Latest / Reformed Thinking / The Sufficiency of Scripture to Awaken and Convert Sinners (Luke 16:31) | Jonathan Edwards

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The Sufficiency of Scripture to Awaken and Convert Sinners (Luke 16:31) | Jonathan Edwards · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to reformed thinking. Glad to be here.
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So I want you to imagine a scenario right now.
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Picture yourself sitting alone in your room tonight.
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The lights are off, the house is completely quiet, and you know
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your eyes are adjusting to the darkness.
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Setting the mood I see. Yeah, just picture it.
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Then suddenly standing at the foot of your bed is a deceased
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friend. Oh wow.
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And I don't mean a foggy, abstract dream you can just
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shake off in the morning. I mean a visible, tangible,
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undeniable apparition right there in your personal space.
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That's terrifying. Right.
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And this friend looks at you with absolute unvarnished terror
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in their eyes to warn you about the reality of the afterlife.
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OK. Yeah, I'm tracking with you.
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They describe the agony, the despair, the sheer dread of
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eternal judgment with such vivid detail that the blood, just
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like, freezes in your veins. I think anyone would be
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paralyzed by that. Absolutely.
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So ask yourself a very serious question.
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Would that specific event permanently change your
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behavior? That is the big question.
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Would that terrifying supernatural visitor guarantee
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your eternal devotion to God and, you know, secure your
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repentance? It is a chilling scenario to put
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yourself in for sure. Most people, if they are being
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honest, would instinctively say yes.
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Yeah, I think I would say yes initially.
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Right. We assume that seeing something
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so undeniable, an event that shatters our everyday
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understanding of physics and reality, would permanently alter
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our trajectory. We think if I saw that with my
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own two eyes, I would never dare to sin again.
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Precisely. We place an enormous amount of
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faith in the visual, in the spectacular, assuming it has the
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capacity to bypass all our stubbornness.
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And that specific assumption is what we are dismantling in our
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deep drive today. We're.
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Taking apart piece by piece. We are analyzing A theological
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argument made by the 18th century minister Jonathan
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Edwards. He preached A sermon titled The
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warnings of Scripture are in the best manner Adapted to the
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awakening and conversion of Sinners.
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Quite a long title, as was the style back then.
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Yeah, very typical for the time. Edwards bases his entire thesis
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on a very specific, almost easily overlooked statement made
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by Jesus, The Gospel of Luke, chapter 16.
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It's a key text. And our goal today is to examine
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why the written Word of God is far superior to any supernatural
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visitation, any ghost, or any spectacular miracle when it
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comes to saving a human soul. This concept sits right at the
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heart of our theology. It aligns perfectly with the
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Westminster Confession of Faith. Right.
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Specifically, the very first chapter.
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Yeah, which declares the absolute sufficiency of
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Scripture. The Confession teaches that the
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written text of the Bible contains everything necessary
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for our salvation and our understanding of God.
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So it renders spectacular signs and like new revelations,
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entirely unnecessary. Absolutely, we do not need the
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heavens to part or ghost to appear, because the text itself
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possesses an unparalleled capacity to awaken the dead and
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human heart. OK, let's unpack this.
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We need to start by looking at the biblical narrative that
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Edwards uses as his base, because it perfectly sets up
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this incredibly common human objection to the message methods
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God uses. It really does.
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It frames the whole argument. In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus
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tells a story about a wealthy man and a beggar named Lazarus.
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It is a stark, jarring narrative.
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The contrast Jesus draws is very deliberate and sharp.
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Both of these men die, right? Lazarus, who spent his life
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covered in sores outside the wealthy man's gate, is carried
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by angels to Abraham's side. So a place of comfort and.
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Rest. And then there's the.
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Wealthy man The wealthy man, conversely, wakes up in Hades in
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a state of conscious torment. Jesus describes him looking up
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across a vast distance and seeing Abraham with Lazarus
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resting safely by his side. And he immediately begs for
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help. The wealthy man immediately begs
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Abraham to have mercy, asking him to send Lazarus to just dip
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the tip of his finger in water to cool his tongue because he is
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in sheer anguish in the flames. But Abraham replies that this is
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impossible. He explains that a great chasm
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has been fixed between them. An absolute barrier preventing
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anyone from crossing over from either side.
