God Loves… Himself

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 little less than a century ago J. Gresham Machen wrote a book in which he showed that Liberalism was not Christianity. There are many liberals who call themselves Christians and think that they are, but if one is liberal (theologically) one is not a Christian. No matter how much a theological liberal may be to true Christianity, a theological liberal is simply incompatible with being a Christian. The same thing is true about a selfish heart and Christianity. The selfish heart will use the things of Christianity in order to deceive others and self about it being a Christian, but a selfish heart is simply and clearly incompatible with being a Christian. One could say that a person must be born again in order to be delivered from the reigning power of a selfish heart. One can also say that when a person becomes a new creature it has been delivered from the old selfish heart and is now new in terms of having the true God reigning in it by Christ.

There are many outwardly good people and many nice people who are theologically liberal and say that they are Christians, but they have defined things and moved things in order that they may claim Christianity for themselves. The same things is true of the modern Pharisee or those with selfish hearts. They will claim conservative Christianity and they will claim the creeds and so on just like the Pharisees did, but they do so from a selfish heart rather than love for God. These men do all of their religion out of selfish interests (interests of self) rather than having a love for the interests of Christ. The selfish minister may be a really good speaker and may speak with great feeling about the things of Christianity, but that selfish minister has as his greatest love the self and the things of self. In doing so, that minister preaches, teaches, and prays for self instead of God. This means that the selfish minister is in violation of the First Commandment with each word he utters from the pulpit week after week.

The point in “picking” on ministers is to show just how far men will go in their selfishness without true Christianity. True Christianity does not consist in external knowledge, external words, and external morality. True Christianity consists of broken hearts with Christ Himself dwelling in those hearts. The proud religionists will look down on true Christianity since it does not fit with their selfish hearts and the ways that they have watered down and the traditions they hold. But again, apart from Christ the First Commandment cannot be kept. The First Commandment is impossible to keep apart from the life of Christ in the soul and yet the religious person thinks that s/he is keeping it in his or her own strength. This is simply appalling to the highest degree. All that the religious person does in the very highest acts of his religion is done for self rather than for the living God. In doing that, the person’s self is the god that the person is bowing down to and as such is having another god in the presence of the true God.

The point of this, once again, is to take some pains to try to show how a selfish heart is totally incompatible with true Christianity. The selfish heart serves self and not Christ. The selfish heart loves self and not Christ. The selfish heart prays for self and not Christ. The selfish heart preaches for self and not Christ. The selfish heart reads the Bible for self and not Christ. The selfish heart evangelizes for self and not Christ. The selfish heart does good deeds for self and not Christ. The selfish heart is moral for self and not Christ. The selfish heart refrains from outward sin for self and not for Christ. The selfish heart, therefore, uses the things of God and God Himself to serve self. The selfish heart loves self and is its own god. May God break our hearts from using the things of religion for self to where all we do is out of love for Him and as such for Him to be our God in truth.

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 (full of self-love and pride) is a heart that is directly opposed to God and all that God is and does. It is a heart that is not just opposed to God to some degree, but it is opposed to God with all of its being. The selfish heart hates God whether it recognizes this or not. The selfish heart is fully at enmity with the living God, though it can do this through religion. The selfish heart will even demonstrate its enmity with the living God by conservative religion and even with good deeds. The selfish heart can be opposed to God and demonstrate hatred for God from the pulpit of a conservative church or denomination. While a minister in name may indeed be deceived or deceive himself, that minister is a seeker of self down deep in the heart as he preaches his conservative creed and his conservative morality.

The minister that is governed by a selfish heart (his own) may indeed be quite fierce in his religion and in his conservative brand of that religion, but all of that fierce conservative religion can be a hiding of his own heart from himself and others. A selfish heart can be greatly involved in a building program ostensibly in the name of the glory of God. A selfish heart can be greatly involved in “evangelism” ostensibly for the glory of God. A selfish heart can be greatly involved in the local church and in a denomination and ostensibly for the glory of God. But all of those things can be ways the heart is trying to hide its enmity toward the true and living God. The selfish heart hates the true God and yet it makes efforts to hide that by using religion in the name of God. But of course in some way that selfish heart is always trying to water the truths of God down.

