Latest / Reformed Thinking / God the Best Portion of the Christian (Psalm 73:25) | Jonathan Edwards

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God the Best Portion of the Christian (Psalm 73:25) | Jonathan Edwards · Reformed Thinking

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  Welcome to reformed thinking. Have you ever looked at people
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  who actively ignore God? People who live in open,
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  arrogant rebellion against his law, and yet they seem to have
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  incredibly easy, prosperous lives.
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  Oh, absolutely. You see them getting massive
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  promotions, buying enormous homes and, you know, vacationing
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  without a single care in the world.
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  Right. And meanwhile, you are trying
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  your hardest to be faithful. You might be barely paying your
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  bills, or maybe you're facing constant draining health
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  struggles. This is a very real frustration.
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  If you've ever felt that bitter, agonizing twinge of envy
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  watching the wicked succeed while the righteous suffer, you
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  are definitely not alone. Yeah, that is what our deep dive
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  is looking into today. We're examining an April 1736
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  sermon by the theologian Jonathan Edwards.
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  It is titled God the Best Portion of the Christian and it
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  is based on Psalm 73. That is a fascinating text
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  because it addresses that specific psychological and
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  spiritual crisis you just mentioned.
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  It really does. We are going to see how a
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  believer's entire value system is completely rewired from the
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  inside out, and we will look at how that rewiring answers the
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  frustration of watching a corrupt world prosper.
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  That specific brand of frustration is precisely what
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  the biblical psalmist Asaph was experiencing.
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  To set the historical and textual stage for you, Jonathan
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  Edwards preached this sermon to a congregation in New England
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  that was dealing with very ordinary human struggles.
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  Right, they were not living in a bubble.
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  No, not at all. They were looking at the
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  surrounding culture, seeing people who cared nothing for the
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  things of God achieving massive financial and social success.
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  And naturally, they were questioning the actual tangible
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  value of their faith. Edwards zeroes in on Asaph
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  brutal, unfiltered confession here, doesn't he?
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  He does. In the opening verses of Psalm
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  73, Asaph admits his feet had almost slipped into total
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  despair. He was well, He was on the brink
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  of walking away from his faith entirely because the math of the
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  universe did not seem to add up. So what is the core thesis
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  Edwards extracts from this passage?
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  He lays it out with startling clarity right at the beginning.
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  He states it is the spirit of a truly godly man to prefer God
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  before all other things, either in heaven or earth.
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  That is a massive statement. It really is.
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  Edwards uses this text to argue that true regeneration, the
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  sovereign grace applied to a believer by the Holy Spirit,
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  fundamentally and permanently alters what a human being values
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  most. Let's unpack the sheer weight of
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  Acef's temptation first. Understanding the disease is
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  critical before we look at the cure.
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  ACEF was staring directly at the prosperity of the wicked.
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  He was, and he noticed how all things went exceedingly well
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  for. Them right, He observed their
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  arrogant behavior in the middle of that prosperity.
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  He saw how they threw their weight around oppressed others
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  and faced 0 earthly consequences.
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  And the most agonizing part for Asaf?
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  The thing that created a severe cognitive dissonance was that
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  God allowed it to continue. Yes, the sovereign Lord of the
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  universe did not strike them down.
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  He let their bank accounts grow and their influence expand.
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  For a believer trying to pursue holiness, that silence from
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  heaven feels like a betrayal. It does, but then we see Asaph's
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  massive turning point in verses 16 to 17 of the Psalm.
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  He physically and spiritually changes his location.
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  He goes into the sanctuary of God.
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  Yes, and when he does this, Edwards points out three
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  distinct considerations that helped Asaph recover his
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  spiritual footing. OK, let's hear those.
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  First, Asaph considers the miserable end of the wicked,
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  realizing that despite their present prosperity, they are
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  heading toward a horrific conclusion.
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  That is a sobering realization. Second, he considers the blessed
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  end of the Saints. Although they face severe
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  afflictions now, they come to a glorious conclusion.
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  And the third consideration. Third, he realizes the godly of
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  a vastly better portion right now, today, which is God
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  Himself. Meaning they need desire,
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  absolutely nothing else. The contrast Edwards highlights
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  here between natural earthly site and what we might call
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  sanctuary site is really the interpretive key to the entire
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  sermon. I agree completely.
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  When Asaf was looking at the world through his natural
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  earthly site, he was operating under the influence of his own
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  remaining corruption. And in Reformed theology we hold
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  strictly to the doctrine of total depravity, which speaks
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  directly to this. Yes, that doctrine teaches that
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  the natural human mind, the will and the are completely distorted
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  by the fall of man. So the unregenerate mind
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  measures blessing and success entirely by material temporal
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  metrics. Precisely through that broken
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  earthly lens, the apparent ease of the wicked looks like the
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  ultimate victory. It looks like they have won the
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  game of life. But Sanctuary site operates on a
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  completely different framework, doesn't it?
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  It does. Going into the sanctuary
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  represents A deliberate grace fueled reorientation toward the
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  divine decree and eternal realities.
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  It is an act of divine illumination where the Holy
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  Spirit opens the eyes of the heart.
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  With sanctuary sight, Asaph suddenly understands that the
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  prosperity of the wicked is actually an elaborate illusion.
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  It is hiding a woeful end. It is a slippery slope.
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  Their very wealth, their comfort, and their ease are the
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  actual mechanisms accelerating their final ruin.
