God’s God Centeredness 3

May 5, 2017

Another part of God’s fulness which he communicates, is his happiness. This happiness consists in enjoying and rejoicing in himself; and so does also the creature’s happiness. It is a participation of what is in God; and God and his glory are the objective ground of it. The happiness of the creature consists in rejoicing in God; by which also God is magnified and exalted. Joy, or the exulting of the heart in God’s glory, is one thing that belongs to praise. So that God is all in all, with respect to each part of that communication of the divine fulness which is made to the creature. What is communicated is divine, or something of God; and each communication is of that nature, that the creature to whom it is made, is thereby conformed to God, and united to him: and that in proportion as the communication is greater or less. And the communication itself is no other, in the very nature of it, than that wherein the very honour, exaltation, and praise of God consists.

And it is farther to be considered, that what God aimed at in the creation of the world, as the end which he had ultimately in view, was that communication of himself which he intended through all eternity. And if we attend to the nature and circumstances of this eternal emanation of divine good, it will more clearly show how, in making this his end, God testifies a supreme respect to himself, and makes himself his end. There are many reasons to think that what God has in view, in an increasing communication of himself through eternity, is an increasing knowledge of God, love to him, and joy in him.

And it is to be considered, that the more those divine communications increase in the creature, the more it becomes one with God: for so much the more is it united to God in love, the heart is drawn nearer and nearer to God, and the union with him becomes more firm and close: and, at the same time, the creature becomes more and more conformed to God. The image is more and more perfect, and so the good that is in the creature comes for ever nearer and nearer to an identity with that which is in God. In the view therefore of God, who has a comprehensive prospect of the increasing union and conformity through eternity, it must be an infinitely strict and perfect nearness, conformity, and oneness. For it will for ever come nearer and nearer to that strictness and perfection of union which there is between the Father and the Son. So that in the eyes of God, who perfectly sees the whole of it, in its infinite progress and increase, it must come to an eminent fulfilment of Christ’s request, in John xvii. 21, 23.That they all may be one, as thou Father art in me, and I in thee, that they also may beonein us; I in them and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one.

In this view, those elect creatures, which must be looked upon as the end of all the rest of the creation, considered with respect to the whole of their eternal duration, and as such made God’s end, must be viewed as being, as it were, one with God. They were respected as brought home to him, united with him, centering most perfectly, as it were swallowed up in him: so that his respect to them finally coincides, and becomes one and the same, with respect to himself. The interest of the creature is, as it were, God’s own interest, in proportion to the degree of their relation and union to God. Thus the interest of a man’s family is looked upon as the same with his own interest; because of the relation they stand in to him, his propriety in them, and their strict union with him. But God’s elect creatures, with respect to their eternal duration, are infinitely dearer to God, than a man’s family is to him. What has been said shows that as all things are from God, as their first cause and fountain; so all things tend to him, and in their progress come nearer and nearer to him through all eternity: which argues, that he who is their first cause is their last end.

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God’s God Centeredness 2

May 3, 2017

From Jonathan Edwards

This propensity in God to diffuse himself, may be considered as a propensity to himself diffused; or to his own glory existing in its emanation. A respect to himself, or an infinite propensity to and delight in his own glory is that which causes him to incline to its being abundantly diffused, and to delight in the emanation of it. Thus, thatnature in a tree, by which it puts forth buds, shoots out branches, and brings forth leaves and fruit, is a disposition that terminates in its own complete self. And so the disposition in the sun to shine, or abundantly to diffuse its fulness, warmth, and brightness, is only a tendency to its own most glorious and complete state. So God looks on the communication of himself, and the emanation of his infinite glory, to belong to the fulness and completeness of himself; as though he were not in his most glorious state without it.

