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.)
8. Self Can Be A Four-Letter Word
"Disobedience to moral law cannot consist in self-love. Self-love is simply the constitutional desire of happiness,...an involuntary state. It has, as a desire, no moral character any more than has the desire of food. It is no more sinful to desire happiness and properly to seek it than...to desire food and properly to seek that." 56
But when we put ourselves first, we sin. That is selfishness. That is when self becomes a "four-letter word."
Love is so beautiful, so pleasant to talk about. But there is an opposite of love, and that is selfishness. In fact, selfishness is the only alternative to love.
Selfishness is not a vacuum. It is not just the absence of love. It is a deliberate choice to place self first. As such, it is the antagonist of love, the mortal enemy of the well-being of God and man.
"Disobedience to God's law must consist in the choice of self-gratification as...the supreme and ultimate end of life. This is selfishness. This is sin and the whole of sin viewed in its germinating principles....
"This...choice is the 'carnal mind,' or the minding of the flesh, which the apostle affirms to be 'enmity against God' [Romans 8:7]." 57
As we explore the characteristics of selfishness, we shall see that every sin is an expression of selfishness, just as every virtue is an expression of love.
Selfishness is sin, not just the cause of sin. Selfishness is sin, and the cause of sins.
Selfishness is voluntary.
It is a free choice, made in the full knowledge that the opposite choice (love) is always possible. It is an intelligent choice in the sense that the heart knows what it is choosing, why it is choosing, and that the choice is unreasonable and not pleasing to God. It knows that what it is choosing supremely is not supremely valuable. It knows that God's interests are more valuable than its own, and that the interests of others are just as valuable as its own, but it chooses self supremely in spite of that fact. It knows that it is the wrong choice, a guilty choice.
Selfishness is unreasonable.
This has nothing to do with IQ. Many sinners have high intelligence and excellent education. But, every sinner lives in opposition to truth and reason.
No one can defend logically the proposition that the happiness of self is more valuable than the happiness of God and of others. The proposition is contrary to fact and therefore totally unreasonable. Yet it is the proposition that every sinner lives by.
"Shame on selfishness! It dethrones human reason and would dethrone the divine, and place mere blind lust upon the throne of the universe.
"Sinners, while they continue such, never say or do one thing that is in accordance with right reason. They have made an unreasonable choice of an end, and all their choices of means...are put forth to secure an end contrary to reason. The very first time that a sinner acts or wills reasonably is when he turns to God...." 58
Selfishness is ultimately interested only in self. This sounds redundant, but just think about it for a moment--
"Nothing is practically regarded as worthy of choice, except as...a means of self-gratification.
"Whatever propensity [craving] is most indulged will gain the greatest development. It may be the love of reputation; and then there will be at least a public decent exterior.... Where the love of knowledge prevails, we have the scholar, the philosopher, the man of learning. This is one of the most decent and respectable forms of selfishness.... When compassion as a feeling prevails, we have as a result the philanthropist and often the reformer; not the reformer in a virtuous sense, but the selfish reformer. Where love of kindred prevails, we often have the kind husband, the affectionate father, mother, brother, sister, and so on. When the love of country prevails, we have the patriot, the statesman, and the soldier." 59
Now, the truly virtuous will do these things reasonably and out of regard for the good to be secured. And they will usually experience normal feelings about them, too. But the sinner does these things because they are what his feelings demand. He does them only because he has a strong desire to do them. If the desire were not there in strong enough measure, he would not do them, even though reason demanded that they be done.
Ah, but selfishness is tricky! The selfish heart is deceitful.... Many sinners do "good" even when they do not feel like it. And so, they believe that they have done "right," having performed their "duty."
But even this is selfish, because it was done to gratify the desire to do "right," or the "sense of duty." It is little Jack Horner's "what-a-good-boy-am-I" feeling of self-satisfaction. This by itself is no virtue.
Selfishness is partial.
"I am under obligation to give the practical preference to the interests of my own family, not because...their interests sustain such a relation to my own, but because I can more readily secure their interests....
"But selfishness is always partial. It...always...lays the greatest stress upon...those interests the promotion of which will gratify self.
"To will the good of my neighbor, or of my country, and of God because of the intrinsic value of those interests...is virtue; but to will them to gratify...blind desire is selfishness and sin. If I yield to mere desire in any case, it must be to gratify the desire. Partiality consists in giving one thing the preference of another..., not because the intelligence demands this preference, but because the sensibility demands it." 60
Let it be remembered that we are talking about intelligent choices, that is, choices made in opposition to moral light.
Selfishness is productive, just as love is productive. Only selfishness is productive in the opposite direction.
Selfishness is an active, positive choice of self-gratification as the ultimate end of pursuit. And choice produces action--lots of it.
Even when laziness is the form of self-indulgence preferred above others, selfishness will work as hard as necessary to avoid work!
A selfish end will produce selfish means.
Sin in the heart will produce sin in the life. As long as a person is committed to self-gratification, that is the way he (or she) is going to live. The only way to stop living like a sinner is to stop being one. Let Christ take control.
