О TRUE CHRISTIANITY О - Anchor-Cross Publishing

270 Pages·2012·1.14 MB·English

CHARLES G. FINNEY
3
TRUE CHRISTIANITY
3
CompiledandeditedbyF.G.Kuruvilla
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Unlessotherwiseindicated,allScripturequotationsarefromTheHolyBible,
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i
Preface
In December 1833, Charles Finney denied communion to those who
were slaveholders in his church. This bold stance, taken over thirty
yearsbeforeslaverywasmadeillegalintheUnitedStates,typi(cid:2)esthe
character of this courageous preacher. On a national day of fasting
in 1841, the (cid:2)rst sin he preached on was the manner in which Native
Americanshadbeentreatedbythegovernment. Finney’ssigni(cid:2)cance
inshapingtheconscienceandveryhistoryofAmericaisunquestioned.
AsAllenGuelzowrites,(cid:147)ItwouldbehardtotellthestoryoftheAmer-
ican Republic before the Civil War without giving Charles Grandison
Finneyoneofthestarringroles.(cid:148)
However,Finney’smessagewasfarfromexclusivelyfocusedonsocial
orpoliticalcauses. Infact,tothefrustrationofmanysocialactivists,he
believedthatthebestwaytosolvesociety’sproblemswastopreachthe
gospel. Finneysoughttotransformpeoplewithagospelmessagethat
changed their hearts, and he insisted that it be all of their hearts. His
powerful and convicting messages challenged people to submit their
entire lives to the Lordship of Jesus Christ (cid:151) this included renounc-
ingmaterialism,worldlyfashion,secularentertainment,andofcourse,
slavery. Few people today have the courage to speak against the cul-
ture of the world as Finney did, but God surely blessed his ministry.
Over half a million people became Christians under Finney’s preach-
ing.
This book is a collection of lectures drawn from Lectures to Professing
Christians,theWayofSalvation,andLecturesonRevivalsofReligion. They
aregroupedintofourtopics: repentance,prayer,witnessing,andspir-
itual growth. The chapters were originally sermons or lectures deliv-
eredbyFinneythathelaterrevisedtobemoresuitableforprintform.
BecausemostofthebookisdrawnfromLecturesonRevivalsofReligion,
one will notice a continuity and cumulative progression from chapter
to chapter. (There is an appendix detailing the origin of each chapter
in this book.) When reading the book, it is easy to feel the passion
thatCharlesFinneypreachedwith. Oneisconvictedbyhisdirectstyle
thatheobviouslyhopeswillbeclearlyheard,understood,andapplied.
Someofthechaptersinthisbookareamongthemostconvictingpages
written in the last two hundred years. Chapter 4 on repentance is an
unforgettable experience, feeling more like a hammer than a lecture.
The chapters on prayer and witnessing (5-12) have more insight into
thesubjectthananymodernbookIhaveread. Fortunately,helovedto
tellrealillustrationsofthetruthshetaught(cid:151)theseareofagreathelp
inunderstandingpracticalapplications.
ii
Finney greatly believed that his works should be simple and easily
understood by any audience. Thus he took much effort to make his
preaching easily comprehensible by using plain language and many
stories. Inthatspirit,Ihaveeditedeachchaptertomakeitmoreread-
able for the twenty-(cid:2)rst century reader. Some words like damask,
groat, or weal are simply not used much anymore, while other words
like careless have changed their meaning somewhat. For example,
whenFinneydescribesthecarelesssinner,hemeanstheapatheticsin-
ner,someonewhohasnointerestinthethingsofGod. Ihavechanged
suchwordstotheirmodernequivalents. Ihavemodernizedthepunc-
tuation usage, and sometimes also his sentence structure to improve
readability. In the interest of brevity, as well as not wanting to stray
intotopicsunfamiliarorconfusingtotoday’sreader,manyofthechap-
ters have also been shortened. However, I have intentionally retained
the parts in each chapter where he asks the hearer to respond in ap-
plication. These are obviously derived from the fact that these were
originally sermons to a live audience. Hearing his pleas to the audi-
ence is very moving, and is part of the power of each chapter. My
goalwiththisbookistoproduceaneasilyreadabletextthatfaithfully
reproducesthesubstanceandstyleofFinney’soriginallectures.
IwouldespeciallyliketothankTylerVanderWeeleforhisproofreading
themanuscriptandforhisnumeroussuggestionstoimproveclarity. I
amverygratefultoRaymondYim,PeterPark,andNicoleRimfortheir
helpinthecoverdesignandtypesetting. Finally,Iwouldliketothank
Raymond for his being a constant source of encouragement to me in
thecompletionofthiswork.
MayGodcontinuetousethisworkforhisglory.
FinnyKuruvilla
Cambridge,Massachusetts
September2003
Table of Contents
I REPENTANCE 1
1 DISCERNINGYOURCHARACTER 3
2 THESALVATIONOFTHEWICKEDIMPOSSIBLE 11
3 TRUEANDFALSEREPENTANCE 21
4 HOWTOREPENT 35
II PRAYER 47
5 PREVAILINGPRAYER 49
6 THEPRAYEROFFAITH 67
7 THESPIRITOFPRAYER 81
8 MEETINGSFORPRAYER 103
III WITNESSING 117
9 HOWTOTESTIFYTOTHEGOSPEL 119
10 TOWINSOULSREQUIRESWISDOM 133
11 FALSECOMFORTSFORSINNERS 149
iii
iv TABLEOFCONTENTS
12 INSTRUCTIONSTOSINNERS 173
IV SPIRITUALGROWTH 189
13 INSTRUCTIONSTOCONVERTS 191
14 ADDITIONALINSTRUCTIONSTOCONVERTS 215
15 THEBACKSLIDERINHEART 233
16 GROWTHINGRACE 249
Part I
REPENTANCE
1

