The Oberlin Evangelist

LECTURE XIII.

July 1, 1840

A WILLING MIND INDISPENSABLE TO A RIGHT UNDERSTANDING OF TRUTH

by the Rev. Charles G. Finney

Modernized by Cliff Collins

“If anyone wants to do His will, he shall know concerning the doctrine, whether it is from God or whether I speak on My own authority.” (John 7:17)

In discussing this subject I will show:

I. God’s promises, with their conditions, are a revelation of the great principles of His government.

II. What does a willingness to do the will of God imply?

III. A willing mind is indispensable to a right understanding of the truth of God.

IV. A willing mind will certainly result in a right knowledge of the truth, unless you tempt God by neglecting the ways you obtain knowledge.

I. God’s promises, with their conditions, are a revelation of the great principles of His government.

God is unchangeable. What He does, promises, or says at one time, He would do, promise, or say anytime the circumstances are the same. Everything He says and does, reveals His character. God is impartial. His motives are always reasonable, natural, and relational. He regards all beings and events according to their true character, nature, and relationships. His providence, threats, law, gospel, and promises, reveal many great and unchangeable principles of His government. Because He never changes; because “there is no variation or shadow of turning”, we may confidently rest in the fact that all the promises with their conditions are based on, and are a revelation of, the unalterable principles of His government. God bases His promises and their conditions on the nature and relationships of things. And He always pledges to fulfill the same promises under the same or similar circumstances, and under the same conditions. These are irresistible conclusions from His unchangeableness.

II. What is implied in willing to do His will?

1. Willing to do His will implies complete confidence in His character. We have no right to be willing to do the will of God, unless we have reason to confide in His perfect will. His character consists in the state of His will. Therefore, to be willing that His will should be done, implies an unwavering confidence that His will is perfectly right. It implies the ripe conviction, on our part, that God is omniscient, and He knows what He should will, or what is the best thing for Him to do; and His will is forever and unalterably exactly what it should be.

2. Willing to do His will implies a supreme love for God. If any other being is loved more than He is, we will rather please that being than please God; because who or what we love the most, is really our God. Therefore, willing to do God’s will implies loving Him supremely for His own sake. It implies that we have a supreme desire to please Him.

3. Willing to do His will implies a supreme regard for God’s authority. It is absurd to say that we are willing to do His will, and yet, our regard for His authority is not supreme. It is one thing to desire to do His will, and another thing to be willing to do it. It is common for people to desire what they don’t choose. But to be willing to do God’s will, instead of our will or the will of someone else, certainly implies a supreme regard for His authority.

4. Willing to do His will implies a supreme desire or a will to do or to be completely right or to be completely conformed to God’s will. It implies an intense desire and a will to be right on every subject. It implies our whole being, and all the influences we exert, are completely and perfectly right. We want to be wholly conformed to God’s will in all the relationships we have and maintain, not only with God, but also with the whole Universe. We have an intense desire and a will to do and feel exactly right towards ourselves and all other beings.

5. Willing to do His will implies an intense desire and a will to do our utmost to glorify God; to be used all up for His service; to have every power and every moment, and everything in, about, and belonging to us, devoted to the infinitely important end of glorifying God. It is God’s will that we should be this way; and willing to do His will implies willing to be this way.

6. Willing to do His will also implies an intense desire and disposition to avoid whatever is displeasing to God or contrary to His will. We would rather submit to any sacrifice than displease Him. If a person will not sacrifice his own life, rather than knowingly displease God, he is not, in the sense of this text, willing to do God’s will.

7. Willing to do His will implies an intense desire and disposition to know the truth on all subjects. We will want to know whatever concerns our highest interests and usefulness, and whatever will contribute to the highest perfection of our body and soul, and to our highest usefulness. In short, it implies an intense desire and a willing to know the whole circle of truth about us, our duty, our influences, and the will of God concerning us. If there is one subject, relating to the highest perfection of our bodies or souls, or relating to our highest and best influences and usefulness, that we don’t want God to enlighten us about, or we don’t really desire to be enlightened on that subject, we cannot say that we are willing to do the will of God.

