minister or a seminary professor and yet do all for the sake of self without the slightest bit of love for the true God. The selfish heart can be deceived into thinking that it is doing all out of love for God and yet it is the god that self has dreamed up out of the heart of self.

The natural man is born dead in sin and by nature a child of wrath. That is a selfish heart and apart from the new birth that actually happens to that person (not just hear about it and believe it as a doctrine) there is no salvation regardless of how religious a person becomes. Jesus said a person must be born from above and He said that to one of the most religious people in that nation. A person can have the best of educations, but that does not mean that the person is born from above. A person can have the best of confessions, but that does not mean that the person is born from above. A person can be a popular minister and be a conservative minister preaching the externals of the truth, but that does not mean that the person is born from above. It is possible to be all of those things and still have a selfish heart that is a stranger to the new birth.

Jesus taught us that the new birth occurs to a person not because of the bloodline or birth status, not because of the will of any person’s flesh, and not because of the will of man. People are born from above because of the will of God (John 1:12-13). If a person cannot be born from above because of the will of the flesh, then the selfish heart cannot be born again because it wills so. The Gospel includes the glorious new birth and this promise of giving people a new heart is a promise to deliver them from the bondage of a selfish heart which is to have the devil as a father. As long as a person has a selfish heart that person will oppose God and His Gospel and will settle for that which is the opposite of God and the truth of who He is. The selfish heart is at enmity and the gospel that is preached in most of the churches today is consistent with the selfish heart and as such is not consistent with the character of God.

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Selfish “Christianity” 43

April 13, 2017

John 6:26 Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.

Philippians 2:19 But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, so that I also may be encouraged when I learn of your condition. 20 For I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare. 21 For they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus.

John 7:7 “The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil.

John 15:24 “If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well.

Romans 5:10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

And when, in addition to these measures, the general strain of what is said to sinners is adapted to work upon their selfish feelings and animal passions, as most of what I have heard has been, and some of it extremely well adapted to work up those feelings to a high pitch, it would be strange if some affections were not excited which they might readily mistake for true religion. When God is represented as desiring their salvation, without the least qualification, and that his desire for it is infinitely strong, what impenitent sinner, that has the least seriousness of mind, is not prepared to be pleased? If “sinners love those that love them,” as our Lord assures us, they can love such a being as God is represented to be, without any change of heart. A God of all mercy, is just such a God as sinners desire. Will it be said that his justice is also brought into view, and that the terrors of hell are exhibited? True; but in what light are they exhibited? Is it not commonly in a light to which the selfish heart will as readily accord?

WILLIAM R. WEEKS.

The enmity that the natural man has toward God will lead the natural man to have an enmity toward the true Gospel of God and the Gospel of the glory of God. The true Gospel is not just a message of how man can be saved, but it is a message of how the true God of glory saves to His own glory and according to His own sovereign pleasure. The true Gospel is not that God has done everything He can and now waits upon man to make a choice, but that God must still do it all and that man waits upon God to work as He chooses.

The proud heart of man loves to hear how God earnestly desires his salvation and longs for him to be saved and is just patiently waiting for man to make a choice. The proud and selfish heart of man will believe that God loves him and cannot believe that God will send him to hell for his little miscalculations and misdeeds. But again, what man does not see when the true God is not set forth and the true Gospel is not proclaimed is that his heart is at enmity with God and the true Gospel. The “gospel” that the heart with enmity toward the true God is a “gospel” that the selfish heart will accept, is pleased with, and will allow a person to keep self.

Men believe that they are preaching the Gospel when they preach things about the Gospel. Men believe that they are preaching Christ when they are preaching things about Christ. Some seem to believe that they are preaching Christ when they use the word “Christ” in their sermons. Some seem to believe that they are preaching the Gospel because they use the words “Gospel” and “cross” in their sermons. What people seem to be blinded to in our day is that the true Gospel of Jesus Christ is always aimed at the true state of man and when the true state of man is not set out the true Gospel will also not be set out and proclaimed.