"There is no way, therefore, for the sinner to escape from the commission of sin, but to cease to be selfish. The first thing is to change the end, and then the sinner can cease from outward sin. While the selfish end continues, whatever a sinner does is selfish. The end being wrong, all is and must be wrong [Luke 6:43-45]." 61
Selfishness is opposed to love or virtue.
"This resistance to benevolence...is what the Bible calls hardening the heart. It is obstinacy of will under the light...." 62
But we hear the sinner protest: "Not me. I have nothing against God. I believe in religion and the Church. I'm for all the good that's being done."
But is that really true? The sinner has nothing against God--until God gets in his way and frustrates the pursuit of his self-interests. The sinner thinks that religion and the Church are OK--as long as they don't bother him. Christians are fine--as long as they just go to church on Sunday morning and keep their mouths shut.
But what happens if righteousness really gets the upper hand in town?
The sinner hears people singing and taking about Jesus in the stores and on the streets. His wife just "got religion," and now she won't go down to the local tavern with him anymore. In fact, the tavern has been losing so many customers it's about to close up.
Now watch the devil's crowd get mad.
Whenever a person chooses an end, as long as the choice of that end remains, the heart must be opposed to everything that gets in the way of attaining that end.
Let the kingdom of God prosper. At first it will only annoy the sinner. Then, it begins to frustrate him, getting in his way and making him feel uncomfortable. Finally, if the interests of God and His kingdom prosper to the point that the sinner finds the road of selfishness blocked--watch out. Frustrated selfishness is a monster.
Selfishness hates God, the Bible, and real Christians. It is the enemy of all righteousness. It has been said that if half of the people got genuinely converted to Jesus Christ, the other half would get fighting mad.
Selfishness is cruel.
"Selfishness is always and necessarily cruel--cruel to the soul, cruel to the souls of others in neglecting to care and act for their salvation; cruel to God in abusing him in ten thousand ways; cruel to the whole universe.
"Some form of cruelty is practiced by every sinner. The fact that they live in sin, that they set an example of selfishness, that they do nothing for their own souls, nor for the souls of others; these are really most atrocious forms of cruelty." 63
Look at that man who just stands there and shakes his head when you ask him to repent and accept Jesus Christ. He knows the Bible is true. He knows he's a sinner and under condemnation. But will he take care of his own soul? No! His children and his neighbors are unsaved, but will he pray for them and try to lead them to God? No! If they follow his example, they will all go to hell. He's cruel.
And look at that hypocrite who says he believes the gospel, but who hasn't won a soul to Christ in years. He's a member of the church and believes in the hereafter. But out of church he follows the crowd. At work he's just "one of the boys," laughing, joking, getting along fine--but no prayer for their souls, no burden, no effort to speak to anyone about the Savior. He's cruel.
Selfishness is unjust.
"There is the utmost injustice in the end chosen. It is the practical preference of a petty self-interest over infinite interests. This is universal injustice to God and man. No sinner at any time is at all just to any being in the universe." 64
There is not a sinner on earth or in hell who is treating God right. And if we refuse to treat God right, we have no legitimate claim that we are treating other people right. A man might walk ten miles to pay another man a dollar he owes him, but if he cares not for the man's soul, he is still being unjust and unfair to him.
The heart of the sinner in unjust!
Selfishness is a lie.
"The selfish man has practically proclaimed that his good is the supreme good,...that all interests are to yield to his. His choice affirms that God has no rights, that he ought not to be loved and obeyed,...but that God and all beings ought to obey and serve the sinner. Can there be a greater, a more shameless falsehood than this?" 65
Every unconverted person is living the worst possible lie. By his example he is saying to everyone he influences that God is to be ignored, that eternal values are not important, that we ought to live to please ourselves.
By refusing to live according to the truth, the sinner is living in falsehood. He is lying every moment he lives.
Selfishness is proud.
"Pride is a disposition to exalt self above others, to get out of one's proper place in the scale of being,...to exalt not merely one's own interests, but one's person, above others and above God.... A proud being supremely regards himself." 66
Pride is simply putting self on the throne of the heart. The sinner refuses to surrender first place to God. He refuses to acknowledge in heart and in practice that God is the Supreme Being. In effect, he says, "I am more important than God." This is the sin of Lucifer. It is the character of every sinner.
The claims of Christ are a threat to the sinner's self-supremacy, an intrusion into his little self-ruled world. For that reason he attempts to live as though either God does not exist as a real Person, or He has no authority, rights and business in his life.
"Selfishness is opposition to God's existence. Opposition to a government is opposition to the will of the governor. It is opposition to his existence in that capacity. Selfishness will brook no restraint in respect to securing its end. But God is the uncompromising enemy of selfishness. He is more in the way of selfishness than all other beings.
"Selfishness offers all manner and every possible degree of resistance to God. It disregards God's commands. It contemns his authority. It spurns his mercy. It outrages his feelings. It provokes his forebearance." 67
Selfishness is intemperate.
