April 10, 1839
Lecture VIII.
TRUE AND FALSE PEACE
by the Rev. Charles G.
Finney
Modernized by Cliff
Collins
“Great peace have those
who love Your law, and nothing causes them to stumble.” (Psalm 119:165)
In
this lecture, I plan to show,
I.
What the word “law” means in this passage.
II.
What it means to love the law of God.
III.
That the natural result of this love is great, and constant peace of mind.
IV.
That nothing will offend those who love the law of God.
V.
There is a delusion on this subject that is very common among professing
Christians.
I.
What does the word “law” mean in today’s passage?
Law
is the revealed will of the Lawgiver.
The revealed will of God is His law, no matter how that revelation is
made. That revelation can come from the
Bible; it can come through God’s providence, or even by the Spirit of God. This is the extended and most proper sense
of the word “law” as it is used in this Psalm.
It is often used this way throughout the Bible.
In
a more restricted sense, all the commandments of God must be considered as His
law. In a more limited sense, the Ten
Commandments are his law. These
commandments are further condensed into the two precepts, “You shall love the
Lord your God with all your heart, and your neighbor as yourself.”
But
God’s will, His whole will, is His law.
Whenever His will is revealed in any way whatever, it becomes binding on
us. So that when we are informed, by
His word, or providence, that anything agrees with His Divine will, that should
settle any doubts in us, and we should sweetly consent to it.
II.
What does it mean to love the law of God?
It
is an unbiased, an impartial preference of God’s will. To love the law of God is preferring, with
all our heart, that God’s will, whatever it is, should be done simply because
His will is holy, wise, and good. It is
not turning something that needs to be done into a virtuous deed and yielding
by constraint simply because resistance isn’t going to do any good. Instead, it is our mind’s supreme choice
that God’s will shall be done on earth, as it is in heaven. Loving the law of God is a sweet, and
complete contentment in the will of God, no matter how He may reveal His will. It is that state where our mind continually
cries, and echoes, and re-echoes, “Your
will be done, on earth, as it is done in heaven”! It is a supreme, and sweet delight in whatever is God’s will
simply because it is His will. It is
not forcing our mind to submit when it is prostrated, and our will has been
broken down in total agony. But this
love is a sweet and heavenly rest in the God’s will. It is a spontaneous gushing forth of our heart, that meets, and responds,
“Amen”, to the will of the blessed God.
III.
The natural result of this love is great and constant peace of mind.
By
peace, I don’t mean indifference, or that quiet that comes to our mind when we
divert our attention away from whatever is agonizing it.
Peace
is opposed to war. A war of our mind is
a state of mutiny, where our heart and conscience, and perhaps other powers of
our mind, are in conflict with each other.
Our heart chooses what our conscience condemns; and our conscience
demands what our heart refuses to give.
And our emotions, in such situations, may be thrown into a state of
great excitement, and agitation, filling our mind with agony and every hateful
passion.
Now
peace is the opposite of this state of mind.
Peace is not the mere absence of agony and inward mutiny; but peace is a
delightful and sweet harmony in the exercise of all the powers of our
mind. Our will and our conscience come
into harmony. Our heart sweetly
chooses, and delightfully rests, in whatever agrees with the decisions of our
conscience; our conscience sweetly smiles approval on the decisions of our
will; and our emotions flow like a gentle streamlet, in delightful harmony with
both our conscience and our heart.
This
is far from simply being a negative, or a quiet state of mind, which many often
mistake for peace. It is a positive,
active, and heavenly state of mind. The
soul is watchful and tranquil, like the deep, pure, calm ocean; clear,
composed, and heavenly. It is a state
of mind far better understood, by experience, than described in words. It is “the peace of God, that surpasses all
understanding”. (Phil 4:7) Those who love God’s law have this peace.
To
show this, let me say that in this state of mind, a person can certainly know
if there is any resistance to whatever they discover to be the will of
God. Whatever desires they may have, or
prayers they may make concerning any particular event, as soon as they are led
to understand the will of God concerning that event, they joyfully
consent. We have an illustration of
this in the life of David, who grievously mourned when his child was sick. He “pleaded with God for the child, and
David fasted and went in and lay all night on the ground”; for he said, “Who
can tell whether the Lord will be gracious to me, that the child may
live”? But as soon as he was told that
the child was dead, he knew the will of God. “So David arose from the ground, washed and anointed himself, and
changed his clothes; and he went into the house of the Lord and worshiped. Then he went to his own house; and when he
requested, they set food before him, and he ate.” (2 Samuel 12:13-23)
This
peace will be a great peace; in other words, this peace will extend to every
providence, and to the whole will of God.
