THE EXPULSIVE POWER OF A NEW AFFECTION

How Lovers of the World Become Lovers of God

Church Day Speech 2006

The topic I have chosen for this occasion may seem a bit puzzling to you. The Expulsive Power of a New Affection. What's that all about, you will say? Let me say first that this strange-sounding title is not original with me. I borrowed it from a sermon preached many years ago by a Scottish minister, named Thomas Chalmers on 1 John 2:15.

Thomas Chalmers was born in 1780 and it soon became evident that he was an exceptionally gifted child. At the age of twelve he entered St. Andrews University, where he studied theology and science, especially mathematics. At the age of nineteen he was ordained into the ministry. But being as yet a stranger to God and His grace, his preaching was moralistic and lacking in biblical content. In 1809 he became seriously ill. Realizing that he was not ready to meet his Maker, he began to read the Bible and Puritan literature, which he had previously avoided.

 When he resumed his ministry, his preaching struck an entirely new note. Salvation by the sovereign grace of God alone became the dominant theme of his message. As a result, his congregation experienced a time of revival. Chalmer's fame spread throughout Scotland and eventually throughout the English-speaking world, not only because of his powerful preaching but also or, as some would say, especially because of his work among the poor and underprivileged in society. He also had a great zeal for local evangelism and foreign missions.

 In 1843 Chalmers joined the Secession from the National Presbyterian Church to organize the Free Church of Scotland and was chosen as the Moderator of that new denomination's first General Assembly. Shortly afterwards, he was appointed Professor of Divinity at the Free Church College in Edinburgh and also its first Principal. Among his many students were Andrew Bonar, William Cunningham and Robert Murray M'Cheyne.

Chalmer's Sermon

Chalmer's influence was enormous, not only as a churchman but also as a Christian philosopher, social reformer and scientist. He wrote and lectured extensively on political, economic educational and a host of other subjects. He was as famous in Scotland as Abraham Kuyper later became in The Netherlands. He died in 1849 and was mourned by the entire nation.

 Now back to his sermon with that unlikely title, The Expulsive Power of a New Affection. This title is the theme of a sermon on 1 John 2:15, where the apostle says: "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him."

 With these solemn words John warns his fellow Christians against the sin of backsliding. Backsliding takes many forms, but here the apostle characterizes it as love of the world. The people addressed are professing Christians; they are living the Christian life. John urges them to continue to do so and to pursue holiness. They must resist the allurements of the world and follow the Lord fully. "Love not the world, neither the things of the world," is his exhortation and warning. The word "world" here does not refer to the world as created by God, the world of nature, but to sinful humanity, fallen in Adam, held in the grip of sin, enslaved by Satan, and living in rebellion against God and His Son, Jesus Christ.

Affection for the World

It is this world that John says we must not love, meaning that we should not participate in its sinful practices, adopt its fashions and pursue its pleasures.    To ignore this warning exposes us to a great risk, namely that the faith we profess will in the end prove to be a sham. Why? Because loving the world is incompatible with love for God. If you love the world, John says, you cannot love the Father. The world and God are so completely opposite to one another that it is impossible to love them both at the same time.

Warnings like these must be taken seriously. We need to understand the implications and consequences of loving the world. Yet warnings alone cannot persuade sinners to give up his love for the world and motivate them to love God.

According to Chalmers, there are basically two ways in which we can try to persuade get sinners to transfer their love and affection from the world to God.

1.      By proving to them that the world and its pleasures are empty and fleeting and therefore not worthy of our love.

2.      By recommending God as the true and only object deserving of our love.            

The first approach, Chalmers says, does not work, because the world and the things of the world are the only realities for the natural man, which he will not exchange for God and the things of God because the latter are abstract ideas for him. "The natural man," says Paul, "receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."It is only when the Holy Spirit opens his blind eyes that the sinner begins to see the difference between what the world offers and the things that are freely given to us of God(1 Cor. 2:12,14).

 Until that miracle takes place, the sinner will resist any and all attempts to take from him the things he loves because he thinks that giving them up will leave him with nothing of value. Therefore, to get sinners to give up the world takes more than reasoning with them or warning them about the consequences. Certainly, we must warn unbelievers to flee from the wrath to come and point out the foolishness of pursuing the pleasures and treasures of the world. But this will fall on deaf ears and strike blind eyes unless and until the Lord opens those ears and eyes.

Preaching

Chalmers suggests a more excellent and effective way. It is the way of preaching the all-prevailing and all-conquering love of God in Jesus Christ for sinners whose love for the world, if not forsaken, will bring them eternal ruin.

