God Loves… Himself

Matthew 3:7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 “Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance; 9 and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.

God never makes any man what he should be, without first making him know what he is. O God, take the veil from my heart; take the world, take pride, take self out of my heart, and write there all they laws, I beseech thee. (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion)

I received a magazine called SBCLIFE in the last day or two. There was a large heading that said GREAT AWAKENING and then “SBC Messengers Pray for US, World.” The reporter quoted several men and their words calling for people to pray, seek racial reconciliation, and to ask for an awakening or revival. As I read the report, and without knowing how many other things were said and went on, I was struck by the lack of recognition of what revival really is and what it would take. It seemed as if people thought God had to send it but it was almost as if He needed them to do things for Him to send revival. What a striking contrast to the statement of Thomas Adam above who recognized that God must make us what we should be.

The SBC is not in trouble because of racism or because of the many things listed, though one man did speak of pride which is a problem, it is in trouble because it has cast true theology behind its back and has focused on business models for church growth. The SBC is in trouble because it is looking to men and works for its help rather than God. Indeed it appeared to be giving lip service to God sending revival, but until men repent of thinking that God is waiting on them to get right in some way before He sends revival these men are clueless as to the nature of true revival.

I would argue that until there is a true working of God in the hearts of men in the SBC and they seek true repentance from God so that they will turn from their wicked ways of church growth and the wicked theology of Arminianism and Pelagianism, their works of prayer will have no effect but that of bringing a greater hardening upon their hearts. While one man gave lip service to the idea that we are like the Pharisees in our day, and that very well may be true, it is like the Pharisees to think that if we can do certain things then God will respond by giving us revival. That is another thought that men must seek the Lord to repent of.

Some will think that this as lacking graciousness or winsomeness, but the article and the actions and words of those in the SBC reveal a severe lack of the awareness of God, the reality and truth of grace, and the true nature of repentance. We don’t get to pick and choose what God would have us repent from, and we have no power to do anything to move God to send true revival. In accordance with the truth of Matthew 3:7-9, we can say “you brood of vipers, who told you that you could seek revival?” But again, “and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.” God does not need the SBC and God does not need for them to do anything so that He will send revival. God only needs Himself to send revival. God only needs Himself to regenerate lost souls.

It is utterly vital that all things flow from the sovereignty of God and the free-grace of God rather than from the religious words and works of men. The article in the SBC magazine, if an accurate portrayal, revealed a great ignorance of the sovereignty of God and the free-grace of God. Men should not strive to work up repentance in themselves from the things they think are so bad, they should seek the Lord to be shown what they need to repent of and then seek Him to work that repentance in them. While they are speaking of racial reconciliation, they need to know the truth of free-grace so that they may know what it means to be reconciled to God. Racial reconciliation is not true repentance in and of itself and repentance from that on the surface cannot move God to show revival. True racial reconciliation can only happen in Christ and by grace, but it never, ever moves God to bring revival. Neither will all the works and prayers of men move God to bring an awakening or revival. Revival comes by grace alone which Christ alone can work in us and it is that grace which works true repentance in us. Revival or perhaps God’s working in His people to bring revival results in true repentance, but we must never, ever even sound like we believe that we can move God to send revival by what we do. We can do nothing spiritual but what we receive first.

Matthew 3:7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 “Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance; 9 and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.

God never makes any man what he should be, without first making him know what he is. O God, take the veil from my heart; take the world, take pride, take self out of my heart, and write there all they laws, I beseech thee. (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion)

Knowing the heart is a scary thing, but we must seek the Lord to show us the spiritual reality of our hearts. We must have Him show us the reality of our desires when for unbelievers very intent of the thoughts of the heart are only evil and that continually (Gen 6:5). But believers have not escaped the sinfulness of their hearts entirely nor have they escaped it for the most part. Even when we have a desire to know our hearts, it can be that we desire to know them from false and sinful motives. Do I want these things from the strength of religious self or from love for Him and His glory?

When we ask God to take the veil from our heart and mean it to some degree, even though it may be a small degree surrounded by self-love and the mechanisms it employs to protect itself, at some point it goes beyond just asking ourselves if we really want God to strip us of those things. It goes beyond the point of being satisfied if we have a desire for God to take the veil from the heart. At some point we have to submit to King Jesus and have Him to actually be stripped of the things He wants to strip from us and to submit to His pace in doing that. When He begins to strip us we will begin to cry out because of the pain and we will ask Him to stop, but He will not always do so. In His great love for His people He will strip them from the things that keep them from the greatest good, Himself. Will we seek Him to take those things away and do we really want to suffer the loss of those things? Will our hearts join with Paul in thinking all things as dross and dung which come in between our hearts and Christ?

