The Self-destructive nature of Self-love.
Doctrine.
“He that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.” (Prov. 8:36)
1. Man is born a self-loving creature.
He cannot escape it, nor can he deny it.
All human thoughts and actions by nature originate from a principle of self love. The mind has only thoughts of itself, the will is inclined to promote itself, and the heart being exceedingly deceived by sin believes itself to be worth loving and therefore the entirety of the soul occupies its time and energy promoting that end. The mind busies itself with speculative thoughts of self-promotion, and the will endeavors to promote itself and feed the affections with carnal pleasure and delight, and this cycle is only concluded by death, when the vile soul is judged by God, and the vile body which was the object of all the soul’s pleasure returns to dust again to consume away. As the human soul is exceedingly sinful, and as all these vain imaginations and foolish pursuits are done apart from God and without His consent and approval, all the inclinations, motions, and actings of the soul of man are wholly, utterly and only ever sinful. In believing himself to be worth something when he is nothing, he sells himself to the lie, and is engaged continually in a sinful endeavor. As man’s soul is enslaved to the devil and his will, the more he loves himself in this condition is manifest evidence that he loves the devil who promotes him in all his worldly advancements. Since the heart has only room for one principle motive, and whatever is on the throne of the affections will order and rule all actions, if a man is guided in thought, word, and conduct by self-love, he cannot in anywise be said to be guided by the love of God. “You cannot serve God and mammon.” “If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in Him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the eyes, the lust of the flesh and the pride of life are not of the Father, but are of the world.” “Unless a man denies himself, he cannot be my disciple.” You cannot be of the world, and also of God. Jesus said to the Pharisees, “You are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father you will do.” Natural man having an inward principle of self-love will in every case do the will of the devil, whether or not he or others around him realize it. Man is so estranged from God that apart from regeneration, every conceivable action which man commits his will to, every conceivable thought which exists in his mind, and every facile affection which his heart produces is of the devil, for the devil and approved of by the devil. Man being a slave to the devil does only that which his master tells him to. You cannot have this principle of self-love reigning in the affections and concurrently maintain the love of God. They are contrary to each other, and can in no wise be reconciled. He that loves himself cannot be said to love God, for the flesh lusts against the Spirit in all its principles, inclinations and actings. Man is at enmity with God by nature, and God at enmity with him. In loving himself, man shows that he despises God, for love itself by nature is the seeking, and promoting of the good and welfare of its object. If the object of our love is self, it cannot be God. God is infinitely holy, and good, and we the opposite. We are by nature vile, and depraved, and so for a man to love himself is the same as to say that he hates God. Scarcely any man would openly profess that he hates God, but this is because he being ignorant of all things does not know himself, the truths of God and of himself being not understood by him. Many may not even openly profess to love themselves, but this also is out of ignorance and not out of sincerity. That which we live to promote is the object of our love, and therefore man cannot promote himself and God at the same time. And there are also some who declare that they love themselves, and also love God. These are all opinions of the deceived hypocrites that populate the world, whatever religion they may claim to hold to. All religion apart from the truth of Jesus Christ is the religion of self-love, and therefore hateful to God. Man is so diametrically opposed to God that in promoting himself, and seeking his own happiness, man is well pleased to make war with God, break His laws, trample on His truth, malign His holiness, and blaspheme His name. He not only by nature hates God, but delights in hating him, and continues to do so without any remorse. In this he shows himself more vile than an atheist, for an atheist may say, “there is no God” and yet live as if there were a God, though he knows not who. But he who lives in diverse pleasures and lusts may say, “there is a God” and yet live like a devil in a manner that reveals that he believes himself to be God and that all things in the world exist for his pleasure. Man will even go to great lengths to satisfy himself though it proves most tedious and unreasonable. He will be found even by others irrational and stupid before he will be found to curb one burning lust. Often the faculties of the mind restrain and impede the progress of man’s self destructive self-love, but as we see openly in our days, the human being is willing to go to the greatest lengths of puerile stupidity for the sake of self-love. In our days we see homosexuals demand to be recognized as married, men who identify themselves as women, children, animals, and even dragons, women who shave their head, paint their hair outlandish colors, make themselves look like men, or otherwise disfigure their faces, and this without shame. Moreover the greater portion of the population is likewise deranged, and has removed all meaning and purpose to the word beautiful or lovely, and has attributed it to whatever seems acceptable to them. They cannot risk others thinking ill of them, so they follow along in each other’s delusions and complement each other’s rank stupidity. As if it wasn’t enough that man is a stupid and asinine creature by nature, he now shows it openly, and it is now in society openly accepted, and promoted. The train of man’s deluded self-love is at an all-time high speed and is heading swiftly for eternal destruction, and these are but a few examples of what could be spoken of at length.
