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.

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.

“Self is the great antichrist and anti-God in the world, that sets itself above all that is called God…It sits in the temple of God, and would be adored as God…It is so far from bending to the righteous will of the Creator, that it would have the eternal will of God stoop to the humor and unrighteous will of the creature”

(Stephen Charnock).

What if Stephen Charnock was right and is right? What if it is self that is the great antichrist and the anti-God in the world? If he was and is right, then what is called “Christianity” in our day by the majority is actually not Christianity at all. There is no overstating of this issue. If self is the anti-God in the world, then those who have not denied self and died to self are still in the bondage of self and as such are opposed to the true God and true Christianity. If self is still ruling over people and professing “churches” then those people and those professing “churches” are really anti-God. Regardless of how orthodox they are, if self is still ruling over people and the professing churches then it is that self which is being bowed to and worshipped.

A selfish heart does not pray to God, but instead prays to self. One way of praying to self and for self is to pray in a way where self is noticed and honored for the prayer. Instead of praying for the kingdom and glory of God, which was how Jesus taught His disciples to pray, selfish people pray for their own benefits and things. Selfish people will pray in an orthodox manner if it will bring them honor before people or perhaps if (they think) it will earn something from God, then they can pray with orthodox words. However, that is a far different thing than praying with a heart that loves and desires God and His glory above all things and in fact all we desire should only be a means of seeking His glory.

This should be highly instructive to selfish hearts and to those who are a new creation in Christ Jesus. A selfish heart basically prays in a way that is primarily for self and selfish means, though this can include a lot of prayers for others and perhaps for the kingdom of God. The selfish heart seeks God and all it seeks for self as its primary goal. Those who are new creations in Christ are still burdened by self but they still will have some love for God and His glory as their primary goal. The selfish heart cannot desire anything above self and as such will desire religious things for selfish goals and purposes. The heart that comes from a new creation is burdened by what remains of its selfishness and longs to be free of that so it can love God from a pure heart and serve God while seeking His glory truly, though indeed falling short to its own grief.

It is shocking to the sensitive heart to have God open its eyes (spiritual sight) and see just how much self has been running its life and that includes its religious life. The opened eyes are shocked to behold and the spiritual affections are moved with horror to see just how much self has been god to self and how it is in reality anti-God. All the religion of self, which includes all it has done and continues to do in the name of Christianity, will come crashing down when it sees that it has been doing all for self and as such self is anti-God. Oh how the self-righteous person will fight this and hate this, but that does not change the reality of it.

It would appear that there are vast numbers of professing “Christians” who are anti-God and do not realize it. They are caught up in religion and religious things. They are caught up in building “church” buildings and church activities and do not realize that those things are blinding them to their own hearts that are anti-God. It is a terrible thing when large professing “churches” are filled with selfish hearts and religious activities and as such they are anti-God. All of their outward religion and good works are not out of love for God and His glory, but instead they are out of love for self and the glory of self. In other words, they are anti-God. As God hardens hearts and turns people over to sin as judgment for their sin, so He hardens hearts and turns people over to their religion as punishment for their sin of being anti-God. Selfishness and selfish hearts are not just little sins, they are the very heart of sin to be anti-God and that is precisely what selfish hearts are.  A selfish heart is anti-God and as such it is not Christian at all regardless of how religious it is.

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.

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.

“Self is the great antichrist and anti-God in the world, that sets itself above all that is called God…It sits in the temple of God, and would be adored as God…It is so far from bending to the righteous will of the Creator, that it would have the eternal will of God stoop to the humor and unrighteous will of the creature”

(Stephen Charnock).

While this series of posts may seem repetitive, it is necessary to go over this and try to show the truth of this from many different angles. In the past fifty years or so we have had conference after conference on the antichrist and all the issues of end time issues. If Charnock is right, self is the great antichrist. When will we see a conference on how self is the antichrist? When will we see hordes of people flocking to pay money for books and audio recordings of the teachings on how self is the antichrist? What is important to people? Is it to know the truth or be enamored with conferences and volumes of information that may not be all that relevant at all?

What would all the people who study all that they can trying to find out who the antichrist is if they found out that each selfish heart is the antichrist? Would they be disappointed? Would they be shocked enough to give up all their studies and start searching their own hearts? It is far easier to study a theoretical antichrist than it is to find the antichrist in my own heart. It is far easier to study the Bible trying to find a sign of a coming leader than it is to study the Bible on my knees asking God to show me my own heart. Is it too rough to say that until people are more concerned with the antichrist in their own hearts than the coming antichrist that people will not understand sin and the Gospel of Christ?

We stand at the precipice of eternity and we are simply not concerned enough with the true antichrist. We want a Christianity that is easy and one that we don’t really have to deal with our own hearts and deal with the true nature of our sin. Until we are ready to deal with our own hearts as the great antichrist, we are not ready to deal with the true nature of sin and with the true nature of repentance and therefore of the true Gospel. We must not flee from the truth of our own hearts and we must not flee from the true nature of our sin if we truly long for God and His glory. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is by grace alone and it is for sinners, even really bad sinners. As long as we shy away from our own hearts we will shy away from the Gospel of grace alone. If we are willing to settle for turning from a few outward sins rather than a true repentance of the heart and from self, we are not willing to come to Christ alone for salvation by grace alone.

