God Loves… Himself

I do not want humanity or social virtue. I can be honest and civil, and observe the law of kindness in my actions; but who shall give me humility, meekness, patience, inward purity, and the love of God? (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion)

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

When one considers how deceitful the heart really is, though indeed the heart is so deceitful sinful man cannot get to the depths of it, man is shocked at how he has been deceived by his own heart, others, things, and the deceiver. While the flesh can work up honesty to a degree, even in the midst of that the heart is being deceived about what honesty is as well as the fact that fleshly honesty is a lie itself. It is a lie about what true honesty is and it is a lie about the truth of God and what pleases Him.

While the flesh can work up civility to a degree, it is a blatantly uncivil thing to do in the presence of a thrice holy God and how uncivil it is to attack the character of God by presuming that fleshly civility is righteous. While the flesh can work up something sort of like kindness to a degree, it is a blatant like to people about the character of God and of what true kindness to the soul really is. The attempt of the flesh to work up honesty, civility, and kindness is nothing more than an attack upon the standards of God and upon the truthfulness of who God is. It is also nothing more than the desires of self-love as opposed to love for God.

The whole motive for civility, honesty, and kindness can be said to be that of making society better, but even that can be nothing more than fleshly self-love. A person that desires civility can want others to be civil back to him or her and so the desire for civility is really nothing more than self-love. A person that mistakes civility for biblical love can also make a huge mistake about what love and true righteousness is and so civility becomes an idol. A person that desires honesty can long for honesty simply to make our country easier to get by in, which can be self-love but can also desire honesty out of nothing but self-love. This desire for honesty can also be mistaken for the biblical standards of truthfulness out of love for God and so the deceptive heart deceives the outwardly honest person into a false standard of righteousness and of making an idol of it.

It may be that kindness or even niceness is the worst of the three in terms of its deceptive power on the soul. With the appearance of kindness a person can be kind or nice to others and so deceive the other person into thinking that the first person is actually kind and nice, so that contributes to the self-deception of the person showing the apparent kindness or niceness. This is also a huge idol to the soul and an awful form of deception. The person that thinks of self as kind or nice tries to convince self that it is truly kind and nice by doing certain acts that appear kind or nice. But the doing of certain acts that appear as kind or nice can be nothing but self trying to convince others of what it is and also of convincing self of what it is. But those things are done out of self-love and are done in the worship of self rather than out of love for God. How devious and deceptive of the deceiver, but also how horrid is the deceitfulness of the heart that deceives itself with outward acts of kindness and niceness.

This shows how the soul with true spiritual taste buds and light from the Spirit can look upon itself and despise its own works of civility, honesty, and kindness or niceness that come from the flesh. This shows how these things are consistent with the pride of the heart and how deceptive the heart is to deceive itself with these things as if they are true righteousness. The Pharisees had great pride in their giving of alms which is one way to demonstrate social virtue and have acts of kindness, but they did them for self and the love of self. They desired to demonstrate a false humility, but it appears that they did not have true humility, an inward purity, or a love for God. While social virtues can be faked, it takes the work of God in the soul for the soul to have true humility, meekness, and love. A true heart will despise social virtues that come from the flesh and long and hunger for the things that only God can give it by grace.

I do not want humanity or social virtue. I can be honest and civil, and observe the law of kindness in my actions; but who shall give me humility, meekness, patience, inward purity, and the love of God? (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion)

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

The language that Adam uses above is more than just a man without affection stating some things that are true, but it comes through as indignation or perhaps some degree of disgust. He does not want humanity or social virtue. The things of social virtue such as honesty, civility, and kindness are things that he can do in his own power and in his own strength. Even the most strident pagans can come up with those things. Why is that? Because things like honesty, civility, and kindness can come from nothing but self-love. Humanism can provide us with external morality and sterling examples of ethical behavior, but all of those things are as filthy rags in the sight of a thrice holy God.

A soul that has tasted something of the holiness of God is disgusted with the external and forced things of humanism, civility, and niceness. Those things are artificial and to some degree just plain fake. They are not the real thing, that is, the real holiness and the real life of Christ in the soul. In fact, humanism, civility, and niceness can be nothing more than the flesh trying to assert its own righteousness. There can be people who fight against certain forms of legalism but actually create their own form of legalism with their civility and niceness when those things come from the efforts of the flesh.