The love of God, and the love of the world, are two fundamentally different affections. They are not only in competition with each other, but they hate each other, so that they cannot live together in the same heart. It is impossible for the heart, by its own volition and inclination, to give up the world, because doing so will create a vacuum that will leave that heart miserable and unfulfilled. Therefore, the old affection can only be driven out of man's heart by the expulsive power of a new one. The Gospel kindles this new affection in the sinner's heart when it is faithfully proclaimed by its ministers and effectually applied by the Holy Spirit.

When is the Gospel faithfully proclaimed? The litmus test for Chalmers is that God is to be presented as reconciling the world unto Himself through the sacrifice of His Son. The object of preaching, he says, is to set forth God in such a way that the sinner who loves the world will see Him as the One who so loved the world that "He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes on Him should not perish but have eternal life." The God against whom we have sinned and whose wrath we deserve is the same God who provided a Saviour who paid the price for sin. True Gospel preaching, says Chalmers, is to present the love of God in Christ in such a way that it will drive out the love of the world that is enthroned upon the sinner's heart.

Limited Atonement

At this point I suspect some of you will say, wait a minute; you cannot just tell sinners that God loves them. That is misleading; that is Arminian. These "free willers" are always talking about God loving everybody and Christ dying for everybody. We Reformed people believe in a limited atonement. Christ died only for His elect whom He loved from eternity. Therefore our message to sinners must be that they are dead in trespasses and sins, they are exposed to the wrath of God, and therefore must flee from that wrath and repent and beg for mercy. That's the Reformed way, that's the biblical way.

But is it? For the most part, yes. But is there not more that may be said and must be said? Sure, we must call sinners to repent and believe too. Let's not forget that. Jesus said repent and believe the Gospel. But what does it mean to repent and what are we to believe and in whom?

Westminster Shorter Catechism

I like the way the WSC defines repentance, namely as "a saving grace, whereby a sinner, out of a true sense of his sin, and apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ, doth with grief and hatred of his sin, turns from it unto God, with full purpose of and endeavour after, new obedience." The key phrase here is "apprehension of the mercy of God in Christ." The word "apprehension" in modern English means fear, nervousness or foreboding. But in the 17th century it meant understanding, grasping or laying hold of something.

In this case, a repentant sinner by the illumination of the Holy Spirit begins to understand the great Gospel truth that God in Christ is merciful. He is not only holy, just and righteous, demanding punishment, but also merciful and gracious because of what He in Christ has done for the salvation of sinners. The sinner apprehends that glorious truth and lays hold of it. We can also say he appropriates that truth.

Ralph Erskine

In a sermon on Ezekiel 16:62-63 Ralph Erskine says that true repentance begins the moment a sinner believes the Gospel. And what is the Gospel? That God is reconciled to enemies by the atoning sacrifice of His Son. In that passage from Ezekiel God says to sinful Judah: "I will establish my covenant with thee; and thou shalt remember, and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more because of thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord God." The word pacified means being reconciled based on an atoning sacrifice. So what God is saying in essence is this: I am reconciled to you because of the atoning blood of Christ. God can have gracious dealings with sinners because of what Christ has accomplished on the cross. On Calvary the justice of God was satisfied. All the demands of the law were met by the perfect obedience of Jesus.

This we must believe. This liberating truth we must apprehend or lay hold of. That God is a gracious and merciful God in and through His beloved Son. That there is forgiveness for the greatest sinners who believe in Jesus and trust in His blood. When you do that, when you see God as pacified or appeased, yes, reconciled, you begin to repent in earnest.

Many people can't see that; they don't understand. They think they must repent first and then believe. But such repentance can only be legalistic and formal. True repentance springs from faith in a reconciled God. God seen as holy and righteous, indeed, but also as merciful, gracious--a God full of love.

The apostle John says, "We have known and believed the love that God hath to us: God is love." The Greek here allows us to say, "we have known by believing." By faith we know the love of God toward us. The apostle here does not refer to the secret love of God in election but to the public manifestation of His love in the gift of His Son as exhibited in the Gospel.

To quote Erskine again: "God has not made His secret purpose the rule of your faith, but His word of promise. And you may and shall know his merciful purpose if once you take His word and believe it. God's word to you, sinner, is "I am pacified toward you for all that you have done." "This good news," Erskine says, "is to be published to all sinners in Zion and to every sinner in particular who hears the gospel. If you know the joyful sound, you may know it is God saying to thee, I am pacified towards thee; and I have given a commission to all my ambassadors to preach the gospel of peace to thee. To you is the word of this salvation sent…Will this not break your heart for your enmity, when he is expressing such love to you, saying, 'I am pacified towards thee?"