"Selfishness is self-indulgence not sanctioned by the reason." 68
Sin is knowingly allowing one's desires to take control and to rule the life. Now, this does not mean that all of the desires can rule at once. Some have to be denied in order to gratify others. But identify the ruling desires and you have found the pet sins. These take priority in the sinner's heart. They have the right-of-way to full development and gratification as the sinner has opportunity. He seeks to fulfill them and finds in them his purpose for living.
"But it may be asked, are we to have no regard whatever to our tastes, appetites and propensities [cravings]?
"We are to have no such regard for them as to make their gratification the end for which we live, even for a moment. God has not given us propensities to be our masters and to rule us, but to be our servants and to minister to our enjoyment when we obey the biddings of reason and of God. The propensities are not, therefore, to be despised, nor is their annihilation to be desired." 69
Christians are not cold stoics or unfeeling ascetics. We have real feelings and we enjoy life. But we enjoy life more because we are not living just for the enjoyment. This is the beauty of God's economy.
Live for happiness, and you will never find it; live for Jesus Christ, and you will discover happiness!
Now, one of the real problems with self-indulgence is that the price keeps going up. Indulgences have a way of losing their "kick." Thrill-seekers get tired of their toys. Pleasures become commonplace, and a stronger "dose" of the pleasure-producer is required to get the same effect as before.
But lusts are never satisfied. They always demand "more." The multimillionaire eagerly pursues a few more dollars. His passion for money is never satisfied, no matter how much he has. The same is true of the alcoholic, the drug addict, the sex-aholic, and so forth.
Ah, but what about the hardworking man who behaves himself, stays at home and spends his leisure time with his family?
If he refuses to surrender his heart to Christ, he is just as self-indulgent as the man who destroys his job and his home for the sake of drink, sex and gambling. He is merely doing what pleases himself more than anything else does. For the sake of the pleasures of marriage, family life and home, and all that goes with it, he is denying all incompatible indulgences, at least in outward practice.
The desires for domestic pleasures might be so strong that he has never given competing pleasure a change even to develop. Or he might have strong competing and conflicting desires, but denies them for the sake of the stronger desires for a stable job and a pleasant home life.
Maybe someday he will do what many respectable people in public life do when they get tired of behaving in a socially acceptable way--blow it all on a binge and shock everybody.
At any rate, if self-indulgence rules the heart, no matter what kind of self-indulgence it might be, the heart is totally sinful. It is intemperate because it is totally committed to the fulfilling of the demands of indulgence.
"Every sinner is chargeable in the sight of God with every species of intemperance, actual and conceivable. His lusts have the reign. If there is any form of self-indulgence that is not actually developed in him, no thanks to him. The providence of God has restrained the outward indulgence, while there has been in him a readiness to perpetrate any and every sin, from which he was not deterred by some overpowering fear of consequences." 70
Selfishness is totally sinful.
Every sinner is sacrificing the higher interests of God and of others to his own chosen desires. What greater guilt than this can there be? What more can the sinner become guilty of? He is sinning against all the light he has; for that reason he is as guilty as he can be with the light he has. What is to prevent him from sinning against more light--all light--if he had it?
As long as the sinner pursues the course of self-gratification, he (or she) will continue to reject all light received and sacrifice all interests that get in the way of the demands of self-gratification.
If the sinner will sacrifice one thing for self, what would keep him from sacrificing everything? What is to keep the sinner from expelling God from Heaven, abolishing His throne, and destroying the whole universe if the fulfillment of his selfish desires demanded it and it were possible? There is nothing in his present course of self-gratification to indicate if and when he would stop the pursuit and development of selfishness, stop the destructive effects of selfishness, and turn his heart to God.
True, he might do so under increased light, but the present course of his heart gives no indication of it. If he continues in selfishness, he has the potential of destroying the whole universe if he had the power to do so.
What sinner is there who really knows what he would do if his desires demanded it and he had the opportunity?
Only God knows how many Adolf Hitlers there are who never get the chance to become one. The fact that only a few sinners have succeeded in fulfilling their selfish desires to such an extent is a marvelous demonstration of the restraining providence of God.
"Every selfish being is at every moment as wicked and as blameworthy as with his knowledge he can be.
"The selfish man's guilt is just equal to his knowledge of the intrinsic value of those interests that he rejects [Luke 12:47,48].
"Selfishness is the rejection of all obligation. It is the violation of all obligation. The sin of selfishness is then complete; that is, the guilt of selfishness is as great as with its present light it can be." 71
Remember, the character of the end determines the character of the means. If the ultimate end is selfish, the means are selfish no matter how respectable they seem to be.
If the sinner quits drinking and carousing around, yet does not surrender the heart to God, he is merely changing means to the same end. Self-interest demands the change, not regard for God's interests or real regard for the interests of others.
Why does the "respectable" but unconverted businessman refrain from socially unacceptable behavior? Because he loves God supremely and his neighbor as himself? No. He loves himself supremely. His "morality" is plastic, self-serving.
Why does the alcoholic, the adulterer, or the spendthrift mend his ways, yet still reject Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord? Out of real love? No. His desire perhaps for the benefits of a disciplined life overpowers his other desires.