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Right. So once the wealthy man
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processes that his own situation is permanent and hopeless, his
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mind frantically pivots to his family.
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He realizes his brothers are heading for the same fate.
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Yeah, he says that I beg you father, to send him to my
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father's house, for I have 5 brothers so that he may warn
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them lest they also come into this place of torment.
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Notice his logic here. Yeah, what's he assuming?
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He is convinced that a ghost, a resurrected dead man, showing up
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in his brother's living room is the only way to shock them out
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of their complacency. Abraham's response is
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fascinating, though he doesn't say.
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That's a great idea, but I don't have the jurisdiction.
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No, he shuts it down completely. He simply says they have Moses
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and the prophets, let them hear them.
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Meaning they already possessed the Hebrew scriptures, they have
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the Bible. That is all they need.
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And the wealthy man aggressively pushes back against this idea.
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He says no father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the
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dead they will repent. He's basically saying the Bible
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isn't enough. He is flatly rejecting the
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efficacy of the written text. He assumes the ink on the
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parchment is insufficient to get the job done.
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He is absolutely certain that a supernatural shock to the system
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will produce genuine repentance. And this argument leads to the
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definitive verdict from Abraham, which is the anchor for Edward's
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entire sermon. The punchline of the whole
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parable. Yeah, Abraham says if they do
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not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced
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if someone should rise from the dead.
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That statement defies everything we naturally assume about human
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psychology. It really does.
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It flips our expectations upside down.
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Edwards looks at this dialogue and diagnosis a massive flaw in
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how we perceive ourselves. We constantly find fault with
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the means of grace God has provided.
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We always want something more. People sit in pews or they read
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a chapter of the Bible in their living room and they think the
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experience is lacking. We hear warnings about divine
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judgement and our minds immediately search for a
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loophole. We think maybe this is just
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ancient literature, maybe it's an exaggeration.
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Right. We convince ourselves that our
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skepticism is an intellectual problem, like a lack of
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sufficient evidence. We tell ourselves that if we
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just saw a miracle or witnessed the fires of hell for five
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seconds, our doubts would vanish and we would obey.
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But Edwards cuts right through that self deception.
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He points out that our demand for science has nothing to do
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with the Bible being inadequate. So it's not a lack of proof.
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Not at all. The root issue is that the human
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will possesses a fixed aversion to repentance.
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We are hostile to the idea of surrendering our autonomy.
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We really hate the thought of abandoning our favorite sins.
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Yeah, so to justify our spiritual rebellion, we blame
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the tools God gave us. We shift the blame.
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We essentially say my failure to believe isn't my fault, it is
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God's fault for not giving me a more convincing sign.
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If he handed me better evidence, I would gladly comply.
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That's the exact excuse we. Used Wait, hold on.
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I need to challenge this because the wealthy man's request feels
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incredibly logical to me. How so?
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Think about this in terms of everyday human experience.
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If I am trying to convince my child that the stove in the
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kitchen is dangerously hot, I do not sit them down and read them
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the manufacturer's instruction manual.
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No, that would be absurd. Right.
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If I really wanted them to understand the danger, showing
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them a photograph of a severe burn or letting them feel the
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intense radiant heat on their skin is objectively more
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effective. The physical reality of the heat
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is undeniable. So, logically speaking, why
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wouldn't a supernatural warning from a literal burn victim of
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hell be the most effective way to warn those five brothers?
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Your analogy makes perfect sense if we are only dealing with a
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lack of information. If the brothers are simply
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unaware that actions have consequences, a vivid
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demonstration would be highly effective.
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But Edwards understands that the human problem is not a lack of
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information. It is an active rebellion of the
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will. So it's a hard issue, not a head
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issue. Precisely.
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You are assuming human logic applies seamlessly to divine
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justice and the state of the human soul.
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Edwards counters this by highlighting God's absolute
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knowledge of our frame. God knows how we are wired.
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He created the intricate faculties of our minds.
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He knows precisely what triggers genuine affection versus what
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just triggers a fight or flight response.
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That's a great distinction. When God ordained the method for
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saving sinners, He did not choose the method that seems
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most logical to our corrupted minds.