The flesh or the fleshly heart is opposed to the spiritual work of the Spirit in the heart of man. The Holy Spirit alone can bring true kindness and true love into the heart, but the flesh wants to work up those things in the strength of self and from self-love and then say that it has those are from the Spirit. The soul that recognizes that civility and niceness comes from the flesh and is opposed to the work of the Spirit will detest the civility and niceness that comes from its own pride, flesh, and self-love. One can look at the life of a politician in many cases and see what it means to be one thing when speaking to the public and yet quite another in private. The politician wants to present things a certain way for one reason and then be what he wants to be in private. So the heart is like that as well. It wants to be civil and nice in public for one reason, perhaps even for the sake of doing so for self, and yet be quite another thing in the heart or in private.

But the soul with spiritual taste buds wants true humility (the emptiness of self) as opposed to be full of self. The soul with spiritual taste buds longs for inward purity rather than external civility. The soul with spiritual taste buds longs for meekness rather than revenge. The soul with spiritual taste buds longs for patience rather than treating others with anger and as object in impatience. The soul with spiritual taste buds longs for the true love of the Spirit as it comes to human beings as the fruit of the Spirit rather than external civility and niceness. Humanity, civility, and niceness or kindnesses have their place when they come by the work of the Spirit. But if they come by the work of the flesh, they are enemies to the Gospel of grace alone and true righteousness.

The people who love the glory of God that shines in Christ by the Spirit long for true spiritual things and the true fruit of the Spirit so that the glory of God would shine in and through them. If one truly loves God and His glory, they will have some degree of detesting the things of their own flesh even if it brings them praise and honor among men. So it is no wonder that Adam expresses his disgust toward the nice things of the flesh (civility and kindness) and longed to be given humility, inward purity, and the love of God. Even the nice things of the flesh are still of the flesh and are opposed to true holiness and are detested by God. We should detest what God detests, even when it is the best fruit we can bring in our own strength, and cry out for God to work in us what is pleasing to Him. After all, if we are to love Him with all of our being we should live in a manner where His glory and His pleasure lives in and is manifested through us.

I do not want humanity or social virtue. I can be honest and civil, and observe the law of kindness in my actions; but who shall give me humility, meekness, patience, inward purity, and the love of God? (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion)

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

The soul that wants the truth and power of Christ will not want social virtue and humanitarian things in and of themselves. Honesty and civility and kindness are attainable by the unregenerate person. Those things can be nothing more than external actions motivated by the love of self. The Pharisee could be honest and civil. The Pharisee could perform acts of kindness (giving of alms), but the Pharisee did those out of love for self and the desire to attain some form of righteousness. A person that desires the free grace of God will not desire those things in and of themselves, but will instead desire those things as they come from the hand of the one and only sovereign God in and through Christ.

For the person that has any idea of the nature of his own heart, that person knows humility is beyond the power of self to come up with. If humility is thought of as the emptying of the soul of self, then it is self-evident that humility is beyond the power of self as self can never be the worker of emptying the souls of self. The soul that longs to be free from the bondage of self and of the honesty, civility, and kindness worked by the love of self and the esteem of self recognizes the slavery and bondage of the soul to self. That is the soul that begins to understand the need of the soul for grace and grace alone to deliver it from self.

Westminster Larger Catechism: Q. 25. Wherein consisteth the sinfulness of that estate whereinto man fell? A. The sinfulness of that estate whereinto man fell, consisteth in the guilt of Adam’s first sin, the want of that righteousness wherein he was created, and the corruption of his nature, whereby he is utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite unto all that is spiritually good, and wholly inclined to all evil, and that continually; which is commonly called original sin, and from which do proceed all actual transgressions.

The Larger Catechism sets out the nature of the heart of man in almost brutal words. One of the key points is when it states that man is “utterly indisposed, disabled, and made opposite unto all that is spiritually good, and wholly inclined to all evil, and that continually.” Man can be honest, civil, and kind in the external things and yet be deeply opposed to all that is spiritually good. Man can be very religious and think of self as honest, civil, and kind and yet be deeply opposed to all that is spiritually good. Man can be very religious and all others think of him as honest, civil, and kind and yet be deeply opposed to all that is spiritually good. How deceptive the heart is and how willing it is to take up appearances of religion and goodness, but the heart that is dead in sin is blind to spiritual things and so the pride of the heart actually blinds itself to spiritual things by its outwardly good things.