Thus the church of Christ, (toward whom and in whom are the emanations of his glory, and the communication of his fulness,) is called the fulness of Christ; as though he were not in his complete state without her; like Adam without Eve. And the church is called the glory of Christ, as the woman is the glory of the man, 1 Cor. xi. 7. Isa. xlvi. 13. I will place salvation in Zion, for Israel my glory. —Indeed, after the creatures are intended to be created, God may be conceived of as being moved by benevolence to them, in the strictest sense, in his dealings with them. His exercising his goodness, and gratifying his benevolence to them in particular, may be the spring of all God’s proceedings through the universe; as being now the determined way of gratifying his general inclination to diffuse himself. Here God acting for himself; or making himself his last end, and his acting for their sake, are not to be set in opposition; they are rather to be considered as coinciding one with the other, and implied one in the other. But yet God is to be considered as first and original in his regard; and the creature is the object of God’s regard, consequently, and by implication, as being as it were comprehended in God; as it shall be more particularly observed presently.

But how God’s value for, and delight in, the emanations of his fulness in the work of creation, argues his delight in the infinite fulness of good in himself, and the supreme regard he has for himself; and that in making these emanations, he ultimately makes himself his end in creation; will more clearly appear by considering more particularly the nature and circumstances of these communications of God’s fulness. One part of that divine fulness which is communicated, is the divine knowledge. That communicated knowledge, which must be supposed to pertain to God’s last end in creating the world, is the creature’s knowledge of him. For this is the end of all other knowledge; and even the faculty of understanding would be vain without it. And this knowledge is most properly a communication of God’s infinite knowledge, which primarily consists in the knowledge of himself. God, in making this his end, makes himself his end. This knowledge in the creature, is but a conformity to God. It is the image of God’s own knowledge of himself. It is a participation of the same; though infinitely less in degree: as particular beams of the sun communicated are the light and glory of the sun itself, in part.

Besides, God’s glory is the object of this knowledge, or the thing known; so that God is glorified in it, as hereby his excellency is seen. As therefore God values himself, as he delights in his own knowledge, be must delight in every thing of that nature: as he delights in his own light, he must delight in every beam of that light; and as he highly values his own excellency, he must be well pleased in having it manifested, and so glorified.

Another emanation of divine fulness, is the communication of virtue and holiness to the creature: this is a communication of God’s holiness; so that hereby the creature partakes of God’s own moral excellency; which is properly the beauty of the divine nature. And as God delights in his own beauty, he must necessarily delight in the creature’s holiness; which is a conformity to and participation of it, as truly as a brightness of a jewel, held in the sun’s beams, is a participation or derivation of the sun’s brightness, though immensely less in degree. And then it must be considered wherein this holiness in the creature consists, viz. in love, which is the comprehension of all true virtue; and primarily in love to God, which is exercised in a high esteem of God, admiration of his perfections, complacency in them, and praise of them. All which things are nothing else but the heart exalting, magnifying, or glorifying God; which, as I showed before, God necessarily approves of, and is pleased with, as he loves himself, and values the glory of his own nature.

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God’s God-Centeredness 1

May 1, 2017

From Jonathan Edwards

In the last section I observed some things which are actually the consequence of the creation of tire world, which seem absolutely valuable in themselves, and so worthy to be made God’s last end in his work. I now proceed to inquire, how God’s making such things as these his last end, is consistent with his making himself his last end, or his manifesting an ultimate respect to himself in his acts and works. Because it is agreeable to the dictates of reason, that in all his proceedings he should set himself highest; therefore, I would endeavour to show, how his infinite love to and delight in himself, will naturally cause him to value and delight in these things: or rather, how a value to these things is implied in his value of that infinite fulness of good that is in himself.