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He chose the method that actually penetrates the hardened
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heart. We see this exact dynamic
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playing out in modern culture constantly.
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People demand signs from heaven as a prerequisite for their
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belief. Oh, all the time.
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You will hear someone say if God would just write a message in
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the sky cloud spelling out I am real then I would bend the knee.
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Or they demand a miraculous healing right in front of them,
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or an angelic visitation in their bedroom.
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They set terms for the creator. We constantly set terms, but
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Edwards systematically dismantles this arrogance.
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He argues that the written Word of God is far superior, far more
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effective, and far more terrifying in its authority than
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any spectre, ghost or floating cloud message could ever be.
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He asks us to weigh 2 scenarios against each other.
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Let's hear them. Which has the greater capacity
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to awaken a dead soul? A solemn warning from the
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Infinite Creator Himself, declaring from heaven the
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dreadful reality of judgement, or a warning from a mere fellow
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creature coming back from the invisible world?
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Let's follow Edward's logic here, because if we accept that
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humans naturally prefer the ghost, we have to understand
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exactly why God's voice is objectively superior.
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Right. Edwards gives 2 massive reasons
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right out of the gate regarding the omniscience and the
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reliability of the divine witness.
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And his first point centers entirely on the concept of not.
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He asserts that God knows the punishment infinitely better
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than any departed soul does. Now, on the surface, that might
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sound strange. A departed soul like the wealthy
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man is the one actively feeling the torment.
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True, but God is omnipresent. He sustains the existence of the
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very universe, including the realm of judgement.
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He sees into the absolute innermost recesses of every
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soul. God understands the reality of
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eternity with a depth and clarity that a finite creature
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simply suffering the effects of it cannot even begin to
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comprehend. I am struggling to track with
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this. Let's go back to an earthly
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analogy. OK, let's hear.
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It think about a medieval dungeon.
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If a prisoner is sitting in a dark, damp, rat infested cell,
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doesn't that prisoner know the absolute misery of that dungeon
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far better than the king who drew up the blueprints but lives
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in a comfortable, sunlit palace? That's the natural way to think
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about it. The person experiencing the pain
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knows it better than the architect, right?
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That is exactly how our minds naturally frame the situation,
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but it reveals a massive theological blind spot.
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How so? You were viewing God just as an
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observer or as a disconnected architect watching from a
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distance. That completely ignores the
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creator creature distinction. Oh, I see.
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Edwards is very explicit here, drawing deep from Reformed
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theology. The judgement that condemned
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endure is God's own wrath. He is not watching a fire, He is
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the fire. Wow.
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He actively measures out their specific portions of justice.
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His holy anger is the very environment in which they exist.
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So God is not sitting light years away passively watching a
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monitor to see how the judgment is going.
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He is actively present in the administration of his own
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justice. Absolutely.
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And because of that, think about the limitations of the creature.
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The person's suffering only knows their own localized,
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highly limited experience. They only know the pain they
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feel in that specific microsecond.
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They are like a single pixel on a massive television screen.
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The pixel only knows its own specific color and brightness at
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any given moment. But God is the programmer.
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He wrote the code, He built the screen, and he sees the entire
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moving image. The suffering soul only knows
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their present agony. God knows the infinite scale of
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eternity, the totality of their sin, and the vast unending
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trajectory of His justice. Therefore, God can provide us
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with a much truer, more distinct, and more comprehensive
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account of eternal judgement than any damn soul ever could.
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That reframes everything, doesn't.
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It it really does, the creature's perspective is
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fundamentally crippled by its own finite nature.
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The pixel cannot explain the movie.
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Now Edwards takes this a step further.
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His second point in this section moves from God's complete
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knowledge to God's absolute reliability.
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Right. He argues that God's testimony
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rests on unshakable grounds, whereas a ghost's testimony is
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inherently flawed. Put yourself back in that dark
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bedroom. A ghost appears at the foot of
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your bed and starts talking. Epistemologically speaking, how
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do you know it is telling the truth?
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You really don't. How do you verify the objective
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reality of the experience? You could be suffering from
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sleep paralysis. You could be experiencing A
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hallucination brought on by extreme stress, grief, or even a
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medical condition. Or if we look at it through a
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spiritual lens, how do you know you weren't being played?
