God Loves… Himself

We are often more ashamed than grieved and humbled for our sins. Our own consciousness of them, and of God’s being privy to them, does not pain us near so much as it would to have them known to others. See, therefore, whether what you call your penitence is not more pride than anything else. (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion)

“The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)

It would shock the heart of most religious people to be told that their very penitence is more pride than of anything else. It may be that on judgment day the vast majority of people who have had any degree of penitence will be told that their very penitence was nothing but pride. The feelings that arise in our hearts must be interpreted correctly and pride is a great hindrance to correct interpretation. Our pride will always hide itself (pride) from us and so it will hide itself under the guise of religious feeling. Oh the deception of our hearts. When we feel something for sin, we think we are grieved for them but instead we are grieved that we were found out. We may think that we are ashamed before God, but in reality we are ashamed that some other human found out that we sinned.

It may also be the case that our own consciousness of our sin may make us ashamed that we are that way, but can still lead to more pride than it does of true repentance before God. We can feel something about our sin when we realize that our sin is before God, but that does not mean that we are penitent over our sin as in the presence of God. Our hearts can hide behind pride and deceive us that what we feel because we have sinned against God is indeed being grieved and humbled for sin, but the reality of the matter can be far different. We can simply be grieved that we have been caught and so our pride turns it to what we know is best for us.

But how horrible our pride is when our sin is found out by human beings. Oh how much remorse and shame we feel, but it is not true grief for sin, but still just grief that we have been found out. The heart full of pride, however, will interpret its own grief as a true grief for sin as against God. Oh how the heart full of pride and headed for hell will deceive itself at all possible times. The heart that is full of pride is capable of any sin but in a religious heart or a civil heart pride will keep that heart doing what is right out of pride rather than out of love for God. Pride is bad enough as it blinds us to our sin, but it is even worse when it uses religion and morality to hide behind.

Since pride is so hard to see and is such a chameleon to itself, one would think that people would wake up and seek the Lord for a true sight of the heart. The heart is full of self and pride and works hard to deceive itself in order not to be discovered by the light. It can take a lot of time, prayer, and meditation on the Word to begin to see the working of pride in our own hearts. Our wickedness in our self-love is hidden from us with many foul justifications and we just do on in self-love which is nothing less than idolatry. Oh the foul issue that comes from the heart that is full of pride, yet it appears that no one really knows this or wants to know this.

It appears that the modern professing “Church” is full of proud people rather than those that are truly humble. This means that pride is what is running the professing “Church” rather than the humble Savior. When the churches are full of proud hearts are only grieved for sin when they are discovered by men rather than because it is against God, the churches are being run by the devil rather than Christ. The devil functions and operates from a wicked self-love and his children do the same damnable thing. We are commanded to love God with all of our being and that includes our conviction of sin and why we are to be grieved for our sin. But when we are only grieved when pride is pricked, we can know that the devil is in control.

How this comment by Adam shows us the great need of the professing “Church” to seek a deep humility before God and in the presence of God. But then again, the proud heart can seek those things in name though not in reality. How much of our seeking revival is really nothing more than the seeking of self and pride? Oh the depths of our depravity which is hidden from our eyes because of pride! How we must become aware of pride and the fruit of this pride in all of life. But sadly pride will hide this from our eyes as well and we can go on sleepily on the broad road to hell though pride will convince us it is the narrow road. The heart full of pride is a heart that is lulled to sleep and death in the local church and as such is damned in the church.

When men love and admire us, we think it is for some merit in ourselves, and for a natural working of pride can love them again. It is for the same reason that we love God so little, notwithstanding his superabundant goodness to us in Christ, because it lays us low, strips us of all excellence, and can only be received in a deep sense of our own unworthiness. (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion)                                   

“The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)

When men love and admire us, we think it is for some merit in ourselves, and for a natural working of pride can love them again. It is for the same reason that we love God so little, notwithstanding his superabundant goodness to us in Christ, because it lays us low, strips us of If it is true that men love those who love themselves and love those who build us up and speak highly of us from selfish hearts of self-love and pride, then surely this is clear why men love the true God so little and are so excited to hear of a false god that loves them like they want to be loved. God is opposed to all the selfish hearts of men who are taken up with themselves in self-love and pride. God is opposed to the proud and yet gives grace to the humble. God stands in battle alignment against the proud and will bring all the proud down to their faces in humility or will bring them down to an eternal hell.

