It All Adds Up To Love
By J. W. Jepson, D.Min.
Life In Christ Center, 3095 Cherry Heights Road, The Dalles, Oregon 97058
(541) 296-1136
Copyright © 1977, 1984, 1995(Revised) by J. W. Jepson
All rights reserved, including the right to grant the following permission and to prohibit the misuse thereof:
The Author hereby grants permission to reproduce the text of this article, without changes or alterations*, as a ministry, but not for commercial or non-ministry purposes.
*Permission is given for publication of excerpts and condensed versions.
(This book was prepared for internet publication by Mike Jepson.)
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5. What Is Really Worth Living For?
In this chapter we shall examine the true basis, or foundation, of moral obligation. It is of vital importance to understand clearly just what we are required by the moral law to aim at and live for as the great ultimate goal or value of life.
But first we need to define some terms. Finney frequently uses the word "intrinsic." Intrinsic means "within itself." Something intrinsically valuable is valuable within itself. It is valuable, not because it is scarce or because of demand, but because it has worth or value within its own nature.
Finney also uses the word "intention." He does not use the word in the popular sense of "I mean to do it someday." Rather, he uses the word to mean actual and immediate choice.
Here is what Finney says about the foundation of moral obligation:
"The ground of obligation, then, is that reason or consideration intrinsic in or belonging to the nature of an object, which necessitates the rational affirmation that it ought to be chosen for its own sake.
"The well-being of God and the universe...is intrinsically important or valuable, and all moral agents are under obligation to choose it for its own sake. Entire, universal, uninterrupted consecration to this end...is the duty of all moral agents.
"God's ultimate end in all he does or omits is the highest well-being of himself and of the universe.... All moral agents should have the same end, and this comprises their whole duty.
"Thus it is self-evident that moral character belongs to the ultimate intention and that a man's character is as the end for which he lives, moves and has his being.
"Let us proceed to the examination of the various conflicting theories of the ground of obligation.
1. THE WILL OF GOD AS THE GROUND OF OBLIGATION
"I will first consider the theory of those who hold that...God's sovereign will creates, and not merely reveals and enforces, obligation. To this I reply:
"Obligation to do what? Why, to love God and our neighbor.... And does God's will create this obligation? Should we be under no such obligation had he not commanded it? Are we to will this good, not for its own value to God and our neighbor, but because God commands it?
"If the will of God does of itself create and not merely reveal obligation, then the will and not the interest and well-being of God ought to be chosen for its own sake, and to be the great end of life.
"The reason does indeed affirm that we ought to will that which God commands, but it does not and cannot assign his will as the foundation of the obligation...God requires me to labor and pray for the salvation of souls.... Now his command is necessarily regarded by me as obligatory, not as an arbitrary requirement, but as revealing infallibly the true means or conditions of securing the great and ultimate end, which I am to will for its intrinsic value." 25
It is always God's will that we love Him supremely and others as ourselves, because of the value of His highest good and the good of others.
But when people become self-convinced that the will of God is an end in itself, and not the means to the end, the result is fanaticism. Any code of ethics built on this premise becomes completely detached from real, practical values.
The Crusades provide us with a classic example. Once they had convinced themselves that it was God's will to "rescue the holy sepulchre," the crusaders felt perfectly justified in killing everybody who stood in their way. A modern example is the religiously based but politically motivated terrorism that has resulted in so much violence and bloodshed in the Middle East and elsewhere. "God wills it" is used to justify all kinds of evil and foolishness.
People who struggle to "do the will of God" without a real love for God and others are under a delusion. They are only trying to provide a moral rationale for the gratification of passion and ambition. They have no real regard for the good that truly doing God's will would bring to God and to others.
The will of God is not an end in itself to which all interests, human and divine, are to be sacrificed. Rather, the will of God is always to be understood as the course of action that results in the highest practical good to God and man, and for that reason it is the will of God.
2. THEORY OF SELF-INTEREST
"This theory...makes self-interest the ground of moral obligation. Upon this theory I remark--
"If self-interest be the ground of moral obligation,...to be virtuous I must in every instance intend my own interest as the supreme good.
"Upon this hypothesis I am to treat my own interest as supremely valuable, when it is infinitely less valuable than the interests of God.
"But enough; we cannot fail to see that this is a selfish philosophy, and the exact opposite of the truth of God." 26
This is a popular one today. It is the "live-and-let-live" philosophy. We hear it every time someone says, "I just mind my own business. I don't bother other people and they don't bother me."
What they mean is, "I'll live for myself and you live for yourself, and we'll try to stay out of each other's way."
Each cares only for self or what is in some way related to self.
There's no love, no morality in that.
3. THE UTILITARIAN PHILOSOPHY
"This maintains...that the tendency of an act, choice or intention to secure a good or valuable end is the foundation of the obligation to put forth that choice or intention. Upon this theory I remark--
"The tendency is valuable or otherwise as the end is valuable or otherwise.
"A choice is obligatory because it tends to secure good. But why secure good rather than evil? The answer is, because good is valuable. Ah! here then we have another reason, the one which must be the true reason, to wit, the value of the good which the choice tends to secure.
"The obligation to use means may and must be conditionated upon perceived tendency, but never founded in this tendency.... The end must be intrinsically valuable, and this alone imposes obligation to choose the end and to use the means to promote it." 27
The utilitarian philosophy is the "good works" tread mill. Its objective is to maintain one's moral self-image by piling up moral "credits."
4. THE THEORY OF RIGHT AS THE FOUNDATION OF OBLIGATION
"The law of God does not, cannot, require us to love right more than God and our neighbor. What! Right of greater value than the highest well-being of God and of the universe? Impossible!
"When we pray and preach and converse, must we aim at right, must the love of right, and not the love of God and of souls influence us?... Did he [God] give his Son to die for the right, for the sake of the right, or to die...for the sake of...souls?
"Consistent rightarianism is a godless, Christless, loveless philosophy. 'Do the right for the sake of the right....' But now, having adopted this maxim, the mind...finds God and being to exist and sees it to be right to intend their good.... But...we are to will their well-being as an end or for its own sake, or because it is right? If for its own sake, where then is the maxim, 'Will the right for the sake of the right'?" 28
This system is the opposite of utilitarianism. Here is where millions of people are deceived. They struggle to do "right," thinking that this is true religion and morality. But ask them to surrender their hearts to God, and what do they reply?