Or, perhaps the feeling of pity or remorse over the way he has treated his family becomes his strongest emotion. If this leads him to think, and then make an intelligent surrender to Jesus Christ, well and good. But if he continues to choose to be a slave to his desires, he will let himself be controlled by the feeling of remorse. And as long as this is his ruling, overriding desire, he will follow good resolutions. But self is still in control. He is still in bondage to sin. Romans chapter seven is his experience. When his desires change, his behavior will change.
We will do what we choose to do. If we choose to love God, we will love Him. If we choose to gratify self instead, we will gratify self. This is exactly what Romans 7:14 through 25 teaches. As long as self-gratification rules, we will do what self-gratification demands, even though we might hate ourselves for it. Self must be dethroned from the heart by the enthronement of Christ before the moral agent can stop sinning in his outward life.
It is important to remember that the sinful choice of self-gratification as an ultimate end is made knowingly, that is, in opposition to light. Christians often do things out of impulse ignorantly and without realizing it. Many true Christians blunder ignorantly because they do what they feel like doing instead of what they would do if they thought and prayed about the matter.
We all need more light. We need to "grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ" (2 Peter 3:18).
As Christians, we are living for an infinitely valuable end--the highest well-being of God and man. Let us not pursue that end carelessly. It is too valuable to trifle with. Let us know the means that most effectively secure that end and follow them intelligently. Let us get all the light we can. Learn the Scriptures and follow them. Learn how to please God better. Bring every emotion under discipline to the Lordship of Jesus.
For this we have the all-sufficient grace of God. And we have the illuminating presence of the Holy Spirit, who guides us into all truth and is working to perfect in us the beautiful fruit of the Spirit.
9. We are All Headed Somewhere
We were not made to die. Something immortal is in us. Eternity is in our hearts.
The rich young ruler's anxious cry to Jesus, "What shall I do to inherit eternal life?" epitomizes the deep, universal longing of the human soul. If death ends it all, what about the unpaid moral bills? If all the rewards and punishments come in this life only, the books are way out of balance. In that case, Adolf Hitler received the same thing in the Fuhrerbunker as the twenty-year-old Christian GI in the burned-out Sherman tank.
Something basic in our intelligence tells us that the moral government of God is not going to let things end like that. God is going to settle accounts and balance the books. The resurrection of Jesus Christ proves it. We can count on it.
The moral law has appropriate rewards and punishments, administered by the moral government of God. Some of these are the natural consequences of obedience and disobedience. They are a simple matter of reaping what we sow.
But other rewards and punishments are specifically prescribed in addition to the natural ones. Rewards and punishments exist for several reasons:
(1) they serve as inducements to obedience and deterrents to disobedience;
(2) they demonstrate the fact that God cares enough about us to do everything morally possible to uphold moral law and order, promote obedience and prevent sin;
(3) they show us how important moral law is to us, how right it is, and how necessary it is for the highest good of all;
(4) they prove that God means business. One look at the penalty should convince us that God is not trifling with sin.
How long do the rewards and punishments last? The answer is simple: they last as long as our obedience or disobedience lasts.
Man is immortal. Every one of us will spend forever somewhere. So then, happiness must continue as long as obedience continues, and punishment must continue as long as disobedience continues.
The Bible teaches us that those who go to Heaven are the ones who will obey God forever. Revelation 22:3 says, "His servants shall serve him," and so their joy will be endless.
Also, there is no indication that sinners in hell will ever stop sinning. On the contrary, the very fact that their punishment is endless is a strong indication that their disobedience will be endless also. Stubbornness has a way of perpetuating itself under severe punishment. And no amount of punishment can forgive our sins or make us innocent. Punishment earns us nothing.
Sin perpetuates and aggravates itself. It is not static. Sinners grow worse as they grow older. Just think of the result as this process continues. Let countless ages roll; then, if you could stop and look into hell for one brief moment, what would you find? Not one soul is willing to love and obey God. Instead, they have become immeasurably worse. The blast of vile cursing and bitterness that erupts from the caverns of the damned causes us to flee instantly in horror and revulsion.
The sin of hell continues. So must the punishment.
"It is not merely natural death, for this would in reality be no penalty at all. It would be offering a reward to sin. If natural death be the penalty, then infants and animals suffer this penalty. If natural death be the penalty, the only penalty, it sustains no proportion whatever to the guilt of sin. Natural death would be no adequate expression of the importance of the precept.
"The penal sanction of the law of God is endless death, or that state of endless suffering which is the natural and governmental result of sin...."
OBJECTION:
"Endless punishment is unjust because life is so short that men do not live long enough in this world to commit so great a number of sins as to deserve endless punishment."
ANSWER:
"I answer...that one breach of the precept always incurs the penalty of the law, whatever that penalty is. The length of time employed in committing a sin has nothing to do with its blameworthiness or guilt."
OBJECTION:
"A finite creature cannot commit an infinite sin."
ANSWER:
"This objection takes for granted that man is...so much less than the Creator that he cannot deserve his endless frown. Which would involve the most guilt, for a man to smite his neighbor and equal or his lawful sovereign? The higher the ruler is exalted above the subject in his nature, character, and rightful authority, the greater is the obligation of the subject to will his good, to render him obedience, and the greater is the guilt of the transgression in the subject. Therefore, the fact that man is so infinitely below his Maker does but enhance the guilt of his rebellion....