Men are so taken with themselves, their thoughts about and esteem of themselves, and of what others think of them that they are in essence playing god in some way. Men are to love God with all of their beings and they are to treat the name of God as holy and are to pray that His name would be revered, yet men are so tender for their own name and are so hardened to how people speak ill of the name of God. People laugh at the television and movies when people use the name of God as common and throw it around and treat it as nothing more than to obtain money and laughs. But let someone slight them but a little and things are so different.

Men are repulsed at seeking the true God because it requires them to bow in utter submission and deep humility. A person that seeks the face of the true God must start with humility first. But this is exactly what the proud heart of man will not do and has no desire to do so. Proud man wants to keep his pride while he seeks the living God and he would have God do for him what he desires and when he desires. Oh how it is so hard to get men to see their desperate need of humility and lowliness, but instead resist this and hate the true God who would bring them down while they love the modern god that is preached because that god loves them as they are with their pride.

Men want a god that is like them and will give them what they want while leaving their pride and self-centeredness basically untouched. Christ tells men that they must die to self, but men think that surely he did not mean that and so they tell themselves that they must deny things that they give to self. But Christ said that we must die to self and all of its so-called rights. Christ teaches us that we must be turned and become like little children to even enter the kingdom, yet we still fight to keep some control regardless of how utterly absurd it is to do so.

For a person to receive Christ a person must receive Christ by grace alone and this teaches us the utter necessity of being emptied of self and pride and all the proud thoughts of our worthiness. The great and glorious doctrines of Christ alone and grace alone bring all the hearts of proud men crashing to the ground as grace will not stand with any hint of pride and worthiness in human being. Grace reigns and will not have any hopeful contenders standing around its throne. Oh the depths of lowliness and humility that are necessary for a person to give up all hope in self and look to grace alone. Oh how men must see that they must be utterly undone in themselves or they will not love the God of the Bible who does all for His own glory and His own worth. Oh how men should seek the Lord to be stripped of pride, self, and high esteem of self rather than seeking a god that allows them to have such poisons in the heart. Oh how we must see that pride and self are poison to the doctrines of grace, but also that those who love the god of the modern day don’t love the true God but instead just love themselves.

It is easy to fill the professing “churches” and the bank accounts of the same when self and pride are allowed to remain untouched and preachers make men think that God loves them as they are. Instead of teaching men that the love of God will change them to make them like the humble Savior, it makes them think that god loves them and so they will love that god rather than the true God. But true believers must understand this as well. The true God works true love for Himself in the hearts of His true people as He disciplines them. The false gods leave men in their self-love and pride and they do nothing but love themselves as they are deceived into thinking that the true God loves them. Believers must learn to strive for a deeper humility as they seek God to give them a love for Himself based on grace alone rather than love for Him based on worldly things He gives them.

When men love and admire us, we think it is for some merit in ourselves, and for a natural working of pride can love them again. It is for the same reason that we love God so little, notwithstanding his superabundant goodness to us in Christ, because it lays us low, strips us of all excellence, and can only be received in a deep sense of our own unworthiness. (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion)

“The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)

There is a profound and deep theology and understanding of the heart in the quote above. It is a saying that is most likely based on Matthew 5:43-47. We love to think that men love and admire us, but when we see them saying good things about us (whether to us or to others about us) instead of that turning us to think of the grace of God that has been given to us, we tend to admire out own merit. When we “love” them in return, it is in reality nothing but pride working in us to do so and perhaps simply wanting them to continue to think highly of us so we can continue to think highly of ourselves. Clearly, however, this is not Christian love, but is instead something that fallen men can do. It is simply self-love extended toward others in order to gratify self-love.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.’ 44 “But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous. 46 “For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? 47 “If you greet only your brothers, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the Gentiles do the same?