The selfish heart is indeed trying to suppress the truth of God in unrighteousness though indeed many do that with religion and even conservative religion. The selfish heart makes great efforts at hiding itself from itself and a great way it does this is using the outside of conservative religion while watering down the heart of it. How deceptive our hearts are. What we must come to understand is that the First Commandment stands for the great truth that God is God and man is not, but the selfish heart is another god and it is a god to itself before the living God. The selfish heart is nothing but a god to self and it is an arrogant heart before the living God as it serves self and seeks the glory of self. That horrid god within us stands opposed to the true God and is always trying to find ways to hide itself from others and self and so many do this in the ways of conservative religion. The way of the Pharisee did not die in biblical times, but instead the Pharisee is quite alive and very strong in each heart. The way of the Pharisee (the way of self and the religion of self) is the way of conservative religion and even a very moral religion. The way of the Pharisee is to rely on the traditions of men though it gives outward reverence to the Bible.

Let us think through the passages of Scripture listed above again. What do they teach us about religious men? They teach us that religious men seek Jesus for things for self rather than seeking Christ for Himself. Ministers can preach things about Christ, preach things about the Gospel, and preach the Bible quite accurately but only do so for self. These men will use the creeds, the Bible, and the name of God for their own selfish interests rather than the glory of God. It was the most religious men (Pharisees) who opposed Jesus and hated Him and His Father the most. It was the most religious men who kept trying to find out their own laws and their own morality and they had their own traditions in the name of Scripture. The selfish heart is in constant disobedience to the First Commandment in all of its religion. It is in constant disobedience to God with every religious act, every sermon, every prayer, and every good deed. Oh how we must be awakened to our selfish hearts if we are going to love the true God in truth and love!

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.

One vital issue regarding the nature of a selfish heart is to realize that it is not just something objectively true, it is something true of each and every person. It is not enough to know that it is true; I must know that it is true of me. Not only that, I must know that only the Spirit of Christ can teach me the depths of how true this is of me. A true conviction of sin regarding my own selfish heart is necessary to a broken heart and a true humbling of the heart. This is not just an intellectual doctrine that one must know about, it is one that must be driven into the depths of the heart and that I must be brought to realize something of the awfulness of self.

By analogy we can see this in the nature of preaching. A preacher is not preaching just because he is giving something of an exposition of the text. A preacher is not preaching the Gospel just because he is using the word “gospel” a lot. A preacher is not preaching the cross of Christ just because he uses the word “cross” a lot. He is also not preaching because he uses the word “Jesus” a lot. It is also not preaching to simply speak of redemption and the things of redemption. In order to preach the Gospel of Jesus Christ and of Christ Himself one must have the Gospel driven into the soul and so preaching becomes the experienced Gospel of the one preaching. Rather than just speaking about the things of Christ, and perhaps doing that with some degree of feeling, one must have a broken and humbled heart in order to preach the Christ who lives there. In other words, there is a huge difference between speaking about Christ and preaching Christ from the heart and to the heart. This is one reason why there is such a lack of preaching in the modern day. Men settle for what can be said about the Gospel rather than having the Gospel in the depths of their soul. They also settle for knowing about Christ rather than preaching the living Christ as their own lives.

In the same way selfishness reveals to us the very heart or depths of sin as we should feel them or experience the reality of them. Yes, it is a sin to lie, but selfishness reveals us why lying is such wickedness and why it is so evil. A selfish heart lies because it is covering up for self or it is twisting the truth for the sake of self rather than doing what it does out of love for God and others. But again, the basic knowledge of this heart that is full of self-love and self-centeredness cannot be known by just knowing about it. The Lord Jesus Christ must Himself open up our eyes and show us the depths of this selfish heart. He does this by the work of the Spirit who shows us the horror of our own hearts and what it feels like to see ourselves completely and totally undone. It is one thing to know the depths of my inability by the intellect, but it is quite another when the Spirit of the living God shows you (me) that apart from Him nothing truly good can come from me. Our hearts can only be moved by self unless Christ works in us His spiritual fruit. The anguish that is felt by the religious soul when Christ works and opens up the eyes of that soul and it sees that everything it has ever done was from love of self and not love of God. Oh how the soul feels the pain and utter despair of self when it is shown by “taste” that every religious thing that it has ever done was done for self rather than for Christ.