OBJECTION:
"Sin is not an infinite evil, and therefore does not deserve endless punishment."
ANSWER:
"This objection may mean either that sin would not produce infinite mischief if unrestrained, or that it does not involve infinite guilt. It cannot mean the first, for...misery must continue as long as sin does and therefore...sin unrestrained would produce endless evil.
"What does all sin in its own nature deserve? They who deny the justice of endless punishment manifestly consider the guilt of sin as a mere trifle. They who maintain the justice of endless punishment consider sin as an evil of immeasurable magnitude, and deserving of endless punishment.
"The Bible...represents the future punishment of the wicked as eternal, and never once represents it otherwise. It expresses the duration of the future punishment of the wicked by the same terms and...as forcibly as it expresses the duration of the future happiness of the righteous." 72
God is not trifling with sin and sinners, because He is not careless in protecting and promoting the well-being of the universe. Calvary proves that. With God, moral issues are of fundamental and eternal importance. So should they be with us.
10. Don't Blame It All On Adam
Man's problem is called moral depravity. It is a voluntary condition, requiring a total moral transformation. External remedies will not work.
Man needs more than behavior modification. He needs a new heart, that is, a complete change of ultimate choice. A new heart will correct a person's behavior. Without a new heart, behavior will regress, reverting back to the self-commitment of the will.
But change the direction of the will, and the life will change.
"Moral depravity is depravity of free-will, not of the faculty itself, but of its free action. Depravity of the will as a faculty is, or would be, physical and not moral depravity. Moral depravity is depravity of choice." 73
The most common Greek word in the New Testament for "sin" is hamartia. It means "missing the mark." In other words, sin is aiming at the wrong target, striving for the wrong goal, living for the wrong end.
Virtue is living for God. Sin is living for self.
Remember, all choices of means are made with the purpose of securing the end chosen. Consequently, the character of the end determines the character of the means. What we are living for determines how we are going to live and the moral character of our living. The motive of the heart counts for everything, because it is the reason why we do what we are doing.
So then, a person's total moral character is determined by what he is living for. If he is living for God, he is morally right one hundred percent. If he is living for self, he is morally wrong one hundred percent.
If self is the ultimate preference of the soul, the total moral character of the person is selfish. While this selfish ultimate preference continues, he does nothing to please God, and can do nothing to please God; for if pleasing God were his motivation, he would order his whole life accordingly.
"So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God" (Romans 8:8). They miss the mark. Holding onto the wrong end, everything they do is wrong. It is selfish. It is sinful.
That means, then, that every unconverted person is totally, morally depraved, without any real moral goodness in him. He does nothing consciously that is contrary to the selfish ultimate purpose that motivates him. He is pursuing this purpose with all his heart according to all the knowledge and opportunity he has. He is totally self-committed, and therefore totally guilty.
But why is selfishness so universal, and why is every one of us so committed to self-gratification to start with that to save even some of us, God has to use the most powerful persuasions to pry us away from selfishness and win our hearts to Himself?
The most common explanation is to say that we were all born that way, that we all were born with a sinful "nature" down inside of us that craves sin and causes us to commit sin.
Whether we agree with this explanation or not is influenced largely by how we have been taught to interpret certain Scriptures (e.g., Psalm 51:5; 58:3; Romans 5:12-19). *Please read The Influence of Greek Philosophy on the Development of Christian Theology
Finney was quite opposed to this doctrine of original sin. For one thing, he did not believe that the Bible really teaches that we are born with a sinful nature or a natural disposition toward sin per se.
Also, Finney believed that the idea of original sin inherited by the whole human race from Adam involves a wrong concept of what sin is. Sin is a choice, not a substance. It is moral, not physical or metaphysical. It is a choice that we are responsible for, individually and personally. It is not an accident or misfortune that happened to us, but a crime that we commit and are accountable for.
"Moral depravity consists in selfishness, or in the choice of self-interest, self-gratification, or self-indulgence as an end. Consequently it cannot consist in a sinful constitution or in a constitutional...craving for sin. Moral depravity is sin itself, and not the cause of sin.
"To talk of a sinful nature...is to ascribe sinfulness to the Creator, who is the author of nature.
"It is a monstrous and blasphemous dogma that a holy God is angry with any creature for possessing a nature with which he was sent into being without his knowledge or consent.
"If sin necessarily implies a sinful nature, how did Adam and Eve sin? How did angels sin? Had they also a sinful nature?
"Can we not account for Eve eating the forbidden fruit without supposing that she had a craving for sin? Her craving was for the fruit, for knowledge, and not for sin. This led to prohibited indulgence. All men sin in precisely the same way. They consent to gratify, not a craving for sin, but a craving for other things, and the consent to make self-gratification an end is the whole of sin.
"I object to the doctrine of constitutional sinfulness that it makes all sin, original and actual, a mere calamity, and not a crime.
"Upon this supposition, the law is tyranny and the gospel an insult to the unfortunate.