The teachings of Jesus often reached deeper than the skin and went to the very heart of man. Why is it that the command of Christ was (and is) to love our enemies and to pray for those who persecute us? Jesus gives us the reasons. One, it is so that believers would demonstrate themselves to be sons of God. Two, for those who only love others who love them, there is no reward in that. Three, even the worst of sinners (tax collectors) can do that and so one does not need an omnipotent power of love in the soul to do that. Four, if you are only civil to your brothers, then what are you doing more than even the Gentiles or anyone else?

The person that only “loves” others when they are nice to him or her so that they will continue to be nice is a person that is self-serving and proud. That is a person that wants people to think highly of him or her as opposed to thinking highly of Christ. It is, in other words, to be like Adam and Eve after the fall and it is an effort to be like God. Only God has the right to have all others love Him as the focus of all things and yet we live in a way to get people to love us rather than to love God. The reality of the situation is hard and perhaps even harsh when we see out true motives and the true intents of the heart come out in the open.

It is so hard to see ourselves as those who only love out of self-centered motives (which is a vicious pride) when we know that Christ loved others and went to the cross for others out of love for God and not because of any love sinful men had for Him. In fact, sinful men were at enmity with Him and yet He still suffered and died for them. Sinners are totally reliant upon God for a love that can love the unlovely and even those who are at enmity with them. Oh how wicked the heart is and how utterly unable the unregenerate person is to love in any real sense of the word. Only the triune God is the source and origin of true love, yet man wants to do something he thinks of as love and do that based on himself. Oh how man must have a new heart and have grace in the heart to truly love another. But before then, even the best of what a man can do is nothing but filthy rags as it comes from a wicked heart that loves self rather than God.

Perhaps, however, this also shows us one more and a very deceitful thing about the hearts of men. Fallen humanity can love God when it thinks that God loves it. Fallen humanity will do religious things and deceive itself about how it loves God when the real fact of the matter is that the is that the love of God is not in the soul and the soul only “loves” God because that soul thinks that God loves it. Oh how deceptive the heart is and how many appear to think that they love God when in fact they are only loving a god that they imagine loves them.

Why are we more alarmed and concerned at breaches of duty to man than God, but because they are seen and observed? What then is our principle of action? (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion)

“The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)

The statement by Adam just above is very striking, though it can be thought of as just another slightly convicting statement. Instead of that, however, with a few moments reflection it can be seen as striking at the heart of sin and of the sin of the Pharisees in one aspect. The Pharisees appeared to do what they did out of a concern for what the appearance was before men. Such is the heart of man that his self-love and pride are/is so great that he is more concerned to be righteous before men than he is to seek a true righteousness to stand before the living God.

Matthew 6:1 “Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. 2 “So when you give to the poor, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be honored by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. 5 “When you pray, you are not to be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and on the street corners so that they may be seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. 16 “Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. 17 “But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face 18 so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.

Matthew 23:5 “But they do all their deeds to be noticed by men; for they broaden their phylacteries and lengthen the tassels of their garments. 6 “They love the place of honor at banquets and the chief seats in the synagogues, 7 and respectful greetings in the market places, and being called Rabbi by men.

John 12:42 Nevertheless many even of the rulers believed in Him, but because of the Pharisees they were not confessing Him, for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; 43 for they loved the approval of men rather than the approval of God.

The passages above demonstrate to all who read that the Pharisees were concerned with the appearance of righteousness before men. For some reason, most likely the hidden atheism in the heart due to pride and self-love, men want to appear righteous to men more than they want to be righteous before God. The Pharisees, then, in their zealousness in things that were religious were actually more zealous to appear righteous before men. They wanted to obtain honor from men for their religious actions. They sought status and stature in the religious world by the way they prayed, giving to the poor, and of fasting. They did all their deeds to be noticed by men.