Let us be plain and to the point. If we are indeed born dead in sins and trespasses and one important aspect of that is that we are born with selfish hearts, then there will be no true life until we have been granted true repentance from our being anti-God in the world. There is no salvation apart from being granted repentance from sin and if selfishness is the heart of sin we MUST be granted repentance from selfishness. There will be no true turning from selfishness until God works a new creation in that heart and turns a person from the life of self in the heart to Christ and His life being in the heart. Where, then, will we hear of this vital doctrine? When will people be awakened to the true nature of sin and of the sin of their own hearts? When will people be awakened to the fact that they are anti-God and that during their most religious times? Can there possibly be an awakening in the professing churches until this happens?

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.

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.

“Self is the great antichrist and anti-God in the world, that sets itself above all that is called God…It sits in the temple of God, and would be adored as God…It is so far from bending to the righteous will of the Creator, that it would have the eternal will of God stoop to the humor and unrighteous will of the creature” (Stephen Charnock).

The power of sin is in one sense the power of the love if self and the power of pride and self-exaltation. We can see this power over men in their daily lives as well as their religious lives. We see the power of self in the words and arguments of atheists. It is the atheist who ascends to the throne and thinks that s/he rules over self and does all for self, though indeed those who are captured by self in the practice of religion do the same thing though in a different way. We see this in those who are in the media and those who are Hollywood stars. They are in the powerful jaws of self and they do all for the sake of self and want to be adored as God.

The Greatest Commandments are to love God with all of our beings and to love our neighbors as ourselves, but the selfish heart loves self and does all with self as its greatest goal and motive. The selfish heart does all for self and instead of using self out of love for God it uses God (in motive) for the purposes of self. The selfish heart does all it does for self rather than doing for others out of love for God. This is another way we can see the ugliness and horribleness of self as it has ascended the throne of God and does all for self. We might think that we see the true service of others in professing churches as outwardly good works are done, but when the motive of doing things for others is not the glory of God (in truth and not just word) it is just a way for self to exalt itself in doing outwardly good works or exalt itself in the things of religion.

It may be that the key component of a selfish heart is the exaltation of self to the throne of God. This is assuredly an awful pride, yet people are blind to the fact that they have ascended to the throne of God and are ruling over self, living for self, and seek honor for self. Living in sin is really living out of the flow of a selfish heart that lives as if self is God and as such it has ascended to the throne of God (in practice). When a person lives for self, that person is not living for God which is to say that person or self has taken the place of God in life. The words of Charnock are a terrible indictment upon humanity and yet we are blind to the horror of it. In each selfish heart there is the desire that God would be dead and self would be God. This is seen in the way of life of each person that honors self, determines all by the perceived good of self, and also chooses the way of religion for self. This horrible self will even choose what kind of god it desires rather than bow to the living God.

We can see the power that a selfish heart has over those it reigns over. What a power of darkness that this self has. What a power it has over the mind, heart, soul, and strength to interpret all things and give motives and intents for all things. While the selfish heart is blind to it, once again we can see that the selfish heart has taken the place of god in all things for that person. When we see the absolute horror of what a selfish heart really is, we can see that professing “Christianity” is when ruled over by self. On the outside it may appear to be fairly much the same, yet at the heart of professing “Christianity” it is nothing more than the reign of darkness under the disguise of Christianity. It is the prince of the power of the air working in his children to deceive them and others into thinking that they are on the road to heaven when they are on the broad road to hell. It is a terrible deception, but perhaps especially so when popular leaders of the professing Church and countless professing churches are bound tight in the bondage of selfish hearts and perpetrating that as true Christianity.

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.

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.

“Self is the great antichrist and anti-God in the world, that sets itself above all that is called God…It sits in the temple of God, and would be adored as God…It is so far from bending to the righteous will of the Creator, that it would have the eternal will of God stoop to the humor and unrighteous will of the creature”

(Stephen Charnock).

The power of the selfish heart is perhaps beyond the understanding of mortal humans. It is clear enough to a small amount of discernment that the reign of self in the heart is really the reign and rule of darkness. Self opposes all that is of God, hates God, and is at enmity with God. Where self rules, whether it is through religion or open sinfulness, it is really the reign of darkness. Where self rules, even if it is a preacher, it is the reign of darkness in and through that person. Where self rules in a professing church, that church is a place where darkness rules regardless of its stated theology and regardless of the amount of moralism and external good works done. While this may sound shocking to many if not most, we must be confronted with the reality of the situation. It is not external things that distinguish the reign of Christ from the reign of darkness, it is whether a person has been translated from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of the Beloved Son and in that soul Christ reigns.

Here, if we care to pray and think through the situation, we can see something in another way of how the modern age has fallen. The modern age tries and tries to get people to exercise faith and so be saved. In the former days men were told to seek the Lord for a new heart that was a believing heart. This is a vital, vital point. In the modern day our teaching men to exercise faith there is a colossal failure to teach men that self can come up with a form of faith as well. It is not just that men are to come up with just any kind of faith, they are to come up with a faith that only God can work in them. When they are not told this, it is easy to see how men are not delivered from self and so from that self they come up with a false kind of faith. When men are not delivered from self, they will come up with a religion of self to some degree.