"Well, I'm trying to do right. I pay my debts. I try to treat my family and my fellowman right. I try to live a good clean life."
They endeavor to assure themselves that they are "right," while all the time self sits enthroned in their hearts. Not once are they motivated by true love for God and for all mankind. They just struggle to be "right." And when they feel that they are "right," they often find pleasures in judging other. It makes them feel righteous, and reinforces their moral self-image. The world accepts them as "good," and often the church accepts them as Christian. Deluded souls!
5. THE PRACTICAL TENDENCY OF THE VARIOUS THEORIES
"I will begin with the theory that regards the sovereign will of God as the foundation of moral obligation.
"One legitimate and necessary result of this theory is a totally erroneous conception both of the character of God, and of the nature and design of his government. If God's will is the foundation of moral obligation, it follows that he is an arbitrary sovereign.... But if his will is under the law of his reason,...then his will is not the foundation of moral obligation, but those reasons that lie revealed in the divine intelligence....
"There is ground for perfect confidence, love and submission to his divine will in all things.... His will is law...in the sense of its being a revelation of both the end we ought to seek, and the means by which the end can be secured.
"I will next glance at the legitimate results of the theory of the selfish school.
"It tends directly and inevitably to the confirmation and despotism of sin in the soul. All sin...resolves itself into a spirit of self-seeking.... This philosophy represents this spirit of self-seeking as virtue, and only requires that in our efforts to secure our own happiness we should not interfere with the rights of others in seeking theirs.... What! I need not care positively for my neighbor's happiness,...yet I must take care not to hinder it. But why? Because it is intrinsically as valuable as my own.
"Practical bearings and tendency of rightarianism. "Having...in mind a law of right distinct from, and perhaps opposed to, benevolence, what frightful conduct may not this philosophy lead to? This is indeed the law of fanaticism.
"It sets men in chase of a philosophical abstraction as the supreme end of life instead of the concrete reality of the highest well-being of God and the universe.
"Lastly, I come to the consideration of the practical bearings of what I regard as the true theory of the foundation of moral obligation, namely, that the intrinsic nature and value of the highest well-being of God and of the universe is the sole foundation of moral obligation.
"If this be true, the whole subject of moral obligation is perfectly simple and intelligible.
"Every moral agent knows in every possible instance what is right and can never mistake his real duty.
"His duty is to will this end with all the known conditions and means thereof.
"Multitudes of professed Christians seem to have no conception that benevolence constitutes true religion; that nothing else does; and that selfishness is sin, and totally incompatible with religion. They live on in their self-indulgences, and dream of heaven." 29
No code of conduct or system of ethics that leaves the soul under the control of selfishness is real morality. And no "faith" that does not break the power of selfishness in the heart is true religion.
Jesus said, "And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32). If a person's religion does not break the bondage of sin in the heart, it cannot be the truth, because the truth always liberates the soul from the power of sin.
The true foundation or reason for moral obligation is the highest happiness of God and His creation. God's happiness is supremely valuable; therefore, we are morally obligated to place His happiness first. Living supremely for anything else is not living right because it is not living supremely for God; it is placing something that bears an ultimate relationship to self ahead of God; it is sin.
What is to be said about the "religious" person who regards the will of God as a moral justification for some selfish end, and not out of love for God? That person's religion is a delusion. He wants to feel that God is on his side. But he has not the love of God in him. Serving God only for selfish reasons must be terribly tiresome. Religion is a burden if one does not love Jesus Christ.
The same is true of utilitarians, the folks who are always involved in doing "good," and promoting the "cause." Their "morality" consists in quantity, not quality. They strive to achieve higher quotas, more productivity. They are busy in good causes, always "involved." It is "so rewarding" and gives them such a good feeling.
But ask them why they are so active, and they become uneasy, defensive. In their hearts they know that they are not motivated by true love for God and man.
Jesus said, "Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity" (Matthew 7:22,23).
Remember 1 Corinthians 13. That great love chapter teaches that it is possible to give all our goods to feed the poor and even to give our body to be burned without being motivated by love.
Works motivated by self-gratification are of no moral value.
And then there is the rightarian--always a stickler for the letter of the law, regardless of whether or not it does God or anybody else any good.
In the Bible the prime example of rightarians are the Pharisees. Jesus healed a lame man and told him to carry his bedroll home. The Pharisees, however, complained that he was carrying it on the sabbath. In their twisted morality, it was wrong for Jesus to heal on the sabbath, but perfectly "right" for them to plot His death on the sabbath.
Jesus summed up all their religious activity, and then disposed of it all by saying, "All their works they do for to be seen of men..." (Matthew 23:5).
In other words, their motive was wrong, and when the motive is wrong, all is wrong. All their praying, fasting, tithing were only means to a selfish ultimate end--to be seen of men.
Rightarians are motivated by a smug, self-satisfying regard for the "right," not by real love for God and man. If people just believe and act "right," they are satisfied. Their standing for the "right" keeps them in good stead in the church and/or community, and bolsters their hope that they are on the road to Heaven.
No good deeds, right opinions, firm beliefs, or fervent feelings can be moral or Christian, even in the slightest degree, while the will is not surrendered to God.
When we turn our hearts to God and love Him supremely and others as ourselves, the will of God becomes our delight as the indispensable means of glorifying Him; active service flows freely and gladly; and for the first time we are truly right!
Instead of being objectives in themselves, all these things and others like them become means and conditions for promoting the great end, the great goal, of every true heart--the highest well-being of God and His creatures. Genuine Christians are motivated by the highest possible values. Love for God and for others commands the full commitment of their whole being and motivates them to the development and employment of their full potential. God's highest happiness and the greatest good of all mankind--these are the values worth living for. These are the values that all true believers seek. They are the basis of all morality.
It is that simple. It all adds up to love.
Yet, many people feel that they can be somewhat good and somewhat bad at the same time. But is this possible? Is there a certain amount of goodness and a certain amount of evil mixed together in all of us? Can we be partly holy and partly sinful at the same time?