2. Man’s self-love is restrained by many outward circumstances.
When these restraints are taken away, man shows himself outwardly to be what he has always been inwardly- a frenzied, ignorant, villainous, depraved, hypocritical, self-loving servant of the devil. Just give a man power to sin, and no law to prevent, and he will in all cases do what is most detestable for his own pleasure. But not only is man a most devilish hater of God by nature, but also of others. In his pursuit of the love of self, he is very hurtful and hateful towards others in the promotion of himself. Give a man ever so little dominion over others and he will trample them if they are found to obstruct his path of success. He may not always incline towards this hurt being that he is restrained by other and greater principles of self love that he would risk damage to should he break forth in hatred of others, but yet the inward principle remains and should he be unrestrained and tested without promise of recompense, he will immediately act in abhorrent, and hateful ways that pilfer, defile, shame, or destroy others to promote himself. Be it in their property, wealth, spouse or their very lives, he will go to all lengths to molest his neighbor if it at all promotes his general or peculiar welfare. We ought to be deeply thankful that God has set in order laws and governments that keep him back from doing all that he can do, because when law is not upheld, or feared, man will take no regard for any law, but do that which pleases him. This principle of self-love is a great part of that natural corruption which bursts forth with all manner of depravation and iniquity, and is of the chiefest causes of the immorality and degradation of society. Adultery, fornication, extortion, rape, homosexuality, murder (even of infants), and all manner of perverseness and immorality is rampant, and widespread. Those sins which are most illogical and debased are held in esteem among men in our days. The knot that holds man back from acting out according to his nature is slowly being unraveled, and when it is broken, he will show himself to be every aspect of what rightly deserves God’s hatred and contempt. Ignorance, foolishness, unreasonableness, sexual immorality, theft, murder, hate, slander, maliciousness, envy, drunkenness will be fully expressed, and man will show himself to be what he is. Because of the influence of the gospel, and the promotion of moral standards, man is forced to be what he is not. It is most unnatural for man (acting contrary to his nature) to be kept in the bonds of moral uprightness. As the Christian has the Spirit of God, and keeps His law out of an inward principle of love to God, so the hypocrite may keep many laws, and even God’s laws in an outward respect, not owing to that necessary inward principle, but because of self-love, and self-preservation. He sees that upright men are blessed, that wisdom is sweet, righteousness brings peace, truth is amiable, and God’s laws are all most reasonable. God said to Israel, “These laws are for your good.” He is endued with a conscience, and conscience is as a light that shows him what is right, and what is wrong. That is why you can see that peoples who live in heathen darkness, and have never been given God’s laws have laws in society, and in some manner try to maintain civility. Self-preservation is one principle of self-love that keeps men from breaking forth in greater actings of sin and iniquity. If not for the conscience, and the light of nature daily preaching to men that certain things are wrong, he would in all cases break forth in most abominable ways, and man would quickly destroy himself. Society would be impossible, and civility would be nonexistent. But God is wise in giving all men the ability to respond to nature, and act in a way that is reasonable, and lawful, though as it comes from an inward principle of self-love it is still in its own essence hateful to God. Take these restraints away, and man will in all cases endeavor after wicked imaginations, and pursuits, whatever the cost. Totalitarian regimes and dictatorships are a prime example of human activity without restraint. Millions are murdered, stolen from, trampled on, and their persons utterly disregarded by the elite who treat other souls as if they were nothing more than dirt. This abhorrent behavior cannot be explained except by the scriptures which tell us that man is born hating God, and hating his neighbor. Take away the restraints, and man will always show himself to be utterly corrupt.