8. Willing to do His will implies that we have no lust or idol to rely on or defend. It implies that we have completely renounced every form of idolatry, cast off the dominion of lust, and are completely devoted to God’s will.

9. Willing to do His will also implies that we renounce our own will, and no will, except God's will, should be done. It implies constantly yielding up our will to Him, and that the abiding state of our minds, and the constant echo of our hearts, is “Your will--Your will--YOUR WILL, O God, be done.”

10. Willing to do His will implies that we no longer promote any selfish interests. That we have renounced every idea or desire of ever establishing any interest of our own, as our goal in life, whether the interest is earthly or heavenly, whether the interest is material or spiritual. Our purpose is “whether we eat or drink, or whatsoever we do”, we will promote “the glory of God.

11. Willing to do His will implies that we no longer have any desire or passion to consult, defend, or pursue our own gratification as our great goal and purpose in life. We never indulge in any appetite or passion simply for the sake indulging in it. Instead, we now belong to God. God created our appetites to serve the highest interests of our existence, God created our appetites to be the servants and not the masters of our souls. Whether we eat or drink, sleep or wake, labor or rest, lie down or rise up, study or pray, or preach, whatever we do, we should do it all from a supreme desire to do the will of God.

12. Willing to do His will also implies that we have no reputation of our own to maintain or defend. Like our Master, we have made no reputation for ourselves. We have wholly renounced our reputation as worthless, unless it is connected with the kingdom of Christ. We have so completely given up our good name to Him, that we are willing to have anything, that does not promote the ultimate glory of God, cast out as evil.

13. Willing to do His will implies that we no longer indulge in any prejudice that blinds our minds, or hardens our hearts, and prevents us from knowing and doing the will of God. Prejudice is a state in which we make up our mind and commit ourselves, before we have all the facts. To condemn an author before we have patiently and candidly examined and studied all of his views is a very common and damaging form of prejudice. To condemn a person or an opinion without listening openly and honestly to the whole matter is another ugly form of prejudice. Willing to do the will of God implies giving up all prejudice on every subject, and candidly throwing our mind open to conviction, light, and truth, to follow the will of God in whatever direction it shall lead us.

14. It implies that our love of the truth and of God has swallowed up everything else. It is now the ruling principle of our whole being. It is our meat, our drink, and our life, to do the whole will of God; that a knowledge of His will has, with our minds, the power of omnipotence to sway our minds and carry us wherever we need to go to obey it.

15. It also implies an honest and earnest disposition in us, to be acquainted with all our wrong opinions and practices. We are willing to allow God to search us with the utmost scrutiny; yes, with the scrutiny of omniscience itself. And we feel the utmost gratitude to the one who will point out to us anything that will help us be more perfectly conformed to the will of God.

16. Finally, it implies the greatest abhorrence in us, of whatever shall give over to Satan any part of our influence, time, talents, property, or anything whatever, that should in any way thwart the will of God.

III. Willing to do God’s will is indispensable to a right understanding of the truth of God.

1. Willing to do God’s will is essential if we want to honestly and diligently seek the truth. No one will honestly seek after truth, until he is in an honest state of mind; and that person will not inquire diligently and perseveringly until he possess an intense desire and will to know and obey the truth. To believe the opposite of this is clearly absurd.

2. We must be in this state of mind to properly appreciate the value and force of the evidence. If a person is not righteous on any subject, he certainly won’t welcome the evidence on that subject.

3. Willing to do God’s will is essential for our heart to embrace the truth when our mind becomes aware of it. We don’t have to already know the truth in order to have a desire to obey it. Our mind may be in love with truth for its own sake. In this state, we love all truth on all subjects. We go forth with earnest longings searching for truth, and whenever and wherever we find it, we receive and obey it joyfully. But, unless our heart is in love with truth, we are not honest searching for it, nor are we ready to embrace it when we understand it.