The same thing can be true (and is in so many places) in our day. We can pray and do all we do in order to be honored by men. We can evangelize and get people to pray a prayer in order to be honored by men. We can preach in order to be honored by men. We can give money in order to be honored by men. We can build buildings in order to be honored by men. We can build ministries in order to be honored by men. We can obtain terminal degrees in order to be honored by men. We can write papers and books in order to be honored by men. We can be seminary professors in order to be honored by men. We can appear godly in order to be honored by men. The heart is so deceitful that it can take any thing that is good in and of itself and turn it into an act that we try to obtain honor by.

What is actually happening when we try to take the commands of Scripture and turn them into ways to obtain honor for ourselves? It is an act of enmity toward God and our fellow man. The reality of the matter is that our deceptive hearts wants the honor that only belongs to God and use it to obtain honor for ourselves. When we try to get people to honor us, we are actually hating them because they are to love God and honor God with all of their beings. The principle of action that people go by is that they are willing to be religious or non-religious as long as they can gain the attention of others and obtain honor from others. A person will be very religious as long as he can fulfill the desires of his wicked heart in obtaining attention, distinction, and honor for it. That is simply wicked.

Surely this shows that the heart must be changed from its enmity with God to have a love for God so that it may seek the glory and honor of God rather than self. Oh how understanding the heart can open our eyes to our need of grace and the wonder and glory of grace. God alone can be holy in seeking His own honor and glory, while in reality man is as wicked as he can be in seeking his own honor and glory. On the other hand, the holiest of men pant after and seek the honor and glory of God as their chief end and love.

Why are we more alarmed and concerned at breaches of duty to man than God, but because they are seen and observed? What then is our principle of action? (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion)

“The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)

Many people, though not all, are horrified at the thought of a breach of duty or of civility toward another human being or while at a civic function or perhaps a ceremony of some kind. We will go to great lengths to do things so that others will not think we are odd or rude or just simply less than informed. It is self-love that drives us to most of these, though it is not thought of in that way. But when it comes to being rude to God or not giving Him the proper respect or having a breach of duty to Him, if we notice at all it is of no real concern to us.

Most people are also horrified to be thought of as having a breach of duty at church, but not because they see themselves as living before God and under the Great Commandment of doing all out of love for Him and His glory, but because they don’t want to be seen by others as not being faithful or good or a host of other reasons. Human beings will go to great lengths at doing an outward duty because they want to appear as holy before men. What virtually all don’t seem to realize in this day where such an appalling disregard of God is on display is that to disregard God is the worst sin of all and it is a wicked act of idolatry to want others to respect us for our duty while we don’t do it for God primarily on two counts. One, it is an act of idolatry in my own heart if I think of myself rather than God. Two, it is a wicked act against my neighbor if I want them to honor me and I don’t intend for them to honor God in what I do.

If we will look in our own hearts and take the motions of the soul and the intents and motives of the heart seriously, we will see a pattern in our hearts that is most like the Pharisees. When we “pray” or whatever it really is, we are more concerned to utter words that are for the health and temporal welfare of men rather than of respect and honor for God. Why is it that people never (or seemingly never) seek the Lord and pray for His name to be hallowed, His kingdom to come, and His will and pleasure to be done? Why is it that we can pray for the temporal concerns for ourselves and others while we seemingly ignore the interests of God and the eternal welfare of others? Is it not, as Adams suggests in the quote above, that it is because those things are seen and observed? If that is correct, and while it may not be the one and only explanation, it is certainly true, then we need to repent.

The Scriptures tell us that we are to walk (live) by faith rather than by sight. So why is it that we live and pray by sight? Has Christianity become nothing more than a rational philosophy an external morality? Is it true that what distinguishes Reformed theology in our day is little more than a written document or creed but the essence is self-serving religion lived before men? If we could simply ask the question, where is God in most of our daily lives and in the churches? If He left, though He may have left already, what would the difference be? We could still hear a nice sermon based on correct theology and remain unmoved. We could still hear a nice moral lecture and remain unmoved. We could all speak words into the air and sing songs into the air and leave the building much the same as when we entered it. As long as we do out duties before men during the day, out family at night, and the church on Sundays and perhaps another meeting or two, we have done all that could be expected (or so we seem to think).