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How do you know this? Isn't a deceiving spirit, a
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demon masquerading as your departed friend just to
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manipulate you into a theological error?
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You have absolutely 0 baseline for testing the reliability of
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the apparition. It relies entirely on your
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subjective interpretation of a momentary experience.
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If you base your eternal security on that ghost, you are
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taking a massive reckless gamble.
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It is no different than basing a murder conviction on the
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testimony of a single witness who is standing a mile away in
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the fog about their glasses on right.
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The witness might be trying their best, but their capacity
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to deliver the objective truth is severely compromised.
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Contrast that with the nature of Scripture.
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When Edwards talks about the Word of God, he grounds its
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reliability in the very nature of God himself.
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We are talking about the absolute source of truth.
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Edwards notes that God is the first being, the fountain of all
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existence. He is light, and in him there is
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no darkness at all. It is ontologically impossible
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for God to deceive, and it is equally impossible for him to be
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deceived by anything. That is the crucial difference.
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A ghost offers a highly subjective, highly questionable
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visual phenomenon. The written word offers an
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objective anchor rooted in the flawless character of the
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creator. When you read the warnings in
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Scripture, you are not guessing at the motives of a floating
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apparition. You are resting on a foundation
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of absolute, unquestionable certainty.
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So if we follow Edward's progression, we established the
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superiority of God's perfect knowledge and the flawless
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reliability of his character. But knowing the truth is only
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half the battle. The authority behind that truth
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is what dictates how we react to it.
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Truth spoken by a stranger does not hit us the same way truth
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spoken by a sovereign does. This logically forces our
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discussion to move from God's knowledge to God's status.
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Edwards leans heavily into the weight of the crown.
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Authority changes the entire dynamic of a message.
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Edwards uses the concept of earthly majesty to illustrate
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this. Let's hear the illustration.
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If you were standing in a crowded town square and a random
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peasant walks up to you and tells you to leave the city
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immediately, you might ignore them.
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You might think they are crazy. Yeah, I probably would.
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But if the king himself rides into the square, looks directly
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at you, and gives you the exact same command to leave the city,
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your reaction is entirely different.
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The words are identical, but the authority of the speaker gives
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the command an undeniable, terrifying weight.
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And God is infinitely greater than any earthly king.
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He is the universal sovereign of heaven and earth.
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His authority is not derived from an election or a bloodline.
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It is derived from his nature as creator.
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So when he speaks through the pages of Scripture, the sheer
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weight of his words should strike the mind and Pierce the
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conscience far more effectively that a message from a former
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human who is now just a wandering spirit.
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Edwards makes a striking observation here, doesn't he?
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He does. He reasons that if the immediate
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declarations of the great God will not influence our behavior,
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absolutely, absolutely nothing else will.
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If the voice of the creator does not move you, the voice of a
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creature certainly will not. And Edwards brings in a massive
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crispological point to solidify this God did not simply send a
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series of angels or spirits to warn humanity.
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He sent his own son. The second Person of the Trinity
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took on human flesh, walked the dusty roads of our world and
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warned us with his own physical voice.
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To demand a ghost after the Son of God has already spoken is the
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height of insult. I think we need to ground this
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in an analogy that hits closer to home.
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Let's talk about the criminal justice system.
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OK, Imagine you're a defendant sitting in a holding cell
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waiting for your trial to begin. Another inmate, someone waiting
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for their own hearing, walks past your cell bars.
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He looks in and says, I've been reading your file.
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You are in serious trouble. They're going to throw the book
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at you and lock you away for the rest of your life.
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You might feel a slight spike of anxiety, but his words have no
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binding authority over your life.
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He is a peer. He has no capacity to enforce
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the outcome he is predicting. Precisely.
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You dismiss it because he lacks jurisdiction.
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But Fast forward a few hours. You were standing in the
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courtroom. The gavel falls.
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The room goes dead silent. The judge looks over the bench,
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stares directly into your eyes, and says the exact same words.
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I'm going to lock you away for the rest of your life.
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In that specific moment, your stomach drops, the blood runs.