How can it be anything else, if that person’s heart is in such a state,
than to have a supreme preference for His will? What can occur in such a state of mind that would break, or disturb,
his deep rest in God?
IV.
Nothing will offend or stumble those who love the law of God.
You
will notice, that in the margin of our passage today, it is written that they
shall have no stumbling block; in other words, they shall so rest in the will
of God, that they won’t stumble and fall into rebellion because of anything
revealed in the Bible, or, because of any providence of God.
This
does not mean that people in this state of mind can’t know such things as
sorrow or distress. Various things may
occur to disturb their emotions, but their heart, or will, remains as undisturbed
as the great deep of the ocean. We have
an illustration of this in the great agony of Christ in the garden. His conflict was so severe, and the
excitement of His emotions was so great, that “He sweat great drops of
blood”. And yet, it was clear that His
heart, or will, was firmly settled to do the will of God. His will was as unmoved as the everlasting
mountains. His will was not disturbed
or shaken. And, in this respect, His
peace was undisturbed. Even though He
cried out in the most severe anguish possible, “If it is possible, let this cup
pass from Me”, the deep steadfastness of His heart in the will of God, concluded
every time, “Father, not as I will, but as You will”. (Matt 26:39) Here was a
great desire for a certain blessing, but His will most steadfastly clung to the
will of God.
Now,
when I said that the peace mentioned in our scripture includes the harmonious
action of all the powers of our mind, I certainly did not mean that our
emotions, which are involuntary states of mind, are always at rest, or
composed. Our emotions generally do
agree with the state of our will. But
sometimes circumstances occur, as in Christ’s situation that I just mentioned,
when our emotions or desires are greatly excited, while our will remains
unshaken. This is not really disturbing
our peace of mind. These emotions are
accidental, or perhaps more properly, providential fluctuations of the involuntary
powers of our mind. And our emotions
can be very joyful without any true peace, since they often come in fits of
laughter and enjoyment.
On
the other hand, we can have very painful and agonizing emotions, without
breaking up, or affecting the deep rest of our will, as was the situation with
Christ when He was in the garden. When
our will is resting in the will of God, our emotions will sweetly yield and
consent, unless our will is experiencing strong temptations and trials, as in
the situations of Christ and David that I just mentioned. But in such situations, a Christian’s
sorrows may be stirred, and yet their peace, properly speaking, remains unbroken. Therefore, a Christian who loves the law of
God, may be full of emotion with great compassion for sinners, with deep
travail of soul for Zion, with distress and indignation at sin, and in many
ways the surface of our soul may be in turmoil, while, like the ocean, its deep
fountains are unmoved.
Our
passage says, “Great peace have those who love Your law, and nothing causes
them to stumble”. Nothing can occur
that can throw them into a state of discontent, or make them complain against
God. They shall not be disappointed in
anything. Dr. Payson could say, “He had
not known what disappointment was, since he had given up his own will.”
To
love God’s law is to have our will submerged in His will. To love God’s law is to have no will of our
own separate from His will; but to will with all our heart, that His will
should be done. Now this state of mind
makes a state of discontent, resistance, complaining, or disappointment at the
revealed will of God impossible.
Nothing can occur, which is not according to the will of God. In other words, God has either actively
brought it about by His own agency, or seen it wise not to prevent it from
being accomplished by the agency of others.
Therefore, whatever is “according to the counsel of his own will”; God
prefers it to be just as it is, rather than alter His providential and moral government
in order to bring about a different result.
Every Christian, who can be truly said to love the law of God; who is
enlightened enough to know this, will find, as a matter of fact, that nothing
shall offend him or cause him to stumble.
V.
There is a delusion on this subject that is very common among professing Christians.