"What! Create them with a sinful nature, from which proceed by a law of necessity actual transgressions, and then send them to an eternal hell for having this nature, and for transgressions that are unavoidable! Impossible!
"The Bible...intimates that Adam's first sin has in some way been the occasion, not the necessary physical cause, of all the sins of men.
"James says that a man is tempted when he is drawn aside of his own lusts and enticed.... Paul and other inspired writers represent sin as consisting in a carnal or fleshly mind,...in minding the flesh.
"The representations of Scripture are that the body is the occasion of sin. The law in his members, that warred against the law of his mind, of which Paul speaks [Romans 7] is manifestly the impulse of the sensibility opposed to the law of the reason.
"Selfish choice is the wicked heart.... This sinful choice is properly enough called indwelling sin.
"Moral depravity in our first parents was induced by temptation.... All moral depravity commences in substantially the same way. The impulses of the sensibility are developed gradually...from...birth. The first acts of will are in obedience to these. A habit of self-indulgence is formed. When reason affirms moral obligation, it finds the will in a state of...committal to the impulses of the sensibility.
"Selfishness confirms, strengthens and perpetuates itself.... It grows with the sinner's growth, strengthens with his strength, and will do so forever unless overcome by the Holy Spirit through the truth.
"The constitution of a moral being as a whole, when all the powers are developed, does not tend to sin, but strongly in an opposite direction. When reason is thoroughly developed by the Holy Spirit, it is more than a match for the sensibility, and turns the heart to God. The Holy Spirit reveals God and the spiritual word,...so as to give reason the control of the will. This is regeneration and sanctification." 74
So then, sin is not a thing--a solid, liquid, gas, electrical impulse, radio wave, ray or some mystical substance that pollutes our blood stream.
Sin is a choice. It is not just a thought. It is a commitment. It is not something that sits inside of us and makes us do bad things. Sin is inside of us only in the sense that choices take place inside of us.
Our moral choices are not determined by anything internal or external. We determine them ourselves. When we choose whom we will serve, that's whom we will serve until we choose otherwise.
Internal and external influences appeal to us to choose in their direction, but they cannot force us to do so. Our attention is continually addressed by considerations that tend to stir up feelings. Many of these feelings are normal and proper. Some are not. In either case we can keep our feelings under subjection to reason and to the higher interests of God, others and even ourselves, or we can surrender to them and let them rule us in spite of the consequences to God, others and even to ourselves.
The surrender of the will to be controlled by the desires is sin when it is done under light and in opposition to the reason. It is deliberately placing the demands of desire above the values presented to us by reason and the revealed Word of God.
So then, we do not have to look any further than our own desires and the things that stimulate our desires to find the cause of temptation and the reason for sin. People are doing what they feel like doing instead of what they know they ought to do. It all adds up to selfishness--a refusal to love.
11. God Came To The Rescue
We all know what a red traffic light means. It means stop. And most of us know better than to run through that stop light or sign.
Why? Because we know we might kill somebody or get killed ourselves if we do.
At least, that is the ultimate reason. But there is another reason, too. That traffic signal has a penalty behind it. And it is the penalty that makes it a law. Without the penalty that stop light would not be a law. It would be only very good advice.
But when the penalty is added and enforced, it is a different matter. People start taking it seriously, because people pay more attention to penalties than they do to good advice. And the more serious the penalty, the more seriously they regard the law.
"The design of legal penalties is to secure obedience to the precept. The exercise of mercy in setting aside the execution of penalties is a matter of extreme delicacy and danger. The influence of law...is found very much to depend upon the certainty felt by the subjects that it will be duly executed." 75
Mother tells little Suzie, "Don't dig up mother's flowers. If you do, I'll spank you."
So little Suzie goes out to play. Fifteen minutes later mother looks out the window and sees her little darling uprooting her tulips.
"Suzie!" mother yells, "come in here right now!"
"Oh, mother, I'll never, never do it again. Please don't spank me!" the little tyke pleads.
"All right," mother responds, "I won't spank you this time. But don't do it again."
Suzie goes back to playing and mother returns to her housework. Ten minutes later mother glances out the window, and there is little misbehave right in the middle of the flowerbed, pulling up more tulips.
"Suzie! What did I tell you?" Mother's voice sounds stern this time.
"Mama, I'm sorry. Please don't spank me. I'll never do it again!!" Suzie sounds do sincere.
"All right," mother repeats, "I won't spank you this time. But don't you ever do it again."
Well, five minutes later mother looks out the window, and what does she see?
You guessed it. Suzie is back in the tulips.
Why? Because she did not really believe that mother meant what she said. She violated her mother's word and escaped the penalty merely by acting sorry. As a result, mercy was interpreted as leniency. Law had become only advice.
Now, God is not dealing with minor acts of mischief. He is the moral Governor of the universe and planet Earth is in open mutiny. He is dealing with total rebellion in the human heart. Moral order on Earth is threatened with total collapse.
What shall God do about it? Inflict the penalty appropriate to such sin? This He must do if all else fails.
But God wants to win sinners away from their rebellion and forgive their sin. He wants to have mercy upon them, but He will not pardon any of them in any way that will make mercy look like leniency. God loves the universe too much to allow that.