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The terror is overwhelming not because the words changed, but
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because the person speaking them holds the absolute authority to
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execute the sentence. That analogy perfectly captures
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the mechanism Edwards is describing.
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God warning us of our danger possesses a far greater capacity
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to influence us because He is our judge.
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Damnation is not a natural disaster that God is warning us
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to avoid. It is a legal punishment to
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which he actively condemns and which he actively inflicts.
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He tells us himself directly in the text of Scripture that if we
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continue in our rebellion, He will hold us internally under
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his misery. Hearing that declaration from
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the one who holds your eternal destiny in His hands should
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produce a far deeper reverence than hearing it from a peer who
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simply suffered the consequences.
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Looking at the landscape of modern culture, it feels like
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we've almost entirely lost this concept.
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We have severely diminished the psychological weight of biblical
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warnings because we have lost the theological concept of God
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as a majestic, fuelsome judge. We have traded the sovereign
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judge for a cosmic therapist. That's a great way to put it.
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Modern culture often reduces God to a friendly peer, a harmless
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grandfatherly figure who just wants everyone to self actualize
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and be happy. When you deliberately strip away
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the majesty, the terrifying holiness, and the absolute
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justice of God, you naturally hollow out the weight of His
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warnings. If God is just a buddy, then His
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warnings in Scripture feel like gentle suggestions or helpful
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advice you can take or leave. This explains the modern
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obsession with supernatural phenomena.
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People crave undeniable visual proof or emotional highs because
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they no longer possess A reverent fear of the sovereign
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speaking through the written word.
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The text feels dead to them because their view of the author
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is dead. That brings us to what I
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consider the absolute pinnacle of Edward's sermon, a brilliant
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piece of psychological insight. It's my favorite part too.
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If we accept that God is the ultimate judge, and if he knows
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the terror of hell perfectly, we are still left with a lingering
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question. Why doesn't he just pull back
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the curtain? Right.
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Why not give humanity a 5 second unfiltered glimpse into the
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spiritual realm? Why not show us the flames and
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scare us straight? This requires us to look under
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the hood of human nature. Edwards relies heavily here on
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the Reformed understanding of the human will, specifically the
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concept of total depravity. God's infinite wisdom knows
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exactly what our frail, corrupted minds can handle.
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If a supernatural visitor from hell appeared and gave us an
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unfiltered, raw demonstration of eternal torment, it would not
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produce the result we think it would.
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It would not lead to genuine heart level repentance.
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This is where Edwards flips our expectations completely upside
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down. He argues that raw terror would
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likely drive a human being to absolute despair, or worse,
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cause them to openly blasphemy God.
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Let's breakdown the mechanics of why that happens.
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Because the human heart is saturated with natural darkness
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and hostility toward God, we lack the internal capacity to
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process raw divine justice correctly.
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We do not have the right software installed to interpret
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the data. If an unregenerate person is
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suddenly confronted with the unfiltered agony of hell, they
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would not look at that suffering and say, oh, I suddenly grasp
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the beautiful symmetry of God's perfect justice.
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They wouldn't say I praise him for his uncompromising
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righteousness and I repent of my wicked ways.
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No, absolutely not. So if the will only responds to
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what it finds beautiful or desirable, and the ghost only
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brings raw terror, the ghost actually forces the will to
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recoil. It creates an extreme aversion.
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Am I tracking with that? You are hitting on the precise
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mechanism. Edwards understood that terror
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triggers the instinct for self preservation, not the instinct
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for worship. The person would only see
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horror. They would feel an overwhelming,
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crushing sense of panic, and because they still possess A
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sinful nature, they would actually hate God more for
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imposing such a severe punishment.
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They would view God as a tyrant. It'd become exactly like the
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demons James chapter 2 says the demons believe in Shudder.
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They have full visual confirmation of God's reality.
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They experience the terror of His wrath, but that terror only
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causes them to curse Him. It never causes them to love
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Him. Sheer terror paralyzes the
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affections. If you want to teach someone to
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respect the ocean and learn how to swim, you don't take a person
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who has never been in the water, fly them out to the middle of
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the Atlantic during Category 5 hurricane and throw them
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overboard. They do not learn the mechanics
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of swimming in that scenario. They drown in pure unadulterated
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panic. Their brain completely shuts
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down all higher reasoning and defaults to blind survival mode.