Now, with regard to the first of the particulars mentioned above—God’s regard to the exercise of those attributes of his nature, in their proper operations and effects, which consist in a sufficiency for these operations—it is not hard to conceive that God’s regard to himself, and value for his own perfections, should cause him to value these exercises and expressions of’ his perfections; inasmuch as their excellency consists in their relation to use, exercise, and operation. God’s love to himself, and his own attributes, will therefore make him delight in that which is the use, end, and operation of these attributes. If one highly esteem and delight in the virtues of a friend, as wisdom, justice, &c. that have relation to action, this will make him delight in the exercise and genuine effects of these virtues. So if God both esteem and delight in his own perfections and virtues, he cannot but value and delight in the expressions and genuine effects of them. So that in delighting in the expressions of his perfections, he manifests a delight in himself; and in making these expressions of his own perfections his end, he makes himself his end.
And with respect to the second and third particulars, the matter is no less plain. For he that loves any being, and has a disposition highly to prize and greatly to delight in his virtues and perfections, must from the same disposition be well pleased to have his excellencies known, acknowledged, esteemed, and prized by others. He that loves any thing, naturally loves the approbation of that thing, and is opposite to the disapprobation of it. Thus it is when one loves the virtues of a friend. And thus it will necessarily be, if a being loves himself and highly prizes his own excellencies; and thus it is fit it should be, if it be fit he should thus love himself, and prize his own valuable qualities; that is, it is fit that he should take delight in his own excellencies being seen, acknowledged, esteemed, and delighted in. This is implied in a love to himself and his own perfections; and in making this his end, he makes himself his end.
And with respect to the fourth and last particular, viz. God’s being disposed to an abundant communication, and glorious emanation, of that infinite fulness of good which he possesses, as of his own knowledge, excellency and happiness, in the manner he does; if we thoroughly consider the matter, it will appear, that herein also God makes himself his end, in such a sense, as plainly to manifest and testify a supreme and ultimate regard to himself.
Merely in this disposition to cause an emanation of his glory and fulness—which is prior to the existence of any other being, and is to be considered as the inciting cause of giving existence to other beings—God cannot so properly be said to make the creature his end, as himself. For the creature is not as yet considered as existing. This disposition or desire in God, must be prior to the existence of the creature, even in foresight. For it is a disposition that is the original ground even of the future, intended, and foreseen existence of the creature. God’s benevolence, as it respects the creature, may be taken either in a larger or stricter sense. In a larger sense, it may signify nothing diverse from that good disposition in his nature to communicate of his own fulness in general; as his knowledge, his holiness, and happiness; and to give creatures existence in order to it. This may be called benevolence, or love, because it is the same good disposition that is exercised in love. It is the very fountain from whence love originally proceeds, when taken in the most proper sense; and it has the same general tendency and effect in the creature’s well-being. But yet this cannot have any particular present or future created existence for its object; because it is prior to any such object, and the very source of the futurition of its existence. Nor is it really diverse from God’s love to himself; as will more clearly appear afterwards.

But God’s love may be taken more strictly, for this general disposition to communicate good, as directed to particular objects. Love, in the most strict and proper sense, presupposes the existence of the object beloved, at least in idea and expectation, and represented to the mind as future. God did not love angels in the strictest sense, but in consequence of his intending to create them, and so having an idea of future existing angels. Therefore his love to them was not properly what excited him to intend to create them. Love or benevolence, strictly taken, presupposes an existing object, as much as pity a miserable suffering object.

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Selfish “Christianity” 50

April 30, 2017

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.

While it can and perhaps does sound arrogant, the question must be asked. If what Luther said was true about the heart of the Gospel, and the modern version ignores what Luther said, then is one right and the other wrong or can both be right or both be wrong? The selfish heart that is full of self and pride fights the true idea of depravity though it can accept it in theory. The selfish heart hates the reality of being utterly dependent upon God for grace to save it and sanctify it. The selfish heart hates the reality of its own inability and as such will change certain truths about God in order to retain some ability. That is precisely what those who assert free-will do. That is precisely what those who will not teach the absolute inability of man in salvation and in doing spiritual good are doing. They are wavering on the truth of who man is and the selfish heart loves it so.

The selfish heart is at war with the true God and since it must always be in control it must change the truth of who God is in order to retain control. The selfish heart will gather all it can around it and take its aberration and make it the orthodox view. The selfish heart, whether religious or not, will always be at war with the truth of God. This is an absolute truth that each person must recognize about him or herself and about others. The truth of God is not just set out in Scripture and all we have to do is read it in order to discover that truth, but the truth of God is set out in a way that God alone can reveal it to men. Those who do not have it, regardless of how smart they are, cannot discover it apart from grace. Ministers and professors at colleges and seminaries cannot understand the truth of God apart from grace showing them. The selfish heart hates that and will fight that so self will have some control in its own eyes.