When man is approached as if he was neutral in the matter and all he has to do is make a decision or say a prayer, the true Gospel has not been preached. When a man sees something of his inability and something of his selfish heart that he needs to be delivered from, then the true Gospel can be preached. The true Gospel is that God saves by grace alone and not because of anything in man or anything man can or must do. It is by free-grace and free-grace alone. Man must be delivered from his selfish heart and his enmity toward God. This is why we see in Romans 5:10 that it is the enemies of God that are reconciled to God through the death of Christ. It is not for people who are neutral to God that Christ has died for, but He has died for the enemies of God and for those who hate Him. Christ came to die for sinners and not the righteous, which is to say that He gave Himself in the place of the enemies of God in order to reconcile them to God.

In the true Gospel we have a Gospel where all things are provided as a gift of God. Sinners cannot come up with true faith on their own, though they can be greatly deceived by a faith worked up by self, but instead part of the Gospel of grace alone is that faith is a gift of God and comes from a regenerate heart. Instead of putting the work of faith upon sinners, which indeed the selfish heart is willing to do, the work of faith (John 6:29) is the work of God. Instead of putting sinners upon the work of repentance, what sinners must see is that it is self that they must repent of and that is the work of God.

While this is something of a panoramic view of the Gospel, we must see just how self is involved in all of this and how it must be dealt with in order to deal with the true nature of sin and the true Gospel. It is not just that men commit acts of sin that are against the law and so they must be saved, but men sin because they have selfish hearts that are opposed to God and are at enmity with God. Sin is not just the acts that men commit, but instead it flows from a heart that hates God. Sin is not just a mistake; it is an act of enmity against the living God. The Gospel is not just to make up for little wrongs and mistakes, but it is to reconcile enemies and take the enmity (selfish hearts) away and gives men Christ as their life that they may love the true God.

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Selfish “Christianity” 42

April 12, 2017

John 6:26 Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.

Philippians 2:19 But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, so that I also may be encouraged when I learn of your condition. 20 For I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare. 21 For they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus.

John 7:7 “The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil.

John 15:24 “If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well.

Romans 5:10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

And when, in addition to these measures, the general strain of what is said to sinners is adapted to work upon their selfish feelings and animal passions, as most of what I have heard has been, and some of it extremely well adapted to work up those feelings to a high pitch, it would be strange if some affections were not excited which they might readily mistake for true religion. When God is represented as desiring their salvation, without the least qualification, and that his desire for it is infinitely strong, what impenitent sinner, that has the least seriousness of mind, is not prepared to be pleased? If “sinners love those that love them,” as our Lord assures us, they can love such a being as God is represented to be, without any change of heart. A God of all mercy, is just such a God as sinners desire. Will it be said that his justice is also brought into view, and that the terrors of hell are exhibited? True; but in what light are they exhibited? Is it not commonly in a light to which the selfish heart will as readily accord?         WILLIAM R. WEEKS.

In this little series on the enormous topic of selfishness I hope it is clear that a selfish heart stands opposite of each of the petitions of the Lord’s Prayer and stands against each of the Ten Commandments when the Ten Commandments are seen as displaying God and His own glory as the core and center of them. It is also the selfish heart that stands in opposition and with enmity to all the attributes and rights of God. The selfish heart wants to use God for self and will twist and attribute of God to make it like the selfish heart wants it to be so that the selfish heart can think that it loves God.

The sovereignty of God is perhaps the clearest example of this. Since the Bible uses the word “sovereign” in terms of God then all religious people who hold to Scripture will agree that God is sovereign. However, the selfish heart cannot stand the fact that God is really and truly sovereign and so it opposes the truth of that and settles for a diminished idea of sovereignty that is more suited to allowing the selfish heart remain selfish. People will seek for Christ as long as they can seek Him for something that will suit their selfish hearts. People will be very religious and seek religiosity and the ministry and yet they will do that in seeking their own interests rather than the interests of Christ.

