PER:TRUE SAINTS by Charles G.Finney

   published by Kregel Publications.

   When persons are more jealous for their own fame than for God's
glory, it shows that they live for themselves, and serve their own gods.

   You see a man more vexed or grieved by what is said against him than
against God; whom does he serve? - who is his God, himself or Jehovah?
There is a minister thrown into a fever because somebody has said a
word derogatory to his scholarship, or his dignity, or his
infallibility, while he is as cool as ice at all the indignities thrown
upon the blessed God. Is that man a follower of Paul, willing to be
considered a fool for the cause of Christ? Did that man ever take the
first lesson in religion? If he had, he would rejoice to have his name
cast out as evil for the cause of religion. No, hi is not serving God;
he is serving his own gods. 14. Those are serving their own gods, who
are not making the salvation of souls the great and leading object of
their lives.

   The end of all religious institutions, that which gives value to
them all, is the salvation of sinners. The end for which Christ lives,
and for which He has left His church in the world, is the salvation of
sinners. This is the business which God sets His servants about, and if
any man be not doing this, as his business - as the leading and main
object of his life, he is not serving Jehovah, he is serving his own
gods. 15. Those who are doing but little for God, or who bring but
little to pass for God, cannot properly be said to serve Him.

   Suppose you ask a professed servant of God. "What are you doing for
God? Are you bringing anything to pass? Are you instrumental in the
conversion of any sinners? Are you making impressions in favor of
religion, or helping forward the cause of Christ?" He replies, "Why I
do not know, - I have a hope; I sometimes think I do love God; but I do
not know that I am doing anything in particular at present." Is that
man serving God? - or is he serving his own gods? "I talk to sinners
sometimes, " he says, "but they do not seem to feel much." Then you do
not feel. If your heart be not in it, no wonder you cannot make sinners
fell. Whereas, if you do your duty, with your heart in the work,
sinners cannot help feeling. 16. Those who seek for happiness in
religion, rather than for usefulness, are serving their own gods.

   Their religion is entirely selfish. They want to enjoy religion, and
are all the while inquiring how they can get happy frames of mind, and
how they can be pleasurably excited in religious exercises. And they
will go only to such meetings, and sit only under such preaching, as
will make them happy; never asking the question whether that is the way
to do the most good or not. Now, suppose your servant should do so, and
be constantly contriving how to enjoy himself, and if he thought he
could be most happy in the parlor, stretched on the sofa, with a pillow
of down under his head, and another servant to fan him, refusing to do
the work which you set him about, and which your interest urgently
requires; instead of manifesting a desire to work for you, and a
solicitude for your powers in your service, he wants only to be happy!
It is just so with those professed servants of Jehovah, who want to do
nothing but sit on their handsome cushion, and have their minister feed
them. Instead of seeking how to do good, they are only seeking to be
happy. Their daily prayer is not, like that of the converted Saul of
Tarsus, "Lord what wilt thou have me to do?" but, "Lord, tell me how I
can be happy." Is that the spirit of Jesus Christ? No, He said, "I
delight to do Thy will. O God." Is that the spirit of the apostle Paul?
No, he threw off his upper garments at once, and made his arms bare for
the field of labor. 17. Those who make their own salvation their
supreme object in religion, are serving their own gods.

   There are multitudes in the church, who show by their conduct, and
even avow in their language, that their leading object is to secure
their own salvation, and their grand determination is to get their own
souls planted on the firm battlements of the heavenly Jerusalem, and
walk the golden fields of Canaan above. If the Bible is not in error
all such characters will go to hell. Their religion is pure
selfishness. And "he that will save his life shall lose it, and he that
will lose his life for My sake, shall save it."