It is not always a crass and weak view of God that is preached in order to tickle the ear of men, but it can be a strong view of God but a god that allows men freedom and a god that allows men to have control. The selfish man hates the true concept of a sovereign God and will fight that truth of God tooth and nail. The selfish man can be a very religious man and be a stalwart of conservatism and yet hate the true concept of the sovereignty of God. The selfish man may be a very religious man and a stalwart of orthodox theology and be a professing Calvinist and yet at the same time that man can be at war with God over who is truly sovereign. Oh how easy it is for the logical mind to grasp some of the great truths of God and use that to climb denominational ladders or to go from small churches to bigger ones. However, that does not make the heart any less selfish. In fact, it can be exactly and precisely what a selfish heart will do.

This is what we must be brought to see. This is not just some theoretical truth that we can accept as true in theory. This is what is true of each of our own hearts unless God is pleased to give us new hearts. Each heart is born dead in sins and trespasses and by nature a child of wrath. Each heart is selfish, proud, and does all from self-love apart from the new birth. Each heart longs to be as God and lives as god to itself. Each heart is at war with God and is at enmity with Him over who will reign over “me.” The selfish heart will love false gods and false theology, but it will never love the true God unless it is born from above. The selfish heart is diametrically opposed to the sovereign God of reality and will gather all others that it can to be on its side.

Going back to the original question in the first paragraph regarding Luther, I would assert that we are far from following Luther on this gigantically important point. It may be that we are as far from Luther at this point as the Roman Catholics were in his day. Is it that big of a deal to be that far from Luther? Perhaps not, because the real issue is over the truth of whom the real God is. However, if Luther was right, then our day is dead wrong and we are for from the biblical truths that Luther set out. We must also remember that a true Reformation and true Revival happened when God opened the eyes of Luther to the great truths of man’s inability and His free and sovereign grace. We must seek the Lord to open our eyes as only He can do so and if He does not we are lost in our selfish hearts. We must have free and sovereign grace to open our eyes and our hearts.

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Selfish “Christianity” 49

April 25, 2017

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 claim that has been set forth in this Blog is that the selfish heart is really trying to be as God, that is, it is trying to play God to self and others. The selfish heart serves self in all it does and self is its primary motive in all it does. The selfish heart will be very religious and have words and works that proclaim a service to God, but the heart of that person is really serving self. When a person is unconverted, then the more religious the person is then the more the person is using religion and God to serve self. This should show us that the most religious of people can be those who have more of self and that the self is the god of that person.

This is very hard for people to accept, especially with the whole heart. It is a terrifying and awful thing to realize that “I” have been so very religious for such a long time have been in the depths of idolatry the whole time. It is a sickening thing for a minister to realize that he has preached for self and has done all he has done in the ministry for self. It drives the minister to utter despair when he sees that he was so concerned to be a good preacher and yet his concern was for the honor and reputation of self. It will make the minister sick to his stomach of himself when he sees that he has prayed for self and counseled for self. In the most religious of our actions we can serve self and in the most religious of our actions we can play God to self the most.

It is easy for a fallen heart to deceive itself regarding its exalted feelings about religious self and the god it has worked up in the image of self and think it loves God and serves God. It is easy for the religious self to think that it is loved by God despite the evidence because it loves self no matter what. It is imperative that we understand that a selfish heart will and can turn the evidence about itself as it wants to and it will interpret evidence about itself in terms of itself. The selfish heart has a god that it has invented out of a heart of self-love and so when it judges itself by its god it will always be like its god. This is a vicious way of deceiving our own hearts.

When the selfish heart comes up with a god that mirrors its own understanding and love, the selfish heart will of course love that god because it is nothing but a way of loving self. When a selfish heart reads the Bible or is informed about sin, that selfish heart will judge itself by itself and will find nothing wrong. The selfish heart is the god of self and so as the judge of self it will not find much wrong as it will always justify itself. This is once again the selfish heart playing god to self and in doing so it is at enmity with the living and true God. The living God demands our whole heart as a total sacrifice to Him and it is to do all out of love for Him. When the selfish heart serves self with its whole heart, it is at enmity with God with its whole heart.