This is to say that we may have some desire for God to take the veil from the heart for various reasons and some of those reasons may be from religious pride. We must know that when God lifts the corner of the veil and we see our religious pride and realize in a deeply experiential way that our righteousness is as menstrual cloths, our desire will be to flee back to a comfortable way of viewing ourselves. But what we must do is to flee to Christ and His free-grace. Our hearts are wed to self-righteousness in so many ways, and we must realize that despite our theological statements and what we say we believe we are full of self-righteousness and it is hidden from our eyes. It is only when the hideous nature of this is exposed that we will begin to see that we have no hope in anything but Christ and having Him by free-grace.

When He takes the veil off or lifts a corner it will be hard to believe the actual state of our hearts. We will become sick of self and sick of our own pride, perhaps even to the point of being nauseated. We will learn what it means to hate self, which is really to hate our self-centered idolatry and the stench of that will drive us to cry out to God against self and pride. So many think that they have repented, but when the veil is lifted they will see that they have not truly repented at all. Only the work of Christ in showing us our hearts and then teaching us about free-grace can lead us to a fuller and then a fuller repentance from pride and self. But beware, it is a painful process and you are not in control. Is this to say that you should not seek Him for it? No, it is just to say that it is something you should know is a painful process and it is not for those who just play with Christian things.

The very best that many have done is to have some form of behavior modification in becoming religious, but all that they do is done out of self-righteousness and pride. A person may think that s/he is orthodox and moral, but one sight of the heart as God shines the light in may destroy all of that. The person’s orthodoxy may come from a wicked heart that is full of pride, and a person’s morality may come from nothing but love for self and issue forth in self-righteousness. We must have Christ deliver us from those things in order that we would be saved and then sanctified by free-grace alone. True repentance is not just to stop doing things, it is to be turned from self, pride, and self-righteousness to Christ, His humility, and His righteousness. It is the glory of free-grace.

Matthew 3:7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 “Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance; 9 and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.

God never makes any man what he should be, without first making him know what he is. O God, take the veil from my heart; take the world, take pride, take self out of my heart, and write there all they laws, I beseech thee. (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion)

Do we really want to know our hearts? Do we really want God to strip us of all self-righteousness and all pride? While we will make the excuse that God will not take away all self-righteousness and pride in this life, that is not the point. Do we really want God to strip us of more self-righteousness and pride to the point where it is far beyond our comfort level? Do we want Him to strip us of self-righteousness and pride in theory or do we want Him to do this in fact? Do we really want God to take the love of and esteem of the world out of my heart? We must remember that repentance is turning from sin to God. When we see remaining sin in our hearts, can we say that we are true lovers of God if we don’t desire to turn from sin to Him? It is far easier to speak of religious things and spiritual things than it is to be stripped of them. One reason for this is that our hearts are wedded to our idols and it is painful to have them taken away. A second reason is that when God takes things away He uses fiery trials to do so. We flee from those things.

Jesus told us to deny self, take up our cross and follow Him. We cannot follow Christ any further than the degree we deny self. Notice, however, that the text and the question in this BLOG is not do I wish for God to take things from self, but do I want Him to work grace in my soul so that the very self is denied. It is one thing to want a veil to remain over our hearts so that we cannot see our sin and hand on tightly to our self-righteousness (at least in our own eyes), but it is perhaps just as dangerous if not more dangerous to deny self in a religious way and to deceive ourselves into thinking we have denied self. Do I truly want God to go after my self-love, self-sufficiency, and trust in self or am I content to remain in a state where those things keep me from seeking Christ? Do we really want God to take self out of our hearts or simply be satisfied with the appearance of it? We must want God to work in us so that we see our utter helplessness and inability before Him so that we know that it is only by His grace that self can be denied and only by grace that we can follow Christ. The true desire for these things can only come by grace and strength though the necessary trials is only by grace as well.

If the Lord is teaching us these things we will begin to notice that we may want to do these things out of pride, because this would really distinguish us from others. This just teaches us that self and pride have a very deep root in us and will always keep coming back in some way. It has been noted that pride seems particularly virulent in spiritual things and perhaps has greater strength there than any other place. Whether that is true or not it may be hard to know, but if we can listen to a word from the experience of others and that is that pride is at the heart of sin and the closer one gets to it the harder it will fight. As long as we stay comfortable and away from the very depths of pride and self pride they can hide themselves in religious activities, but when the Lord begins to strike at pride and self to the very quick, they fight with a greater ferocity. The Lord must expose these horrid sins to us in order to reveal our hearts to us and as such our utter need for grace at all points and all ways. It is here we see the great need of the believer to live by free-grace and not just think of it as a past event.