It is extremely deceptive for people to take up the appearances of Christianity in things like honesty, civility, and niceness. But those things can be done by professing atheists and anyone apart from a new heart and apart from the spiritual work of the Holy Spirit. The heart that is proud of appearances can even desire some form of external humility, but not real and true humility. The heart that is proud of appearances may trick itself and others into thinking that it is meek and patient. The heart that is proud of appearances may desire forms of inward holiness and use high language to describe how much it loves God. But that is only in appearance. It is rare to find those that truly want humility because true humility is only found in the absence of self. In other words, self and the things of self must go and a person must learn and actually die to self. Inward purity is one thing in conception but quite another in reality. It is painful to attain to because the death to self and being given over to God for His purposes is not something God works in us apart from trials and suffering. True Christianity is of the heart along with motives, intents, purposes, and loves. It cannot be satisfied with the externals and the appearances of things before men. It is only satisfied when God takes up residence in the soul and His glory is then the very love of the soul.

A creature made capable of knowing, loving, and enjoying God, and yet ignorant of him, and turned from him, or which is all one, not turned to him in the bent of its will, desire, and affections, must necessarily be in a fallen state, and perverted from the end of its creation. (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion)

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

God created man good, yet man has turned to sinful devices. God made man in His own image and likeness, yet man desired to be like God in His nature, that is, man wanted to determine for himself what was good and to follow his own will. So man was created with the capability to know, love, and enjoy God. Yet when man turned to self and was then left to his own devices, man became a perverted being who was no longer loving God and living for His pleasure and glory. We now have man ignorant of God and even at enmity with God.

In the great darkness that humanity has fallen man cannot peer very far into the light in which the glory of God shines, which means fallen man that has fallen into self-absorption and self-love does not see the horrible nature of sin that he has fallen. Pride and self now control man so much that man sees all things in light of his self-centered existence. He does not see how wicked it is to live for self and serve self. He does not see how wicked it is to be ignorant of God and not love God. Man can see and does see that he is not perfect and that he does wrong things on occasion, but he does not see that his very nature itself is corrupt to its very depths.

The corruption of man’s nature is hard for man to see because man is so wrapped up in his own self-love and self-centeredness and that covered by pride that he cannot see what is wrong with himself being self-centered. Man also deceives himself and is easily deceived by the evil one always justifying self for the things that self does for self. It seems not to enter the mind and heart of man that he was created for another purpose and that not for himself but for the glory of God. As long as man is not evil in his own eyes he does not think of what he does for self as evil at all. Yet the heart that does not have as its primary love God and His glory is a heart that is wicked and has been twisted from its original creation and so all it does is a distortion of truth. The will that does not choose and love to do all for God is a will that does all for self and as such is a great idol in the presence of God. The desires of the soul that are fixed on self and for self are aligned against God and His glory. How wicked a man is that has great affections for self and yet none for God other than when man thinks that God has done something good for him.

The fall had terrible effects upon humanity and part of that fall is that human beings are blind to what has happened to them. Now man can be very religious and do all sorts of outward religious acts and yet be foremost in his own affections, desires, and will. In other words, man is now his own idol who lives for self rather than God and as such serves himself as an idol. It is not that man has just fallen a little, but man has fallen so far that he is utterly helpless and cannot return to God in his own power. Man does not just need a little help, but he needs a new heart and a new mind so that he can think upon God with desire and affection and willingly choose to be an instrument of God. Indeed man has fallen into a perverted state and only grace can change him. But man must know that the God who created man can also re-created or regenerate man according to His own pleasure. This shows that it is not true Christianity that is wrong, but instead it shows that true Christianity alone is what can turn man back and make him right.

Our pride, as delicate as it is, can be content to feed upon that stench and corruption which a little humility makes us nauseate…The character of man is, proud sinner. (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion)

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

David was a man that had a lot of pride in the Bathsheba incident and yet did not recognize it at the time. He specifically and clearly committed adultery with a woman and then was guilty of murder (though the hands of others and in planning) in the death of her husband. Yet for some reason he was blind to what he did. When Nathan the prophet came to him and told him a story about a rich man that took the lamb of a poor man, David was outraged. When Nathan told David that he (David) was the man, that opened the eyes of David and he saw his sin. Before that, however, he had not had eyes to see his sin but had a pride that blinded him to his sin.