But again, and not in an effort to state something over and over, but this is so vital. The most religious person in the world that is not regenerate is perhaps the most idolatrous. The minister who speaks well and does so with charisma, charm, giftedness, and with an orthodox understanding may in fact be at the height of idolatry. God judged the Israelites harder than He did the rest of the world and that is because they had more truth of Him than the others did and so they rejected more of Him than the others did. Not only can the minister be idolatrous, however, but entire churches (in name) and denominations can be given over to the pursuit of selfish things rather than the true things of God. Entire churches (in name) that pursue self are simply groups of people who have the same idol of self and they reflect that idol to each other. They can tag that selfish heart with orthodox names and they can tag the god that reflects self with orthodox names, but all they do is enmity toward the true God.

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Selfish “Christianity” 48

April 23, 2017

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 selfish heart has self as its own god and is in the service of self. The devil promised the original couple that they would be like God or as God and that is what enticed them. We can also see from Psalm 51 and II Samuel 12:9-10 that when David sinned in the matter with Bathsheba and Uriah her husband that this was his sin. David’s sin was not so much in what he did with Bathsheba and to Uriah, but in what he did to God. This is not always what man is conscious of, and in fact it is rare for something to know that sin is directly against God, but that is the very essence of sin. The essence of sin is that in some way it is against God, yet that is precisely what a selfish heart is and what comes from a selfish heart. A selfish heart desires to be as God and as such what it does it does against the living and true God whether it is conscious of that or not.

II Samuel 12:9 ‘Why have you despised the word of the LORD by doing evil in His sight? You have struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword, have taken his wife to be your wife, and have killed him with the sword of the sons of Ammon. 10 ‘Now therefore, the sword shall never depart from your house, because you have despised Me and have taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be your wife.’

Psa 51:3 For I know my transgressions, And my sin is ever before me. 4 Against You, You only, I have sinned And done what is evil in Your sight, So that You are justified when You speak And blameless when You judge.

The passage in II Samuel (just above) shows us God’s view of things as He spoke through Nathan the prophet. The words of God to David were that David had despised God in doing what he did. It was David who planned the execution of Uriah, though indeed he was miles and miles away and Uriah was killed in battle. Nevertheless, the Lord said it was David who killed Uriah with the sword of the sons of Ammon. It was David who committed adultery with Bathsheba. The words of God were brought to David and his sins of adultery and murder were declared to be specifically against God.

Psalm 51 shows us David’s confession. In confessing his sin he said that his sin was against God and God only. It is when we begin to understand the nature of sin that we start to understand the grievous nature of sin as being against God. This is precisely what a selfish heart is. The selfish heart is directly opposed to God in terms of who He is and in terms of His doing all for Himself. Bathsheba was God’s and not David’s. Uriah belonged to God and not to David, even though he was king. David belonged to God and not to David. King David sinned when he thought he could take the place of God and take Bathsheba to himself and take the life of Uriah. David played God in a very real sense in this whole sordid matter. David’s selfish heart desired Bathsheba over God and he took her. David’s selfish heart desired the life of Uriah for his own purposes and he took that. David’s selfish heart desired to have things for self rather than do all for the honor and glory of God. His selfish heart played God, his selfish heart ignored the Word of God, his selfish heart justified his sin, and in all that David opposed God and played God.

While it may be easy to see the sin of David, it may not be so easy to see our own. While we may not commit adultery and have the power to use the military to execute people in battle, we can see how David did so. It may also be that we have justified our sin as David did and that is why we cannot see it. When we justify our sin by coming up with reasons and excuses for it, that is simply our selfish hearts playing God. The living God never makes excuses for sin and we have no right to do so. We are never given the right to do anything but do all we do to the glory of God. We should see David’s confession as a pattern for us rather than shake our heads at him. All of our sin is a despising the Word of God. All of our sin is a despising of God Himself as well. A selfish heart is in direct opposition to God playing God and making decisions to do things that God has forbidden. A selfish heart loves self when we are told to love God with all of our being. A selfish heart seeks self when we are to seek his glory. How awful is the sin of a selfish heart! Have you really and truly been broken by God for your own selfish heart?

