God Loves… Himself

Luke 6:31 Treat others the same way you want them to treat you. 32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 “If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 “If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount. 35 “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.

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.

1 Corinthians 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. 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.

The weight of these passages should bear mightily upon our souls and especially so if the Spirit teaches us the heart and weight of them. We should see the very selfishness of our hearts the whole of our lives. When we look back at our childhood, we see that we were selfish toward our parents, our siblings, and all those around us. If we attended church meetings, we were selfish then as well. Our hearts were given over to the things of self and whatever we did we did them out of self-interest and self-love. The heart of a child is full of foolishness, yes, but it is filled with self. We can direct children in the ways of self or point them to the God who can deliver them from self. The self can be directed to where it can be outwardly moral and good, but it is still full of self.

When we look at our teenage years what do we see but bundles of self? Once again we see ourselves learning and doing and interacting with nothing but self in mind. We only had ourselves in mind when we did what we did and in the people we interacted with and the people we did not have much to do with. We acted the way we did because we wanted to impress people rather than love God. Teenagers are said to act the way they do because of peer pressure, but what is that but living out of self-love wanting the attention and approval of others? Teenagers want to be liked and honored or have the attention of those around them.

As adults, we are not so open about our desire to be honored and recognized by others, but our selfish hearts still desire those things. Apart from regeneration, the whole world runs on the basis of self and the things and interests of self. Businesses operate that way. Advertising operates that way. Politicians operate that way regardless of party affiliation. Sadly enough, it would appear that the vast majority of professing churches operate that way as well. It is now all about what we can offer people to get them in the door and give money. If we were honest and advertised the churches according to the biblical pattern, we would say people should come to our church because we are promised that those who are godly in Christ Jesus will suffer persecution and we will help you learn to submit to God as you suffer. It is true that this honesty would cut down on the numbers of people attending, but it would also cut down on the numbers of those who were deceived.

As we look at the passages above and take them to heart, down deep we know what the modern professing Church is doing. It is operating and functioning in accordance with the principles of self-love. If even Paul had trouble finding men to send to churches who were not genuine in their concern for the people but instead were concerned with the things and interests of self and not the things and interests of Christ, then we can know that it is far worse in our day. The “ministry” appears concerned with how to do ministry in order to get more people in the door and down the aisle to say a prayer and be baptized. The ministry appears to be concerned with giving lessons on how nice God is and how we should be nice and moral rather than the truth of God and our wicked and sinful hearts. The ministry appears to be concerned with avoiding offending anyone about anything rather than preaching the truth of how sinful men are and of their need of free-grace. This is true of both conservative and liberal circles and appears to have penetrated all theological orientations. We should live to please God, not men.

Luke 6:31 Treat others the same way you want them to treat you. 32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 “If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 “If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount. 35 “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.

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.

[This is said of those] that were not only baptized into the name of Christ, but also professed a great deal of love outwardly to Christ and His cause, and yet it is said even of those, That they sought their own, and not the things of Jesus Christ. (Monster of Sinful Self Seeking, Edmund Calamy)

Paul wanted to send men to the Philippians to teach them and help them. However, he had no one other than Timothy who would have a genuine concern for their welfare. Why is that important and why is that the case in this situation? Evidently Paul had men willing to come and perhaps they had great knowledge and skill, though he did not specifically say that. The one thing (at least one) that he thought absolutely necessary, though, they lacked. These men who were evidently ministers and were willing to suffer hardship to go to the Philippians sought the things of self rather than the things of Jesus Christ. They were willing to do many things in religion, but in what they did they were more concerned with the things of self than even the things of Christ.

What zeal they might have appeared to have in being willing to leave the comforts of home and travel to a strange place in order to preach Christ. They appeared to be willing to suffer hardship for the cause of Christ. They appeared to be eager to help the people and to serve them in the things of God. But all of those things are not inconsistent with men seeking their own things and self-interests rather than the interests of Christ. There is nothing a man may not do in the Christian ministry that he cannot do in the interests of self rather than that of Christ. Men can preach for self rather than Christ. Men can be missionaries for self rather than for Christ. Men can be music ministers for self and not for Christ. Men can teach Sunday School for self and not for Christ.