That is our next subject.
6. We Cannot Go In Opposite Directions At The Same Time
As long as we are in this world we are subject to temptations. But temptations are not sin. They are just the invitations to sin. Our moral character depends on whether we accept the invitations or reject them.
Because we are free moral agents we can choose and do choose an ultimate end. But while we embrace one supreme end or goal, we reject its opposite. We cannot choose both at the same time. Jesus said, "No man can serve two masters..." (Matthew 6:24). The possibility of changing masters always exists, and the temptation to do so often exists, but we cannot serve both at the same time.
"Obedience cannot be partial in the sense that the subject ever does, or can, partly obey and partly disobey at the same time,
"If, for example, the soul chooses the highest well-being of God and the universe as an ultimate end, it cannot while it continues to choose that end use or choose the means to effect any other end.... The only possible choice inconsistent with this end is the choice of another ultimate end." 30
By "choice" is meant intelligent choice--choice under light. We all make a lot of ignorant mistakes, mistakes in areas where we do not yet have sufficient light. We can love God supremely and purely, and yet ignorantly do things that are not in His highest interest. But as we grow in grace and knowledge, we live for God more intelligently and effectively. And, it might be added, more happily.
We progress in obedience, not into obedience. Obedience must be with the whole heart--that is, it must be honest--or it is not obedience at all. If obedience is with the whole heart--that is, if it is honest--it is full obedience. But if it is not, it is not obedience. It is hypocrisy. Jesus said, "He that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad" (Matthew 12:30).
A person's ultimate goal is evidenced in the means he uses. No one can choose an ultimate end and at the same time knowingly choose means that work against that end and for the opposite end. The choice of an end necessitates the choice of the known means to that end.
When we knowingly use means to a particular end, that is the end we are really choosing. If we say that we are living in the Spirit but are deliberately living in the flesh, we deceive ourselves.
"And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" (Luke 6:46). "If ye love me, keep my commandments" (John 14:15). "If we say that we have fellowship with him, and walk in darkness, we lie, and do not the truth" (1 John 1:6).
"For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh; but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit" (Romans 8:5). "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would" (Galatians 5:16,17).
How much dedication does love produce? It cannot produce an amount of dedication equal to God's real worth because God's real worth is infinite. Remember, one's moral obligation goes only as far as one's light. That means, then, that our devotion to Jesus Christ depends on how real and precious He is to us. Love can do no more. Love will do no less. As Jesus becomes more real and precious to us, our devotion and dedication to Him will grow. The same is true of our service for others and our commitment to win the lost, etc.
Get close to God; get into His Word; "Lift up your eyes, and look on the fields" (John 4:35). Give God a chance to make Himself more real to you and to show you the value of lost souls. Love will naturally produce the right amount of corresponding dedication. Wisdom will direct it according to a realistic understanding of our individual gifts, talents, time and opportunities.
Moral law does not require us to live on the verge of exhaustion. That is counter-productive. Moral law requires us to love God with all our heart and others as ourselves, including the expenditure of whatever strength, time, and resources that we honestly believe will do the most good in the long run.
On the other hand, we do not truly love God if we are not living up to our knowledge of what He deserves from us. That is selfishness, not love. The two do not mix.
So then, no one can be partly holy and partly sinful at the same time. Sin is a unit--the choice of self-gratification as the supreme pursuit of life, including the choice of all the known means to secure that end. Holiness or morality is also a unit--the choice of the highest well-being of God and of others as the supreme pursuit of life, including the choice of all the known means to secure that end.
To put it another way, moral action comes in two complete packages. Each package comes complete with a supreme end, plus the known means and actions to achieve that end. One package is labeled "love." The other is labeled "selfishness." The one is full obedience, the other is total disobedience.
The two systems are mutually exclusive and antagonistic. There is no mixing, no crossover, no coexistence between them.
The choice of the end determines the choice of the known means, and the choice of the known means reveals the end we are really living for. The heart determines the life, and the life reveals the heart.
"Virtue consists in willing every good according to its perceived relative value, and...nothing short of this is virtue.... To talk, therefore, of a virtue...right in kind but deficient in degree is to talk sheer nonsense. It is the same absurdity as to talk of sinful holiness, an unjust justice, a wrong rightness, an impure purity, an imperfect perfection, a disobedient obedience." 31
Our whole moral obligation is to love God supremely and our neighbor as ourselves with all the light we have and can obtain. God requires nothing more than this; He can require no less. We can do no more; we can do no less and be Christians. It is that simple.
"But," someone might ask, "can my heart be right with God when I feel all these bad desires and emotions?" Finney comments regarding the Christian--
"Emotions contrary to his intentions may, by circumstances beyond his control, be brought to exist in his mind; yet, by willing to divert the attention from the objects that produce them, they can ordinarily be banished. If this is done as soon as...it can be, there is no sin. If it is not done as soon as...it can be,...the intention is not what it ought to be." 32
Emotional discipline is an important subject. The point to be emphasized here is that true religion, true morality, is not a matter of how we feel but of what we are living for.
The next question is a big one:
"Does a Christian cease to be a Christian whenever he commits a sin?
"I answer: whenever he sins, he must for the time being cease to be holy.... He must incur the penalty of the law of God. If it be said that the precept is still binding upon him, but that with respect to the Christian the penalty is forever set aside, I reply that to abrogate [set aside] the penalty is to repeal the precept, for a precept without penalty is no law. It is only counsel or advice. The Christian, therefore, is justified no longer than he obeys, and must be condemned when he disobeys.... Until he repents he cannot be forgiven." 33
In two important ways a Christian who sins is different from the person who has never been saved.
First, a Christian who sins is under a covenant of chastisement (see Hebrews 12:5-11). God has invested a tremendous amount of grace in that Christian, and He is not going to let him go without doing everything wisely possible to bring him to repentance.
My father never did spank the neighbors' kids. He was more concerned about how I turned out than how they turned out. That's because he was my father.
Our heavenly Father is the same way. First Corinthians 11:32 tell us that we are chastened of the Lord, so that we will not be condemned with the world.
