The Spurgeon Blog

The Gospel of Jesus Christ is misunderstood by vast numbers of people within the professing Church. That sounds like an arrogant statement, but is one that can be quite easily shown to be true. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is presented in a man-centered way by telling men that God loved them so much that He sent His Son to die for them so that they would not go to hell. That sounds like God is man-centered and is only concerned about saving men from hell. In other words, the Gospel is simply a way human beings may escape suffering and obtain good things from God. But a holy God cannot do anything from a motive that is not for His own glory. A holy God that sets forth the good news of Jesus Christ will set it out in a way His glory is central. It is not good news to lovers of God for Him to save sinners in a way by which His glory (their chief love) is not the primary motive. The Shorter Catechism of the Westminster tells us that the chief goal or end of man is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. If the chief end of man is truly that, then that is God’s chief end for man as well. The Gospel restores man in a way where God’s glory is manifested in the Gospel and then in the restoration of man to manifest God’s glory forever.

“There is no single aspect of religion which may not bear the marks of egocentricity or theocentricity, according as the one or the other of these constitutes the fundamental character of the religious relationship…Salvation may suggest nothing to me but the idea of my own perfect happiness, if not in this world, at any rate in the next; or it may signify the conformity of the human will with the divine, so that I am content to play whatever part God may appoint for me in His scheme of things.” (Let God Be God! An Interpretation of the Theology of Martin Luther)

Romans 3-4 sets out the Gospel of God and of Christ. In Romans 3:21-28 it is almost as if Paul has broken out in doxology of sorts and has forgotten that the Gospel has to do with human beings. This is an exaggeration of course, but the focus is without question on God and what He has done. That is what is really good news. The text of that is given below. As you read this text ask yourself if the text is focusing on the idea of the happiness and well-being of humans in this world or even in the next or whether it is focused on the glory of God in salvation. This is truly, as Paul sets out in Romans 1:1, the Gospel of God. Jesus called it “the gospel of the kingdom” in Matthew 4:23 and 9:25. Paul called it “the gospel of the glory of Christ” (II Cor 4:4). We must not denigrate the Gospel of God and of Jesus Christ by thinking of it as having glory and loveliness simply because it is good for us. It has glorious and loveliness because it is the Gospel that is to the praise of the glory of His grace (Eph 1:5-6). This is a Gospel that displays His glory and we are to love His glory in it rather than to admire ourselves when we hear the Gospel. It is simply our hideous pride to see and heart the Gospel and still focus on self. We are so focused on self by pride that we can hear of the glory of God and still only think of self.

“21 But now apart from the Law the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets, 22 even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe; for there is no distinction; 23 for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, 24 being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus; 25 whom God displayed publicly as a propitiation in His blood through faith. This was to demonstrate His righteousness, because in the forbearance of God He passed over the sins previously committed; 26 for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, so that He would be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus. 27 Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. 28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.”

The Gospel is all about the righteousness of God and how He justifies sinners by His grace. The Gospel is about God who set forth His Son as a wrath bearing substitute for sinners all by grace. He did this in order to demonstrate His own righteousness. As His glory shines in this text, it would seem that we are on holy ground and we had better take off the sandals of our pride and self-centeredness in order to see His glory. Dare we boast? Dare we take our minds and hearts off of His glory in the Gospel so we can focus on ourselves? Dare we think of God as focused on human beings rather than His own glory? Egocentric people think of self as the focus of God and the Gospel thus marring the manifestation of His glory. Theocentric people think of His glory as the focus and so His glory is manifested to and through them. This is a massive difference as the two views are different Gospels. The egocentric view leaves men in their self-centeredness and pride. That is nothing but hell. The theocentric view has God changing men and giving them a love for God and His glory. That is nothing but heaven.