4. It is impossible for our mind to receive the whole truth if our heart does not desire to do God’s will. You might perceive a few shreds of truth and learn many things about it while your heart is unsubdued; but your unwilling mind can never understand the whole truth in all its bearings, relations, tendencies, and results.

IV. Willing to do God’s will certainly results in a right knowledge of the truth, unless you tempt God by rejecting the ways of obtaining knowledge.

1. Tempting God may defeat the fulfillment of any promise whenever we become involved in its fulfillment. In the 27^th Chapter of Acts, we have an account of Paul’s shipwreck. Here God clearly promised, through Paul, “that there would be no loss of any man’s life among them, but only the ship”. But, when the sailors were about to abandon the ship, Paul told them that if the sailors did not remain on board, God could not save their lives. The promise was without any condition expressed; yet, it implied that they should use the best means in their possession to preserve their lives. Therefore, if the sailors tried to abandon the ship, they would tempt God; in which case, in spite of God’s promise, they would be lost. Please understand that whenever we don’t comply with the conditions of a promise, we tempt God, and it is useless to expect God to fulfill that promise.

2. We tempt God, when we expect Him to violate the principles of His own government, as revealed in His works, providence, and word. For example, if we neglect to use the means to accomplish any goal, and expect God to accomplish it miraculously, this is tempting God.

Again, being less honest, or less industrious and persevering than we should be, in search of truth, is tempting God, and we can expect that we will remain in ignorance as a result.

Again, not praying for divine teaching tempts God.

“If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally and without reproach, and it will be given to him”. (James 1:5)

“Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it.” (Psalm 81:10)

“My son, if you receive my words, and treasure my commands within you, so that you incline your ear to wisdom, and apply your heart to understanding; yes, if you cry out for discernment, and lift up your voice for understanding, if you seek her as silver, and search for her as for hidden treasures; then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God. For the Lord gives wisdom; from His mouth come knowledge and understanding; He stores up sound wisdom for the upright; He is a shield to those who walk uprightly; He guards the paths of justice, and preserves the way of His saints. Then you will understand righteousness and justice, equity and every good path.” (Proverbs 2:1-9)

Here the conditions are:

(1.) You must be willing to receive and treasure God’s words as extremely important.

(2.) You must be willing to incline your ear and apply your heart.

(3.) You must be willing to cry after knowledge and lift up your voice for understanding.

(4.) Your desire must be so intense that you seek after wisdom as if it were as precious as silver, and search after her as if she were a hidden treasure.

To these conditions, the Bible adds, “then you will understand the fear of the Lord, and find the knowledge of God”. (V.5) Therefore to neglect any of these means and then expect to know whether any doctrine is from God or not, is to tempt your Maker. (See John 7:17)

3. If we fulfill the condition, we can expect that God will fulfill the promise, and we will surely have whatever truth we need to know and as fast as we need to know it.

4. We are required to feel this assurance. We are under just as much obligation to feel the inward assurance of this, as we are to feel that God will not lie. If we are aware that we fulfill the conditions, we have no right to doubt. If we are aware that we do not fulfill the conditions, we have no right to expect a right knowledge of the truth.

5. God will teach us as fast as He safely can. “For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.” (Psalm 103:14) God knows how easily we become confused and stressed when we are taught too much at once. It is a well-known truth that where children are taught too early and too fast, there is a great danger of derangement, emotional stress, or impaired health. The same is true with us, if we are His children and are anxious to be taught as fast as we are able to learn, God will teach us. Jesus said to His disciples, “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now”. (John 16:12) They were not advanced enough in religious knowledge. The amount of influence from the Holy Spirit and providence was not enough to prepare them to receive many of the wonderful truths that He wanted to teach them.