Calvin

Calvin says somewhere that we will never do good works aright unless we believe that God loves us. We can also say the world will never be driven from our heart unless we believe that God is reconciled to us in Christ. God's love for sinner--that is the expulsive power of a new affection! The old native and inborn love for the world and the things of the world will only lose their appeal when that new love or affection begins to operate and take hold of our hearts and minds.

Worldliness

Increasingly we hear reports from various congregations that there is a growing problem of worldliness among us. And not only with our young people. There are plenty of married couples and even older church members whose lifestyle is far from what it should be.

How do we deal with this problem? We must warn against worldliness, of course, especially in its form of sexual immorality, that permeates our culture. We need to remind each other that loving the world and the things of the world has serious consequences. Walking on the broad way can only end in destruction. Only the narrow way leads to heaven.

But let us not misrepresent that narrow way. It is the way of self-denial, struggles and difficulties. But it is also a pleasant way in which much joy and happiness is experienced. "The way of wisdom," Solomon says, "is a way of pleasantness and all her paths are peace" (Prov. 3:17). We must give sinners an incentive to get off the broad way and take narrow way which is the road less traveled.

Illustration

Geof Thomas tells the story of two women who were having coffee together. The one lady watched her son walk out the door with his shoes shined and his hair neatly combed. His mother said to her friend, "that's the most frustrating thing in the world." Her friend said, "I don't know what you're so uptight about. I wish my son would shine his shoes and comb his hair like him. He dresses like a slob." The mother replied, "Oh, that's not what's frustrating. What bugs me is that a pair of blue eyes and a blonde head did in ten minutes what I couldn't do in eighteen years." She had nagged her son for years to clean up his life, but nothing had worked. Then he fell in love, and he wanted to look neat. It was the expulsive power of a new affection that drove out his sloppy habits!              

That's only an illustration of what I'm trying to say. There is only one way sinners, young and old will lose their attachment to the world. Something or rather somebody radically altered the attitude of that mother's son, so that he willingly changed his lifestyle. The mother knew that a blonde head and a pair of blue eyes had achieved more than all her exhortations.  

So it is with God's grace. When God is pleased to reveal the beauty of Jesus Christ in us, to our minds and hearts, all of our resistance to salvation is taken out of us. We become willing in the day of His power, the power of a new affection.

 The Gospel

While it is only God who is able to bring about such a change, He is pleased to use people in this process, especially parents, teachers and preachers. It is very important, however, that we instill in our children and young people a balanced, scriptural view of God. If all they know and hear about God is that he is holy and just and He is angry with the wicked every day, they will find it difficult if not impossible to love such a God. They may learn to respect Him. Induced by fear they may try to live more or less by the Ten Commandments, and serve Him outwardly and formally. But deep down they will continue to prefer the world and all that it offers. That's where their heart is and where it will stay unless the Holy Spirit opens their eyes and gives them a new heart with new desires and affections. In doing this the Spirit makes use of the gospel, preached, taught or read. Let us, however, be sure to present the gospel as Good News for that is what the Gospel is: euangelion--glad tidings of great joy.

As ministers, teachers and parents we must do our utmost to make the Gospel of salvation attractive when we talk about the Lord and His service. It is especially important that our children can tell that we ourselves love the Lord and enjoy walking in His ways. Do our lives show that we love the Lord? Has the old affection for the world, which all of us are born with, been expelled by the power of this new affection for Him who loved us and gave Himself for us? If you are a child of God you must be able to say, yes I know something of that expulsive power.

Maybe some of you will have to add, I did know something of it when the Lord first came into my life. Things were different then. While going through that time of the first love the world lost all attraction for me. God and the things of God were so precious to me. But can you say that now?  No, I can't, you say, at least not with the same conviction and confidence. What has happened? William Cowper asked that question in his famous hymn which starts like this:

Where is the blessedness I knew

When first I sought the Lord?

Where is the soul-refreshing vie

Of Jesus and His Word?

 

What peaceful hours I once enjoyed!

How sweet their memory still!

But they have left an aching void

The world can never fill.

The Psalms of David

When the Lord first saves us He creates in us such love for Himself and for His Word that we lose all interest in the world and its sinful attractions. With Asaph we say, "Whom have I Lord in heaven but Thee? And there is none upon earth that I desire beside Thee"(Ps. 73:25). But not long after that initial time of love, we discover that although we have died to sin by virtue of our union with Christ, sin has by no means died in us. Sometimes it comes back with such power that it overwhelms us, causing us to wonder, has the Lord begun a good work in me at all? But such a conclusion is not always warranted. What it does teach us, however, is that our "new affections" for spiritual things need to be renewed and rekindled constantly throughout the whole of our pilgrimage.