1 Corinthians 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. 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.

When we bring in I Corinthians 13 and set it beside Philippians 2:19-21, we see that men can do extraordinary things in the name of religion and in the name of Christianity and yet do them for self. If men are not doing them out of true love, they are doing them out of a selfish heart that is full of self-love and pride. Why would men either pretend to speak with the tongues of angels (if possible) or learn many languages if they do not have true love? They would do so for selfish reasons rather than love for God and the true good of their neighbors. Why would men strive to know so much and become distinguished in academic circles? It is because they love themselves and have selfish hearts rather than learn for the glory of God and the true good of others. Could it be possible for a person to give all they have to feed the poor and yet not have an ounce of true love for the poor? This Scripture sure makes it seem like it is a possibility. Is it possible for a person to give up his body to the fire and yet not have true love? Ah, the power of self-love and a selfish heart makes it possible.

What we can see with ease from these texts of Scripture is that there are no lengths that a selfish heart will not go to in the realm of religion and yet not do them out of true love. We can see what true love is in Philippians 2:19-21. It is when a person has a genuine concern for another’s true welfare which is at one and the same time the interests of Christ. We can do many things for others, yet unless we want them and strive to get them to see the things of Christ we have not truly done what is good for them. Even if we do something that God uses for their good, that is not the same thing as desiring it and seeking it. The sovereign Lord can use a proud preacher to speak His truth and though the speaker desires nothing but the things of self the Lord can use it for Himself. Oh how we need our hearts broken from the things of self that free-grace may give us love for the things of Christ.

Luke 6:31 Treat others the same way you want them to treat you. 32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 “If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 “If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount. 35 “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.

All other sins flow out of that cursed self-love which is in all men by nature. All men seek their own. Their own honor and advancement; not the honor of Christ, but their own honor, their own private gain and advantage; not the profit of religion, but their own profit; their own delights, pleasures, and recreations; their own ease, safety, and security, not the safety of the Gospel, but their own safety; their own wills, lusts, and carnal contentments. Not to please Christ and do his will, but to do their own wills, and to please themselves. And to speak according to the language of our times, their own private, carnal, and creature interest. (The Monster of Self-Seeking Anatomized, Edmund Calamy)

They do not seek the things of God except in subordination to their own self-interest.

Man naturally has no other principle to direct and govern him in his actions but only self-love. (Jonathan Edwards)

The law requires us to love God supremely, but the native bent of our hearts is to love ourselves supremely. (Joseph Bellamy)

Natural unconverted men seek their own particular, private self-interest in all that they do. This encompasses every aspect of their lives. All decisions made by the unconverted man relate to his own self-interest; what helps or benefits them (in an earthly sense) the most, what honors them the most, what pleases them the most. This is true in every area including their religious service.

This shows why what seems to be the vast majority of preaching and evangelism is not biblical because the appeals are made to the sinful self rather than exposing the sinful self. That sinful self does not need to be coddled, but it needs to be humbled and broken for sin. Within the professing Church today the focus is on the self as something good and positive and it is appealed to as a motive rather than what it really is. It is really the sink and spring of sin which must be denied and repented of daily rather than appealed to. What is called the gospel today is really nothing more than an appeal to self-love. That which must be repented of is what people are appealing to as a motive for people to be saved, but what people must be saved from is a heart that loves self and does all out of selfishness. It is simply appalling how deceitful this is and yet it is deceit straight from the pit.

All over the world people are encouraged to turn from sinful actions because of motives of self-love and selfish considerations in this life. The deceptive nature of that, however, is that when people turn from a principle based on selfishness all that is doing is to strengthen sinful self. The Pharisees were lovers of self and sought the honor of men in their “good works” as they thought, but in fact those things were done from a selfish heart and were exceedingly sinful. They were willing to be very religious but not be turned from their proud and selfish hearts. They did what they did out of self-love rather than love for God. In our day it seems as if the professing churches are going down that same route. Some professing churches are libertines and they feed the selfishness of men by not calling them to true holiness. Others are legalists and call men to an external holiness based on selfishness and pride which is as bad as the other if not worse. Where are the preachers of free-grace? Where are those who understand the nature of sin as selfishness and as such the need for sovereign grace to deliver men from self and sin? Where are those who understand that there is nothing a person can do to move God to save him or her? Where are those who are taught to look to God to break them and bring them by grace rather than look to self?