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That is a highly accurate representation of Edwards
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argument. Sending a ghost from hell to
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warn a Sinner would be the spiritual equivalent of tossing
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someone into that hurricane. It might frighten them to the
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point of madness. It would violently strip away
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their spirit, leaving them with absolutely no heart to seek God.
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Instead of driving them toward the arms of a loving Father, it
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would drive them away in hopeless, paralyzing terror.
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They would give up all hope of salvation because the visual
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shock would overwhelm their capacity to grasp mercy.
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But God's chosen method, the written Scriptures, is perfectly
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calibrated to our infirm dark state.
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The Bible does not just drop a nuclear bomb of terror on us.
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It warns us seriously, but it provides the necessary light of
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the gospel alongside the warning.
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This is where we see the measured grace of God.
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Scripture administers the exact dosage of terror required to
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wake us up from our spiritual slothfulness, but it immediately
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pairs that warning with the promises of Christ.
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It tells us about the wrath to come, yes, but in the very next
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breath it tells us that Christ died for sinners.
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It offers a way of a sculpt. A ghost rising from the flames
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of Hades only brings a message of doom and despair.
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The Word of God brings a message of solemn judgment carefully
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wrapped in a genuine invitation of grace.
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It is designed by infinite wisdom to lead the will to
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repentance rather than driving the mind to madness.
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This all sounds brilliant in theory.
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The psychological framework is flawless, but Edwards does not
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just rely on theological theory or philosophical deduction.
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He brings the receipts from human history.
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He points out that if spectacular signs and terrifying
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visual phenomena actually work to change the human heart, the
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historical record would provide abundant evidence of it.
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But the historical record provides the exact opposite.
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Edwards proves that if the appointed means of the written
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word failed to convert a Sinner, absolutely nothing else will
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work. He walks his congregation
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through key moments in biblical history to demonstrate the total
24:15
failure of visual miracles to produce lasting faith.
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Let's look at the Israelites gathered at the base of Mount
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Sinai. This is the ultimate test case
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for the Scare Them Straight theory.
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They did not just hear a vague rumor about God, they stood at
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the foot of a mountain that was engulfed in literal fire.
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They. Saw thick, impenetrable smoke
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billowing up into the sky. They felt the solid earth
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shaking violently under their feet.
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They heard the literal voice of God speaking out of the fire
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with a volume and majesty so overwhelming that they thought
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they were going to die on the spot.
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The terror was so visceral that they literally begged Moses to
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act as a mediator. They said you speak to us and we
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will listen, but do not let God speak to us lest we die.
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They could not handle the raw exposure.
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They trembled in absolute fear. Their survival instincts were
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firing on all cylinders, but did that terrifying, undeniable
25:07
supernatural spectacle change their underlying nature?
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Did it regenerate their hearts? Absolutely not.
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Just days later, while Moses was still up on that very same
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mountain, they gather their gold earrings, built a golden calf,
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and started worshipping a piece of metal.
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The terror of the supernatural sign wore off almost the moment
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the visual stimulus was removed. It highlights the absolute
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uselessness of visual terror to change the affections.
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Edwards also brings up the era of the prophets Elijah and
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Elijah as another historical proof.
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That era was utterly saturated with incredible, undeniable
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miracles. We are talking about fire
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falling from heaven to consume a water soaked altar in front of
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hundreds of false prophets. We are talking about the dead
25:49
being raised back to life. We are talking about food
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miraculously multiplying during a severe famine.
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Yet the society at large remains so thoroughly degenerate, so
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deeply entrenched in their idolatry and rebellion under
26:02
Ahab and Jezebel, that Elijah fell into a deep depression,
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convinced he was the only true believer left in the entire
26:08
nation. The spectacular miracles did not
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produce a nation of penitent worshippers.
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They just produced temporary awe followed by a return to the
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status quo. And the ultimate historical
26:20
proof, the one that seals Edwards argument completely, is
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the life of Jesus Christ himself.
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Christ performed undeniable miracles right in front of the
26:29
very people who demanded signs. He healed men who had been born
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blind, restoring sight with a word.