Chapter 1
DISCERNING YOUR
CHARACTER
(cid:147)TheyfearedtheLORD,butalsoservedtheirowngods.(cid:148) (2Kings17:33)
When the ten tribes of Israel were carriedaway captive by the king of
Assyria,1 the land was (cid:2)lled with strangers from different idolatrous
nations who knew nothing about the religion of the Jews. Very soon
wild beasts increased in the land and lions killed many people, and
theythoughtitwasbecausetheydidnotknowthegodofthecountry,
hadoffendedhim,andhehadsentthelionsamongthemasapunish-
ment. So they asked the king, who told them to get one of the priests
oftheIsraelitestoteachthemthemannerofthegodoftheland. They
tookthisadvice,andobtainedoneoftheprieststocometoBetheland
teach them the religious ceremonies and forms of worship that had
been practiced there. And he taught them to fear Yahweh as the God
of that country. But still they did not receive him as the only God.
Theyfearedhim,thatis,theyfearedhisangerandhisjudgments,and
toavoidthese,theyperformedtheprescribedrites. Butthey(cid:147)served(cid:148)
their own gods. They kept up their idolatrous worship, as this was
what they loved and preferred, though they felt obliged to pay some
reverence to Yahweh as the God of that country. There are still many
people, professing to fear God, and perhaps possessing a certain kind
ofthefearoftheLord,whoneverthelessservetheirowngods(cid:151)they
have other things to which their hearts are supremely devoted, and
otherobjectsinwhichtheymainlyputtheirtrust.
1In722BC,IsraelwasinvadedbythearmiesofShalmaneser,kingofAssyria,andthe
peopleweredeportedfromtheirhomeland.Thisisrecordedin2Kings17:3-6.
3
4 DISCERNINGYOURCHARACTER
Thereare,asyouknow,twokindsoffear. ThereisthatfearoftheLord
thatisthebeginningofwisdom,whichisfoundedinlove. Thereisalso
aslavishfear,whichisameredreadofevil,andispurelysel(cid:2)sh. This
is the kind of fear that is possessed by those people spoken of in the
text. They were afraid Yahweh would send his judgments if they did
notperformcertainrites. Thiswasthemotivetheyhadforpayinghim
worship. Those who have this fear are supremely sel(cid:2)sh, and while
they claim to revere Yahweh, they have other gods whom they love
andserve.
There are several classes of people to whom this applies, and my goal
is to describe some of them in such a way that you may know your
character. Toserveapersonistobeobedienttothewillanddevotedto
theinterestsofthatindividual. Itisnotproperlycalledservingwhere
only certain deeds are performed, without entering into the service of
the person. To serve someone is to make it one’s business to do the
will and promote the interest of that person. To serve God is to make
religion2 the main business of life. It is to devote one’s self, heart, life,
powers, time, in(cid:3)uence, and all, to promote the interests of God, to
build up the kingdom of God, and to advance the glory of God. Who
aretheywho,whiletheyprofesstofeartheLord,servetheirowngods?
1. Those of you who have not enthusiastically renounced the owner-
ship of your possessions, and given them up to God. It is self-evident
that if you have not done this, you are not serving God. Suppose a
gentlemanweretoemployaclerktotakecareofhisstore. Supposethe
clerk were to continue to attend to his own business, and when asked
to do what is necessary for his employer who pays him his wages, he
says, (cid:147)I really have so much business of my own to attend to, that I
havenotimetodothesethings.(cid:148) Wouldnoteverybodycryoutagainst
such a servant, and say he was not serving his employer at all? His
time is not his own, it is paid for, and he has only served himself. So
where a person has not renounced the ownership of himself, not only
in thought, but practically, he has not learned the (cid:2)rst lesson in reli-
gion. HeisnotservingtheLord,butservinghisowngods.
2. Thatpersonwhodoesnotmakehisoccupationapartofhisreligion
does not serve God. You hear a person sometimes say, (cid:147)I am so busy
all day at work that I do not have time to serve God.(cid:148) He thinks he
serves God for a little while in the morning, and then attends to his
2Finneyusestheword(cid:147)religion(cid:148)tomeandevotionorobediencetoGod. Heusesit
oftenthroughoutthebook.Itisunfortunatethatthiswordhasnegativeconnotations
inChristiancirclestoday,sincetheBible(seeJames1:27)andmanyhistoricChristian
writingsuseitinapositivesense.