While we live out our lives doing out duty to please men, we are getting closer and closer to eternity. During the meantime some of our families and some of our friends enter eternity and we do what is expected of us before men in our nice and tidy little lives. But where is God? If God is our basic principle of action in all of life, wouldn’t we speak of Him more and love Him more? But where is God? Where is God in our preaching, our praying, and our living? Is He nothing more than a word we use to help convince us that we are doing our duty while what we really want is ease of life and to please men? Where is God in our lives? Where is God in our hearts? Is it not apparent that the vast majority (to be kind) of professing Christians are living in a way that is essentially without God while they take His name on their lips? Do we not hear theological lectures that are essentially without God and certainly without a real intent to hallow His name? What principles are we living by when the true and living God is not needed in our churches because we are getting along quite well (we think) without Him? Are things okay as long as the preacher and the bills are paid and no one is disturbed? Isn’t that really the case? Where is God?

Despair is the growth of pride, and not of humility. Why are we overwhelmed with doubts and fears? Because we are unworthy. Is it not plain, therefore, that we look for a worthiness in ourselves, which we neither have nor ever shall have? (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion)

“The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)

A person that has despair is actually guilty of the sin of pride. This may not be a popular opinion, but that does not change the truth and reality of it. In the modern day we would think that the person with despair has some form of depression and send them off to a psychologist or even for medication. The reality of the matter, however, while there are different forms of despair, is that a person with despair is most likely full of pride.

Why do people despair? Adam points out that it is because we are unworthy. A person that has what is thought of as low self-esteem may be thought to need a higher self-esteem, which ends up trying to get the person to feel better by being pumped up with positive thoughts about self. Now all the positive thoughts in the world cannot make a person that is unworthy in reality (as all men are by the Fall) worthy in reality. All those positive thoughts can do is deceive the person about who s/he really is. The facts of Scripture are really quite clear for those who desire to look deeper into the matter. No one is worthy of anything but everlasting hell. All the good things we receive in this life is not because we are worthy, but because God is patient, merciful, and kind.

Despair, then, in many cases is simply the soul trying to find some worthiness in itself as opposed to bowing in humility before God and receiving all things by the grace of God. This is to say that the soul wants to find, do, and obtain things based on itself rather than the character of God. The soul wants to find, do, and obtain things based on its own worthiness, yes, but also obtain them as it pleases and desires. This is also to say that the soul wants to obtain mercy and grace as it pleases.

As one looks throughout the Scriptures one can see all people broken down into two kinds. There are those who look to themselves and trust in themselves and those who trust in grace. When a person realizes that s/he is unworthy, that person will either despair of self and trust in grace or simply work harder to obtain worth or merit. This is nothing more than an attempt to trust in self rather than grace. But a person that truly trusts in grace is a person that has accepted the truth about self and knows that all good that is received is received by grace.

There are those who are coming under conviction of sin and they begin to despair of hope, but in reality they are growing in the understanding that they must have God have mercy on them as He pleases. Those under the conviction of sin will struggle and flail about looking for some reason to hope in themselves, but that is really nothing but pride trying to find a way to obtain grace or hope of grace based in self. In the history of the Church we see many people brought low under the weight of the conviction of sin that would today be thought of as mental illness. However, many of those found hope in the grace of God rather than hope in high thoughts of self.

While the modern thinking is set against people who come under deep conviction of sin and groan and weep because of their sin, modern thinking in this matter is wrong and is harmful to the eternal souls of human beings. People must be brought to see that they are unworthy and can never be worthy of the least kindness and mercy of God. A person must be brought to an end of self and the worthiness of self in order to understand the nature of Divine grace. The glorious doctrine of grace alone teaches us that God saves sinners and bestows all spiritual blessings upon them because of grace and grace alone. This demands that souls reach a point where they trust in nothing but grace and to do that they must not think of themselves as having any worthiness in them at all.

The soul that looks upon itself as having worthiness before God is a soul that is deceived and is lifting itself up in pride to God. The Scriptures are plain that God opposes the proud and gives grace to the humble, but despite that people continue to try to find worthiness in themselves. They want to believe that Christ went to the cross because of the worthiness of human beings rather than the worthiness of God to glorify His name. This is an abominable pride hiding under the guise of orthodoxy, yet the soul that desires worthiness in itself has that same pride.