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Selfish “Christianity” 47

April 21, 2017

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 statement of William Weeks just above is also quite demonstrative of the power of the selfish heart in its opposition to the true God. The selfish heart will twist the teachings of the Bible to fit it and its own desires. Some of the teachings it can twist quite easily, but others it must work harder to do so. Either way, the selfish heart will not have the true God in its mind and so it will invent one to fit its own selfish imaginations.

Following the order of the quote above, we can see that the selfish sinner changes God from being God-centered to being centered upon the sinner. In other words, the sinner is now sovereign over his own salvation rather than being in the hands of a sovereign God. The selfish heart represents God as desiring for the sinner to choose Him and be saved rather than that the sinner must be changed to desire the true God. The selfish heart must change the nature of the true God to love him or her first so that the sinner can then love God, but the reality of the matter is that the sinner must have a new heart in order to love God. The selfish heart will not change its essential selfishness though it will change morals or outward behavior, but instead it will change who God is so it will not have to change.

The selfish heart will see in the Bible that God is a God of great mercy, but what it does is change that mercy from a sovereign mercy in Christ to a mercy that will be shown to the sinner when the sinner desires and is always available to the sinner when s/he desires it. The selfish sinner will not have a God of perfect justice but will have a god who is just to some degree but not enough to send a selfish sinner to hell or that will bring judgment on the selfish sinners sin. The selfish sinner does not mind hearing certain things about hell as long as it is a watered down hell, or perhaps even taught in some orthodox way, but it will not have a hell for which it is liable.

The selfish heart opposes the truth of who God is but at times it does so in such a way that it is not obvious to people, and especially not obvious to selfish hearts which love a God that loves them and leaves their selfish hearts alone. As long as there is a version of Christianity which leaves the selfish heart untouched it can be popular. Versions of Christianity that focus on the selfish heart can be wildly popular, though it is nothing but the spawn of hell. The devil, as a selfish being, does not care if people are religious and even very religious as long as they are selfish. This is so hard for people to get into their thinking. The devil does not just go around and try to get people to be as outwardly wicked as he can, but instead he also gets people to be as religious as they can and in doing so he deceives them. It is the selfish heart that is opposed to God whether it is outwardly wicked or outwardly religious and very devout. The selfish heart is the child of the devil whether it is openly wicked or is a very devout appearing minister.

The devil is at home in selfish hearts and he reigns and rules there. He dwells in those selfish hearts through pride and self-seeking. He loves the morality of the moral and the religiosity of the religious. He loved to work with and in the Pharisees as much as those who lived flagrantly sinful lives. He loves to work in popular evangelists and the health and wealth ministers as much as in those who are openly sinful in Hollywood. He can deceive the selfish hearts in many ways and so he uses many ways. The evangelists of the devil can wear white suits and can be quite charming and nice. The evangelists of the devil can also be orthodox in many ways, but of course we are told not to judge. If the Lord will show us and drive it into our hearts that selfish hearts can be religious and very religious, we will never see things the same way. A selfish heart is incompatible with true Christianity regardless of how religious a person that has that selfish heart is. A selfish minister and selfish leaders can gain many, many followers, but so can many other forms of religious leaders. We must be wise and we must seek the Lord for wisdom in these things.

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Selfish “Christianity” 46

April 19, 2017

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.

A selfish heart hates God and all that He really is. A selfish heart will oppose God and all He really is. Romans 1:18-32 also teaches us that men suppress the truth of God and God judges that by turning them over to hardened hearts which deny Him even more. Since the truth of God has indeed been revealed to men in ways that they cannot deny fully, what we have then is a constant work in the hearts of men to deny the true God. If the previous statements are true, then clearly we have a lot of people who are involved in religious activity who are busily denying the truth of God. A selfish heart will deny the truth of God and must deny the truth of God because of the nature of that heart which is opposed to God. The selfish heart is a heart that is by nature opposed to the things of God though it is not opposed to the things of religion.