Something must be done so that the offer of mercy will not lead people to think, "That was easy. All we had to do was say we are sorry. God must not be very serious about sin after all."
"The exercise of mercy...where no atonement is made weakens government by begetting and fostering a hope of impunity." 76
God has the moral responsibility to promote the happiness and well-being of the universe in general, and the world in particular, and to protect it from everything that would harm or destroy it.
Now, the most harmful and destructive influence of all is sin or selfishness.
So then, because God loves the world and is committed to our highest well-being, as well as to the highest well-being of the whole universe, He must and will do everything possible to protect it from the destructive influence of sin.
One necessary way He does this is by upholding moral law, including enforcing the penalty when moral law is violated.
But God wants to forgive, not punish. But forgiveness means dropping the penalty for the person who is forgiven, and dropping the penalty for even one person who has broken the law is a very dangerous thing. In fact, it would be wrong because it would endanger everything. If even one person can get by with doing wrong, the safety of all is threatened because the basic integrity of moral law is violated.
Therefore, if God is going to drop the penalty in any case, something must be put in the place of the penalty that will do what the penalty was intended to do. Whatever it is, it must have the same influence as the penalty in preventing sin, in demonstrating the seriousness and destructiveness of sin, and in letting people know that God means business.
Well, what can that be?
Repentance? Repentance is a necessary condition of forgiveness. Unless we repent, we cannot be forgiven. But repentance alone is not enough. It is too easy in the sense that it promotes the "I-can-do-it-myself-whenever-I-get-ready" idea. No, our repentance in itself will not forgive us. It cannot save us. We have sinned before the holy Lord God of the universe, and only He can forgive us.
Well, then, why does God not just go ahead and forgive everybody?
We would not respect Him if He did, any more than we would respect a judge who opened up all the prisons and turned all the inmates loose.
Well, then, what about a substitute? Let an animal be sacrificed as a substitute for the punishment of the guilty person.
No, because the sufferings and death of an animal would not be enough to get the real message across to us. It just would not have enough influence to stop people from sinning. It will take something more than that.
But a substitute is the right idea. Who shall it be?
Another mere human being cannot do it. For one thing all have sinned (Romans 3:23). All of us would have to suffer the penalty for our own sins, and so we could not do it for someone else. Besides, just one human being's suffering and death still would not stop a world from sinning.
Then how about an angel coming down Heaven and dying for us?
No, again for the same reason.
Then, who can do it?
1) It would have to be someone who is innocent himself.
2) It would have to be someone who really loves us, because he certainly would not owe it to us.
3) It would have to be someone very, very important, because his sufferings and death would really have to have a tremendous influence. When people really understood what he had done for them, it would have to have enough of an effect on them to cause them to love God and stop sinning. But who?
There is only One--God Himself!
And that is exactly what God did! In his Son, Jesus Christ, God came to earth, became a man, took our place, and suffered and died on the cross as our Substitute!
And so now, if the guilty soul will turn to God (repent) and trust his great Substitute, he will receive forgiveness as a free gift.
Why?
Because God in Jesus Christ did for us the one and only thing that can wake us up to the seriousness of sin, make us hate sin and turn to God, with a moral effect on us at least equal to the threat of the penalty, and that would satisfy the requirements of moral law.
In fact, the cross of Christ should have a far greater influence on us than the threat of punishment. If the sight of our innocent Sovereign and our great and gentle God dying on the cross in agony and blood for our sins and out of love for us does not break our stubborn hearts and turn us to Him now and forever, nothing will.
He did it all for me, and He did it all for you.
Oh, turn to Him, receive Him, believe Him, trust Him, love Him, obey Him, serve Him--forever and ever!
Allow the mercy and grace of God offered at such an awesome and staggering cost to melt your heart, to win your heart! Accept it by faith.
Let the blood of Jesus Christ wash your sins away. It is the only way to be forgiven. If you refuse, you will have to face the penalty.
Why die when you can live?
Let Jesus Christ take His rightful place on the throne of your heart as your Savior and Lord, bringing with Him joy, peace, happiness and eternal life.
12. We Need A Change
Many people do not want to change. They like their little self-centered world just as it is. They like running their own lives and are not interested in having Jesus Christ come in and take over. If they gave Him first place in their hearts, things would change--completely. The change would be greatly for the better, of course, but it would mean the end of selfishness.
And selfishness has so many little pets. Christ cannot save people as long as they refuse to let Him change them.
Usually people have to become sick and tired of sin before they are willing to give up to God. They wait until sin has wrecked and ruined them before they have had enough of it. And some hold onto their pet indulgences until death. How foolish! How much better it is to live for Christ from early life and let Him build a beautiful life than to bring the broken pieces of sin-wrecked years for Him to mend.
Yes, we human beings need a change, whether we realize it or not.
And some do realize it, but fail to understand what it is they need. What they do not know--or are unwilling to admit--is that they need a change of heart.
A change of heart, that is, a change in what one is ultimately living for, is the greatest possible moral change that can come to an individual. It is a new birth, a new life. This makes regeneration a total change, because a change of the supreme goal of living will produce a change in every part of living--actions, emotions, values, plans, preferences.
