Selfish “Christianity” 32

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 is opposed to all things that are truly centered upon God. The selfish heart will fight all things that glorify God and how men are to be utterly dependent upon Him. The selfish heart depends upon self and on self it rests. The selfish heart loves self and lives for self and the honor of self and loathes to be dependent upon God, though it will admit that it needs help from Him at times. The selfish heart can even preach and teach on how much we need God and depend on God, but that selfish heart is not broken from self and preaches for the sake of self.

The fourth commandment is certainly thought of in different ways, but one way we should think of it is how it points to Christ and the need to rest in Christ alone. In the Old Testament Sabbath the people were to have a day of complete rest and they were not even to pick up sticks on that day. It was to be a day of complete rest, but one point of it was that they were to totally depend on God on that day for all things. It is in Christ that this day is fulfilled and it is in Christ that we are to have complete and total dependence as we rest in Him and His righteousness.

There is a Sabbath rest found in Christ and it is that rest that the selfish heart resists each and every day. The selfish heart will refuse to look to Christ alone but will look to self for something. The selfish heart may say that it trusts in Christ alone so that it can appear to be orthodox, but in the depths of the heart it refuses to rest in Christ alone. It will think of self as having some form of righteousness for trusting in Christ alone. The proud heart that is full of pride and self will not find rest in anyone or anything. It will always trust in itself and it will always seek nothing but itself. In doing this, the selfish heart shows that it is not resting in Christ alone.

The grace of God is such that all spiritual blessings are found in Christ and come to sinners on the basis of grace alone. The grace of God is such that it comes to sinners in a way where all the glory is seen to be of God and all glory is to be aimed toward God. The selfish heart cannot stand that way of thinking and that approach. The selfish heart longs for the attention of people and it longs for glory. The selfish heart will not rest in Christ alone and will not have a true grace alone as it is always looking to self for some reason for God to show favors. The selfish heart is opposed to God receiving all the glory though it may be blind to that and as such it will not rest in Christ alone and in the true notion of grace. The selfish heart opposes the Sabbath found in Christ each day of the week and all day long.

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