3. For a man therefore to love himself is madness, and absurdity, for by loving himself he loves a most hateful creature unworthy to be loved, and most worthy to be despised and hated. Man is so drunk with self-love that he will sooner give himself wholly to madness and perversity than love something objectively worthy of being loved. God is the only being that is worthy to be loved, for all goodness and blessedness comes from Him. God is infinitely good, righteous, upright and worthy of all love. All love that is directed away from God is hatred of good. Love is not only the promotion of goodness, and welfare, but it is sacrifice, and labor to promote it. Therefore man aggravates his sinfulness in that not only does he love himself who is hateful to God, but he hates God who alone is worthy of his love. Man goes to great lengths, and much trouble to promote himself and is willing to sacrifice all others on the altar of his self-love. If it were in his power, he would dethrone God, and seat himself as the chief and highest good. This was the sin of Satan whose dominion he is under. He that loves himself loves the devil. God commands all men to love Him only and keep His commandments, and even these, man by nature uses to his own end. He says he loves God, but to him God only exists to promote his happiness. If it should be proposed that God is angry with him for his sin and iniquity, and will not accept his works, and that he must repent of self-love, and believe in another for righteousness, he will hate such an idea, and think such a God is unjust for making unattainable demands. If he cannot attain to it by nature, by his own works, or will, he cannot accept it. In his mind, God must accept him for who he is. (see Cain and Abel) This will start him on the path of religious hypocrisy, and he will attempt to turn every passage in scripture into a fountain that feeds his thirst for self-love. What is spoken of God’s justice against sin will be directed at others, what is spoken of man’s sinful nature will be downplayed, or denied, and the only thing he will think about is how much God loves him, because he believes himself to be worth loving. He can never believe in a God that damns him for his sinful nature. Such a God is contrary to his principle of self-love. In words, he may profess that men deserve to go to hell, and even that he does, but it is not from a principle of sincerity, but hypocrisy. In all cases he will take up the cause of the reprobate against God, and claim that God is unjust for hating him. Because he loves himself, he hates any idea of hatred towards himself, whether from man or God.
Not only is he estranged from God and alienated from Him, but he acts contrarily to that which would promote his eternal happiness. If the only sin man were guilty of was this love of self, this alone would be weight enough to condemn him forever in eternal misery for in loving himself, he loves that which is most abominable, perverse, and opposite to true goodness. God has opened up the way of salvation in and through His Word, and commands man to despair of himself, and abhor himself for his iniquity in order to be saved. “And there you shall remember your ways and all your doings with which you were defiled; and you shall loathe yourselves in your own sight because of all the evils that you have committed.” (Ez. 20:43)
In loving himself, man unknowingly hates his own happiness. He is so deceived that he is not capable of seeing it though it is abundantly clear before him. He may be encompassed by wealth, pleasures, and fame, and these he believes to be most beneficial to promote his happiness, but there is never any sufficiency in them. If he should ever know what blessedness there is in God, he would see his pleasure as base and filthy, and his own name, and honor and dust and ashes. However, these thoughts can never swell in the heart of man, for man’s nature on its own is not capable of changing. “Can the Ethiopian change his skin or the leopard its spots? Then may you also do good who are accustomed to do evil.” (Jer. 13:23)
As much as the sun is accustomed to producing light, so man is accustomed to producing sin. “As a fountain wells up with water, So she wells up with her wickedness. Violence and plundering are heard in her. Before Me continually are grief and wounds.” (Jer. 6:7) Such self-love then is most unreasonable, for in loving himself man condemns himself. He is unable to see that everything he does is destructive and promotes his own ruin being blinded by self-love. He willingly walks into damnation if only he may please himself for a little while. You may not be able to convince a man that he hates God or deserves eternal hellfire, but if you can show that by his motives and actions he loves himself this is evidence enough to condemn him at the court.
Man is born a self-loving creature, and since by his deluded self-love he condemns himself to an eternity of misery, his self-love is found to be self-destructive.
“He that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death.” (Prov. 8:36)

Application.
1. If such is the condition of your heart, it is in a most miserable and abominable condition and the wrath of God abides on you.