This
delusion consists in obtaining a false peace, from time to time, by a natural
mental process, which they don’t seem to understand. As long as we remain unrepentant, our heart is selfish, and our
conscience and our heart are opposed to each other. Instead of our heart and conscience being in harmony, and thus
creating a great calm and peace in our mind, there is often a great conflict. Our conscience sternly demands and insists on
sacrifices that our heart is unwilling to make. It is often true that our conscience continues to distress our
mind, and presses our will with its claims, until, for some purely selfish
consideration, our heart will yield one point after another, and thus provide
some temporary relief to our mind. For
example, let us suppose that our conscience scolds us for indulging in any
particular form of sin. This throws our
mind into distress, and in its agony, it looks around for relief. Suppose the sin is intemperance. It is easy to see, that our mind, in
thinking about the subject, may see many reasons for yielding to our conscience
and giving up intemperance, and it may yield, and we may really abandon
intemperance. However, it is abandoned
for some other consideration than the love of God’s will, and the hatred of
sin, as sin. Now if our will yields to
our conscience for any other reason, although true peace does not follow, a
natural reaction does takes place in our mind which is often mistaken for true peace. Thus, when anything is proposed and pressed
on our heart, which it resolutely resists, the tendency is to throw us into
agony. But if we yield to that point,
there is naturally induced a quiet state of mind, and sometimes this state of
mind can become quite joyful, which, although common, does not seem to be generally
understood.
Let
me give you an example that perhaps some of you have experienced. Let’s say that a proposal of marriage has
been made to a woman, which, for many reasons, is honorable and advantageous;
but her heart is strongly opposed to it, either because of a lack of interest
in the person, or because of a pre-existing attachment. Now if the proposal is pressed by the person
himself, and by her friends, giving reasons to encourage her to consent, she is
thrown into turmoil. She can neither
eat nor sleep; and in her frustration looks she around for relief until she is
overcome by arguments, persuasions, flatteries, and appeals to her
ambition. She finally consents. Now her will is carried, but not for the
right reasons. Her conflict ceases, and
a natural reaction of her mind takes place.
A calm follows that borders on sweetness and affection for her admirer,
and complacency in the proposal. But he
still isn’t the object of her choice.
It is not true love for him, but other considerations have influenced
her will. Now as soon as they are
united, and his will comes to rule her action, she will discover her error, and
find that her submission was forced.
Because she does not truly love her husband, it is impossible for her to
be at peace. At every turn, she will
find her will opposing his will. After
a long and agonizing struggle, either her conscience, or a regard for her
reputation, or some other similar reason will force her to submit from time to
time.
Now
the conduct and character of many convicted sinners who obtain a false hope is
exactly like this. This is also true
about many deceived professing Christians.
Enlightened by the Holy Spirit, their conscience gives them no
rest. Their distress increases until it
produces a forced submission. The fear
of punishment, the hope of pardon, a desire for peace, the consolations of the
gospel, and many other selfish inducements, may come in to influence their
will, until there is a forced submission at some point where they are
particularly pressed. Perhaps they are
resisting the duty of family prayer.
Perhaps they are resisting confessing some sin, making restitution,
taking an anxious seat, attending a meeting of inquiry, or pouring out their
soul to a minister, or something like this.
Now when inducements are held out urging them to yield this point,
instead of the character of God being so presented that it makes the mind fall
in love with Him, endless selfish considerations may cause them to yield, even
though they have no knowledge of God, and no love for Him. They may yield in one or more areas even
when they are as far as possible from true repentance, true faith, or love to
God or their neighbors. Their
consciences force their will into such a desperate situation, that they yield
their consciences because of selfish considerations. They haven’t changed their attitude towards God at all. They have only substituted one form of
selfishness for another form of selfishness.
When they are driven to desperate measures, and they look all around for
peace, they take sanctuary by yielding to their selfish motives.
Now it often occurs, that when a sinner sits in his seat, and a call
is made for people seeking salvation to come forward and sit in the anxious
seat, as soon as the sinner makes up his mind to go, from whatever motive, his
distress leaves him. He felt a
desperate struggle until he made a decision concerning going forward to commit
his life to the Lord. However, as soon
as he makes that decision to go, even though it was the anxious seat and not
God or Christ that was in all his thoughts, perhaps he quickly started to calm
down. He felt as if a mountain of
weight had just rolled off his soul.
Now it is very natural for him to mistake this calm, which is the
legitimate result of his reactions to the call for salvation, for the peace of
God. He has yielded to the point that
produced such a great a struggle.
Others have gone to the anxious seat, and have obtained the hope of
salvation. He knows he was kept back by
pride. His conscience, reason, and a
thousand inducements surrounded him and encouraged him to go. Perhaps he might be blessed. Now as long as the pride of his heart
resists, there will naturally be a tremendous struggle; and whatever inducements
cause him to yield, produces calm; and that calm is often fatally mistaken for
true peace. Please understand, that
this natural reaction can be sudden and great.