Most of all, it is a spiritual change. Being reconciled to God by faith in Jesus Christ, we come into a dynamic living relationship with the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
Jesus said, "The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit" (John 3:8).
In other words, you see the dramatic effects of the wind, but you do not see the wind. Just so, you see in the life of the believer in Christ the results of the Holy Spirit's work, but you do not see the Holy Spirit.
On the other hand, if we hear no wind, feel no wind, and see no evidence that any wind is blowing, it is likely that no wind is, in fact, blowing. Just so, if no evidence of a real change of heart appears in the life, it is likely that no real change has taken place.
And now, before bringing this book to a close, it is only fair to point out that Charles G. Finney said much more about the subjects we have explored than the few quotations that are cited here. Often he becomes very eloquent in developing his thesis.
We might not agree with all that Finney says. However, before his views on any point be rejected, fairness demands a careful study of his full treatment of the subject in his Lectures On Systematic Theology.
In our present exploration we have seen Paradise lost and regained.
Every unconverted person is in "death-row" right now, under the condemnation he cannot rid himself of.
But God in Christ took the sinner's place--my place, your place. It happened on a cross at the top of a hill just outside Jerusalem. Now God can safely and wisely pardon every one who will let Him do so. What must we do? Just accept it. That's all. But that involves everything. It means accepting the terms of the pardon: the surrender of the whole heart, renouncing all sin and receiving Jesus Christ by faith as Savior and Lord.
"The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:23).
Have you surrendered to God and accepted His free offer of pardon and eternal life through Jesus Christ? If not, do so right now. You will be glad that you did.
ADDENDUM:
Please go to:
The Influence of Greek Philosophy on the Development of Christian Theology
REFERENCES
1. Finney, Charles G., Autobiography. Fleming H. Revell Company, New York, 1876, p. 20.
2. Ibid., p.24.
3. Ibid., pp. 183,184.
All of the following references are from Charles G. Finney's Lectures On Systematic Theology, one-volume edition, published in 1878 by E. J. Goodrich; republished in 1944 by "Colporter" Kemp, Whittier, California; later by Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, Grand Rapids, Michigan; and currently by Bethany Fellowship Press, 6820 Auto Club Road, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55438.
Words set in brackets have been supplied. Elliptical marks (...) in quotations indicate words have been omitted for the sake of clarity or brevity. Care has been taken not to change the meaning of the sentences by the omission of words.
4. Ibid., p. 1.
5. Ibid., p. 2.
6. Ibid., p. 2.
7. Ibid., preface x.
8. Ibid., p. 2.
9. Ibid., p. 2.
10. Ibid., p. 2.
11. Ibid., pp. 2,3.
12. Ibid., p. 3.
13. Ibid., p. 3.
14. Ibid., p. 4.
15. Ibid., pp. 4,5.
16. Ibid., pp. 5,6.
17. Ibid., p. 6.
18. Ibid., p. 9.
19. Ibid., p. 12.
20. Ibid., pp. 13-15.
21. Ibid., p. 16.
22. Ibid., pp. 23,24.
23. Ibid., pp. 24,25.
24. Ibid., p.26.
25. Ibid., pp. 27-33.
26. Ibid., pp. 34,35.
27. Ibid., pp. 35-38.
28. Ibid., pp. 42-48.
29. Ibid., pp. 80-95.
30. Ibid., pp. 96,97.
31. Ibid., p. 106.
32. Ibid., p. 107.
33. Ibid., p. 110.
34. Ibid., p. 111.
35. Ibid., p. 111.
36. Ibid., p. 114.
37. Ibid., p. 115.
38. Ibid., pp. 117-124.
39. Ibid., p. 124.
40. Ibid., pp. 128-133.
41. Ibid., p. 139.
42. Ibid., pp. 142,143.
43. Ibid., p. 150.
44. Ibid., p. 156.
45. Ibid., p. 157.
46. Ibid., pp. 158,159.
47. Ibid., pp. 159-161.
48. Ibid., pp. 162,163.
49. Ibid., p. 171.
50. Ibid., p. 174.
51. Ibid., p. 174.
52. Ibid., pp. 174,175.
53. Ibid., p. 176.
54. Ibid., pp. 176,177.
55. Ibid., p. 179.
56. Ibid., pp. 180,181.
57. Ibid., p. 181.
58. Ibid., pp. 184,185.
59. Ibid., pp. 186,187.
60. Ibid., pp. 187-189.
61. Ibid., pp. 190,191.
62. Ibid., p. 191.
63. Ibid., pp. 193,194.
64. Ibid., p. 195.
65. Ibid., pp. 196,197.
66. Ibid., p. 197.
67. Ibid., pp. 199,200.
68. Ibid., p. 200.
69. Ibid., p. 201.
70. Ibid., p. 202.
71. Ibid., pp. 202-206.
72. Ibid., pp. 209-212.
73. Ibid., p. 229.
74. Ibid., pp. 236-258.
75. Ibid., p. 260.
76. Ibid., p. 260.