The selfish heart can love a so-called Gospel as long as it is a gospel that is suited to the selfish heart. When the “Gospel” is preached in such a way that it suits the selfish heart, the selfish heart will hear it gladly and perhaps accept it as far as a selfish heart can do so. When the selfish heart thinks that God loves it and longs for and desires for its salvation, it will love that God of its own imagination. When the selfish heart hears of a “Gospel” that is within its own power to accept or reject, it will love that “Gospel” as well. When the selfish heart thinks that all it takes is a decision for it to make in order to be saved, the selfish heart will make that decision (it thinks).

However, when the true Gospel is preached the selfish heart will hate it because the true Gospel is the glory of God shining in Christ Jesus. The true Gospel is that God saves sinners as He pleases and He saves them according to His glory. The true Gospel is that God saves sinners quite apart from anything in them or that they can do and only saves them because of Himself. The true Gospel clearly teaches us that it is not of those who will or those who run, but it is all of the mercy and grace of God according to His mere pleasure. When the true Gospel of God is preached the selfish sinner will hate it because the true Gospel is all about the truth of God Himself.

It may be that some people will accept the fact of the attributes of God and even teach about them, but they do not love the truth of those attributes when they begin to find application to selfish hearts. People love to hear of God saving them and others, though what they love to hear is of themselves not going to hell (they think). True salvation is being saved from love to self and given the love of God in the soul. True salvation is not just a message about salvation; it is of the living God really and truly changing hearts and giving them the life of God in the soul. The selfish heart is at enmity with God, at enmity with the Gospel of God, and at enmity with the application of the Gospel of God to the selfish heart.

The “Gospel” that pleases the selfish heart is not the true Gospel of the true God. This is one of the huge differences between the gospel that the Arminian preaches (and practical Arminians) and the Gospel that the God-centered preacher of God preaches. Note that the issue is not just between a professing Arminian and a professing Calvinist, but it is about whether the preacher is truly God-centered in his preaching and preaches a true free and sovereign grace.

The Arminian and the Calvinist (in theory) can join together and preach the same “Gospel” as long as it is a selfish “Gospel” that leaves the self intact. The theoretical Calvinist becomes an Arminian at the point of the application of the Gospel to the selfish heart. The theoretical Calvinist is an Arminian when it comes to the distinction between selfishness and non-selfishness. The theoretical Calvinist is an Arminian when it comes to how helpless sinners are in the hands of the living God. As long as God must be watered down to make Him acceptable to the choice of selfish sinners the true Gospel will not be preached and it is Arminian at best. This is why there is no such thing as a selfish “Christianity.” Selfishness changes the Gospel to a non-gospel and the true God to an idol that is acceptable to the selfish heart.

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Selfish “Christianity” 41

April 10, 2017

John 6:26 Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.

Philippians 2:19 But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, so that I also may be encouraged when I learn of your condition. 20 For I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare. 21 For they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus.

John 7:7 “The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil.

John 15:24 “If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well.

Romans 5:10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

And when, in addition to these measures, the general strain of what is said to sinners is adapted to work upon their selfish feelings and animal passions, as most of what I have heard has been, and some of it extremely well adapted to work up those feelings to a high pitch, it would be strange if some affections were not excited which they might readily mistake for true religion. When God is represented as desiring their salvation, without the least qualification, and that his desire for it is infinitely strong, what impenitent sinner, that has the least seriousness of mind, is not prepared to be pleased? If “sinners love those that love them,” as our Lord assures us, they can love such a being as God is represented to be, without any change of heart. A God of all mercy, is just such a God as sinners desire. Will it be said that his justice is also brought into view, and that the terrors of hell are exhibited? True; but in what light are they exhibited? Is it not commonly in a light to which the selfish heart will as readily accord?            WILLIAM R. WEEKS.