As we being to examine our hearts with the light of Scripture and praying for His illumination of ourselves, we will being to ask about our motives for doing these things. We will ask ourselves if we want these things out of pride or out of love for Him? This is a trick of our own hearts or perhaps the devil, though the question is needful. The part that is a trick or a deception is to give up when we discover self and pride in our own hearts. It is true that in this life we will never be rid of all pride and self, so this should teach us to look for small desires to be rid of pride and pride and self rage in our hearts with a great deception. The Lord Jesus leaves His people with small desires for Himself to teach them to live by free grace and not by anything in themselves. Faith as a mustard seed is true faith, even though it is surrounded by great pride and self. Learn to look for real grace in the midst of a great trial and of great amounts of pride. Leave the pride to Christ to overcome as only He can do so. Our pride will never defeat our pride and our self will never cast out self. Only Christ can do so and He will bring His people to nothing or near nothing in order to teach them to live by free grace and nothing of themselves.

Matthew 3:7 But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming for baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers, who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? 8 “Therefore bear fruit in keeping with repentance; 9 and do not suppose that you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham for our father’; for I say to you that from these stones God is able to raise up children to Abraham.

God never makes any man what he should be, without first making him know what he is. O God, take the veil from my heart; take the world, take pride, take self out of my heart, and write there all they laws, I beseech thee. (Thomas Adam, Private Thoughts on Religion)

Real repentance is never in the power of an unregenerate man to do, though it should also be said that real repentance is never in the power of a regenerate man to do either. The turning of the soul from self to God in a spiritual way and out of love for God can only come from God. It is in the hands of King Jesus to open eyes to see the awful power and nature of sin, but it is never in the power of the sinner to open his own eyes. While men must know who they are in order to really repent, that knowing who they are is not in their capabilities either. Man is held fast in the power and blindness of pride and self until King Jesus strikes the bondage of those sins away. As Jesus taught us in John 15, apart from Him we can do nothing (spiritual or good). Apart from Christ we will never know who we really are and as such we will never have the veil taken away from our hearts.

For the unregenerate and regenerate alike, they must seek the Lord to know who they really are. It may sound repetitive or even trite, but we will never know who we are until we stop trying to discover ourselves in our own power. Man can see certain things about sin in his own strength, but he will never see sin as sin while striving in his own strength. Logic is a useful tool in the hands of one who is humbly seeking the truth, but logic cannot discover the depths of sin and indeed has no ability to do so. It is only when a humble soul is given light that sin and darkness are seen, but logic and human reason cannot see much while in the darkness.

It is very rare in our day to find a person that truly wants to know who s/he is. It is God alone who can work a true desire for this in the heart. A person may desire to know something of self our of spiritual pride or wanting to convince self that it really wants to know self, but a true desire to know the depths of our own hearts is a rare thing. We may want to know something of the heart, but we don’t want to know the depths of our sin. The proud human heart always wants to retain some control and some pride in its own righteousness, even in denying that it has any righteousness. The heart is constantly deceiving itself regarding what it is, what is known about it, and what it desires to really know. But it is something each heart should ask itself as it prays rather than just asking the question in a casual manner. Do I really want to know my own heart? Really?

It is to the degree that we know our own hearts that we have a real repentance. We can only grow in holiness and sanctification if we really repent of more and more sin. Just going on in the Christian life (real or deceived about it) is not possible as Christ will show His people their hearts because He loves them and wants them to be free of the bondage of sin more and more. As Head of the Church, He wants His body to be free of the things that hinders Her and keeps Her from being an instrument of glory in the world.

We must be brutal with our own hearts and ask God to make us love Him enough to be brutal with our own hearts. God loves His Son, but He hated sin enough that He sent His Beloved Son to the cross. If we love God, then we will have some hatred of sin in our hearts and we should be on the side of God rather than on the side of pride and self. It is necessary for us to grow enough to begin to ask God to take the veil away from our hearts. While some may turn this into an exercise of pride and self, it should become a way of seeking God to take away our pride and self. But oh the battle that self will throw up as the Lord begins to show us our pride and self. Oh how hard it is to see through the things that self will throw up in the defense of self, but we must persevere.

The heart is more deceitful than we can imagine, so we need light to see the things it defends itself with. As we persevere in these things, the Lord will begin to strip us to the very precipice of our comfort and then go beyond that and then way beyond that. It is not a short process, but one that lasts our entire lives. But how else will we grow in grace? How else will we be stripped of our pride and our self-sufficiency so that we look to Him for humility and then to fill us with free-grace after He gives us humility? We are utterly dependent upon Him for all spiritual things, not just a few. May He show us these things as we seek Him to take the veil from our hearts.