6. If we are anxious to do God’s will in everything, using the proper means, we can expect Him to teach us on all subjects that relate to our highest perfection and usefulness. We can expect Him to direct us concerning our health, the right management of our body, how to restrain our appetites and tendencies, and how to keep our bodies under control and cause it to serve the highest interests of our soul. In short, we can confidently expect God to teach us all we need to know concerning the diligent and honest use of means on any subject.

REMARKS.

1. We cannot trust the opinions of a person under the dominion of his appetites and tendencies. He is dishonest and unwilling to know the truth about the self-denying gospel of Jesus Christ.

2. We should not trust that person’s opinions concerning temperance and the true principles of physiological reform for the same reason.

3. The opinions of worldly-minded people are not worthy of credit concerning the application of God’s will to the business transactions of this world. Because they are worldly-minded, they can’t honestly apply God’s will in their daily work ethic.

4. Very few people have so renounced themselves that they are willing to know the whole truth concerning all branches of reform.

5. Very few have so renounced their appetites that they are willing to know and obey the truth concerning physical reforms.

6. Very few have so renounced self-interest that they are willing to know and obey the truth about sanctification.

7. He who has renounced himself will search for light, and greet and embrace every subject with great joy. He will find his soul panting after light with unutterable longings.

8. Whoever is willing to do the will of God, will keep hard on the heels of truth, and practice it as fast as he can learn. Truth on any subject is his law. As soon as he sees, he obeys. His practice and his theory are one.

9. Many mistake the absence of a felt resistance for a willingness to do the will of God.

10. There must be a felt willingness, a longing in the soul to know the whole truth. Otherwise, there is no proper willingness to do God’s will.

11. Don’t expect God to teach us all the truth at once. When Solomon prayed for wisdom and God informed him that He had given him His desire, don’t think that he felt this huge burst of wisdom. But Solomon received this wisdom when he needed it. Soon after the assurance that God granted his request, two women came to him arguing over a child. At that time, God imparted the wisdom that was necessary to decide the matter. The same is true in our own lives. If we are obedient to the truth, we should rest and feel assured that when we have a need for God to faithfully provide us with wisdom, He will surely instruct us.

12. From this subject it is easy to see that the arguments of infidels against the Christian religion are worthless. If they were really pious and holy men, and they showed some evidence of being willing to know and do the will of God, they would know of the doctrine whether it is of God.

13. The same remark applies to Universalists. Who can place any confidence in what they say about the gospel of Christ? Who does not know that, as a body, they are ungodly and unholy men?

14. God often teaches us in ways that greatly agonizes and astonishes us at the same time.

15. When we pray for divine teaching, we should be perfectly willing to let God teach us in His own way, no matter what the cost may be. Otherwise, we tempt the Spirit of the Lord.

Now, beloved, are you in a willing state of mind and are you willing to know and do the whole will of God concerning your whole being? Are you willing to know the whole truth and do your whole duty, whatever it may cost, on all the great subjects of reform that are before the public? Are you anxious to look through, to understand, to know, and obey the whole truth of entire sanctification, abolition, temperance, and moral reform? A person is very ill informed who does not see, that just as we are made up of body, soul, and spirit, physiological and physical reform are indispensable to permanent moral reform.

If a person is in a dishonest state of mind on any one subject, he will not know and thoroughly do his duty on any subject. He is in a state of mind that forbids any reasonable expectation that he will. Beware then dearly beloved, I beg you, don’t commit yourself to the wrong side of any question. I have greatly feared and I may truly say that I have been troubled lest multitudes should do the same thing on the subject of entire sanctification that others have done on subjects of temperance and moral reform. They so committed themselves against the truth that they will never know that the doctrine is of God.

Now let me, as I have often done, ask you to fall down on your knees and lay your whole heart open before the Lord. Beg Him to search you and try your reins and your heart, and see whether you are willing to conform your entire being to His will; to do, to say, to be nothing more or less than what is for His glory. May the Lord give us grace to know and do His whole will.