We can easily see how self can be told to repent and from the power and love of self a person will turn from the outward practice of sin (s/he thinks) and become quite moral. But the heart of sin (reign of darkness) is the selfish heart and the person continues on in the power of self though now self has disguised itself in the garb of religion. It is perhaps more dangerous for a person to deceive self with religion than for a person to be going on in a general life in outward sin. The kingdom of darkness loves to deceive people and as long as people are deceived and blinded by the things of religion the kingdom of darkness is pleased.

The proud heart of selfish men is so pleased to set itself up as God in the professing church. Selfish hearts will have a god of its own imagination, it will have a system of morality that it can mostly do, and it will have a whole system of religion that is pleasing to self. But as long as self rules and reigns in the professing church, Jesus Christ is working to harden those people and is not reigning in them. Jesus Christ is absolute Lord and He will not be mocked. The selfish heart has a Jesus it can love and a Jesus it is pleased with, but the self has taken the throne and the true Jesus is not bowed to and adored or obeyed.

When that happens, the words of Charnock are seen to be true and are the practice of the professing churches. It is self that is the anti-Christ even in conservative churches since it is self on the throne. It is self that is anti-God since self hates the true God and works to set up a god that it can love. It is self that sits in the local churches and would be adored as God. It is that selfish heart that in all of its religious finery is nothing more than a great idol. Sunday after Sunday it is self that is being worshipped and it is self that is being adored while people sing in worship of self and the god of self that is the god of their own imaginations. Sunday after Sunday it is the god of the people’s own selfish heart that is worshipped which is nothing but self. Surely it is quite obvious that such wickedness and such idolatry cannot be anything but hated by God. Surely it is obvious that the stench of self is that which men think of and trust in as their self-righteousness. Such appears to be the state of the professing Church in our day.

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.

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.

“Self is the great antichrist and anti-God in the world, that sets itself above all that is called God…It sits in the temple of God, and would be adored as God…It is so far from bending to the righteous will of the Creator, that it would have the eternal will of God stoop to the humor and unrighteous will of the creature” (Stephen Charnock).

If self is indeed the great antichrist and the anti-God in the world and that same self sets itself above all that is called God, then where self is misunderstood and allowed to stand there is the place where God is opposed. If that place where self reigns is a professing church, then that professing church is anti-God and sets itself above God. It is perhaps beyond terrible when the professing churches are the greatest idolaters around. It is beyond terrible when the places where the true Gospel is to be preached are the places where the true Gospel is hidden beneath the teachings of Christianity. However, this is precisely how the devil works when the Lord frees him to go forth and blind people to the truth.

People think or imagine that they have free-will, but this is really an illusion. Sinners are in bondage to self or they are in bondage to Christ. There is no ground in the middle. It is an enormous deception for people to think that they are free to choose and do as they please. They know that they are doing what they desire, but they don’t understand that their desires are in bondage to a selfish heart and that selfish heart is reigned over and ruled by the devil. When Christ frees people from their selfish hearts, they are not absolutely free, but instead they are in the kingdom of the Beloved Son. Until a person is in the kingdom of the Beloved Son, that person is under the dominion and domain of darkness. In that darkness a person is in bondage to a selfish heart and a slave to the lusts and desires of self. In that darkness a person does not even know or see that s/he is under the power of pride and a selfish heart. In that darkness a person will attend a professing church or be a minister of a professing church and all the while be in utter bondage to a selfish heart.

We can see this in ministers and leaders as well as the people of the congregation. They are following after the things of self with no real idea that they are in bondage to self. They are following the dictates of a selfish heart as they go on in the way of professing Christianity. Even the most orthodox of denominations and professing churches can be caught up in this and actually hold to orthodox teaching out of a selfish heart that loves the honor of being orthodox. A failure to understand the nature of a selfish heart is a dangerous thing. A failure to come to grips with “my” own heart and how it is selfish apart from grace is a danger. It is to fall into a great deception and if a teacher in the professing church it will lead to the deception of others.

A great part of the inability of man in the spiritual realm is precisely at the point of the selfish heart. It is not that man is physically unable to perform the outward acts, but because of the selfish heart of man all that man does is out of love for self rather than love for God. In fact, however, the love of self is precisely the issue at hand in the Charnock quote above. Man loves self and so longs for self to be adored rather than God, though indeed religious man will say that God is to be adored but he only says that in order to be orthodox and so he himself will be adored as orthodox. Man has no ability in the spiritual or moral realm because he has no love for God on which all morality is built.

The selfish heart of man can be turned over to all sorts of religion and yet man is still dead in sins and trespasses. The selfish heart of man can be very evangelistic and quite active in discipleship and all manner of activities, yet that man will be doing all for self and in hatred of the true God. Man will serve the god of his own imagination with diligence and energy, yet all the while he will be exalting self rather than the true God. That is what orthodox “Christianity” can do while in full enmity of the true God.