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.

The power of selfishness on religion and professing “Christianity” is perhaps more vast than the human mind can imagine. We either think of God (as triune) as focused on human beings (us, me) or we think of Him focused on Himself and His own glory. We either think of being motivated to “serve” Him out of love for Him and who He really is or we think of being motivated out of love for self. We either think of holiness as being motivated by the things of self and self-interests or we think of holiness as being out of love for Him. There is simply no way to escape the two so-called ways of approaching Christianity and one of them (selfishness) is not Christianity at all.

I Corinthians 13:3 And if I give all my possessions to feed the poor, and if I surrender my body to be burned, but do not have love, it profits me nothing.

While we have many ways of motivating people to feed the poor, it is usually based on selfish interests in this life or the next. Notice that even if one totally impoverishes self to feed the poor and does not have true love, there is no true benefit to the person. There is no real profit. In other words, self is still on the throne and self is doing all for self. It is self that is giving up all of its properties for the sake of self, not really for the glory of God and not really for the sake of the poor.

We hear many messages about self-sacrifice and sacrificial giving of money and things, but the text just above teaches us that we can give up our lives and give up our life in an excruciatingly painful way and yet without love there is no profit (eternal or present) at all. When a person dies for the sake of self, it is nothing but an idolatrous act and is tantamount to suicide. The self never dies unless it is God who works death to self in us by grace alone. If it is possible to give up all one has and even our lives and yet that be done for self rather than for love, isn’t it at least possible that many professing Christians are deceived by self? Isn’t it possible that ministers are putting pressures on people to be part of religious acts and all for the sake of self? Instead of truly deny self, all the apparent acts of self-denial are only puffing up and strengthening self. How utterly deceptive!

Oh how possible it is that many, many people are being deceived by their feelings being aroused by selfish motives in the things of religion. Oh how they will give money and perhaps time and effort to do things, but they have never died to self and as such there is nothing they do that is out of reverence for the true God and love for Him. Their flesh hates God and so they do all for a false god which is really their sinful self working up a god that it can serve, but of course it is sinful self making a god in its own image. Self has come up with its own god and so it is deceived into thinking that it is serving the true God while it is doing nothing but in the service and love of self. Self can love a life of ease and self can love a life of hardship, but either way it is self that is loved and served rather than God. Self fits very well in professing Christian circles as religion is a great way for self to love and serve self. Could it be that self is the real god of many professing Churches?

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 Scriptures (I Cor 13) tells us that there is nothing we can do that is acceptable if it is without love. This is very profound, yes, but we still need to probe away at it to get at the meaning. The Scriptures clearly do not mean that whatever we do out of self-love is okay, but instead in keeping with the Greatest Commandment all we do must be done out of love for God. The Scriptures are quite clear that self must be denied if we are going to follow Christ, so we can say with great confidence that all we do out of self-love is done without love for God and as such it is nothing.

1 Cor 13:1 If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. 2 If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

The greatest speaker in the world can speak with great rhetorical skills and move the people to great external morality, but apart from love for God and a desire for the people to love God, that preacher is nothing but a clanging cymbal in the hands of a terrible cymbal player. If a person could know all mysteries and have all knowledge (which the proud seem to think they have), yet they do not love God with all their being, they know those things and use those things out of self-love and so are nothing. Oh how preachers, seminary professors, and leaders in the churches need to think on these things. God is either the love of our hearts when we speak, lead, and teach or we are the chief love of our own hearts. We either have a true desire (regardless of what we say or try to convince ourselves of ) for those who listen to us to love and glorify God or we want them to be impressed by us.

Oh, say some, but I am just a simple person of simple faith. Well, the Scriptures speak to that as well. Even if a person has all faith and a faith that can remove mountains, if that person does not have love for God and desires those who see the mountains removed love God, then that person is doing it out of self-love and is nothing. There is truly no escape for the selfish heart other than the road of self-deception. The whole of our religion is overthrown by selfish hearts. All that a preacher does is either for self or it is out of love for God and the people. If the preacher loves God and the people in truth, then out of love for God and His glory he will want the people to love God and His glory.

The preacher or professor or elder that does not truly love God and desire the people to love God is a person that is a vicious idolater and uses people for the goals of self and self-glory. It is not a true love for God, even if the person is orthodox and says the right things, to desire the people to honor the preacher rather than point them to love God. If the desires of the selfish heart of the preacher are fulfilled, that is, that the people admire and honor him, then the preacher has hated God and the people. It is God alone who is good for the people. If the people are truly led to honor the preacher rather than God, then the preacher has led the people into idolatry. The hatred for the people is in that the preacher has desired himself to be honored more than God and has tried to get the people to admire and honor him rather than God. The preacher uses people to serve himself and his own pride and honor rather than using self to point to God and His glory. While it may be unthinkable to some, it might shock us to learn of the amount of idolatry that goes on each Sunday morning in professing churches.