But suppose that I am arrested for a crime, and my father is the judge. Can he justly suspend the sentence because I am his son? No, He cannot.
Second, a Christian who sins feels his broken fellowship with God, unlike the sinner who has never experienced real fellowship with God.
When I was growing up as a boy, if our neighbor, Mr. Mathis, was displeased with me, it didn't bother me very much. But if my father was displeased with me, it was a different matter. Real fellowship was broken. I couldn't stand it. I had to make it right.
Christian, if you sin, you know it. Your joy is gone. You miss that peace; oh, how you miss it! And that sweet fellowship and tender communion with your Father. How you long for it! Things are wrong between the Father and you, and you can't stand it. You have to make it right!
But if you refuse to make it right, if you go right on and harden your heart, crushing the tender feelings once so carefully nurtured--you will be lost.
You will not be able to say on that day, "But, Father, I was born again. I am your child." Sorrowfully, the Father will withdraw, having turned the judgment seat over to the Son (John 5:22), and you will have to receive your sentence from the nail-scarred hand of the One whose blood you refused for your cleansing, the One whom you crucified afresh and put to open shame.
"Can a man be born again and then unborn?
"I answer: ... None will maintain that there is anything impossible in this except it be those who hold to physical regeneration. If regeneration consists in a change in...the ultimate intention, as we shall see it does, it is plain that an individual can be born again and afterwards cease to be virtuous." 34
Most people who have difficulty understanding this point do so because, like Nicodemus, they fail to realize that the new birth is a moral change, not a physical or metaphysical change. The new birth is a change of the supreme object of pursuit in life, resulting in a complete revolution in all of life. Such a change does not necessitate a change of any "thing" down inside us. It is not a change in the essence of body, soul, or spirit. It is a change of ultimate choice; and, by its very nature, ultimate choice can be changed more than once.
"Can there be no such thing as weak faith, weak love, and weak repentance?
"I answer: if you mean comparatively weak,...yes. But if you mean weak in such a sense as to be sinful, no.
"Unbelief...is the rejection of truth perceived. Faith is the reception of truth perceived. Faith and unbelief then are opposite states of choice and can by no possibility coexist.
"Faith to be real must be equal to the light we have." 35
Our commitment to the truth can be no stronger than our grasp of the truth.
Our faith cannot go beyond our light. Our faith is weak if we do not know the Word of God. Our love for Jesus is weak if we do not allow Him to become as real to us as He wants to be. Our burden for lost souls will not be as great as it should be unless we "look on the fields" (John 4:35). A person's repentance and faith will be weak if he does not see clearly the guilt of his sin and the power of Christ to save him.
But in all of these cases the faith, love and repentance are real. The weak Christian does not have much light, but he (or she) is living up to all the light possessed. There is no rejection of light, because that would be no faith, love, or repentance at all.
As light grows, so will the believer. As he feeds on the Word of God, his faith grows. As the Holy Spirit makes Jesus more real and precious, his love for his Savior grows. This is progress in holiness, but not progress into holiness.
"The theory of the mixed character of moral actions is an eminently dangerous theory, as it leads its advocates to suppose that...there is some holiness in them while they are in the known commission of sin.
"It leads its advocates to place the standard of conversion or regeneration exceedingly low.... There can scarcely be a more dangerous error than to say, that while we are conscious of present sin, we are or can be in a state of acceptance with God.
"The only sense in which obedience to moral law can be partial is that obedience may be intermittent. That is, the subject may sometimes obey and at other times disobey.... These may succeed each other an indefinite number of times, but coexist they plainly cannot." 36
Nobody has to sin. Victory over sin is the norm for the Christian. In fact, to be a Christian means to be in victory over sin: "Whosoever is born of God sinneth not..." (1 John 5:18). That is, he does not practice sin. "For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace" (Romans 6:14).
This does not mean that the Christian is not capable of sinning. Christ is able to keep us from sinning if we allow Him to do so. But if we do sin, He is there as our merciful High Priest to forgive us if we repent and trust Him (see 1 John 2:1).
But, what about the Christian who does sin? Is he lost because of that one sin? Will one sin send him to hell?
For one thing, true Christians do not sin as much or as often as some people might think. The idea that we believers "sin every day" is just not true.
Honest mistakes, errors in judgment, temptations, moods--these are not sin.
We must be careful not to use the term "sin" lightly by applying it to things that are not violations of moral law. If we apply the term to things that are not really sin, we obscure the serious meaning of the word and trivialize sin.
Sin is a deliberate choice to disobey God. That is not the believer's choice.
Christians are walking in the light. Now, believer X might have more light than believer Y. But believer X has no right to say that believer Y is sinning just because he is not living up to his (X's) light.
Light can be imparted, but it cannot be imposed. The attempt to impose light leads to legalism. Light is imparted only when the believer is led to see it for himself or herself.
The effort to impose light is a violation of the believer's liberty in Christ. Christian liberty is the privilege to live honestly in Christ in all the light one has without the imposition of external legal restrictions. But Christian liberty is not the right to violate the light one has, or to refuse further light.
Now, it often happens that when the believer suddenly draws closer to God, the greatly increased awareness of God's holiness (light) reveals areas of his own life that need major improvement. Suddenly he realizes that certain previous behavior does not glorify God, and also that there are certain things he should be doing for His glory that he has not been doing. When that happens, he might say, "How ignorant I was!" or, "I didn't realize that!" But if he was living up to all the light he had at the time, he cannot truly say, "I was sinning."
So, Christians do not sin as much or as often as is sometimes supposed. Christians do not need to be kept under self-condemnation to be kept humble. Rather, Christians need to know that they are victorious in Christ, and that nothing less than present victory over sin constitutes real Christian experience.
It is amazing how victorious Christians become when they believe that they are victorious in Christ. There is no eternal security in defeat. Expecting defeat produces no assurance, but expecting victory in Christ does.
Still sometimes Christians do sin. Here is where 1 John 2:1 comes in: "My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous."
If the Christian's sin does not bring condemnation, he would not need the Advocate. He would not need forgiveness. The very fact that he needs forgiveness indicates that he is under condemnation if he sins.