Luke 6:31 Treat others the same way you want them to treat you. 32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 “If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 “If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount. 35 “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.

Bellamy [Joseph] believed that much of the religion of his day was defective because it simply appealed to the selfish interests of men. He argued that if God is set forth as a Being who is simply dedicated to doing good to His creatures there is nothing about such a God to offend or contradict the personal welfare of the carnal mind, thus nothing objectionable as far as the lost man is concerned. The Arminian preachers were telling sinners that God was doing all He could to promote their best interests. But Bellamy argued that no natural man would object to such a God, thus there is no reason for the conviction of sin… Self-love would make it natural. Even publicans love those who love them, and are good to those who are kind to them (Matthew 5). Did men firmly believe God to be such an one, they could not, indeed, possibly be at enmity against Him. Self-love would not admit of it. Men would not need any grace to make them love God. Nature would make them love Him. They could not but love Him, so long as they love themselves. (From John F. Thornbury’s Introduction, True Religion Delineated, by International Outreach.)

It is not the least innocent kind of ambition, to seek after praise in the way of religious usefulness. Never a day passes, but the devil offers his service. Mankind are perpetually at variance, by being all of one sect, viz. selfists. Adam, Thomas. Private Thoughts on Religion. International Outreach, Inc

We have been stressing that selfishness is the essence of sin and just because a person has become religious and has different external actions does not mean that the person has been born of God and is a real Christian. It has been said by many over the years that there are only two kinds of people. There are Christians and there are non-Christians. While that is an accurate statement, it makes it hard to discern what is going on when we understand that there are many professing Christians who are not truly Christians. Perhaps it would be better to say that there are those who are under the power and love of self and those who are under the power and love of Christ. Another way to say it is that all are either of their father the devil or of their father God. A person can be extremely religious and extremely moral in the outward sense and still be under the power of self. In the words of Thomas Adam above, these people are the selfists.

What does a selfist or a selfish person do in the things of religion? This person has ambitions for self in the things of religion just as s/he has ambitions for self in worldly thing. The selfish person will seek praise in the things of religion and want to be honored and showered with attention. Just as the Pharisees sought the attention and praise of men in their prayers, their giving, and their fasting; so men today will do precisely the same thing. It is not that modern people have moved beyond the Pharisees, but instead by nature our hearts are the same. The Pharisees the scholars and the religious elite of their day, but their hearts were never regenerated and they were still in the bonds of selfishness. The same thing is true today. As long as men and women are not born from above in truth, they will remain selfists and they will do all for self.

How is it that the devil offers his service to those who seek praise in the things of religion? It is because the devil does not care if men and women are religious and even very religious, but he is only too happy to promote religion as long as men and women are deceived by their selfish hearts and do not seek the glory of God. The devil is only too happy to take his selfish children and help them along their way into religious activity and even the ministry. What he does not want is for these people to be awakened to their selfish hearts and to cry out to God to turn them from that bondage and then to give them new hearts which love Christ in truth.

It is selfishness and self-love that keep worldly people and religious people together and thinking that they love God and each other. However, it is also that same selfish heart full of pride and self-love that causes all the problems in the world and in the professing churches. As men and women seek distinction and honor from each other, the heart of pride and self-love will not like it when others get that distinction and honor. This will bring friction into meetings and into professing churches. The lack of mortified pride and dying to self will also bring friction into true churches.

The problem with people getting along (in church or outside) is because they love those who love themselves or they love those only for the sake of the benefit they receive. The problem with people not getting along is that their self-love will not allow them to love others if they do not receive some benefit for it. The selfish heart is to be like the devil regardless of whether a person is involved in Satan worship or attends a conservative church (professing or real). Only those who are born of God and know God can have true love and so love others without any benefit received from others.

Luke 6:31 Treat others the same way you want them to treat you. 32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners love those who love them. 33 “If you do good to those who do good to you, what credit is that to you? For even sinners do the same. 34 “If you lend to those from whom you expect to receive, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners in order to receive back the same amount. 35 “But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return; and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High; for He Himself is kind to ungrateful and evil men.