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 Scriptures are quite clear that men love those who love themselves. This is a truth of Scripture that is clear and obvious in daily life. We see the truth of that in the advertisements of the day, whether on television, radio ads, or magazine ads. The advertisement gurus appeal to self-love in order to sell what they sell. The same is true in most professing “churches” as well. The appeal is to self-love and self-interests rather than a love for God. The appeal to a sinful person that is full of self is to know that God loves him or her. When the Bible teaches us that sinners love those who love them, that teaches us that sinners love themselves and they are the basis for which they love others. When they are motivated to do something because God loves them, then their self-love is the basis for which they will act. When self-love is the basis for which we act, that is idolatry because we are to do all we do out of love for God and His glory.

The very thing that we are to repent of is self. The very thing that we must deny if we are to follow Christ is self. How, then, can preachers move people and try to motivate them to do things by giving them motives that are based on their very sin nature? How can we try to move people to be saved by appealing to their self-love which is what they need to be saved from? No one wants to go to hell, that is, if a person has any understanding of what hell is. However, a person cannot be converted and have faith in Christ based on nothing but a desire to avoid hell because that is something the most sinful and vile person desires. The heart full of self-love and selfishness is a heart that will want to avoid pain and discomfort in this life and for eternity.

It seems that the motives that are given to people to serve in the professing churches are also based on selfishness. The people are told what God will give them or bless them with if they will give money or do things in the professing church. But again, are we serving God or self if we do what we do in order to get even more back? How much of what is done in the professing churches of our day would fall under the condemning words of Jesus (above in John 6) that the people did not seek Him but sought what He could give them? When the sinful heart operates according to a selfish nature it is not Christian to try to move people with selfish motives. People should be motivated because of who God is and out of love for Him and His glory. Alas, when people are not being encouraged to holiness out of love for God but instead out of a love for self, then this is nothing more than a Pharisee would have done. Apparently that spirit is alive and strong in our day. That which we must be granted repentance from (selfish heart) is that which people are being encouraged to be holy by. It is diabolical.

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 Greatest Commandment is to love God with all of your being, but our fallen nature means we love ourselves with all of our being. The Greatest Commandment teaches us to love all things for the sake of God, but self-love gives us the motives and intents of doing all for the sake of self. This is an important and vital distinction. The selfish heart loves God for the sake of self or for selfish purposes. The selfish heart hears something of a message that it thinks is the Gospel and it loves that gospel for the sake of self. This, again, shows the nature of our great need for a new heart. A heart that does all it does from self-love and cannot do anything apart from self-love is a heart that is damnable. That heart that does all from self-love does not need a little reformation, it needs to die to self and have the power of the living God in it.

We see the power of selfishness (a heart governed by self-love and pride) in the hearts of those who were earnestly seeking after Jesus in John 6. They went to great lengths to find Jesus. They had a great desire to find Jesus. They longed to be with Jesus. However, they wanted Jesus for something else. They wanted Jesus for something they could get. They wanted Jesus from the selfish desires of their hearts rather than out of a love for Jesus and who He really was. This should be a shock to our own religious hearts. Do we want Jesus for any other reason than for who He is? Do we want Jesus for what we think He will give us? Do we think of the Gospel as only a way to escape hell or is the Gospel all about the glory of God? Do we want Jesus and long for Him in order to obtain worldly things? Do we want Jesus in order to be protected from bad things in the world? Do we want Jesus in order to make us look good in our religious duties and in our religious circles?

The easy religious conversions that are rampant in our day are really not true conversions at all. These conversions are when self is converted from seeking outward sin to self seeking religious things. Notice, however, this immensely vital point and do not miss it. If the heart is not changed by God, then all religious conversions are really nothing but self changing its focus. The idol of self is the self. The self is what people worship until they die to self and have Christ as their very lives. Until the chief love of the heart is changed a person will seek God and all things for self. Until the chief love of the heart a person will use God and the things of religion to seek self. Imagine the shock of very religious people on that great day when their eyes are opened and they see that all of their religion and all of their so-called good works were nothing but acts of self-love and therefore idolatry.