Ephesians 2:1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2 in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience. 3 Among them we too all formerly lived in the lusts of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, even as the rest.

In the passage just above (Eph 2:1-3) we see a great description of the selfish heart living in opposition to the true God. The selfish heart is dead to spiritual life and to living by the grace of the true God and as such it is dead in trespasses and sins. The very nature of sin is that it does all it does in opposition to the glory of God. The selfish heart lives according to the course of this world because the course of this world is selfishness. The course of this world is that it goes according to the prince of the power of the air and that prince lives in the power of selfishness and works that in his children who are sons of disobedience. The lusts of the flesh that people live in are the lusts of the selfish heart. The desires of the flesh and of the mind are the desires of the selfish heart.

When someone speaks the words of God regarding the true character of God to a selfish heart that selfish heart will rise in opposition to that God. We will make a great mistake if we think of the desires of the flesh and of the mind as consisting only in gross sexual sins, but instead the desires of the flesh and of the mind can be religious things as well. The selfish heart does not just want to dismiss God entirely, but it wants to change Him to be something the selfish heart can deal with and that the selfish heart can love. The selfish heart will love a god that loves it and will leave that selfish heart alone.

A selfish heart will go after the teaching concerning the true God and water it down to where it can love the god of its own imaginations. The selfish heart can love Arminian theology and it can love Reformed theology as long as it leaves the self untouched. Some selfish hearts can love a version of Christianity that will allow it be legalistic which is really to live by its own power and righteousness. Some selfish hearts can love a version of Christianity that will allow it to be academic which is to live quietly and seek honor through writing books. Some selfish hearts can love a version of Christianity that is very moral, which is once again in the power of a selfish heart which can take pride in its morality. Some selfish hearts can love a version of Christianity which is Reformed or orthodox in doctrine, outwardly moral, and yet essentially leaves the heart untouched. This does not mean that the heart is not mentioned or talked about, but it is essentially untouched and people can have their theology and morality and go on in their visible church lives thinking that they are on the road to heaven. Oh what a wide swath that selfishness has cut through Christianity!

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Selfish “Christianity” 45

April 17, 2017

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 nature of a selfish heart is seen early on in the Garden. It was the promise of the devil that the man and the woman would be as God. This desire to be as God is seen in each sin and it is also seen in the enmity of the heart of fallen man toward the true God. Man always wants to be like God and in that desire to be God to self man sins and seeks himself and his own glory. God is self-existent and has no need for anything or anyone. God exists in and of Himself as triune and since He has no need there is no one who can do anything for Him and assist Him in any shape, form, or fashion.

The selfish heart, however, does not want to submit to the living God from whom all things come. The selfish heart wants to be like God in being self-existent in some way, so it fights God and does not want to be totally reliant upon Him in all things. Man wants to take credit and glory in his own work and in his own religion. Selfish hearts seek glory and honor by the power of self and as such seek to be like God in a sense by having all their religion come from self. Men are righteous in a way that comes from self and in that they are trying to usurp God as being the only source of true righteousness. Preachers want to glory in their preaching as if there can be such a thing as true preaching that comes from them rather than received from God. Preachers want others to glory in their preaching rather than to glory in the God who is supposed to be preached.

Selfish hearts are like the Pharisees in wanting to establish laws that self can keep and that self is pleased with. Again, this is an effort of the selfish heart to be like God. The selfish heart will search the Bible and old religious books to find laws and ordinances that it can keep that will make religion within its own power. The selfish heart may not understand what it is doing, but it is always watering down true religion and making rules it can keep so that it does not have to depend on the cross of Christ completely. The selfish heart does not want to rely upon free-grace alone and as such it will find a way of grace that depends on it just a little if not more than just a little. The selfish heart wants a gospel that it can control by accepting and that it can talk people into, but again this is nothing more than enmity against the true God who is sovereign over all things.
The Arminian and the modern Calvinist (Arminian in practice) are really cut from the same cloth. They do not want to rely upon God alone for all things. They seem to think that relying upon God alone for all things is some form of Hyper-Calvinism, but in reality relying upon God alone is simply the biblical message. The selfish heart, however, does not want to depend on God to break it and to humble it. The selfish heart does not want to rely completely upon the grace of God to give it faith. The selfish heart does not want to look to free-grace alone for all things as it wants to be able to do some little something to move God to save it. The selfish heart does not want to be so broken that it has no plea from itself and no strength to do anything. The selfish heart simply refuses to die to all of self and so wants a god and a gospel to fit that.