After Nathan confronted David and told David that his sin was against God and was even a despising God and His Word, David saw his sin without the blinding power of pride. When he saw it and the Lord had worked in his heart, David confessed his sin and with some humility he was sick of himself and his sin. This can be seen in his confession as given in Psalm 51. When David had some humility he now took the side of God against himself and confessed that God was just in whatever He did with him.

The Pharisees were very proud of their religious action and in reality did it all for themselves. They prayed in order to be seen by men. They gave alms in order to be seen by men. They fasted in order to be seen by men. In other words, their pride fed upon the attention of others and they admired and thought highly of themselves because of what others could see them do. But a person with just a little true humility would be nauseated and bow in confession of his sin if he prayed in order to be seen by men. A person with just a little humility would see the horror of self-centeredness and self-love in giving alms in order to be seen by men. A person with just a little humility would be sickened and grieved at his own idolatry if he found himself fasting just in order to impress other people.

The heart of self and of pride is a heart that is at the service of self and pride in all that it does, but strangely enough the proud heart seems to find itself at home in religion just as much as anything else if not more. Oh how the proud heart can feed itself with high thoughts of self in its religious actions. Oh the terrible destruction that pride brings to the soul when the soul is full of pride and blinds itself to its own poverty by dwelling upon its fictitious spiritual riches. The character of the religious man is also proud sinner and nothing more or less. The proud sinner is full of self as it goes on in its very religious ways. But the humble soul is sickened by itself and wars against self by mortifying the sins of self as it seeks God for grace to die to self. True Christianity is not the life of a holy self, but the death of sinful self and pride that the glory of God may shine through.

Our pride, as delicate as it is, can be content to feed upon that stench and corruption which a little humility makes us nauseate…The character of man is, proud sinner. (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion) 

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

Throughout the Scriptures we see person after person and event after event that demonstrates to us that the character of man is that of a proud sinner and in reality nothing more. We see this in open sin and we see this in professing religion as well. The devil was lifted up against God by pride and this is true in the heart of all his (the devil’s) children. Those children are all those who are not born from above by the sovereign grace of God.

In the story of Nebuchadnezzar we see a man proud of what he had done and yet he had not seen the hand of God in giving him what he had, so Nebuchadnezzar reflected on things and looked to his own might and power.  “The king reflected and said, ‘Is this not Babylon the great, which I myself have built as a royal residence by the might of my power and for the glory of my majesty?’” (Daniel 4:30). While the Westminster Shorter Catechism had not been written at the time, it is still the case that he should have known that his purpose in life was to glorify God and do all for His glory rather than his own. The pride of man puts him at war with God and God will bring down the pride at some point and time. Nebuchadnezzar was indeed a proud sinner. A person with even a small degree of true humility is sickened at the thought of doing what Nebuchadnezzar did.

Belshazzar was the son of Nebuchadnezzar and was throwing a great party after his father died and he was not king. He had the vessels from the Temple of God brought out and they were using them to drink from. This was when the hand appeared on the wall and wrote a message. No one could read it so Daniel was brought out to interpret it. His words to Belshazzar were about his father”  “But when his heart was lifted up and his spirit became so proud that he behaved arrogantly, he was deposed from his royal throne and his glory was taken away from him” (Dan 5:20). The words of Daniel were quite clear and to the point. When Nebuchadnezzar was proud, God brought him down and took his glory from him. He continues in verse 21: “He was also driven away from mankind, and his heart was made like that of beasts, and his dwelling place was with the wild donkeys. He was given grass to eat like cattle, and his body was drenched with the dew of heaven until he recognized that the Most High God is ruler over the realm of mankind and that He sets over it whomever He wishes.” Daniel set out the history of Belshazzar in a pointed way and left no room for doubt as to whom the true God is.