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He stood outside a tomb and raised a different Lazarus, A
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literal dead man, back to life after four days in the grave.
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He fed crowds of thousands with a few loaves of bread.
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And how did the masses react to this overwhelming visual
26:47
evidence? The small remnant followed him,
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but the vast majority rejected him.
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The very religious leaders who watched him perform these
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miracles, who could not deny the supernatural reality of what he
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was doing, conspired to murder him.
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The signs did not cure their unbelief.
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The signs actually weaponized their hatred.
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Think about how this applies to our own lives.
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We don't have columns of fire on mountains, but we do have
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moments of extreme terror. Edwards mentions sick bed
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valves, which are a perfect modern equivalent.
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Think about the last time you or someone you know was in a severe
27:21
medical crisis. Someone has a massive heart
27:24
attack. They're rushed to the emergency
27:26
room. The monitors are screaming and
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they are suddenly staring death right in the face.
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They're terrified of stepping into the unknown.
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In that moment of sheer panic, they make a bargain.
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They pray. God, if I survive this, I will
27:38
completely change my life. I will be in the Pew every
27:41
Sunday. I will stop drinking.
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I will restore my marriage. And we have to acknowledge that
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they are absolutely sincere in that specific moment.
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The terror is real. The desire to avoid death is
27:51
real. But what happens?
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The surgery is successful. The fever breaks.
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The monitors quiet down. They are discharged and sent
27:58
home. And within a few weeks, or maybe
28:00
a few months, the terror fades into a distant memory and they
28:04
return right back to their old habits and their old sins.
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The overwhelming terror of death did not change their heart, it
28:11
only temporarily modified their behavior until the threat
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passed. This connects directly to the
28:17
broader Reformed understanding of how the Holy Spirit operates.
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The Westminster Confession has a very precise teaching on the
28:24
nature of the human will. External signs, whether it is a
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ghost at the foot of your bed, a miraculous healing, or a near
28:30
death experience in an ICU cannot alter a heart of stone.
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The terror of a moment vanishes like a puff of wind the second
28:38
the pressure is released. Why?
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Because the underlying nature of the person has not been
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converted. True conversion, genuine
28:45
regeneration, only happens when the Holy Spirit works directly
28:48
through the Word of God to grant a person an entirely new heart.
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Without that specific inward work of the spirit accompanying
28:55
the outward reading or preaching of the Word, no amount of
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supernatural fireworks, no amount of terror, will ever save
29:01
a single soul. Having thoroughly proved that
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the Word is the most effective, the most gracious, and
29:06
historically the only successful method for awakening sinners,
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Edwards begins to bring his sermon to a close by examining
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what this means for our own personal accountability.
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This is where the theology lands squarely in our laps.
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God deals incredibly fairly with us by giving us the absolute
29:24
best, most effective means of awakening.
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We cannot stand before the judgment seat and claim
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ignorance. We cannot say you didn't give me
29:32
a fair chance, You didn't give me enough evidence.
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In fact, Edwards points out that we enjoy vastly greater
29:38
privileges than anyone who lived during the Old Covenant.
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He highlights the historical advancements that have given us
29:44
unprecedented access to the truth.
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And Edwards was preaching in the 18th century.
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Imagine what he would say about our access today.
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We possess the complete closed Canon of Scripture.
29:54
We have the full, clear revelation of the Apostolic
29:58
writings. We aren't just looking at
29:59
shadows and types trying to decipher the meaning of the
30:02
blood of bulls and goats. We have the clear, documented
30:06
historical record of the cross and the empty tomb.
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Edwards also notes the reality of the printing press, which
30:12
fundamentally changed human access to divine truth.
30:15
In the days of Moses and the prophets, physical copies of the
30:18
Scriptures were exceedingly rare.
30:21
You had to physically travel to the synagogue to hear the
30:23
scrolls read aloud. But today, the access is
30:27
staggering. We have multiple physical Bibles
30:29
sitting on our bookshelves. We carry the entire corpus of
30:32
human theological study in our pockets on our smartphones.
30:35
We have access to the weekly preaching of the gospel, audio
30:38
shows, dissecting theology, and endless study materials.