Some will mortify themselves in many things, and so almost every thing in religion but one; unfortunately, that one is the test of their obedience, and the very thing required of them. (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion)

“The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).

Why is this teaching so important? Why would one talk so much on one subject? One reason is that people should see the sin of their heart in order to be convicted of sin, thoroughly and deeply humbled, and then brought to faith by the work of the Spirit in their souls. A second reason is that it is good for sanctification. We should desire to see the sin that is there in our hearts and that we are blind to in order to pursue God and walking with God. A third reason is to help people see if they are deceived or not. The knowledge of sin is important as it enables people to see that their sin is far worse than they have ever believed and it is the real state of their hearts.

It is vital to know the sin of the heart and have it uncovered so that a person may have a pure heart and so see God as Jesus preached in the Beatitudes. It is vital to pursue the knowledge of sin in the heart because one that loves God will desire to die to sin and to mortify sin as Romans 8:13 tells us: “for if you are living according to the flesh, you must die; but if by the Spirit you are putting to death the deeds of the body, you will live.” This verse tells us that it is only if by the Spirit a person is putting to death the deeds of the body will that person live. This is to say that those who live according to the flesh are unconverted people who are still in the flesh and yet those who are striving to die to sin are those who have life.

It is vital to know the sin of the heart so that a person may repent from that sin and turn more and more to Christ. If we desire to please Christ, then we cannot love the things and refuse to repent of the things which He hates and died for. We cannot love our sin and love Christ at the same time and in the same heart. The heart is very deceitful and it will try to hide from sin and deceive us about what sin is, but if we love Christ we must stand with Christ against our own sinful hearts and seek Christ to overcome the power of our own deceits.

It is vital to know our own sin that we may be growing in humility. We must be humble as a creature, humble as a sinner, but also humble as a saint. But all saints (called of God and declared holy in Christ) of God are also creatures and sinners. If we think of humility as a growing in death to self-love and self-centeredness, then we can see that a growing knowledge of the sin of the heart will drive saved sinners deeper and deeper into humility and a greater growth in grace. A growing knowledge of how sin is so intertwined in the heart and choking out the life of grace (so to speak) should drive the sinner in utter helplessness and humility to look to the hand of God in Christ to do what must be done by grace alone.

It is vital to know the sin of our hearts if we are going to grow in the understanding of grace and the life of grace. We are commanded to walk and live by grace, but the heart that does not know its own sin will be walking and living by the power of grace and deceive itself into thinking it is living by grace. If we think of grace as simply that which God does to forgive sinners, we are falling far short of understanding grace. It is grace that we live by and it is grace that upholds us each moment. It is by grace that Christ dwells in His people and it is by grace that people are enabled to grow in holiness and share in the Divine life (II Peter 1:3-5). So if we want to know grace in the sense that we live by grace and walk by grace, then we must learn the sin of our hearts and grow in that grace.

It is vital to know the sins of our hearts so that we can turn from reliance upon that sin to a total reliance upon Christ each moment. The sin and the deceptiveness of sin will turn the soul to where it relies on self in reality, though it may give the credit to grace. But the soul must in reality rely upon grace and grace alone. It is the humbled soul that Christ dwells in and it is the humbled soul that loves holiness that relies upon Christ for its humility and its love for holiness. If we love holiness in a way that is not from Christ, then we are relying upon a holiness that is from self. If we have a form of humility that comes from self and not from Christ, then we are in reality relying on self for humility and so relying on our own efforts and works to obtain what pleases Christ. Knowing the heart and the sin of the heart is not an option, but it is truly vital.

Some will mortify themselves in many things, and so almost every thing in religion but one; unfortunately, that one is the test of their obedience, and the very thing required of them.  (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion)                                     

“The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).