In the last few BLOGS the issue of what determines the true core of Christianity has been set out under the basic issue of pride and prayer. It is not a person’s creed that is the final determination of the core of their true faith or not, it is whether the person is man-centered (egocentricity) or God-centered (theocentric). This is the true mark or the true standard of what is true Christianity or not. A person can have a perfect creed in terms of intellectual theology and still be ultimately governed by pride and self in the heart. But, one says, “I have a very high view of God.” That may be true, but what is the core belief of the heart in that? Does one have a high view of God in terms of Him doing for self or even being manipulated by self and for self? Is God nothing more than a philosophy to the person with the high view? Some people have a very high view of the universe and its glory, but they are still in bondage to their pride. A high view of God does not guarantee that a person has been delivered from pride because that is the work of God alone in the soul and not what a doctrinal belief can do.

“There is no single aspect of religion which may not bear the marks of egocentricity or theocentricity, according as the one or the other of these constitutes the fundamental character of the religious relationship…A belief in providence may mean that I regard God as existing simply to safeguard my interests and furnish me with a secure bases for the pursuit of my own purposes; or it may mean that I am persuaded of the goodness and wisdom of the Divine purpose, even when this runs counter to my own.” (Let God Be God! An Interpretation of the Theology of Martin Luther)

As can be seen from the quote above (which appears to be self-evident), a person can have a high view of God in terms of His providence and yet the controlling belief of that be determined by what is good for self. Interestingly enough, the Pharisees had a very high view of providence and sovereignty as well. When they saw that the man was born blind (John 9), they simply assumed that it was from the hand of God and that it was the man’s sin or his parent’s sin that was the cause of the man’s blindness. They did not think in terms of genetics, but saw things in terms of sin and of the hand of God in each and every matter. When they obtained some apparent good, they thought of it as the blessing of God. They had a high view of providence, but they thought that providence was fixed on their own wants, desires, and morality. This is to turn the very providence and sovereignty of God from that which He intends to manifest His glory to something that is focused on the whim and desire of human beings.

Pride in the heart means that the heart will determine what is right or wrong and good or bad by how it will effect and affect self. Pride exalts and puffs up the self with the things of self. Providence itself will be judged as good or bad by self. A soul that is blind to spiritual things will judge things that are uncomfortable and painful as bad things and the things that bring ease and comfort as good. However, in the Bible the Psalmist wrestled with why God allowed the wicked to prosper (Psa 73). It seems as if the godly are always in the midst of a trial or hard times. Those with even a modicum of spiritual insight and love for God see things far differently than the unbeliever. God gives those He hates many things in this world at times (sermon by Jonathan Edwards) while those He loves He brings hard things on them. Those He hates He will let them go on in their sin and never disturb them as they grow harder and harder in their sin. Those He loves He will bring hard things upon them to break them from their true enemy which is self in order to give them what is truly good which is Himself. Pride and self, then, will never interpret the providence of God properly.

Romans 1:18-32 is quite clear that the unbeliever knows some of the basic things about God and hates those things. The unbeliever gives him or herself to trying to stamp out that knowledge of God and live for self. The unbeliever is set against the truth of God and is engaged in an effort to understand things properly. That is surely a terrible act of pride, even the consistent and constant activity of pride. Those who want to blot out the knowledge of God will in their pride of self and hatred for God refuse to interpret the acts of His providence correctly. They will also not see the glory of God in truth as it shines out in nature, human beings, and especially in Christ. The proud person that is a professing believer will not see and interpret the providence of God because that is a person that is puffed up with self and is therefore opposed to the truth of God. This person may say wonderful things about what God does for him or her, but that does not mean that God is loved for Himself and who He really is. When the providence of God is interpreted by self and for self rather than the truth of God, it is a self-evident sign of an inescapable and undeniable man-centeredness which is opposed to God-centeredness.