Daniel then pointed directly at Belshazzar and spoke to the king directly: “Yet you, his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, even though you knew all this, 23 but you have exalted yourself against the Lord of heaven; and they have brought the vessels of His house before you, and you and your nobles, your wives and your concubines have been drinking wine from them; and you have praised the gods of silver and gold, of bronze, iron, wood and stone, which do not see, hear or understand. But the God in whose hand are your life-breath and your ways, you have not glorified” (5:22-23). The point was and is very clear. Belshazzar was a proud sinner and he had ignored what had happened to his dad and instead had lived for pleasure and for his own glory. In doing so he had exalted himself against the Lord of heaven. A person with a small amount of true humility would indeed be sickened at the thought of that Belshazzar did.

In one sense the Bible is a record of proud sinners and then a humble Savior saving some of those proud sinners from their pride and self-exaltation. No one is truly saved that is not saved from the reigning power of pride and self-exaltation. The desire for glory and honor drives many professions today, perhaps as much as greed. The desire for honor drives some people in virtually all they do. Yet the Christian is to deny self and seek the glory and honor of God in all s/he does. The difference is not small, but perhaps so great that it cannot be truly measured other than in the eyes of God. The unregenerate proud sinner can seek self and the glory of self in the world or in religion. The regenerated person with some true humility is simply nauseated by self being praised or honored instead of the Lord of glory.

Our pride, as delicate as it is, can be content to feed upon that stench and corruption which a little humility makes us nauseate…The character of man is, proud sinner. (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion) 

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

The basic issue of the unregenerate human soul is pride. While it may appear on the surface that the problem with the unregenerate soul is unbelief, yet if one looks a little deeper one sees that it is pride that keeps the soul from believing. In other words, an unregenerate soul is a proud soul. It may be very nice and very religious, but its unbelief is a result of pride. On the other hand, we can see that proud souls must be humbled in order to believe. God gives grace to the humble, but opposes the proud. Pride, then, while opposite to humility, is also opposite to grace. It is impossible for a proud and self-focused person to love the truth and reality of grace, though the proud and self-focused person may like or even love (in a sense) a false idea of grace

Habakkuk 2:4 “Behold, as for the proud one, His soul is not right within him; But the righteous will live by his faith.

The text in Habakkuk shows us that the proud person’s soul is not right within him, but a righteous person lives by faith. The contrast, on one hand, is between the soul that is not right and a righteous person. On the other hand, the contrast is between a proud person and faith. True faith will always live in a humble soul while the proud soul cannot have faith as the two cannot live together or the two (faith and pride) cannot reign in the same soul. This is not to say that converted people are without pride, but that grace will break the proud heart (while it will not totally do away with pride in this life) so that the humble heart may have grace and as such faith receives grace and so grace reigns in that soul. Every soul is either at the mercy of self and the devil by pride or at the mercy of God by grace. So the essential character of the unregenerate is proud sinner, but since no one is delivered from pride and sin to perfection in this life, in many ways the regenerate also should see self as a proud sinner.

In one sense the phrase “proud sinner” is nothing more but a redundancy. It is the case that very sinner sins from pride and every proud person sins by being proud. When one sees the very nature of pride and of self, then one can see that the answer for that soul is not being good and nice, but to have a change of heart. A person can be good and nice and yet be that way out of pride. A person can be very religious and be given to prayer and fasting and giving of alms, but still only do those things out of pride (see the Pharisees in Matthew 6). That leaven of pride ruins all that is thought and said to be Christian because all that is truly Christian (faith and actions) are to be done to the glory of God rather than the glory of self. It is only grace that can work in the soul to deliver it from pride and self so that the glory of God will shine through the soul.

This should show us how a proud heart can feed upon that stench and corruption with which a little humility would make us sick to look at much rather than feed upon. The Pharisee loved to pray in order to be seen by men. The Pharisee loved to think of self as righteous and loved the thought that others saw that he was righteous when he prayed. In other words, the pride of the Pharisee fed on being seen as righteous by men. The pride of the Pharisee fed on his own perceived righteousness and filled him up with a sense of his self-righteousness. On the other hand, a truly humble heart is sickened at self when it sees self doing things like that. It is not that the humble heart is completely delivered from all pride and all self, but it has enough humility to loath itself for the pride and self that is left. It is much like Paul who cried out, “Wretched man that I am! Who will set me free from the body of this death?” (Rom 7:24).