Conviction of the Spirit for sin is not just an intellectual thing with some little something felt, it is something that goes to the very depths of the soul. There is pain involved in feeling the weight and guilt of sin. There is a weight on the soul when it sees that all of its righteousness melting away into mountains of sin. The soul feels the burden of it and begins to see and understand that it has nothing but love for self and pride for motives and motivations. It sees that it has hated God in all it has done. The soul is horrified with self and knows that it is worthy of everlasting hell and it will know that nothing but the sovereign grace of God will every save it. The soul will see that any act of its own will would be nothing but more love of self and more selfishness. The soul must be awakened, but it does not deserve to be awakened. The soul must be convicted of this sin by the Spirit, but it deserves to be hardened and blinded rather than convicted. It is the mercy of God to convict the soul of its desperate state in deadness and selfishness. We should seek the Lord to convict us of the terrible wickedness of our own hearts and ask Him to deeply wound us that Christ may be applied. But again, we deserve none of this and we should seek it from the Lord in that way.

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.

One definition of sin as given in Scripture is that we all fall short of the glory of God, which is to say our sin is in not glorifying God in all we do. This is a profound teaching of Scripture and it teaches us that we are to live and do all for the glory of God. What we don’t do for the glory of God we do out of a motive that is greater than our motives for God. What motive would a selfish heart have to do anything? That selfish heart can only have motives from a selfish heart and cannot have a higher motive than that. Sinners desire all that they desire out of motives of self. Religious sinners desire God out of selfish motives as much as anyone desires anything else for selfish motives. Motives that are moved by self-love and self-interest are not motives that can possibly be for the glory of God, and thus all that a selfish heart does is fall short of the glory of God.

The biblical narrative of Isaiah in chapter 6 of that book has many profound teachings in it. If we can limit ourselves to one observation, however, we will notice something very important here. When Isaiah saw the Lord sitting on His throne, Isaiah began to pronounce woes upon himself. In the light of the holiness of God, Isaiah saw that the earth was full of the glory of God and yet he saw his sin in light of that. Isaiah saw that he was not a man who had spoken for the glory of God even though he was a prophet and as such he saw that his lips were vile and wretched. In light of the glory and holiness of God, Isaiah’s self-righteousness crumbled and he saw that he had not lived to the glory of God. He saw that he had fallen short of that glory. Due to reasons for space, several passages point us to that in the book as well. Isaiah was horrified when he saw his own selfish heart.

The selfish person seeks self rather than the glory of God, though it will happily do whatever religious service or words that it can do with the words of glory on its lips it will seek itself. The preacher will preach with vigor and energy and yet his selfish heart hopes that others will see that he is preaching that way. The preacher will preach orthodoxy, yet his selfish hearts wants to be known as orthodox. Until preachers are broken from seeking their own glory, they will not preach to the glory of God. It may be that the vilest person on this planet is an orthodox preacher who preaches for fame and honor rather than the glory of God. If the greatest is the least among us, then the least is the proud who seeks self.

While the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever, the selfish heart is something different. The chief end of the selfish heart is self and the enjoyment of self and the honor of self. We must confront our own heart in this and not just think it is others who do this. Again, the chief (primary, most important) goal of man is to glorify God. That should resonate through our souls as we examine our own hearts in this matter. What is it that my selfish heart truly desires in my religious actions? Oh no, don’t flee from the sight of your vile heart and of the conviction of the Spirit. It is not that people must know that their chief end is the glory of God, but it must really and truly be the chief desire and motivation of their hearts. Oh how the vile in the land preach to their own glory and make themselves their own chief end rather than God! Is it not true that men preach themselves rather than God?

Oh how men will preach something they think of as the gospel and do so in order to get converts down the aisle and all to the glory of their own ministry! Think of the horror of a heart that does that. Think of what that selfish heart will bring on judgment day. Think of what happened to Isaiah and then what will happen when selfish sinners see to their own horror that they prayed for their own glory, preached to their own glory, and evangelized others to the glory of their own names. Imagine the horror of those who used God and His name for their own selfish purposes. Now of course few see that in their own hearts today, but the reality of it will be seen on that day. When selfish hearts desire the glory of self, those hearts have bowed down to self and are in full worship of self and that in the presence of God. That is true of religious people as much if not more than anyone else. But again, if God has turned the professing “Christianity” of our day over to self, then most professing “churches” in our day is nothing but a gathering of selfish people in worship of a god in their own image and so they are in worship of self.