If God can justly overlook one sin, why not two? ten? a hundred? No, God does not operate His moral government that way. If He did, the Bible's oft-repeated warnings to Christians would be meaningless.
Grace is not the careless overlooking of sin. It is the forgiveness of repented sin. Only if we confess our sins are we forgiven and cleansed from all unrighteousness (see 1 John 1:9).
But remember, the moral momentum of the believer is in the opposite direction of sin. He is not "prone to wander." To conquer the Christian, temptation has to overcome the strong moral and spiritual momentum of the believer's light, his love for God, his regard for God's honor and for eternal values, his faith in Christ's keeping power, the arsenal of Scripture hidden in his heart, the indwelling presence and power of the Holy Spirit, plus a host of other positive influences--all combined together!
Even if temptation can concentrate its appeal on one point strongly enough to overcome such a moral momentum and such spiritual resources, usually it is able to succeed only briefly. Convicted by the Holy Spirit, and feeling deeply his broken fellowship with God, the sinning believer flees quickly to his Savior and is immediately and fully restored.
Let us return to Mr. Finney and listen to what he has to say about "entire obedience."
"The government of God accepts nothing as virtue but obedience to the law of God.
"This...is generally denied. Indeed, probably nine-tenths of the nominal church deny it.... They maintain that there is much virtue in the world, and yet that there is no one who ever for a moment obeys the law of God; that all Christians are virtuous...and yet not one on earth obeys the moral law of God." 37
By "law" Finney is not referring to the Law of Moses or to any body of external regulations. He means the moral law--the law of love. The law of faith has not abolished moral law. Some seem to suppose that because Christians are not under the Law of Moses, we are therefore not under moral law or moral obligation. But every moral agent is obligated to love God supremely and others as himself, and that obligation is moral law. It is the law of faith, the law of love.
Moral law in itself is not a set of legal enactments. No legislature can pass or repeal moral law, because moral law is made up of principles, not regulations. The principles were there before the regulations were, and the regulations were formed to give expression to moral law within the framework of society.
Moral law was present before the Ten Commandments were given as an expression of moral law within society.
Cain never heard of the Ten Commandments; but when he killed Abel, his brother, he knew he had violated moral law. So the moral law was in existence before the Law of Moses, and it is still in existence today. The Law of Moses was replaced by the law of faith so far as believers are concerned, for the very reason that the law of faith secures obedience to the moral law whereas the Law of Moses did not.
Love replaces legislation because love succeeds where legislation failed.
The repeal of the legislation did not mean the repeal of moral law. Personal obedience to moral law, the law of love, is still required of all moral agents.
"A common idea seems to be that a kind of obedience is rendered to God by Christians which is true religion, and which, after all comes indefinitely short of full or entire obedience at any moment...that they are justified by grace, not in the sense that they are made really and personally righteous by grace, but that grace pardons and accepts...them...in the present commission of an indefinite amount of sin.
"What is this, but pardoning present and pertinacious rebellion! Receiving to favor a God-defrauding wretch!... Yes, this must be if it be true that Christians are justified without present full obedience.
"That surely must be a doctrine of devils that represents God as receiving to favor a rebel who has one hand filled with weapons against his throne.
"To ask for pardon while we do not repent and cease from sin is a gross insult to God.
"Does the Bible recognize the pardon of present sin...? Let the passage be found, if it can, where sin is represented as pardoned or pardonable unless repented of and fully forsaken. No such passage can be found.
"The very beginning of true religion in the soul implies the renunciation of all sin. Sin ceases where holiness begins. Now, how great and ruinous must that error be, that teaches us to hope for heaven while living in conscious sin,...that justification is conditioned upon a faith that does not purify the heart of the believer.
"Whenever a Christian sins he comes under condemnation and must repent...or be lost." 38
So it is clear that moral action is a unit. It is impossible to obey and to disobey at the same time. Obedience and disobedience do not mix. Either we obey or we do not obey. There are no half-Christians.
Just as the tributaries of a river system all flow to one end, so the intelligent choices of the heart all flow to one end--the object of ultimate choice.
No wonder salvation is such a radical change. It is like reversing the flow of an entire river system, turning it completely over so as to flow in the opposite direction.
When the object of ultimate choice--what the person is ultimately living for--is reversed, the whole life is revolutionized. New life and new motives produce new interests, desires, experiences and relationships.
"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new" (2 Corinthians 5:17).
When Christ comes in to take His rightful place on the throne of the heart, self comes down to its proper position. The love of God replaces selfishness. Light replaces darkness. Peace replaces turmoil. Holiness replaces sin.
No wonder the Bible calls it a new birth, regeneration, a new life. Have you experienced it? Have you made the choice?
If not, the Savior is waiting now to come into your heart. He said, "Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him..."(Revelation 3:20).
7. Let's Talk About Love
Obedience to God is the most natural and normal life for any human being.
Conversion or regeneration is not like Clark Kent stepping into a phone booth, then--ZAP--stepping out as Superman.
Remember, the change in becoming a Christian is not physical or metaphysical. It is a moral change, a change in choice, supreme choice.
"Entire obedience does not imply any change in the substance of the soul or body.... Entire obedience is the entire consecration of the powers, as they are, to God." 39
"Nor does it imply...continual calmness of mind. Christ was not in a state of continual calmness. The deep peace of his mind was never broken up, but the surface...emotions...were often in a state of great excitement....
Nor does it imply perfect knowledge. Nor does it imply freedom from mistake on any subject whatever.
"Nor does it imply exemption from sorrow or mental suffering. It was not so with Christ. "Nor does it imply moroseness of temper and manners.... Cheerfulness is certainly the result of holy love." 40
Many people have strange ideas about what it means to be a Christian. Even knowledgeable people can have wrong ideas about what is implied and what is not implied in morality or true religion. They include things that have nothing to do with moral obligation, and exclude the very things that are essential to moral obligation.
In this way the world often gets the idea that the Christian life is something unreal, impractical.
But the life of obedience to God--the Christian life--is the only truly natural life. Love is normal and natural; selfishness is abnormal and unnatural. It is the sinner who is not conformed to reality.