“He that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” (John 3:36) That is, he that does not believe the word of God, and what the word says about the condition of man and his need for a Savior. He that believes that he is worth something, and that God already loves him whatever he may do is deceived and deluded. He does not believe in the Son of God but himself! Those that do not submit to the righteousness of God have the living and burning wrath of God abiding on them, and God will avenge His name and execute His justice on all those who hate Him. To love yourself is to love death, and since you love death so, God will feed you with it for eternity away from all comfort and enjoyment, and you will moan and weep forever. But even while you live, you cannot escape His justice. You are born into this world guilty, and unless that guilt is removed, you are under His wrath and curse. Such a self-loving creature as you deserves death, and God will always do right. As you think of ways to please yourself, God is thinking of ways to punish you. “He hath also prepared for him the instruments of death.” [Ps. 7:13] There is no escape from the wrath of Almighty God. When once His majesty is offended, He cannot go back on His word, He will avenge Himself on all His adversaries, and punish men for their damnable iniquity. There is but one way to escape this end and that is to flee to Christ who alone can provide atonement and refuge. He is willing to forgive if we are willing to repent. Otherwise the sword will strike, the bow will be released and you will be sent to your eternal abode where all your devilish thoughts were spawned, which is hell. “If he turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready.” [Ps. 7:12]
If you still draw breath, He still draws His bow, and the arrow has not yet been released. Therefore why should you die!? Turn and live! Reject yourself, and reject your carnal pleasure. Repent and turn to God, and He will be merciful! How these words should strike you with awe and wonder, “If He turn not!” That is, if He turns not from His wrath! He has provided atonement for sin. He has struck the Son with His justice that sinners may live! Why should you die then? Turn from your wickedness and live!
2. Although you may not break out in observable vicious hatred of God, yet if you have this inward principle in you, you are a practical atheist, and live as if God were nothing and you were everything.
Will God permit you then to walk His earth to trample his laws? Will He continue to allow you to breathe His air that you may blaspheme His name?
“God is angry with the wicked every day.” [Ps. 7:11] “You have forsaken Me,” says the Lord, You have gone backward.
Therefore I will stretch out My hand against you and destroy you;
I am weary of relenting!”
(Jeremiah 15:6) Perhaps you are restrained by society or you fear the law, and therefore you do not always act like a devil, but you are ignorant of this – that a man who lives for himself lives for the devil no matter how moral his life may seem. Man is as wicked as he can be, though he does many things he himself considers to be good. You may be free from gross sin, but are you free from grotesque self-righteousness? Have you not yet humbled yourself before God and repented for your sinful nature as well as your sins? Have you not yet considered that God is ready to cast the wicked into hell, and if you are not found in Christ and clothed in His righteousness you will be cast with them! You may have been excluded from their company on earth because you were more outwardly moral, and you may have thought them barbarians and heathen because they acted more irrationally against morality, yet if you do not live for God’s glory but your own, you will join them in hell! God is so incensed at your wickedness that He is eagerly waiting to throw you into hell. The only reason you still draw breath and the whole world is not already consumed in fire is because God’s work of redemption is not yet complete, and God has restrained the devil from destroying you. But every breath you breathe, you suck in more mercy that will be held against you if you do not speedily repent.
3. God has reserved all the terrors of hell for those that hate Him and love themselves.
As briefly spoken previously, God is angry with the wicked, and He is preparing their destruction. He has reserved hell for those that love themselves, and He will reserve those that love themselves in hell! “To whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.” [Jude 13] To whom, but to you that love yourself?! To those that despise God and His law, and set up for themselves their own law, an easier law, or no law! The lawless will be found with the hypocrite on the Day of Judgment, and the one who thought himself righteous with the most unrighteous!  Those that love themselves and love not God will be cast into the lake of fire, there to experience God’s infinite, eternal, and unchangeable wrath. Once you are there, there is no getting out. You are locked away never to plague the earth again with your vileness. God is preparing heaven for the righteous – those who hating themselves, and their mortal lives love God who alone is righteous! And do you think He will allow you to pollute and contaminate His dwelling place? He will cast you as far from paradise as can be conceived, as far as the east is from the west, an infinite distance, an unfathomable gulf! God is preparing everlasting joy for those that love Him, and everlasting pain for those that hate Him. Did you ever cast contempt on a mere mortal and not expect him to repay you in some way- even being unjust? If you should spit on a powerful King, you being a dirty and vile rebel, would you not rightly expect death? Then how can you live as a practical atheist, denying God in your thoughts, and affections, and doing all those things He hates for a lifetime and not expect Him to repay it upon your own head!? Verily He will repay. “If thou sayest, Behold, we knew it not; doth not he that pondereth the heart consider it? and he that keepeth thy soul, doth not he know it? and shall not he render to every man according to his works?” (Prov. 24:12)