Some will mortify themselves in many things, and so almost every thing in religion but one; unfortunately, that one is the test of their obedience, It seems brutal to some that God would be so exact and His requirements so strict that a person that will do almost everything in religion but one would be lost. But the person that is holing on to one cherished sin is actually a person that has not truly repented of self and pride. That is a person that loves a sin for the sake of self so much that s/he is his or her own idol when s/he prefers self to God. This clearly is a violation of the Greatest Commandment and of the First Table of the Ten Commandments as well. That one sin, then, is not just one sin, but is the defiant act of a hardened idolater and enemy of God. It is a person that will serve self rather than serve the living God. It is a person that will do all for his or her own pleasure rather than do all for the pleasure of God. It is a person that will live for his or her own glory rather than live for the glory of God. It is, therefore, something that shows that a person is like the devil rather than Christ who spoke and lived exclusively for the glory of God.

Matthew 7:13 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. 14 “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

The passage (just above) in Matthew 7 is extremely instructive. Out of all the people on the planet, how many are truly seeking to get to heaven on the basis of Christianity? I doubt the percentage is all that high. However, out of the percentage of those who are trying to get to heaven based on Christianity, most of those have entered in through the wide gate and are on the broad road that leads to destruction. The narrow gate and the narrow path, on the other hand, there will only be few that are found on it. That narrow gate is so narrow that a person cannot get through it while holding to a cherished sin. The narrow path is so narrow that there is only room for the person and not enough for the person and a cherished or bosom sin. So instead of thinking ill of God on this account, we should see that true grace will truly change the heart of a person and they will repent of sin instead of holding to it with clutching fingers.

Luke 13:23 And someone said to Him, “Lord, are there just a few who are being saved?” And He said to them, 24 “Strive to enter through the narrow door; for many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able. 25 “Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, and you begin to stand outside and knock on the door, saying, ‘Lord, open up to us!’ then He will answer and say to you, ‘I do not know where you are from.’ 26 “Then you will begin to say, ‘We ate and drank in Your presence, and You taught in our streets’; 27 and He will say, ‘I tell you, I do not know where you are from; DEPART FROM ME, ALL YOU EVILDOERS.’

When Jesus was asked whether just a few would be saved, He did not answer in a direct manner with a yes or no. He answered in a way that shows that just a few will be saved. He tells the people to strive to enter at the narrow door. Note, He did not say make a decision to enter at the narrow door, but to strive. Entering at the narrow requires effort and agony. It will require a lot of repentance from sin and a striving to know God. So one reason that one is to enter through the narrow door is because it is the only true door. A second reason that Jesus gives us is that many will seek to enter rather than strive to enter. They will be told to depart from Him as an evildoer.

Entering through the narrow door or entering through the narrow gate is not something that many are willing to do. They will hang on to some cherished sin whether it be family, business, money, or perhaps a lust of the heart. This shows the wickedness of the heart that it will deceive itself and hang on to sin rather than repent and enter through the narrow door. This shows what a wicked heart it is that will refuse to bow to the living God and hold on to some sin rather than enter into life. What a hard and wicked heart it will take to do so, but it seems that many have one.

Some will mortify themselves in many things, and so almost every thing in religion but one; unfortunately, that one is the test of their obedience, and the very thing required of them. (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion)

“The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).

The Scriptures are quite clear as to the nature of true repentance, though it is the case that many prefer to limit the whole of Scripture to one definition. It is easy to repent if all that means is to change your mind about an intellectual belief of the moment, or perhaps some external behavior. It is easy to repent (in the big picture) if one just needs to quit the obvious sins and start attending church and going through a few motions. It is relatively easy to repent for one to become quite stringent in their religious activity. But this is not the repentance that the Bible requires. Look seriously at the two verses from Matthew 7 just below.

Matthew 7:13 “Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. 14 “For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

In this passage Jesus is telling people that there are only two ways for people who are “seeking” to enter heaven. Just to be clear, there is only one real way, but Jesus sets out the two ways that people try to enter on. Why must we enter through the narrow gate? It is because there is the wide gate and a broad way and that leads to destruction. Many enter through that and go to destruction. The one real way to life is the small gate and the narrow path. Only a few find it. These verses should chill our souls. It is not just that out of the whole population of the entire world that just a few will be saved, but that just a few who are actually looking for salvation will be saved. In other words, we have a large percentage of people who are not on the broad road or the narrow road.