The Great Commandment stands against all true selfishness of the heart. The Great Commandment stands against our pride and self-seeking. The Great Commandment teaches us to seek God out of love for Him and do all of our good works out of love for Him. The Great Commandment teaches us to flee from sin out of love for God. You see, and I am sure this will sound horrible to many; self can be a great idol in stopping sin. If we stop sin or flee from sin from a selfish heart, that still leaves us in the grips of a selfish heart that does all out of love for self rather than love for God. In our sins of commission and omission we serve self rather than love God. In what we pursue in the world or in religion we serve self rather than God. Whether we give ourselves to open sin or flee from open sin, we do those things out of self-love rather than love for God. The command is to love God with all of our being, but instead the unregenerate heart does all it does out of self-love. Behold the awfulness of self and what an idol it really is! You must be born again or you will always be the lover of self and as such it will always be your idol.

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.

Imagine a religious person having a dream and that person (in the dream) discovered that the religion that s/he has been involved in was false. Imagine this person finding out that over a period of many years things were changed and despite using the same words for the most part the very religion that this person had been part of was a false religion. Imagine that this person came to realize with horror that the very religion that this person was practicing was actually being used to delude people and deceive them. Imagine that this person then awakened from this dream and over a period of years found out that the dream was in fact reality.

Other than the dream, this is somewhat a true story. It is a true story regarding myself. Approximately 30 years ago I was confronted with a sovereign God in the pages of Scripture. I thought to myself that if that is true, then that changes everything. Worship should be different and evangelism should be different. However, things were not different in the professing churches that I attended. Many years later I was confronted with the idea that a selfish version of Christianity had taken over and that was opposed to the Bible and the true God. While God opened my eyes to that idea years ago, of late it has been driven into my heart deeper and deeper. I do not hear the God of the Bible being spoken of and I do not hear sinners being treated as sinners. Invitations are given to sinners as if they were already reconciled to God and all they needed to do was accept Him. Invitations are given to sinners as if they were not dead in sin and still have all the ability in the world to do all that is needed to be saved.

Perhaps the most sinking feeling that is driving me to despair is to hear nothing but selfish motivations given to sinners regarding salvation, sanctification, and life in general. The only motives that are presented to people are based on the self-love of the person rather than telling them that the only proper motivation is love for God. A person does not need a new heart or grace (these days) to respond and pray a prayer. A person does not need a new heart or grace to live the Christian life. It would appear that God has provided them all they need and now is nothing more than a Divine cheerleader for them. This is true in professing “Reformed” groups as well as the others, but it seems to matter little. Jesus said that apart from Him we can do nothing (John 15:4-5), yet in the modern day it appears that it is taught that apart from us God can do nothing.

When people are approached as selfish beings and given nothing but selfish motives to come to Christ or to live the Christian religion, that is very American and very much like the commercials we see and hear. But that is not Christianity. In the time of Jesus the established religion was not the truth of God, but instead the Pharisees had taken over and orthodoxy looked a lot different than Scripture. In the 1500’s Luther discovered a version of Christianity that was far different than the New Testament in the doctrines and practices of Roman Catholicism. In the 1800’s men like William Weeks and Asahel Nettleton found that men like Finney and his followers had deviated from the old paths. One of the major ways those men had deviated from the old ways was that they had turned from biblical Christianity which is God-centered in all ways and had made it into a man-centered and selfish religion. Now, to them, religion was all about giving people the proper motivations (which were selfish) and having them make decisions. Salvation (according to that scheme) was in the hands of men.

The Pharisees had a selfish system of religion, Roman Catholicism had a selfish system of religion, and Finney had a selfish system of religion. All three of those systems attributed to men ability and tried to get them to use that ability by using selfish motivations rather than proclaiming to men that God alone could save them and that they should seek Him to give them a new heart so that they could love Him and have true motivations of love for Him. All three of those systems used the Bible and used biblical language. All three of those systems were focused on men and their selfish interests and were limited to selifsh motivations. All three of those systems were categorically false and taught false gospels.

The ways of Finney have not left us, but instead they have taken over. The threat to biblical Christianity is real, even very real. However, the threat is no longer from the outside, it is from the inside. This threat is perhaps far more dangerous than Roman Catholicism (in a sense) because it more subtle. It uses biblical language and biblical categories, but it has changed the meaning of them. Justification by faith alone no longer means anything like the Bible teaches or what Luther taught, but instead faith is nothing but a work and justification just means something like being saved. The Bible teaches us that God is at enmity with non-reconciled sinners, but men now say that God loves them all and wishes them the best. The Bible teaches that grace is a sovereign work of God, but men now say it is available to all who will choose it for themselves. The Bible teaches that men are selfish and that their hearts need to be changed, but men now give selfish reasons for men to make choices in all things. These things are not a dream, they are a living nightmare. The Trojan horse of selfishness has entered the gates of Christianity and what was once true is now false. What was once evil is now good and what was once good is now evil. Where is God? He is not absent; He is hardening our hearts and giving us over to our selfish desires.