Living in moral harmony with God is a wonderful life. The love of God rules the heart and all that the heart influences. "For all the law is fulfilled in one word...love" (Galatians 5:14). In other words, it all adds up to love.
When we speak of such virtues as love, compassion, patience, humility, etc., we are referring to choices. But in everyday language we frequently use the same words to describe our feelings.
For that reason it is absolutely essential that we understand the difference between the two. Love as a choice or motive is far deeper than "love" as a mere feeling or emotion. The same is true of all the various expressions and characteristics of love.
Real love--the essence of true morality and religion--is a fundamental commitment of the soul. This commitment usually results in feelings, but it does not consist in feelings. Love is not just an emotion.
Here is where many people make a big mistake. They judge their morality and religion by how they feel, rather than by what they are living for.
Remember, feelings are neither holy nor sinful in themselves. They are involuntary. Thoughts produce feelings. And many feelings are common to both Christians and sinners.
For example, when thinking about someone who is suffering, many sinners can feel the same emotions of pity that a Christian would feel. Think about suffering, and you feel pity. Think about injustice, and you feel indignation. This does not mean that you are religious or good. It just means that you are human. A gangster can murder a man one day, and cry the next day when he hears that the little girl next door was injured by a car.
Some sinners assume that they must love God a little bit because they have good feelings toward Him once in a while. In fact, some sinners have their warmest religious feelings when they are drunk. This is sentimentality, not love.
Everybody, saint and sinner, can have "good" feelings and "bad" feelings. And so, thinking that morality and religion are in the feelings, sinners believe that they have a lot of good in them along with the bad, just because they have some "good" feelings. Likewise, Christians can be led to believe that they have a lot of bad in them along with the good, just because they experience "bad" feelings.
"Bad" feelings make it easier to make wrong choices and harder to make good ones, and "good" feelings make it easier to make right choices and harder to make wrong ones. But moral character is in the choices, not in the feelings.
And morality is not a matter of following "good" feelings, either. Obeying "good" feelings does not make us good. It is still obeying our feelings, not God, and so it is nothing but a self-righteous form of self-gratification.
Whenever people do anything through emotion that they would not do through reason without emotion, they are being motivated by the emotion and not by love. Remember 1 Corinthians 13. It is possible to give all of one's goods to feed the poor just for the self-gratification that comes from doing it and not out of real love. This is a very subtle, self-deceiving, yet highly respectable form of selfishness.
All sinners are voluntary slaves to their desires. The sinner is ruled by the desire that is the dominant one at the moment, whatever that desire might be. Today he feels generous, so he contributes liberally to charitable causes or to friends. Tomorrow he feels miserly, so he reprimands himself for "letting his feelings run away with him" the day before. One day he feels lust and commits adultery; the next day he feels affectionately toward his family, has a spasm of conscience, and resolves to be faithful.
Because he follows "good" feelings and "bad" feelings, he thinks that he is both good and bad at the same time. He does not realize that as long as he chooses to be ruled by his desires, whatever they are, there is not a particle of goodness in him. He is ruled by self-gratification, not love.
Love is a fundamental choice--the choice of the highest good to God and man. This choice has many qualities. These qualities of love are expressions of love in various relationships and situations. Love is intelligent and reasonable. It is soft-hearted, but not soft-headed.
Love is a unit, a whole, and all of its parts harmonize. Every characteristic of love is consistent with every other characteristic of love. They all work together, balance each other, reinforce each other. The result is beautiful.
"Every virtue is only benevolence viewed...in certain relations.... This is true of God's moral attributes. They are...only attributes of benevolence.... This is and must be true of every holy being." 41
Let us look at the qualities or characteristics of love. What can be said about love?
Love is voluntary. It is a free choice, made in the full knowledge that the opposite choice (selfishness) is always possible. It is an intelligent choice. The heart knows what it is choosing, why it is choosing, and that the choice is reasonable and pleasing to God. It knows that what it is choosing is really valuable and that it is being chosen on that account. It knows that it is the right choice, a holy choice.
Love is unselfish. It reaches out beyond the things that self has an interest in, or that self will ultimately benefit from.
Love is impartial.
"It is no respector of persons.... Selfish love is partial,...has its favorites, its prejudices, unreasonable and ridiculous.... But benevolence knows neither Jew nor Greek, neither bond nor free, white nor black.... The fact that a man is a man, and not that he is of our party, of our complexion, or of our town, state, or nation--that he is a creature of God, that he is capable of virtue and happiness, these are the considerations that are seized upon by this divinely impartial love." 42
Love is universal. It excludes no one from its concern. Wherever good can be done, there love reaches out. It does not stop at the boundaries of our personal family, our community, or nation. It endeavors to gain the highest good of the greatest number, wherever they are, according to our ability and opportunity.
Love is productive. Love is an active, positive choice of the highest good of God and the universe. Certainly the choice of such tremendous values must put us into action! What a high and holy calling! We have the Almighty God to glorify, and a world of good to be done. Such a commitment will mobilize us and all of our resources for its accomplishment. Love cannot possibly be lazy.
Love delights in holiness. And it is opposed to all sin.
"Benevolence is...willing the highest good of being as an end. Now there is nothing in the universe more destructive of this good than sin. Benevolence cannot do otherwise than be forever opposed to sin...." 43
Remember, anything that is a virtue is an act of the will. Choice is where moral action is. Real opposition to sin, therefore, must be from the heart or will.
Many sinners are opposed to sin in their mind and in their feelings, while they continue to practice sin. Practically everybody disapproves of wrong, and sometimes even sinners will feel so deeply opposed to some particular form of evil that they will crusade passionately against it.
Because they feel so strongly opposed to the evil, and act so vigorously against it, they suppose that they have a certain amount of virtue in them. At the same time they know that they are committing sins of their own. Thinking that virtue consists in having good feelings, or in obeying "good" feelings, they conclude that they are partly good and partly bad at the same time.
But real love is opposed to all sin. This opposition is a choice. It includes the rejection of all sin, the renunciation of all sin. The heart cannot be truly opposed to sin and continue to hold on to sin at the same time. The two choices are mutually exclusive.