The proud heart feeds on religious actions because of what those things do for self. The humble heart is nauseated at doing things for self and desires to have a heart that is pure and so do all things out of love for God and His glory. The proud heart can go home after doing a religious action and dwell on that much to its own satisfaction, but the humble heart grieves over what it has done by self even with mixed motives. The humble heart hates the remaining self and pride and longs to be delivered from it so that it can live fully to the glory of its Beloved. While the humble heart is never fully delivered in this life from pride, it hates the pride and self that it must battle with.

Most men’s notion of sin is only this, that whatever it is they themselves are not guilty of it. None are so absurd as to think, that they do all they should do, or that they are guilty of no deviations from the rule of right; but that their state is sinful upon the whole, or that sin is damnable, they do not believe. (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion) 

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

This comment is so true, even among those that have a confession that states the doctrine and nature of sin. It is one thing to agree that people sin, but it is quite another to admit that I sin. But even when people admit that they sin, what are they admitting to? It is one thing to agree with a confession that sin is worthy of damnation, but it is quite another to confess from the heart that my sin means that I am worthy of damnation. It is one thing to admit that I make mistakes, but it is a far different thing to admit that I sin. It is one thing to say that men are sinners by nature, but that is far from admitting that by nature we are sinners and as a result all that I do (even the best things) are sinful and worthy of the eternal wrath of God.

It is quite easy for human beings to see what is wrong with the behavior of other people, but it is virtually impossible to get past the self-defense and self-justification walls when it comes to the person himself. People who steal hate it if their possessions are stolen. People who lie hate being lied to. Part of the fallen human nature is to look at self through the lenses of self-love and what is good for self-love rather than look at things from an objective moral standard. King David thought a man who had many sheep was worthy of death for taking the sheep of a poor man, yet he had many wives and took the wife of a man who had one. How sinful passions and desires can blind the eyes of self to what self really is and what self is really worthy of.

While it is relatively easy (as Adam points out) to get people to admit that they have done things that were not quite perfect or that they have not done things that they should have, that is not the same thing as getting them to see from the depths of their hearts that they are sinners by nature and all that they do comes from that sinful nature and sinful heart. The self acts as the supreme judge in all that comes to it and makes judgments based on the desires and intellectual reasons of self, but when the biblical truth shows us that self is the real problem, then we can see that all that I have ever done has been wicked and evil actions that were done out of love for self and so enmity toward God.

It is also hard for people to see the evil of sin as against God when it is viewed from the lenses of love for self, what is good for self, and the benefits for self. When people think of sin from the view of self and love for self, they will not see sin as damnable. Instead, they may see it as a mistake and maybe even as wrong, but down deep they do not see it as damnable. Even worse, when things are viewed through the lenses of self, their own nature is not seen as damnable, but as neutral at best. Some, however, seem to think of themselves as basically good. This means that they cannot see the evil of their sin which flows from evil and sinful hearts. Since they think of themselves as basically good, despite what creed or confession they hold to, they will not view themselves as damnable at all. They may even thank God that they are not like other people and so in some way give the praise to grace, but that does not mean that in the deepest parts of their beings that they really believe in grace as taught in the Bible.

 Not many in our day (if at any time in history) really think of themselves as worthy of nothing but eternal damnation. The words may come through clenched teeth in some because it is biblical, but to actually have that as the driving belief of the soul or conviction of the soul is something different. All human beings are worthy of nothing but damnation in and of themselves and it is only because of the grace purchased by Jesus Christ that any will have eternal life. When the hard things come our way in life we have no reason to complain or to say that we do not deserve them. Even in the hardest things that happen we are getting far less than our sins deserve. But even more, God uses the hard things to work in the hearts of His people those things that bring spiritual treasures. When human beings ignore how damnable they are, they turn their backs on spiritual growth and grace as well.

 It is to be feared, that a secret wish to be saved without holiness, is the great bar to our progress towards perfection.      (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion) 

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

It is a sad commentary on the human race that it is opposed to true holiness from beginning to end, but it is even sadder to think that profession believers desire to be saved from hell but not saved from sin itself. We want to be saved from the guilt of and punishment for sin, but we don’t really want to be saved from self and the desires of self. The wicked hearts of human beings want God to save them from all things that will harm them as long as it does not disturb their pride and their essential desire for self and the things of self. The ubiquitous self is every place and in every location of the heart and mind. It is the greatest desire of the heart and that self will use God to get what it wants and it will pursue religion for the safety of its own honor and self-preservation. But apart from a great work of God and of His power in the soul, people desire to be saved from various sins without being saved from the essential nature of sin itself.