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 importance of this particular view of sin is enormous. Without some understanding of this teaching of Scripture, we will make mistakes regarding the nature of Christianity, the nature of sin, and the nature of conversion. Involved in those, of course, is the absolute need for people to understand the nature of their own depravity and of how a selfish heart can deceive them and they will not see the difference between biblical Christianity and the outward acts of it. This is a teaching that gets at the true spiritual nature of Christianity, yet without it many religious people will think that orthodoxy and good works are the real thing. While it may appear that these are exaggerations, I would argue that these are actually understated.

A selfish heart cannot see the truth of God without hating it and yet it will try to use false gods to excuse itself and make a way to please that false god. The selfish heart will use forms of Christianity that are acceptable to the selfish heart, though indeed that is not true Christianity. Preachers are satisfied with sermons that are orthodox but do not get at the selfish heart. Preachers are satisfied with sermons that speak of outward sin and even of inward sins, but when this point is ignored the very heart of sin is ignored. When Christ is preached and the character of God is set forth, a selfish heart will hate the true God and yet it will love a false god. We must not make a mistake at this point, though this is not saying that we must be perfect in it. A selfish heart will always hate the true God, the true Gospel, and the truth about itself. This is why so much teaching today waters these great truths down and this is why so much of what is taught today is not Christianity but is selfish “Christianity” which is to say it is missing the very heart of true Christianity.

The last sentence by Weeks in the quote above is perhaps as telling as any statement on this issue. Even the doctrine of hell can be preached in a way that selfish hearts will agree with and is in accord with selfish hearts. This should give people great pause. If hell is in accord with what selfish hearts will willingly accept when presented in a certain light, we should know that the message of the Gospel and the doctrines of the Gospel can also be presented in a light which selfish hearts will accept and perhaps love. This must not be ignored as it points to a great weakness in the modern practice of preaching and of teaching. People will willingly accept orthodox teaching, even the hard teachings, as long as it is presented in a way that makes it palatable to the selfish heart. The selfish heart must be exposed and shown to be what it really is rather than ignored and allowed to deceive the soul all the way to hell based on a religious profession.

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 quote by Weeks above in light of the Scriptures quoted hits the heart with power. There is simply no denying that the human heart will love to hear of a god that loves all equally and has all mercy. The human heart loves to hear of a god that loves him or her at all times just as the person is and will accept the person into heaven just as the person is. The human heart loves itself and all who it thinks loves self, so when the god that is so often portrayed to it loves that self the human heart will love that god. How the sinful heart loves to hear of the god that does not require a change of heart and leaves it all up to the human will to decide. The doctrine of hell is presented at times, but as Weeks says even that is presented in such a way that the selfish heart is not really threatened.

It is easily seen at this point how necessary it is to teach and preach the great truths about God as displayed in Christ. It is also easy to see just how necessary it is to preach these to religious people as well. The selfish heart is always trying to hide itself from others and itself in some way, and religious things is a primary way it tries to hide itself. The selfish heart cannot be hidden from the truth of God in Christ, yet this is what is going on within seemingly the vast majority of professing “Christianity” today. The selfish heart can pray to be forgiven of its sins because it does not want to be punished for them, but the selfish heart cannot even truly pray for forgiveness of sins. The heart that loves God wants to be forgiven of sin in order that God would be glorified and that He would dwell in the soul and so the soul can walk with God. The heart that loves God wants God and His glory and as such wants to be forgiven.

In many places we see the human writers of Scripture crying out for forgiveness for the sake of God. For example, “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” (Psa 79:9). The people of God love God and are concerned with His name’s sake. When the New Testament writers speak of praying in the name of Christ, this is the heart of that teaching. Our hearts must be broken from selfishness (though not perfectly until heaven) or we cannot even truly pray for forgiveness. Only a regenerate heart that has Christ dwelling in that heart as its life and has the fruit of the Spirit can ever truly pray at all.

The forgiveness of sins is not just some little prayer we utter words and God just automatically forgives, but instead it is the prayer of a heart that God has broken and delivered from selfishness (as to reigning power). Our prayer for forgiveness must always be in accordance with the first three petitions of the Lord’s Prayer and as such the cry of the heart must long for His glory and His presence as a motive in that prayer. Selfishness destroys our ability to have a true motive in prayer and without a true motive in prayer there is no true prayer. It does not matter how much people applaud a person’s ability to speak, without true preaching the person is not a true preacher. In the same way, a person can have his or her prayers (words of) applauded by others and yet those words do not make up true prayer.