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 of the most important issues that distinguishes the older version of Christianity (so to speak) that William Weeks represents and the modern version is how God is presented or represented to sinners. Notice how Romans 5:10 brings this out. Sinners are not just people who are somewhat ill-informed about God; they are the very enemies of God. This is at the heart of the biblical doctrine of reconciliation. In the true Gospel Jesus the Christ reconciles enemies, that is, unregenerate sinners are reconciled to God. Before that, however, they hated Him. While even this basic understanding of sinners being at enmity with God would be opposed, it is easily seen from Romans 5:10 (above) that this is what the doctrine means. Sinners must be reconciled to God and God must be reconciled to them. Apart from this basic idea of enmity between God and man, there is no meaning in reconciliation and there is no real meaning in the cross of Christ. If God had no wrath for sinners, then how could Christ satisfy that wrath on the cross?

Now, it is true that people do not walk around thinking about this, but people hate God from the depths of their being. When Jesus was on earth in bodily form, they hated Him and they put Him on the cross. Why is that? It is because He was the shining forth of the glory of God and people hate God. The Father was manifested through Jesus and when people hated Jesus they hated His Father as well. This is to say that when the truth of God is presented to sinners, it stands against them and their loves and they hate God.

When the modern Gospel (so-called) is declared to unregenerate sinners, they do not mind it at all. Some even love the modern teaching. Sinners love those who love themselves, so when a false god is presented to them and they are told that God loves them and earnestly desires them to be saved, the enmity they have toward the true God does not come out. The false god is one that is suited to their sinful hearts that are full of self-love. The false god is one that leaves them in control and is waiting on them to make the choice. The false god does not oppose them and their sin. The false god is not one who will send them to hell, or at least willingly. The false god is focused on them and their welfare just as they are. The false god just wants them to pray a prayer and a real repentance is not needed. The false god loves them in their sin and longs for them to pray the prayer.

Weeks commented that “the general strain of what is said to sinners is adapted to work upon their selfish feelings and animal passions… which they might readily mistake for true religion.” This is such an important point that it cannot be overstated. When the modern version of the Gospel is presented to lost sinners and it has been so watered down along with a false view of God, these sinners will indeed mistake their feelings for the work of true religion. The true God stands opposed to unregenerate sinners and their sin and is in no way obligated to them and is not waiting on them. He is sovereign and He alone can change their hearts according to His good pleasure. This is hated by sinners with every fiber of their being. Is this important enough to write and talk strongly about? Well, only if the true Gospel is important enough to write and talk strongly about. Is this really a vital issue? Well, once again, only if the glories of God and the salvation of sinners are vital enough to spend time on.

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.

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 concept of selfishness is not easily understood or recognized when it has to do with ourselves, though we see it in others. However, what we normally see is a fairly obvious selfishness as people are self-centered and do things without regard to others. What we don’t see, on the other hand, are the people who do what they do for the reasons of self. People are religious for selfish reasons and not out of love for Christ. People are nice and moral because they want to be known (to themselves and others) as nice and moral. People want to be known as loving and kind and all those things, so they act in such a way to get others and themselves to think that they are those things.

We can see the selfishness of the people who sought Christ (John 6:26) in order to obtain free food. However, we don’t see out own selfishness or even the selfishness of others who seek Christ just for what they can get from Him rather than out of love for Him. While it may sound hard and even very strange, if we never get beyond seeking Christ out of love for self and our own salvation we have not been saved. God changes hearts and gives them a love for Him and out of love for Him saved sinners seek Him and His glory rather than seeking Him out of love for self. People attend church services in order to do many things, but do they attend out of a true love for Christ and a desire for His glory?

This is a hard message. Perhaps we have only heard that we are to believe, make some form of commitment to Christ, be moral, and then do religious things for God. Notice, in Philippians 2:19-21 above, that Paul had no one to send to the Philippians. But what kind of person did he not have to send? He did not have anyone who had a genuine concern for their welfare. Why not? It is because these people sought after the interests of self rather than the interests of Jesus Christ. These people loved themselves rather than loving Christ. These people would preach for self rather than out of love for Christ. These people would serve others (in some sense) for the sake of self rather than serving others out of love for Christ.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not that He frees us from the penalty of our sins but does not change our hearts from selfishness to love for God, but the Gospel is that He also frees us from the power of sin. Now if the very power of sin is the love of self and doing all things out of self-interest, then we have not been saved as long as we are only moved by selfish motives in the things of religion. While we should tell sinners of hell, we must also know that if that is the only motive they have to “serve” God they are doing what they do out of self-interests rather than love. The Greatest Command is to love God with all of our being and that includes our motives and intents in all we do. A heart that God changes and that Christ lives in by His Spirit, will have love for God and will be moved out of love for God, though indeed not perfectly. We need grace each moment.