The selfish heart is something like a powerful stream of water. It has a source, it follows a specific path, it takes in from things around it, and it overpowers all that is in its path. The selfish heart has a father and that father is the devil. The selfish heart flows from a sinful and fallen nature that is all about self and love for self. The selfish heart follows the path of self and there is nothing it does not do that is not for self, though indeed this can be hidden under the guise of religion or perhaps of service. The selfish heart uses all things around it for self and only “loves” those people and things around it when things are for self. The self is so powerful that there is no other motive (not that it has one) or intent that can be obtained while this powerful flow of self is flowing.

True Christianity, on the other hand, has a source that is God Himself. True Christianity follows the path of true love as set out in Holy Scripture. True Christianity looks to spread what is truly good (the glory of God) to all around it and whatever it does it does to His glory. The power of Christianity is in the power of the Spirit and the power of true holiness and love. From this simple little illustration it should be extremely clear that what is of self is not Christian and what is Christian is not of self. The two cannot be joined, which means that there is no such thing as selfish Christianity. Jesus taught that people must deny self in order to follow Him.

The tenth commandment teaches us that the Christian heart is not to covet. The selfish heart will covet the money of others, the possessions of others, the spouses of others, and the honor and position of others. The Christian heart is to be content with what God gives it and be content with Him. The Christian heart is to love others and celebrate with others when God grants blessings to other people, whether those blessings are physical or spiritual. But again, you can see how opposite true Christianity is from a selfish heart. This is not to say that true Christians are perfectly free from self because they are not. They must battle self all of their lives. However, the selfish heart does not battle with self but is given over to it.

We can try to imagine a selfish heart and a Christian heart in the same pew or row of chairs on Sunday morning. What will move one heart and what will move the other? The selfish heart is moved by the things that it covets or desires. When the speaker “preaches” things that the selfish heart desires, it will love that god and that preacher. As long as the god that is preached loves the selfish heart and desires what the selfish heart thinks is good for it, that selfish heart will be very religious and will love that false god and preacher.

On the other hand, the Christian heart is moved by what it loves. It is moved by hearing of its Beloved (Christ) and the wonders and majesty of God. The Christian heart loves to hear of spiritual things and all about the kingdom of God and His glory. When the Christian heart does not hear of the glories of God as set forth in the Gospel of Christ, even if it is promised many things, it does not rejoice. When the Christian heart hears the outward things of the Gospel preached and yet it is preached in a selfish way, it knows that it is not hearing the true Gospel.

In this little picture we see what a professing Christian loves and what a selfish heart covets. The selfish heart longs for and desires a god and a gospel that is all about it and the good of it just as it is. The selfish heart wants to remain selfish and wants to be the center of it all. That is because the selfish heart is a coveting heart and longs for and desires all things for self. The Christian heart has denied self (not perfectly) and has Christ as his or her life. The Christian heart loves God above all and desires all things for God. The selfish heart longs to be forgiven of its sins that it may not go to hell, but the Christian heart longs for forgiveness so that it may know God in a deeper way. The two hearts cannot be more opposite in terms of its chief love. One can only be turned from a selfish heart by the power of God. One can only have a true love for God by having God as its source. Self will try to mimic true Christianity, but it cannot do so other than in the externals. We must be born from above if we are going to be delivered from a selfish heart and we must have the love of God dwelling in us if we are going to truly love.

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Selfish “Christianity” 40

April 8, 2017

John 6:26 Jesus answered them and said, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you seek Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate of the loaves and were filled.

Philippians 2:19 But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, so that I also may be encouraged when I learn of your condition. 20 For I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare. 21 For they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus.

John 7:7 “The world cannot hate you, but it hates Me because I testify of it, that its deeds are evil.

John 15:24 “If I had not done among them the works which no one else did, they would not have sin; but now they have both seen and hated Me and My Father as well.

Romans 5:10 For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.