That we need this expulsive power of a new affection not only for the first time but also by renewal is a truth that was emphasized by Jonathan Edwards. This great American theologian wrote a book on this subject called, Religious Affections. According to Edwards, true religion is mainly a matter of the affections. It involves feelings, desires, longings, enjoyments and pleasures.

The natural man has all these things too, but the difference is, of course, that he desires, longs for, enjoys and seeks pleasure in the things of the world. The sad thing is, however, that unbelievers seem to love the world with more intensity and enthusiasm than the Lord's people often display in their love for God. Yet when we read the Psalms as well as other Scripture passages we often find God's people expressing their love for God in very powerful ways.

Take David, for instance. In Psalm 63 he compares his desire for God to the deep thirst of a parched man, "O God, thou art my God: early will I seek thee; my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land where no water is." In Psalm 42 his longing for God is like that of a deer that thirsts for the water brooks. Throughout Psalm 119, David repeatedly speaks of his desires for—and pleasures from—knowing God through his word. He speaks of "delighting in," "longing after," and loving God's Word. He values that Word more than money and enjoys its "taste" more than honey. As the Psalm ends, David strains for words: .

 Notice that David's affections are anchored in the truths of God's Word. He does not try to escape reality by seeking an emotional high for its own sake. No, God's Word is for him "a lamp unto his feet and a light unto his path." The more he searches that Word, the more his desires after and affections for God grow. Not that he is always upbeat and happy, but he is clearly in love with his Lord.

Relationships

I trust that all of us still have an interest in the Word of God--our presence here testifies to that--but I don't think I am saying to much when I say, compared to David we all have a serious "affection deficit." 

When we are happily married we love each other, enjo y each other's company, share our excitements as well as letdowns and we miss each other when separated for a while. Yet when it comes to our relationship with God, this personal, affectionate dimension is often sadly lacking. In that case our relationship is more formal than personal. This is very dangerous. Marriage relationships won't last if there is not at least some level of affection that binds the spouses together. Sooner or later the absence of closeness and intimacy will lead to estrangement and open the door to unfaithfulness. While we all know this is true, somehow we think it does not apply to our relationship with God.

We tend to think that it is quite normal to have an impersonal and unemotional relationship with the Lord. We may even think this is healthier than to live by frames and feelings. I do not suggest that we should make feelings the "be-all" and "end-all" of spiritual life. But feelings do play a part in a healthy relationship whether between people or between believers and their God. "True religion is more than notion," said Joseph Hart, "something must be known and felt."

Why is our relationship with the Lord often so lukewarm and even cool? And how do we make up this affection deficit? To answer the first question we must begin by accepting personal responsibility for any degree of cooling of the relationship. It is always our fault and never the Lord's. When things go wrong in a human marriage we often say, there are faults on both sides and that is usually a correct observation. But when it comes to the marriage between God and His people, if any problems develop--these are caused by us--totally and exclusively. That is why the Lord never has to say, I'm sorry. But we do have to say it repeatedly. To Israel that had played the harlot with many lovers, the Lord says, "Return unto me. Only acknowledge thine iniquity that thou hast transgressed against the Lord thy God and hast scattered thy ways to the strangers under every green tree…turn, o backsliding children, saith the Lord; for I am married unto you" (Jer. 3: 3,13-14).

Satan's Role

While we are always to be blamed for our backslidings, we need to be aware of Satan's role in all of this as well. The devil hates to see a good marriage. That is true of human marriages, which he is trying to wreck, especially in our time, and we all know how successful he has been. But it is also true of the marriage between God and His people. If he can do anything to disrupt the love-relationship between Jehovah and His dearly purchased Bride, he will do it. When we read in Revelation 3 about the church at Ephesus--that it had lost its first love--we may be sure the Evil One had been heavily involved in the cooling process.

Satan generally starts with persuading us to cut down on the time we spend in prayer, for he knows that is where spiritual declension begins. The Letter to the Ephesians was addressed to Christians who were well-versed in doctrine. They could spot a heretic a mile away and they were willing stand up for the truth even if it meant martyrdom. Morally too, they were above reproach. Jesus therefore commends them for all these good things. But He nevertheless rebukes them for having left their first love.

