The object of this love is the world. It was to a world of sinners, towards which this love was exercised. God loved men as a race, as sinners, the enemies of God. It was an unselfish kind of love. The reason why God loved men was not because they deserved that he should do them good - for they deserved evil only at his hands. Observe, there was a good reason why he should love them, but they had no right to demand his love as a matter of justice, for they had forfeited all claim to his affection or protection; and therefore, of course, justice did not demand that God should do them good.
The soul of man was so valuable, its happiness would be so infinitely important, and its misery so great an evil, that God, looking at the intrinsic value of their souls, saw good reason for loving them and doing them good - that is, God did the good for the sake of the good itself; he willed good to them for the sake of the intrinsic and infinite value of this good to them considered in itself, and not because they at all deserved it. They not only had no claim upon him for this love, but there were great reasons for his destroying them; yet, nevertheless so great was the value of their souls, so much did he pity them in view of their coming and certain destruction, and so greatly did he love their happiness and desire it, that overcoming all obstacles in the way he rose above any disposition to punish them, or retaliate upon them for their wickedness, and sought only to do them good. There was good reason for this as I have said, not in view of the actions of mankind, but in consideration of the value of their souls.
Charles Finney (1792 - 1875)
Known as one of the leaders in the Second Great Awakening revival in America. He was a revivalist who called for deep introspection of sin and preaching of the law to bring about sin. He was known to preach 30+ nights on sin and than the last night on Christ to have people flee to Him for mercy. Used greatly in the book: "Revivals of Religion" which is a classic on the subject of revival.He preached on the true Baptism of the Holy Spirit and its necessity. In his revivalistic campaigns he was used of the Lord to bring some estimate over 50,000 souls to the Lord which many were sound converts. There has been questions raised surrounding his theology in the later years of his ministry but this does not discredit that God used him powerfully in revival and for God's kingdom.
Charles Finney was born in Connecticut to an ordinary family and life that gave little hint of the great things God had in store for him. He was a schoolteacher and then a lawyer before his conversion at age 29. Finney was filled with the Holy Spirit on the same day he was saved and immediately began witnessing to friends and family members. More than twenty people were saved in the 24 hours following Finney's conversion. Finney's personal evangelism soon became public evangelism as he began to travel and preach in extended revival meetings. He considered revival to be a natural result of following the instructions God had laid out in His Word.
During Finney's fifty years of preaching, more than 500,000 were saved. He wrote many books, the most enduring of which are The Autobiography of Charles Finney and Lectures on Revival of Religion. After ill health forced him to stop traveling in meetings, he accepted the pastorate of a church in New York City. From 1852 until 1866 he served as president of Oberlin College in Ohio. Although some of his theology was lacking, he was a powerful, Spirit-filled soul winner who brought revival to cities and towns across the eastern United States.
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