Sinners hold onto their sins because they love the pleasure that their unreasonable indulgences give them. They do not sin because they love "sin" itself. They do not choose their sinful indulgences because the indulgences are sinful, but in spite of the fact.
For example, the thief does not say, "I crave sin tonight. I just must have some sin." Of course not. He craves the pleasure that the object he steals will bring him, and perhaps the pleasure the act of stealing will bring. But he does not steal because it is sinful, but in spite of the fact that it is sinful.
Many sinners "hate" what they are doing, but they keep on doing it anyway because it gives them the most pleasure and pleasure is what they are after. They are not truly opposed to sin. If they were, they would quit sinning.
Love is compassionate. It chooses to lift the miserable out of misery and into happiness. Now, even sinners can feel compassion or pity when they see or hear of suffering and misery. They consider this feeling to be a sign of goodness in themselves.
James speaks of some who say to a brother or a sister in need, "Depart in peace, be ye warmed and filled," but do nothing about it (James 2:15,16). They are content just to "feel" sympathetic. Others will act, but only because their feeling of pity is their overriding desire at the moment.
Finney makes this comment on the subject:
"A man of compassionate heart will also be a man of compassionate sensibility. He will feel and he will act. Nevertheless, his actions will not be the effect of his feelings, but will be the result of his sober judgment.
"Three classes of persons suppose themselves, and are generally supposed by others, to be truly compassionate. The one class exhibit much feeling of compassion, but their compassion does not influence their will.... These content themselves with mere desires and tears.
Another class feel deeply, and give up to their feelings. Of course, they are active and energetic in the relief of suffering. But being governed by feeling...they are not virtuous, but selfish.... A third class feel deeply, but are not governed by blind impulses of feeling. They take a rational view of the subject, act wisely and energetically.... These last are truly virtuous, and altogether the most happy of the three." 44
Love is merciful. It seeks to pardon. But love cannot exercise mercy at the expense of the greater public good. This would be a denial of itself, as love is a choice to seek the greatest good.
"No one attribute of benevolence is or can be exercised at the expense of another, or in opposition to it.... This would be a contradiction to will good...out of regard to its intrinsic value, and then choose injurious means to accomplish this end." 45
Mercy, too, is more than just a feeling. The feeling of mercy by itself would pardon, regardless of the attitude of the guilty and regardless of what has or has not been done to make his pardon safe and reasonable.
Real mercy is a choice to do everything possible to bring about the conditions that will make the pardon of the guilty safe and reasonable, and therefore morally possible.
Universalism has made its fundamental mistake on this very point. God is merciful. So then, universalism rationalizes, because God is merciful, He will forgive sinners. And because He will forgive sinners, everybody will be saved. But the conclusion does not necessarily follow.
Yes, God is love; love is merciful; and mercy will forgive sinners. But love cannot exercise mercy in violation of its other qualities.
Love is also just, and it is wise. These qualities of love demand that certain conditions be fulfilled before mercy is exercised--conditions that will make the exercise of mercy safe and just. That is why love requires repentance and a sacrifice for sin as preconditions for mercy.
"As mercy is an attribute of benevolence, it will naturally and inevitably direct the attention of the intellect to devising ways and means to render the exercise of mercy consistent with the other attributes of benevolence. It will employ the intellect in devising means to secure the repentance of the sinner, and to remove all obstacles out of the way of its free and full exercise.... This attribute of benevolence led the Father to give his only-begotten and well-beloved Son, and it led the Son to give himself to die, to secure the repentance and pardon of sinners.... It is an amiable attribute. All its sympathies are sweet, and tender, and kind as heaven." 46
Love is just. The world is cursed with an eruption of phony activism for "justice."
When feeling is allowed to get hold of people, havoc can result. People look at the injustices in the world and get mad. But instead of doing something constructive and consistent to meet the need, many let anger get control of them.
What happens? Out they go into the streets to protest, riot, sometimes even to wreck and destroy. Some can plant explosives that maim and kill innocent victims, and then sit back in their twisted self-righteousness, having satisfied the cruel mandate of their personal sense of justice. Horrible!
Yes, some sinners will do something practical. But if they act only because their feelings demand it of them, they are really serving their emotions, not God and society. Self-gratification motivates them, not love. People motivated by love will feel deeply, and they will act. But they will act reasonably within the light they have, and not merely out of obedience to their emotions.
"Justice as an attribute of benevolence is virtue and exhibits itself in the execution of the penalties of the law, and in support of public order, and in various other ways for the well-being of mankind.... Public justice is modified in its exercise by the attribute of mercy.... Mercy cannot...extend a pardon but upon conditions of repentance, and an equivalent being rendered to the government [a substitutionary sacrifice]. Justice is conditioned by mercy, and cannot...take vengeance when the highest good does not require it, when punishment can be dispensed with without public loss. Thus these attributes limit each other's exercise and render the whole character of benevolence perfect, symmetrical and heavenly.
"Benevolence without justice would be anything but morally lovely and perfect.
"Let any one attribute of benevolence be destroyed...[and] you have in fact destroyed benevolence.
"This attribute...says to violence, disorder, and injustice, Peace, be still, and there must be a great calm." 47
Justice is not something distinct from love. How often we have heard the statement, "God is a God of justice as well as a God of love."
That statement is faulty.
God's justice is not the antithesis, the opposite, of His love. It is not something to be placed over against His love, as something to balance His love.
God is a God of justice because He is a God of love. Justice is a vital part of His love, a part of His total commitment to the highest good.
True, justice balances mercy, but both justice and mercy are expressions of God's love.
And here is another thought:
"Where true benevolence is, there must be exact commercial justice, or business honesty and integrity.... This attribute of benevolence must secure its possessor against every species and degree of injustice; he cannot be unjust to his neighbor's reputation, his person, his property, his soul, his body, nor indeed be unjust in any respect to man or God." 48
Where justice is missing, love is missing.
Look at the sinner who takes pride that he pays all his debts. He would never cheat anybody out of a dime. Never! He gives an honest day's work for an honest day's pay.
But look at the way he is treating people's souls! He is extremely unjust to his family by refusing to be the spiritual head of his house. He commits a cruel injustice to his children by keeping them out of Sunday School and church week after week. He lures them away with Sunday fishing trips and other activities, thus depriving them of their priceless right to know God and His Word, and their right to eternal life.