Bellamy [Joseph] believed that much of the religion of his day was defective because it simply appealed to the selfish interests of men. He argued that if God is set forth as a Being who is simply dedicated to doing good to His creatures there is nothing about such a God to offend or contradict the personal welfare of the carnal mind, thus nothing objectionable as far as the lost man is concerned. The Arminian preachers were telling sinners that God was doing all He could to promote their best interests. But Bellamy argued that no natural man would object to such a God, thus there is no reason for the conviction of sin. In True Religion Delineated, he states, “True if God were such an one [if God were dedicated to seeking the happiness of man as His chief end, editor], then the most wicked man in the world could not but love him. Self-love would make it natural. Even publicans love those who love them, and are good to those who are kind to them (Matthew 5). Did men firmly believe God to be such an one, they could not, indeed, possibly be at enmity against Him. Self-love would not admit of it. Men would not need any grace to make them love God. Nature would make them love Him. They could not but love Him, so long as they love themselves. The point is that it does not take a supernatural work of grace in the heart of man to cause the sinner to love a God who is dedicated to the sinner’s own good. But it does take a “divine light” from God to turn the lost man to see the glory of God and dedicate himself to a God whose great cause is to magnify Himself. (From John F. Thornbury’s Introduction, True Religion Delineated, by International Outreach.)

Hopefully the enormity of this problem is becoming clearer and clearer. In accordance with a person’s view with sin a person will have a different concept of God, of Christianity, of salvation in general, and evangelism. The views a person has of sin effects other views and in turn is influenced by other views. The view of the nature of sin and of humanity is not something we can hold in isolation of all other views, but in reality it is of a vital importance in what it is in and of itself as well as its influences on other issues. At the risk of being redundant, but yet sensing the enormity of this issue, it appears wise to stress some things again.

According to Bellamy, religion is defective when it does nothing but appeal to the selfish interests of men. If that statement is true, then the religion of our day is in utter shambles. Professing churches by the droves are not hearing or wanting the true Gospel and a great percentage of ministers are not preaching the Gospel. God has turned us over to our own devices and desires and all we know how to do is to practice a religion based on selfish desires. When the heart is hardened and turned over to a stronger and stronger control of self, then true Christianity which is based on God doing all He does for His own glory will assuredly be hidden from the eyes of men. As men are given over to self, they want the worship to please them rather than God and they want preaching to tickle their selfish ears rather than confront them with the truth of God. The prayers of those who are still under the control of their selfish hearts and desires will be all about themselves rather than for the glory of the name of God.

When selfish hearts are thought to be normal and God is thought to seek the worldly good of those selfish hearts, Christianity has been effectively hidden. The focus of the professing churches turns to what they think is the good of people and they focus on people. However, when they do this they are not seeking the glory of God as their first priority and love and therefore they are not seeking the true spiritual good of the people. A focus on selfish things is not good for anyone but it is what Satan desires. A professing church that is kind and nice and focuses on worldly things is indeed carrying out the selfish desires of Satan as he wishes to keep people from thinking on spiritual things. A form of professing Christianity, then, that is not aware of the nature of sin and of the selfish heart is a form of religion that will make people outwardly kind and nice and yet lead people to hell whether it is past a Reformed pulpit or not. The outward form of theology makes no real difference when the heart is selfish as the selfish heart will use theology for its own purposes.

Somehow and in some manner the professing Church must wake up or be awakened. It is quite true that only God can wake people up when they are as fast asleep as this. It is quite true that only God can illuminate sinners and show them their deadness and the extent and horror of their selfish hearts. It is quite true that the professing Church is so far gone because God has brought judgment and has been bringing judgment for many years. However, if God would only awaken a few people and work in them to begin to cry out for Him to awaken souls for the glory of His own name, who knows what will happen. Indeed, despite all the pouring out of literature and recordings of sermons, when virtually all of it is really focused on the self it is perpetuating the problem. We must seek the Lord to give us faint desires that will grow into aches and burdens for His glory. We must seek this as if it will only come by free-grace because that is the only way it will come.