The problem with that, however, is that there is no god like that and no gospel close to that that will actually save sinners. However, the selfish heart will cling to a god like that and a gospel like that in order to retain something of self. The selfish heart does not want to be broken and it does not want to be crushed so that it is dead to self. The selfish heart will resist this in all ways at all times. It is much like a religious wife who knows that she is to submit to her husband as to the Lord and yet self is there and she will only submit when she feels like it. In that way the selfish heart will submit in many things and at many times, but it will not bow down to the Lord Jesus Christ and submit completely and totally.

Interestingly enough, however, the selfish heart may hear that self must be denied and it will set out to do that. As is clear from the situation, however, when self is moving the selfish heart to deny self it is not self that is being denied. It is the true and living God that is being denied as only He can break the proud heart and overpower the self by His grace. Self will always try to be like God even when it is trying to deny self. Oh that the Lord would break our hearts of self by grace alone and give Himself to us by His grace alone.

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Selfish “Christianity” 44

April 15, 2017

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 very heart of Christianity is the life of Christ in the soul of men that He has purchased by His blood. When Christ lives in that soul, His Spirit is united to the soul of the person and so that person loves. A selfish heart, however, has no ability to love God and to truly love fellow human beings. Scripture teaches us that apart from true love (which comes from God) there is nothing we can do that is good, which is clear evidence that a selfish heart (which loves self and all things for self even when doing things for others) is the very opposite of true Christianity. The heart that is at enmity with God cannot at the same time truly love God with a love that God gives that soul. If it is true as Scripture teaches that all spiritual blessings are in Christ, then assuredly a selfish heart that does not love is not blessed of God.

One of the intents of this series of postings on this Blog is to try to show just how opposite of Christianity that a selfish heart is and yet also try to show just how prevalent selfishness is in the professing churches. As you cannot have ice cold boiling water, so you cannot have selfish Christianity. The selfish heart will take on a religious disguise and will give itself to many works for the sake of religion, yet the selfish heart must be born again to be a heart that is delivered from selfishness as its ruling power. The selfish heart can take on a religious disguise and become a minister or a seminary professor and yet do all for the sake of self without the slightest bit of love for the true God. The selfish heart can be deceived into thinking that it is doing all out of love for God and yet it is the god that self has dreamed up out of the heart of self.

The natural man is born dead in sin and by nature a child of wrath. That is a selfish heart and apart from the new birth that actually happens to that person (not just hear about it and believe it as a doctrine) there is no salvation regardless of how religious a person becomes. Jesus said a person must be born from above and He said that to one of the most religious people in that nation. A person can have the best of educations, but that does not mean that the person is born from above. A person can have the best of confessions, but that does not mean that the person is born from above. A person can be a popular minister and be a conservative minister preaching the externals of the truth, but that does not mean that the person is born from above. It is possible to be all of those things and still have a selfish heart that is a stranger to the new birth.

Jesus taught us that the new birth occurs to a person not because of the bloodline or birth status, not because of the will of any person’s flesh, and not because of the will of man. People are born from above because of the will of God (John 1:12-13). If a person cannot be born from above because of the will of the flesh, then the selfish heart cannot be born again because it wills so. The Gospel includes the glorious new birth and this promise of giving people a new heart is a promise to deliver them from the bondage of a selfish heart which is to have the devil as a father. As long as a person has a selfish heart that person will oppose God and His Gospel and will settle for that which is the opposite of God and the truth of who He is. The selfish heart is at enmity and the gospel that is preached in most of the churches today is consistent with the selfish heart and as such is not consistent with the character of God.

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