He might be "Honest Abe" around town. But is he really just? No. His actions show he has not a particle of real justice in him.
Love is truthful.
Becoming a Christian means the acceptance of the truth. It implies a willingness to face the truth, acknowledge the truth, obey the truth. Love is honest. Love seeks the highest good as its end, and knows that truth is the necessary means to secure that end.
A Christian cannot lie for the glory of God. Jesus Christ is the Truth, and every falsehood is a denial of Him. All who truly love our Lord Jesus Christ love the truth, and will not knowingly misrepresent the facts.
Where truth is absent, virtue is absent. A liar is in complete disobedience to moral law.
Love is patient.
Patience is the steadfastness of the heart in its love for God and for others, in spite of everything.
Calmness is not patience. It comes as the result of patience. You are exercising greater patience when you are upset than when you are calm--if you hold steady.
Trials, adversities, provocations, and things like that test your patience and give it a chance to get some exercise. But if the heart gets discouraged and gives up, love stops.
Love is meek.
Meekness is "taking it on the chin," a refusal to retaliate in any way when mistreated. If you love the person who mistreats you, you cannot retaliate or try to get even. Are you mistreated, persecuted, the object of provocation? Accept it as an opportunity to develop and demonstrate meekness. Jesus did.
Meekness is not weakness. It takes real strength to be kind and gentle toward those who mistreat you.
Love is humble.
Sometimes even sinners can feel humble. When deeply convicted by the Holy Spirit, they can feel very ashamed of themselves and their sins, and yet at the same time refuse to surrender to God.
When the prodigal son came home, he confessed to his father, "Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son" (Luke 15:21).
And listen to the words of the publican in Luke 18:13-- "God be merciful to me a sinner." That is genuine humility.
"Humility, considered as a virtue, consists in the consent of the will to be known, to confess, and to take our proper place in the scale of being...to pass for no other than we really are." 49
Love is self-denying.
If we love God more than we love ourselves, we will deny ourselves whenever we see that our own desires conflict with His interests. If we do not, we do not love Him. Love puts self in its proper place. Love refuses to let self be first in the heart. Nothing else is true self-denial.
A person might give up smoking during Lent, give up a meal and send the cost of the meal to the hungry, or go through all kinds of ascetic self-mortifications, and still refuse to take self off the throne of the heart. There is no love, no real self-denial, no virtue in that.
"A monk immures himself in a monastery; a hermit forsakes human society, and shuts himself up in a cave;...and a martyr goes to the stake. Now if these things are done with an ultimate reference to their own glory and happiness, although apparently instances of great self-denial,...they are in fact only a spirit of self-indulgence and self-seeking." 50
Giving up one indulgence for the sake of another is not true self-denial. Sometimes two sins conflict. For example, a selfish person cannot be a miser and a spendthrift at the same time. The desire that gives the most pleasure to self rules and the other desire gives in.
"One man will deny all his bodily appetites and passions for the sake of a reputation with men.... Another will...sacrifice everything else to obtain an eternal inheritance, and be just as selfish as the man who sacrifices to the things of time, his soul and all the riches of eternity." 51
It is also important to emphasize that self-denial is not self-rejection. Self-denial does not mean that we refuse to give ourselves any place, but only that we refuse to give ourselves first place or to put self above others. Self-denial is the choice to make whatever sacrifices that are called for by the greater good of God and of others. It certainly must be one of the characteristics of love, and can be expressed by the rich as well as by the poor. In fact, the greater one's advantages, the greater the opportunities for self-denial.
The most glorious example of self-denial is found in the gospel. God gave His Son, and the Son gave Himself to die in agony and blood to secure our salvation. We can only begin to comprehend the amount of self-denial involved in God's great redemptive act.
And love is condescending. It is willing to reach down as far as necessary to meet the need.
"Condescending...consists in a tendency to descend to the poor, the ignorant, or the vile, for the purpose of securing their good. This attribute is called by Christ 'lowliness of heart.' This is a lovely modification of benevolence. It seems to be entirely above the gross conceptions of infidelity. Condescension seems to be regarded by most people, and especially by infidels, as rather a weakness than a virtue. Skeptics clothe their imaginary God with attributes in many respects the opposite of true virtue. They think it entirely beneath the dignity of God to come down even to notice...the concerns of men.
"The Bible represents God as clothed with condescension.... Not a sparrow falleth to the ground without him. No creature is too low, too filthy, or too degraded for him to condescend to--this places his character in a most ravishing light. He is infinitely above all creatures. For him to hold communion with them is infinite condescension." 52
The self-righteous think it to be beneath their dignity and their moral standing to associate with sinners. Theirs is a hard, cold, loveless "morality." It wraps its proud robes around itself and snubs "that class of people."
"Benevolence cannot...be above any degree of condescension that can affect the greatest good. Christ could condescend to be born in a manger, to be brought up in humble life, to mingle with and seek the good of all classes, to be despised in life and die between two thieves on a cross." 53
Love is stable.
Remember, love is not just a set of feelings that come and go. It is a choice, a fundamental commitment of the soul to the greatest values possible--the highest happiness of God and of others.
"Stability must be a characteristic of such a choice as this. It is a new birth, a new creature, a new heart, a new life. The nature of the change itself would seem to be a guarantee of its stability. What then shall we conclude of those...who are soon hot and soon cold, whose religion is a spasm? We must conclude that they never had the root of the matter in them. They are stony ground hearers." 54
Love is morally pure and holy.
To be happy, we must be holy. That is, we must have a pure heart and a pure life. Love seeks to make people truly happy. But to make them happy, they must be holy and pure in heart. Therefore, love puts the highest priority on holiness, because it is absolutely necessary to the happiness and well-being of all.
"The love required by the law of God is pure love. It seeks to make its object happy only by making him holy." 55
So then, to add it all up, every virtue is love expressed in some form. It is love in action, love revealed.
This love is not the shortsighted so-called "love" promoted by situational ethics. Rather, it is a commitment to the highest good in the long run, to be achieved only by means consistent with its own pure nature.
It all adds up to love.