30:42
God has saturated our environment with an absolute
30:45
abundance of instruction. The level of accountability this
30:48
brings is almost terrifying. Let's upgrade our previous
30:52
analogy. Think about a high stakes life
30:54
or death survival course. OK, set the scene.
30:57
The instructor gives you the comprehensive manual, provides
31:00
hours of free one-on-one personal training, hands you the
31:03
exact map of the terrain, and highlights the precise locations
31:07
of all the traps. You have everything you need to
31:09
survive. Right.
31:10
So if you if you ignore the manual, leave the map in your
31:13
tent, walk out into the field and immediately fall into a
31:16
trap, you cannot blame the instructor.
31:18
You cannot claim the course was rigged or unfair.
31:21
The failure rests entirely on your own willful refusal to
31:24
utilize the resources placed directly in your hands.
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Because God has provided all of this, any person who remains
31:32
stubborn, skeptical, and unrepentant is left entirely
31:36
without excuse. Edwards warns his listeners that
31:38
this reality highlights the dreadful, petrifying hardness of
31:42
the human heart. We constantly read the Old
31:45
Testament narratives about the ancient Israelites rebelling in
31:47
the wilderness, and we judge them harshly.
31:49
We read about the golden calf and we think, how could they be
31:52
so incredibly foolish? I would never do that.
31:55
But Edwards turns the mirror directly back on us.
31:58
He says we have infinitely more reason to wonder at our own
32:00
stubbornness. We possess the exact same
32:03
corrupted nature. If we continuously ignore the
32:06
clear, abundant, easily accessible teachings of the
32:09
Bible while sitting in our comfortable homes, we are
32:12
manifesting a hardness of heart that is far more terrifying than
32:16
anything the Israelites did at Sinai.
32:18
Edward's urgent application to his listeners and the
32:21
application that rings true for us today is simple.
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Use the means. Read the word.
32:27
Sit under the faithful preaching of it.
32:29
Consider it daily before your time runs out.
32:32
He references A haunting passage in Luke chapter 19 verse 42,
32:36
where Jesus stands overlooking the city of Jerusalem and weaves
32:40
over it. Pieces says would that you even
32:42
you had known on this day the things that make for peace, but
32:45
now they are hidden from your eyes.
32:47
The opportunity to hear, read, and respond to the Word of God
32:50
is an immense privilege, but it is a privilege with a strict
32:54
expiration date. We must capitalize on the time
32:56
we have with the text of Scripture.
32:58
It is the specific instrument God has ordained and His
33:00
infinite wisdom to bring us into communion with Himself.
33:03
To neglect the Bible while holding out for some
33:06
extraordinary sign, waiting for a feeling, a miracle, or a
33:10
ghost, is to recklessly gamble with your eternal soul.
33:14
To synthesize the massive progression of thought we have
33:18
covered today, human beings naturally crave ghosts and
33:21
spectacular signs because we desperately want to blame our
33:24
spiritual laziness on a lack of adequate evidence.
33:27
But God, knowing our frame better than we do, gives us his
33:31
written word because it is infinitely truer.
33:34
It comes with the undeniable, terrifying authority of the
33:38
judge himself. It is perfectly calibrated to
33:40
prevent paralyzing despair by offering grace alongside the
33:43
warning. And it is proven by the entirety
33:45
of biblical history to be the only effective tool for piercing
33:49
A hardened human heart. Which brings us to a final
33:51
thought for you to chew on after this deep dive is over.
33:53
We established earlier that a supernatural sign from the dead
33:57
would actually trigger our self preservation and drive us to
34:00
hate God's justice rather than love Him.
34:02
Yeah. That was a heavy realization.
34:03
If that is true, could it be that our modern cynical demand
34:07
for proof and miracles before we believe is actually just a
34:10
highly sophisticated defense mechanism?
34:13
Is our constant demand for more evidence just a clever
34:16
intellectual shield we use to deflect the clear, quiet,
34:19
unignorable conviction we already feel the moment we sit
34:22
down in a quiet room and read the Bible?
34:24
A heavy thought to leave you with?
34:26
You asked for a sign, but you have Moses, you have the
34:28
prophets, and you have the apostles.
34:30
Let them hear them. Thank you for joining us for
34:33
this deep dive on reformed thinking.
34:35
We will see you next time.