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 (being full of self, love of self, and guided by selfish interests) is held out in the open for all to see by the Lord’s Prayer (as popularly called). Instead of praying from the heart for God to be hallowed and glorified, the selfish heart longs for self to be revered and glorified. The religious self may pray for God’s name to be treated with reverence and awe and for His name to be glorified, but the only reason a religious self would pray that would be so that others would think highly of the prayer or perhaps for self to admire the religion of self. The horrors and wickedness of self is not seen in the outward words as such, but in the desires and intentions of the heart. In the modern day it is the outward things that have taken over and love for God as the desire of the heart is not thought to be all that important other than some lip service.

Selfishness, as a horrible idol, always wants to be first and that even before God. Selfishness, as should be clear, wraps around the heart and remains with self even in the things of religion and in some ways even more in the things of religion. As can be deduced from the kindness of Jesus toward open sinners and yet apparent harshness toward the Pharisees, there could be more of self and more opposition to the true God in a religious heart than in the hearts of open sinners. This is why there are so many false gospels and false versions of differing gospels in the world. The way of evangelism today is to present a message about God and the Gospel that will not even disturb selfish sinners at all and show them the sinfulness of their hearts and the desperate selfishness of their hearts. The so-called God that is presented is a false god and is pleasing to the hearts of selfish men. Selfish men love the idea of a God who loves them and has done all it takes for them to go to heaven other than believe. Salvation is left in their own selfish hands and hearts and that is precisely what they desire.

Selfish sinners will pray for their God to give them their daily bread and the self will remain undisturbed, but the heart that loves God will pray for God to give it food that it may love Him and live for His glory. The Scriptures teach us that whether we eat, or drink, of whatever we do we are to do it for the glory of God. This is something that the unbelieving heart cannot bear and does not truly want. Even if the religious person prays (says the words out loud) for those things, it is grating to it and it does not truly desire its daily bread so that it may live for His glory. Instead, it desires daily read so that it can live for self and the glory of self. Oh how pleasing to sinful self is the religion of today and of the god that is preached today! Oh how the true God is not spoken of from the average pulpit (and that of conservatives as well) and so the selfish heart goes untouched and does the average religious things for self.

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.

True religion is of the heart and the heart is the dwelling place of the Holy Spirit. Selfish religion is also of the heart but when the Spirit is absent and not working His fruit in the soul there is nothing left to motivate the sinner but self-love. Without the love of God being poured out in the soul of a human being the human being is given over to selfishness whether that is expressed in open sin or strict religion. People can spend hours in something they call prayer without really praying. Self can find things to say that it wants and even throw out some religious terminology, but it will always be motivated by self.

The second petition of the prayer that Christ taught His disciples is a prayer for the kingdom of God. This means that we are to pray specifically for the spreading and welfare of the kingdom of God and also that basic idea is to permeate all of our prayer. We are to seek His kingdom from the heart, and yet when our hearts do not desire His kingdom we are to seek Him to give us that desire. Our hearts and our prayers are to be for the kingdom (reign and rule) of God to expand and grow in the hearts of God’s people and for Him to bring others into the kingdom. It is true that God is absolutely sovereign and nothing happens apart from His sovereign hand, but we are praying for His spiritual kingdom to take over and for men and women to do His will from their hearts.

What is it that a selfish heart desires? What is the only thing a heart given over to self can desire? The selfish heart can only desire something of its own kingdom and if it prays for God’s kingdom it will only be from some selfish motive. Not only are sinners depraved, they are depraved in each part of them. Not only do they have some sinfulness, because of this sinfulness they have no ability to come to Christ in and of their own strength and power. Part of the reason for this is because a selfish heart hates God and will not come to Christ. Another reason is that a selfish heart will do nothing but seek self. Even when selfish hearts seek for Christ in some way, as the people in John 6 sought Christ for food so selfish hearts are unable to do anything but seek self. In other words, they have no ability to seek Christ for Himself but they will always have other reasons for doing so.

The third petition in the instructions of Christ on prayer is that we should see the Father for His will to be done and not our own. It is impossible for a selfish heart to pray that his or her own will not be done, though perhaps some would utter the words. A selfish heart longs for his will to be done and is angry at the sovereign will of God and is angry each time the smallest thing happens that s/he has no control over. Since God’s sovereign will is always done, we can know that we are to pray for His commanded will to be done. However, the key in this prayer is not so much praying for God’s will to be done, but in praying that His will be done and not my own.