It will probably be in proportion to the greatness of the distress that
had preceded it. His reaction may go
much further than just calm, and the absence of distress. Joy may, and will naturally manifest itself,
which, when mistaken for true religion, will encourage hope; and hope encouraged
by the mind, will increase joy. This
increased joy will strengthen hope.
This strengthened hope will strengthen joy, and so on until the deluded
soul persuades himself that he is filled with the love of God.
A
clear distinction exists between this state of mind and the peace experienced
by those who love the law of God.
Instead of enforcing submission to perform some particular duty, the
mind apprehends and loves the character of God. The will does not yield to the biddings of conscience or the
force of circumstances or any selfish considerations. But the mind, being diverted from all selfishness, looks away to
God, and to Christ, and sweetly yields to and rests in His will.
Now,
here is where the difference between these two states of mind will be
apparent. The deluded sinner, not
having his will merged in the will of God, will soon find that what he calls
his peace is continually broken.
Instead of finding that he doesn’t stumble or become offended with God’s
providences, he finds that he is constantly stumbling. His mind becomes tossed at every providence
and every commandment of God that crosses his path. The will of God is not the law of his existence. In fact, he is so far from obeying the law
of God that he often finds himself in such a state of mind, that his conscience
must enforce its claims on his heart, and sometimes a severe conflict, compels
him to yield to one form of sin after another.
Thus he submits, and yields on one point today because of selfish
reasons, and tomorrow there is some new call to duty, some demand for
self-denial, or something else that brings him up to a stand of strong
resistance, and throws him into great confusion. Perhaps, after a severe struggle, his mind will yield, and
retreat to some refuge, prepared to resist the next demand on its selfishness.
Now
right over against this, is that state of mind that constitutes true
peace. True peace is the result of
one’s heart having yielded to God, that is, in the person loving God with all
his heart and preferring God’s will to anything else. Instead of becoming upset, and stumbling, and being thrown into
agony, disappointment, and discontent by every call for self-sacrifice and
duty, all these calls become joyful occasions on which his heart can gratify
its love, and in which it feels the sweetest and most profound
satisfaction. As he turns over the
pages of the Bible in his heart, as his heart listens to sermons, as Divine
providence points out new paths of duty, and calls for fresh self denial;
instead of being thrown into agony by these demands, his heart is delighted
with these opportunities to manifest its love.
His heart finds that his rest is deepened, and his joy is heightened and
made more exquisite by how much more frequently these demands are made.
Now
perhaps I am describing the experience of some of you. How do you respond when your duty is pointed
out to you? Do you find that the
pressure of your obligation disturbs your peace? Does your conscience, the law, and the Spirit of God point out
your duty, and does your heart hold back?
Then, it is your stumbling block and your rock of offense. And, if you find it impossible to divert
your mind, do you take shelter in the outward performance of your duty, and
consent to perform your duty without any love to God? A calm follows, which you mistake for true peace. You rest in your delusion for a while, only
to be called, perhaps even tomorrow, to a new conflict between your conscience
and the will of God.
Now
rest assured, if this describes you, and if this your experience, “you are
poisoned by bitterness and bound by iniquity”.
(Acts 8:23) I have seen many
people, who appeared very happy in religion as long as no sacrifice was called
for and no demand was made on their selfishness. But attack their lusts, call on them for self denial, ask for
money for benevolent causes, point at some of their intemperate practices in
eating and drinking, reprove some favorite indulgence, and instantly you have destroyed
all their religion. Their peace is all
gone. Their conscience and their will
are outraged, and mutiny and war immediately follow.
Now
let me place the experience of a Christian beside this picture. In the Christian, as far as he is a
Christian, selfishness is subdued and his conscience and heart are in
harmony. In such a situation, the job
of conscience is not to force the heart, for the heart does not need
forcing. Conscience is that power of
the mind, that points out the moral qualities of actions, and enables the mind
to distinguish between what is right, and what is wrong. Now the Christian heart is in love with what
is right, that is with the will of God, whenever it discovers what it is. Therefore, the heart readily, spontaneously,
and joyfully obeys the dictates of conscience.
In this situation, his peace of mind is unbroken, and he is joyfully
compliant in the whole will of God. Let
there be new calls to duty, new opportunities for self-denial, new demands on
life, health, and strength to promote God’s glory. No mutiny results, instead there is peace and a joyful yielding. A supreme and delightful preference of the
will of God reigns throughout his soul.
REMARKS
1.
Selfish professing Christians cannot understand religion. They continually make conscious and selfish
resolutions that take the place of love.