 What does it say about a heart that desires for God to save it from the guilt of sin and yet does not turn from sin itself and has no real desire to do so? Indeed the heart may have some desires to flee from some sin because of the pain sin causes, some results of sin, or perhaps because of appearances, but it does not hate sin as sin or hate sin as against God. Despite the fact that holiness is to be like God and in reality (in terms of holiness) all the soul can do is receive from God, people are averse to holiness and do not want to repent of sin. Throughout history people have fought against holiness and called those who pursued it derogatory names.

 The desire to be saved without holiness has brought forth various theologies that are heretical. Men will defend their desires for sinful things by changing theology rather than being changed themselves. Men will go on the attack of those who think that men should seek holiness in order to defend their own sinful practices. It is much like Romans 1:18-32 where people have to suppress the knowledge of God in unrighteousness in order to continue their own wicked practices, so it should come as no surprise when men do that in areas of theology and holiness.

 There is no doubt that many want to be saved without holiness, but what is salvation without holiness? Indeed a lack of desire for holiness, to be like Christ, and to glorify the Father will never lead to maturity, but what can it mean to want to be saved without holiness? In a very real sense that is the same thing as saying a person can be saved without love, and yet we know that is impossible. So what Adam is most likely saying is that some people want some holiness but they don’t want to take pains with it and they really don’t want to die to self. This should grieve our hearts to think about it. Paul taught in the Scriptures, “But may it never be that I would boast, except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal 6:14). It is hard to imagine a believer that would not want to be shed of the burden of sin more and more. So the very least thing we can say is with Adam, a lack of desire for holiness is a great bar to our progress.

We know that we should be good, and therefore conclude at once that we are so; especially if we can read, and abound with notions. Our pride asks for no proofs. (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion)

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

The statement by Adam opens up a very deceitful method of the heart. Unless we begin to see things like this as true of our own hearts, we will be deceived by our own hearts. Every human being in the depths of the soul knows that s/he should be good. The standard of good, however, is another issue. But each human being concludes that s/he is good because s/he has taken the standard of good and twisted it fit and be conformed to self-centeredness, self-love, and pride.

The heart that has seen something of the glory of God has already seen something of the sinfulness of self and knows that it is not essentially good, but instead that it was born dead in sins and trespasses and by nature was a child of wrath. In other words, there is nothing really good about human nature, but instead human beings are born in sin and as such at enmity with the living God who is truly good. One thing that the unregenerate soul wars with God about is what is good and whether God or man is good. But the case is settled when Jesus said that there is only One who is good. The case is cemented when Jesus said that man can do nothing (spiritual or good) apart from Him as the true vine.

Matthew 19:17 And He said to him, “Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.”

John 15:5 “I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from Me you can do nothing.

It is the conclusion of the heart that is at war with God over what is good that enables a person to come to the conclusion that s/he is good. The heart that has seen the glory and true goodness of God will no longer argue that it is good. When self is the focus and self is making decisions and setting standards up for itself that it wants to be good then self may conclude that self is good. But when God is the focus and His is the standard of good there is no way that the soul can conclude that it is good.

Another part of this issue, as Adam sets out, has to do with the reading that people do. A person can be caught up with ideas and notions and either forgets about the heart and becomes consumed with notions or the notions and ideas make sense and so conclude that we must be good. But the heart that is devoted to Scripture will not come up with the idea that it is good. It can only come up with that idea because of deceiving itself or by reading these things from those who are deceived by fallen reason.

But perhaps the chief reason for all of this is pride. The pride of man simply does not demand proof for itself, but instead pride believes what it wants to and so assumes that about itself. This move of pride is not inconsistent with holding to an intellectual belief about the depravity of man, but instead the pride deceives and blinds the mind and heart in such ways that the person can actually think that the depravity of man is true and yet in a practical way deny its influence on himself. Pride is such a blinding force on the soul that men can see something as a biblical truth and yet flee from the meaning of that for their own hearts. The proud heart does not need any proof about itself as it is blinded to what it really is. The proud heart listens to itself rather than to what the evidence of the matter really says. Pride hears what it wants to hear and blocks the rest out.