As we saw in the previous BLOG our proud prayers have more wickedness in them than we can imagine. When was ask God to answer a prayer based on our merit, goodness, or worth, we are asking Him to do that which would make Him unholy. We also saw that true prayer must always come from love. We don’t think of things like that often, but when our prayers are not God-centered (theocentric) we are not praying to God out of true love. This is to say that our prayers are of no profit at all and in fact are wicked. When even our prayers are wicked, surely we can see that the rest of our lives are in trouble as well. It is not just that we need to reform a few of our actions to be religious, but when our religious actions are idolatrous and wicked it shows the depths of a practice that has moved from being God-centered to being man-centered (Isa 64:6). Even worse, when man is man-centered he thinks of God as being like man and as being man-centered as well. Our pride leads us down these wicked paths.

“There is no single aspect of religion which may not bear the marks of egocentricity or theocentricity, according as the one or the other of these constitutes the fundamental character of the religious relationship. Prayer, for instance, may be simply the means by which I seek to obtain for myself benefits that are otherwise beyond my reach; or it may express-not least in its petitionary form-my utter dependence for all that I have and am on God alone.” (Let God Be God! An Interpretation of the Theology of Martin Luther)

It is so hard for minds that are set on human-centeredness to understand that a life that is devoted to prayer and religious activity can actually be a life that is focused on self and lived in utter dependence on self. God has told us in Scripture that He opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble (James 4:6; I Peter 5:5). This means that the prayers that come from pride are also opposed by God. It is easy for us to think in our man-centered ways that it is proud of people not to pray. We may even think of the Pharisee who thanked God that he was not like other men as he listed the sins he was not guilty of (Luke 18:11). Yet in our hearts we may have pride that is much the same as the Pharisee. We may have pride lurking in our heart and rely on self to some degree when going to God in “prayer.” Oh the depths of pride in the human heart and how it spoils all religious actions. We so little think of how pride can spoil our prayers and make them things which the living God opposes.

The quote above is simply shocking when we begin to think about it. “There is no single aspect of religion which may not bear the marks of egocentricity or theocentricity, according as the one or the other of these constitutes the fundamental character of the religious relationship.” Every aspect of religious life bears the marks of egocentricity or theocentricity. Not just a few, or some, or even most. But every single aspect flows from one of these two central themes. These are not just outward actions, but these are the things of the heart. Either egocentricity or theocentricity constitutes the fundamental character of our religious relationship. Our very prayers, which we might be so proud of, have their fundamental character determined by whether we are in truth and in the depths of our hearts man-centered or God-centered. Man-centeredness is simply another way to say that we are still proud.

Both Reformed and Arminian theology can both be driven by pride and man-centeredness. The essence of Christianity can be missing from even the most orthodox views. The essence of Christianity is when God takes a sinner from that sinner’s pride and man-centeredness and transforms them into being God-centered in all things. It is often stated that Reformed people are proud. That can be from a misunderstanding (man-centered view) of what pride and true humility are. But it can also be a statement that reflects a lot of truth. Unless God has turned a heart from its man-centeredness and pride a person can be very orthodox and be that from no other motives and loves but pride and self. A prayer can be rigorously orthodox in its theology and words and be from a heart that is quite proud of its orthodoxy and its morality. In that case the prayer would be moved by self and actually be for self much like the proud Pharisee in Luke 18:11. A prayer that comes from a proud heart is not one that comes from a heart that is leaning entirely on Christ. It may be a prayer from a heart that leans on itself to lean on Christ which is really doing nothing but leaning on self. Oh the deceitfulness of the proud heart as it deceives the soul into thinking that it is leaning on Christ because of its orthodoxy. Oh the deceitfulness of the proud heart as it deceives the soul into thinking that as it leans on Christ in its own strength it is truly leaning on Christ. Man-centeredness and pride is/are in opposition to grace in truth regardless of the professed theology. Pride in the heart opposes and is always opposed by God even when the creed it holds is orthodox. Knowledge makes arrogant, but love edifies (I Cor 8:1). This is true of orthodoxy, and perhaps even especially true of orthodoxy.