They don’t distinguish between being influenced in their conduct by
selfish resolutions and purposes, and by the reproaches of their own conscience
and that love that produces a joyful compliance in the whole will of God.
2.
Many people are spending their time putting a conscientious restraint on their
selfishness, instead of giving it up.
They are like children, building dams of sand that are instantly driven
away when the water rises. They see
their pride rising, their temper ruffled, and their worldly-mindedness and sin
under many forms. They occupy their
time trying to put them down. They
resolve and re-resolve, they vow and break their vows, they plan and fail to
fulfill, and for the best of all reasons: their heart does not love God and
selfishness is too strong for their conscience; and sin will break down their
dams of sand.
However,
here you may ask, “Should we have no regard for our conscience in our daily
walk and conversation? I answer, “Yes,
we should”. No man can walk with God
unless he “keeps a conscience without offence towards God and man”. (Acts 24:16) But notice, there is no virtue, no real holiness, except when the
heart loves what the conscience pronounces to be right. To comply with conscience from any other
motive than love is not religion. Some
even say that Saul of Tarsus, “lived in all good conscience before God”; but
his conformity to the dictates of conscience was legal; that is, he was influenced
by legal or self-righteous considerations, and not by love.
3.
In my message today, you can see the true difference between professing
Christianity under the law, and a Christian who has entered into the rest of
the gospel.
4.
From what observation I have been able to make, I am afraid that only a comparatively
few in the visible church are converted to God. It is a matter of fact, they don’t have the peace that is clearly
promised in our passage, like those people have, who love the law of God. Indeed, I should not say that this peace is
promised, it is clearly declared to be the state that those who love the law of
God are currently in: “Great peace have those who love Your law.”
Now,
do you have this peace? Does your
church have this peace? As God is true,
only those who have this peace actually love the law of God.
5.
Much of the instruction given to anxious sinners and professing Christians
today, is only designed to give and encourage a false peace. When they are convicted and anxious, instead
of spreading out before them the objects of faith and love to engage their attention
and win their affections, they are pointed to some form of sin and are
requested to give up that sin, and to resolve to never commit it again. And then they are pointed to another problem
to focus on, and then another problem, leading them, perhaps by various selfish
considerations, to yield to some point, or points, where they have a
conflict. This induces, as I have
already shown, a false peace, while there is not one particle of the right knowledge,
or of the love of God.
It
appears to me to be impossible that true religion and true submission can be
produced in one’s mind, without drawing one’s attention to the character of God
and of Christ, as they are presented in the Bible. Those great and commanding objects of love, and of faith, must be
presented and embraced: and there must be a yielding up of selfishness through
the power of truth and the Holy Ghost, or there is no true religion in the
soul. But if selfishness is subdued,
you will not witness the constant conflicts that are so common when professing
Christians are urged to do their duty.
6.
And now, I must conclude, by pressing home on you the serious question, are you
a Christian? Do you love the law of
God? Is the will of God your rule of
action? Or, do you merely acknowledge
that it should be your rule of action, while, in fact, you don’t make it your
rule of action?
Have
you so renounced your own will, that you find yourself undisturbed, peaceful,
and joyous, when anything turns out, in the providence of God, that is
different from what you had hoped and expected?
Whenever
a sin is pointed out to you, or any duty to perform, do you find that it
distresses you to sacrifice that sin, or to perform that duty? Do you yield by constraint, or willingly and
joyfully?
Beloved
souls, don’t be deceived. To love the
law of God is to love the will of God.
It is to prefer His will to your own will. Now do you, in fact, find your mind to be in this state? Or is it true of you, that instead of
yielding your own will to the will of God, without debate or distress, you only
yield after a severe conflict, and only after you are compelled by conscience,
rather than sweetly constrained by love?
Now,
notice what today’s passage says.
Today’s passage does not say that they may have, should have, or shall
have great peace, that love the law of God; but that they actually DO HAVE
great peace.
It
is a matter of fact that this is the natural result of yielding one’s will to
the will of God. In fact, I should say
that this peace consists in your yielding to the will of God, and preferring
His will to your own.
Now
your own consciousness must teach you with absolute certainty, whether you are
in this state of mind.
Will
you be honest before God?
Will
you decide this question, as if you were standing before God at His solemn
judgment right now?
I
pray that you settle these solemn questions before you leave this room; and
remember, that your salvation or damnation, is suspended on these questions
being decided according to truth