4. The highest pleasure in this life is not worth your immortal soul.
Though you may reach for heaven, you will come only so far as hell, inasmuch as you reached to satisfy your lusts. What profit would it be to you though you were to gain a thousand worlds and a thousand lives if you had to spend eternity in hell? Would all the world’s pleasure which is but for a moment be worth losing eternity for? Yea in this man shows himself mad upon his idols! He would rather have them for a moment, and lose his immortal soul than love God! He would rather enjoy the smoke of his sins than kindle any fire of affection for God. Yea he would have it that God would sacrifice for him, than be found doing anything for God. What a vile and wretched creature man is who thinks he is worthy to be served. There are many who hear of the gospel and say, “But of course Christ died for me! God loves me and how appropriate because I love me too!” This man does not believe the gospel of the cross, but the gospel of his carnal lust. He would have God approve of his immoral deeds before forsaking them. But oh! What vanity is this? Man throwing away eternity for a passing shadow, a fading flicker, a dying ember, a painted pleasure? “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” (Mark 8:36)
5. Though your soul is immortal, your works are damnable and worth nothing while this principle of self-love remains in them.
“These people draw near to Me with their mouth, And honor Me with their lips, But their heart is far from Me.” (Matt. 15:8)
Here we come to the crux of the whole matter, and that is of the heart. God does not desire the worship of fools, hypocrites, lawless pagans or self-righteous zealots, but the worship that comes from a heart purified by faith! God will not accept anything but sincerity. And though you may be sincere about religion, you ought to be sure that your religion is sincere! He that loves a god of his own making, and of his own imagination, loves himself as we have before described. God will punish all hypocrites whose hearts were far from Him, though they professed loudly, and yea even seemed to most to be religious! God understands, and searches the smallest matters of the heart. Every apprehension, every movement, every facile affection is known by Him, and if it is found to be centered on self, it is an abomination to Him. Though your works may be seen by men as gold, yet if they are not found with a heart of true sincerity, God will reject you as reprobate silver! “And if ye offer the blind for sacrifice, is it not evil? and if ye offer the lame and sick, is it not evil? offer it now unto thy governor; will he be pleased with thee, or accept thy person? saith the Lord of hosts.” (Mal. 1:8) If such is the case of cattle, how much more in the matters of the heart? If such is the case of sheep, how much guiltier are those who offer the least of their affections? God does not accept works unless it is approved by Him, commanded by Him, and sanctified by Him. So polluted is the nature of man that God must purify both us and the work by His blood otherwise it is not acceptable. Before regeneration, man can only do that which is abominable and that which heaps more wrath upon himself. Will you plead with God upon the ground of your own merit? Surely He will reward you for all your works, and will cast you into hell for both disobeying His commandments, and for blaspheming Him with the notion that you were wiser than He, stronger than He, and more righteous than He. Who can say that his hands are clean, or that he has no iniquity? Do you not yet know that God is infinitely holy, and can only accept that which is perfect? “Lord, who shall abide in thy tabernacle? who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart.” (Ps. 15:1-2) “But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth?” [Mal. 3:2] “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.” (Is. 64:6) If the righteous cannot boast in His sight, how much more abominable is the boasting of hypocrites who professing themselves to be wise, and good, become fools by presenting to God an unacceptable sacrifice? Do not be foolish! Rend your hearts, and not your garments! Weep, yea cry aloud for your sins which are come upon you. For every kindness of God, you have repaid Him tenfold with your iniquity. Yea, your sin is infinite, and your iniquity unlimited. You cannot see His face without a Mediator, and you cannot see this Mediator without sincerity of heart. He does not want works done in error, done for self-gain, and with the motive of self-love. He only desires that religion which comes from the heart, which He Himself has planted by His word, and which freely submits to His grace, to His righteousness and to His laws, and lives to please Him. Therefore, heed these reproofs, and forsake the love of self; for it will be to your everlasting ruin, and shame, and you will find either in this life or the next that the love of self is a crime worthy of hatred, contempt and eternal punishment.