Pride is that ugly self-exaltation and self-centeredness of the soul which leads the soul to self-seeking in all things. It is pride that is opposed to God in the holiness of His self-centeredness. It is pride to pray for the things of self rather than the glory of God. It was wicked and sinful for professed ministers to seek the things of self rather than the things of Christ in Paul’s day (Phil 2:21), and it is wicked and sinful for anyone to seek the things of self rather than the things of Christ in prayer or in life in any day. The soul that has not turned from its pride and is not sinking into the depths of humility will not understand the depths of the beauty and glory of God.

“There is no single aspect of religion which may not bear the marks of egocentricity or theocentricity, according as the one or the other of these constitutes the fundamental character of the religious relationship. Prayer, for instance, may be simply the means by which I seek to obtain for myself benefits that are otherwise beyond my reach; or it may express-not least in its petitionary form-my utter dependence for all that I have and am on God alone.” (Let God Be God! An Interpretation of the Theology of Martin Luther)

The above statement could paralyze a soul for quite some time if it began to see the sin of its own prayers and all of its religious activities because of the motives of self. How many self-centered prayers have we offered? How many times have we simply sat down by a list and offered words for those on the list? Apart from utter dependence of God in prayer as we seek His face and glory there is no middle ground with our pride and independence. We are either looking to God in dependence on Him or we are looking to God in some way with our dependence being on self. That is a vicious act of pride and self-reliance.

For a soul to be utterly dependent on God in prayer is for the soul to have God as its primary motive. In other words, the desires of the soul must have God as its true and main desire. This desire for God can only come from the sovereign and gracious work of God in the soul. Yet without this there is no true dependence on God in prayer. The soul must depend on God for the love which prayer depends on because God is the only source and origin of true prayer. I John 4:7-8 teaches us that we can only love if we are born of God and know Him. This knowing God is the fellowship of God with the soul and His sharing with the soul Himself. Until a soul is broken of pride it will not know what it means to pray in truth. It is possible to “pray” long and hard and yet have it be from nothing but pride. It is possible to pray using the Bible as the words of prayer and still have it be nothing but pride. Until the soul has experientially learned from God its utter dependency on Him for love in its own soul it cannot truly pray because the language of prayer is love. I Corinthians 13 says nothing we do is of spiritual value without love.

The soul must have God in the soul working love for Him in order to pray. The desires of the soul must be for God and must be a desire that is moved by love for God. The words of the prayers must be expressions of the love for God rather than words to get God to do something for self as the real desire for prayer. It is obvious that if our desires in prayer are for self, even if it is for self to fulfill the ritual or prayer, that prayer is then done for the idol of self and is nothing but an expression of pride. The Great Commandment should teach us that if we are to love God with all of our beings all of the time then prayer should be nothing more and nothing less than an act of love for God and a seeking of God Himself. If we do not seek the Lord in our intents and desires in prayer, our prayers are nothing more than religious rituals to get God to do something for self. That is horrid pride.

For the soul to truly pray in utter dependence on God it must also look to God as the only reason He should answer the prayer. That is really what it means to pray in the name of Jesus. We are to pray in utter dependence on Him to answer the prayer based on who He is and to be moved by our prayer because it is for the sake of Christ. But instead, we are given to prayers for ourselves while pleading to God with at least hidden things in the heart thinking that He should answer our prayers because we are worth it or because we have done something to merit the answer to some degree. How horrid our pride is in our prayers. We desire God to answer our prayers that are based out of love for us and then ask Him to do those things for us rather than for His own glory. A prayer that is full of such pride as this is worthy of eternal damnation. In that case we are asking God to be less than holy in order to give us what we are asking for our idol of self. For God to answer a prayer based on love for us rather than Himself would be idolatrous and unholy. Such is pride in prayer. Too often, I fear, that is the real language of our prayers. When even our prayers are hideous acts of pride and idolatry, it is no wonder that Christianity is so weak.