This petition teaches us a lot about the heart that truly prays. It is not a heart that seeks the things of self and for the will of self to be done, but instead it is a heart that has been broken and it knows that the will of God is best. It is a heart that has been humbled and it desires Christ more than having the will of self be done. Oh how this is impossible for the selfish heart and so we can easily see that true prayer and true communion with God is far beyond the selfish heart. The selfish heart is opposed to God and the prayer of that heart could only be “my will be done as I please and not Yours unless you are helping me get what I want. The selfish heart cannot pray for salvation or anything else in truth and love. If it is not obvious by now that a selfish “Christianity” is an oxymoron, then I am not sure what could convince a person. If Christ came to deliver sinners, then sinners must be delivered from the heart sin of self if they are to be saved. This does not mean that Christians are completely unselfish, but it does mean that they are not under the complete control of self and are submitting to Christ more and more.

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.

True prayer is beyond the selfish heart as is all other things of true Christianity. Weeks says (not a direct quote) just above that when the truth of who God is and His Gospel are not presented correctly selfish sinners are pleased. When selfish sinners think that God is pleased with them as they are and that He is just waiting on them to pray (and perhaps say the name “Jesus” in the prayer) in order to give them what they want, this is greatly pleasing to the hearts of selfish sinners. What a burden it is to a selfish heart to pray for God’s name to be hallowed and for God to be glorified. Oh how this is not what the sinner truly desires, but a religious person can still say the words as a way of manipulating God (he thinks). What the selfish sinner is blinded to is that the heart must truly desire God’s glory in order for it to be true prayer.

True prayer is seeking God and His glory, but the religion of the selfish heart is to seek things for self. That religious person will do many religious things to either obtain a status in the church or will do many religious things in an effort to get God to do what s/he pleases. Selfish hearts hate the doctrine of sovereignty because it strips them of control, but a religious person can like the doctrine (not the reality) because it is something else that can be used for self in certain orthodox circles. A religious person may also deceive self into thinking that even though God is sovereign He will do what He is asked in prayer as long as the name of Jesus is used. Again it is so obvious that a selfish heart cannot truly pray to the true God and yet can be so blinded to the reality of that.

In another application of this (prayer and selfish hearts) we see in Scripture that sinners love those who love themselves. As long as sinners think that God loves them and gives them what they pray for, the sinner will “pray” and seek God (the god of his imagination) for the things that the selfish heart of the sinner desires. When sinners hear that God loves them and earnestly desires for them to be saved, they love Him back and do what they are told in order to be saved (they think). Now they are able to pray for what they want. Now they can give vent to their selfish hearts to God and expect Him to give them what they please. It seems to never occur to them that if they loved God they would seek the glory of God rather than their own selfish desires.

Where do people learn how to pray? We are told that prayer is the expression of the desires of the heart. However, for those who are deceived about salvation their true desires flow from selfish hearts which hate the true God. If they have any understanding of what it means to pray for God’s name to be hallowed and His name to be glorified, this will move the selfish heart to hatred. Selfish hearts hate God and are at enmity toward Him, so they will never truly pray (though they may give some lip service for appearances sake) in accordance with the teachings of Christ. The heart of a believer will be molded more and more like the heart of Christ and so Christ will teach that person in the inward man, but the selfish heart cannot be taught in the inward man how to pray.

When ministers or other leaders pray from the pulpit or from the front of the building, they are usually doing nothing but feeding selfish hearts what they want. Instead of selfish sinners being taught by the prayers of the leaders, they are simply encouraged to believe that God is there to supply their selfish wants and desires if only they ask in the right way. The prayers that are “offered” are usually as far from being God-centered as they can be. Not only that, selfish prayers of a selfish heart are prayers of hatred to the living God and they bring wrath upon the one who offers them. Those so-called prayers are far from seeking the true spiritual good of people and the glory of God. But again, a selfish heart can learn the words of true prayer and so use those true words in an effort to manipulate God and gain honor with the people. A selfish heart should be a burden to sinners as it ruins everything that they do, but that same selfish heart also blinds people to what a selfish heart really is and as such provides the interpretive lenses to view things. Oh how we need to be deeply humbled and then for God to send a true revival!