In the context of Matthew 7 (just a few verses after) we also have the following passage:

21 “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. 22 “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’
23 “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’

We should see this passage as some of those on the broad road. The broad road includes those who have a correct theology and even some who appear to have miraculous gifts. But their problem is that they never truly repented of some sin or sins because they are told to depart from Him because they practiced lawlessness. This should strike at the heart of those who continue in sin regardless of how small they think it is. It should also strike at the heart of those who are not concerned to cry out to God to show them the sin of their hearts. The words of the passages from Matthew 7 would awaken us if we were not so dead and hard in sin and not led astray by so much false theology. For some reason, even after reading verses like this, people can say “amen” and go on leading comfortable lives while they are on the broad road. People are so blind as to which road they are on because they judge themselves and the road they are on by things other than the whole of Scripture.

People ask themselves if they believe some facts rather than dealing with their own heart to see just how much they have repented from and are willing to repent of. It is not just that people must repent of sin, but that they must repent of their self-righteousness and of their pride and self-centeredness. People may have to repent of their religion, of loving their families too much, and of all sorts of good things that they do to impress others. But they will not repent of the one thing required of them and that is whatever it is that the love the most. They will not repent of all things but all things but one or a few. But that is no repentance at all. Those on the broad road can be very, very religious and have repented of everything but one or two things. But it is still the broad road.

Some will mortify themselves in many things, and so almost every thing in religion but one; unfortunately, that one is the test of their obedience, and the very thing required of them. (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion)

“The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).

This is a vital point and possibly cannot be stressed enough. People will go to great lengths in the denial of self (so-called) and yet they will not deny self at the very point it must be denied. The Pharisees are excellent (in a manner of speaking) examples of this. They were stringent in denying themselves things that could be denied in the strength of self, but in reality they were doing it for the purpose of self which is to say for the purpose of bringing honor to themselves. In other words, they were not really denying self as self but instead were appearing to deny self while doing it all for self. To put it even a different way, they denied an external self in order to exalt the religious self in their own eyes and in the eyes of others. Pride is pride regardless of the realm it is in.

Luke 14:26 “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. 27 “Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. 28 “For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? 29 “Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 “Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 “Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 “So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.

Jesus used some strong language to cut to the issues of the heart in that day and therefore all periods in human history. He was very clear that people must give up all things in order to be His disciples. This is not a teaching that is popular in the modern day when God is thought of in terms of what He will do for people if they will follow Him, but in fact people must deny themselves and all that they are and have in order to follow Him. It is required, according to this text, that a person hate his closest family members and even his own life in order to be a disciple of Christ. I would argue, though without much detail in this medium, that what is being taught here is that a person must follow Christ even if people (family included) thinks it amounts to hatred of the family. It is not a real hatred intended in the text for the close family members, as we know Scripture teaches that we are to love them. But it is not just hyperbole to make a point, but instead it may appear to others that we hate people if we follow Christ as Christ commands us to follow Him.

The teaching of Christ, when set out with some degree of illumination by Thomas Adam above, shows us that the demands of Christ cuts far deeper than some can imagine. It also shows us what a mockery of Christianity and discipleship many are teaching today. It is not that one is a Christian (follower of Christ) if one is willing to raise a hand, pray a prayer, and walk down an aisle, but instead it is one that denies all and bows in submission to a new Master and that Master is Christ. It is Christ that must be loved supremely and above all other people and things if the person is to be a true follower of Christ. One cannot be a disciple if one does not give up all of his or her possessions. Wow, some will exclaim, that sounds like works. No, it is a work of grace in the heart. Others will complain that this is impossible, and to be honest it really is for the natural man. But the heart that has Christ as its life owns nothing because Christ owns that person and all of that person’s life and possessions. Whatever that one thing is that a person will not mortify is a demonstration that the person is still the master of self and Christ is not the Master. Everything but one thing really means no thing in reality. How easy it is for the heart to deceive itself into thinking it has denied all when in fact it has denied nothing but Christ.