And when, in addition to these measures, the general strain of what is said to sinners is adapted to work upon their selfish feelings and animal passions, as most of what I have heard has been, and some of it extremely well adapted to work up those feelings to a high pitch, it would be strange if some affections were not excited which they might readily mistake for true religion. When God is represented as desiring their salvation, without the least qualification, and that his desire for it is infinitely strong, what impenitent sinner, that has the least seriousness of mind, is not prepared to be pleased? If “sinners love those that love them,” as our Lord assures us, they can love such a being as God is represented to be, without any change of heart. A God of all mercy, is just such a God as sinners desire. Will it be said that his justice is also brought into view, and that the terrors of hell are exhibited? True; but in what light are they exhibited? Is it not commonly in a light to which the selfish heart will as readily accord?                     WILLIAM R. WEEKS.

We must always remember that the traditions of men are not always very false, but they can be close to the truth. Every time we study the Bible we must remember that something must be changed. We will twist the Bible just a little or a lot to fit our own selfish hearts or our hearts must be changed to conform to the truth of God shining out in and through the Scripture. Sinners lie to themselves and others in order to attain a level of comfort and the way they do that is to change the truth of God into a lie (Romans 1). Men love to hear of a god that loves them and desires their salvation and that without any change required of them. Men love to hear of the grace and mercy of God as long as that grace and mercy has nothing to do with their real and true repentance.

We must notice that man is always changing for the worse and as he does that he is also changing his views of God. This is the nature of sin in that the self-centered and proud heart of man will always want to adjust the truths of God so that man can remain as he wants to be. The selfish heart cannot believe that God would want it to change so it manufacturers a god in its own image so that it will not have to change. The selfish heart loves the god it thinks is like it and will not require a true change of heart. The selfish heart loves the god of its own imagination because it is a god that loves it and desires all things that the selfish heart desires.

The selfish heart is a heart that is full of lies about itself, about God, and about other people. The selfish heart hates the truth of God about God and itself. The selfish heart is full of self and full of love for self and longs for others to love it as it is, so it loves others only to the degree it thinks it is loved and will only love the god it imagines as long as it thinks that god loves it. The selfish heart wants to be like God and as such will imagine a god that is like it in some way. Of course that god will not demand anything beyond what the selfish heart can do in its own power. Of course that god will not be truly sovereign and that god will show grace as the sinner pleases rather than show grace as He pleases.

It cannot be overstated that the selfish heart will not have the true God in its understanding and as such when a selfish heart is religious it will not have the true God rule over it. The selfish heart comes up with its own religion quite apart from the Bible though it may not admit that. The selfish heart will use whatever it can find in order to have a religion that will suit it and it can be comfortable with while remaining a selfish heart. We must know that the selfish heart hates God and lives in direct opposition of the ninth commandment as it relates to sin and as it relates to the true God. The selfish heart is at war with God and will try to bring Him down to its level.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is of the true God and the gospel that pleases the selfish heart is a lie that flows from a lying heart. We must know and come to grips with the truth of this. While ministers will declare a false gospel across our land and multitudes may love that, the true Gospel is not one that selfish hearts will love. The true Gospel is not just rejected, but it is lied about and distorted. The selfish heart longs for a gospel that is not the true Gospel. The selfish heart loves to hear of things that are false as long as salvation remains in the control of a selfish heart and as long as it is loved as it is.

Philippians 2:19 But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy to you shortly, so that I also may be encouraged when I learn of your condition. 20 For I have no one else of kindred spirit who will genuinely be concerned for your welfare. 21 For they all seek after their own interests, not those of Christ Jesus.

When a minister is selfish, then all he does comes from a selfish heart. His preaching and all he does is not for the interests of Christ and His people, but it is all for his own interests. What happens when men preach and teach and minister (in name) for their own interests? They are liars to themselves and others about God, about themselves, and about others. At the very core of the issue the selfish preacher wants to be a god to himself and to others. He wants people to glory in him rather than the true God. He wants people to admire Him rather than God. He will lie about God or tell the outward truth of God in order to gain the attention of others to his orthodoxy and to his talents. A selfish heart is a terrible thing and it is at war with true Christianity regardless of how close to the external truth it is. The selfish heart is always lying about true Christianity and as such it leads people astray.

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