This means that they had neglected their personal relationship with their Saviour. This may sound incredible, but there is an explanation for it. Satan often uses a "double strategy" with God's children. For instance, he may persuade us to stand up for the truth even in the face of persecution, but in such a way that we lose sight of Him whose truth we are defending. In other words, the personal, intimate relationship with Christ ends up on the back burner.

Characteristic of the devil's approach is that he takes his time weaning us from our Lord. John Bunyan refers to this approach of the great deceiver in his book Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners. "The devil said to me, I shall be hard for you; I will cool you insensibly, by degrees, little by little; what do I care, said he, though it takes me seven years to chill your heart, if I can do it at last; continual rocking will lull a crying child to sleep... though you be burning at present, yet I can pull you from this fire. I shall have you cold before long."

When believers lose their first love for Christ this is never the result of a conscious decision on their part. It is more like a "slow leak" than a "blow-out." In the early stages, it is characterized by decreased desire to engage in personal devotions. Satan does not tell us to quit praying altogether or to stop reading God's Word but he suggests that we rearrange our priorities a little. He doesn't mind if we throw ourselves into all kinds of church-related activities, preaching, teaching, attending consistory and other meetings, etc., etc. As long as the result is that we spend less time with the Lord in private. The devil likes to see us preoccupied with the horizontal aspects of religion at the expense of its vertical dimension, the personal relationship with the Lord.

Nothing is more harmful and deadening to spiritual life than trying to serve Christ while being disconnected from Him relationally. If this is allowed to continue unchecked, the result will be dryness of soul, an uneasy conscience and an absence of joy and delight in His presence.

Restoration

We still need to answer the second question: what to do to recapture our first love? The best and only way is to take our Lord's advice to the Ephesians. His counsel involves three steps. First, he says, "Remember from whence thou art fallen." Retrace the steps you have taken that led to the sad situation you are in now. How good things were then between you and the Lord! His banner over you was love. But what happened? You started to look elsewhere for satisfaction. Other lovers began to court you and you fell for them. The world and the things of the world recaptured your attention. Old sinful affections drove out the love the Lord had shed abroad in your heart.

Recovery begins by reflecting on the good times once enjoyed but now forfeited by our sins. We must be like the prodigal son who remembered the good life he had enjoyed at home and said, "I will arise and go to my father…." Yes, we must come like the unfaithful wife of Hosea, who after many disappointments with her lovers finally came to the point where she said: "I will go and return to my first husband for then it was better with me than now" (Hosea 2:7). Such reflection rekindles the flames of the heart, and results in shame about what we have let our walk become and a renewed hunger to return to what Scripture calls the time of our espousals.

While this is a good beginning, it must not stop there. That is why Jesus also urges us to repent. If we desire to recapture the first love, we need to take the necessary steps and return with the prodigal son to the Father whom we have offended and grieved by our sins. Like him, we may have a fear that He will refuse to take us back. But the warm reception the Father gave His son should allay that fear.

The final step that leads to restoration is the requirement to do the first works. This involves two things, basically. First of all, it includes expressing gratitude and appreciation for the love God showed you initially, when He first came into your life and saved you. If you have left your first love, the cause of that is lack of gratitude for your salvation. As John says, "We love Him because He first loved us" (1 John 4:19). Remember what He saved you from, as our Psalter says.

He helped us in our deepest woes,

His grace abideth ever;

He ransomed us from all our foes,

His mercy faileth never.

The second aspect of "doing the first works" is to rebuild your spiritual health through the appointed means of spiritual growth: feeding on God's Word, seeking His face in prayer, and seeking fellowship with other believers. Be sure, however, to pursue these means of growth and restoration with the proper attitude. I mean, don't think of these things as legal duties but approach them with the same attitude you had when you stood in awe at the amazing grace that saved a wretch like you.

The only way whereby we gain, regain and retain "the expulsive power of a new affection" is to be brought for the first time and by renewal to the foot of the cross. There, lost sinners are granted a look into the very heart of God. That heart is full of love toward sinners. Not that God's heart only begins to beat when we repent. As if our repentance has to activate or trigger His love. The apostle Paul says, "God commends His love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom. 5:8). Seeing that, realizing that and believing that creates that strange and mysterious power of a new affection that drives out all love for the world.

O Israel, return unto the Lord thy God; for thou hast fallen by thine iniquity… I will heal their backsliding, I will love them freely; for mine anger is turned away from  him... Ephraim shall say, 'What have I to do any more with idols?' "

Love so amazing, so divine,

Demands my soul, my life, my all.

 

[ Return to Listings ] [ Return to Summary ]