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  That is terrifying. It is the temporal blessings
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  they enjoy are terrifying when viewed in the light of eternity
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  because they are the only comforts those individuals will
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  ever know. Their present joy is masking an
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  impending eternal disaster. To make that illusion easier to
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  visualize for you, think about looking at a highly curated
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  social media feed. You know you are looking at an
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  influencer who seems to possess absolutely everything you want.
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  Right, you are scrolling through their vacation photos in exotic
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  locations. You see their flawless kitchen,
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  their smiling family, and you feel that bitter envy creeping
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  up your throat. But what you are completely
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  blind to in that moment is the fact that the beautiful mansion
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  they're taking those selfies in is structurally compromised.
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  It is actively collapsing. Oh, that is a fantastic analogy.
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  The foundation is completely rotted away, the roof is caving
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  in, the ground underneath is opening up into a sinkhole, but
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  all you see is the warm golden hour filter they applied to the
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  photo. So you are intensely envying a
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  person who is standing in a doomed structure.
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  Yes. Now, taking that analogy a step
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  further, what happens to the human mind when it focuses
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  solely on visible temporal prosperity?
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  It becomes obsessed with the filters and the superficial
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  images. It totally ignores the
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  structural reality of the universe.
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  It trades the eternal weight of glory for a momentary dopamine
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  hit. And when the human mind focuses
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  entirely on visible temporal prosperity, it shrinks its own
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  capacity to comprehend eternity. It becomes trapped in a tiny,
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  claustrophobic box of the present moment.
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  Edwards identifies this tragedy very clearly.
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  He points out that he who has God has all.
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  Yes, even in the middle of severe, crushing affliction, the
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  state of the godly is infinitely better than the state of the
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  most prosperous, wicked person on earth.
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  Because the natural mind is spiritually dead, it cannot
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  perceive the value of an invisible God.
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  It demands tangible physical proof, but.
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  The regenerated mind, awakened by sovereign grace, understands
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  that having the Creator of the universe as your portion
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  outweighs any temporary earthly discomfort.
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  You possess the structural integrity of a justified
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  relationship with the Almighty, and that renders the crumbling
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  House of worldly wealth entirely irrelevant.
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  Therefore, knowing the wicked's end solves the problem of envy
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  for Asif. Right.
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  The envy evaporates. You do not envy a man on his way
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  to the executioner just because he is eating a lavish final
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  meat. That is a stark way to put it,
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  but it is true. But that raises a massive
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  question regarding the other side of the equation.
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  What is that? What is the actual substance of
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  the Saints Blessed End? Knowing the wicked face
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  destruction is 1/2 of the puzzle, but what makes the
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  believers future so incredibly desirable?
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  Why should the Saint long for heaven?
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  That is the perfect pivot, because if heaven is just an
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  escape hatch from judgement, it is a pretty shallow hope.
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  It really is. Edwards begins his argument
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  regarding heaven by stating that a godly man prefers God before
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  anything actually in heaven. Heaven is described in the
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  biblical text as the chosen country.
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  It is the true Father's house, the city with foundations, whose
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  builder and maker is God. But Edwards then makes a
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  fascinating, razor sharp distinction.
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  He says a godly man prefers God not only before anything
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  actually in heaven, but also before anything conceived to be
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  in heaven. He contrasts the biblical
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  Christian view of heaven with Islamic concepts of paradise,
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  which he refers to in the language of his day as
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  Muhammadan views. Right.
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  Those views focus heavily on sensual delights, carnal
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  appetites, endless feasts and physical pleasures.
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  Edwards is making the point that the believers treasure is in
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  heaven specifically and exclusively because God is
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  gloriously present there. Heaven is the place where God's
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  love is perfectly and fully manifested without the hindrance
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  of human sin. To fully understand this
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  heavenly preference, we need to look closely at how Edwards
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  unpacks Hebrews 11.13. That passage speaks of the Old
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  Testament Saints who died in faith, not having received the
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  promises, but having seen them afar off.
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  And they confess that they were strangers and pilgrims on the
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  earth. Edwards uses this text to
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  analyze the concept of believers as temporary residents passing
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  through a foreign, hostile land. Their motivation was not simply
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  to find a more comfortable geographical location or a
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  better political climate. Look at the motivation of the
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  early Christian martyrs, the men and women who were thrown to the
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  lions or burned at the stake. They did not suffer cruel
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  persecutions, torture and agonizing death just to get an
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  upgrade in their living conditions.
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  No, they did not endure those horrors just to go to a nice
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  place with pretty scenery and a mild climate.
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  They suffered willingly because they wanted to be with their
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  glorious Redeemer. The geographical location of
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  heaven, the architecture of the New Jerusalem, all of it is
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  entirely secondary to the relational reality of being in
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  the unmediated, unveiled presence of the Triune God.
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  Wait, let's play devil's advocate here to really test the
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  strength of Edwards logic. Yeah, I am ready.
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  Imagine a hypothetical scenario where a heaven existed with
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  literal streets of solid gold gates made of single giant
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  pearls. A place where everyone had
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  perfect physical health, immense personal wealth, and there was
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  absolutely no physical pain, sorrow or suffering ever again.
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  OK, A. Perfect material paradise.
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  Yes, but in this hypothetical heaven, God was completely
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  absent. He just created the paradise,
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  handed over the keys and left. If we are honest about human
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  nature, wouldn't 99% of humanity take that deal in a heartbeat?
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  Without question. Wouldn't massive crowds of
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  people desperately want to go to that version of heaven, even if
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  God was nowhere to be found? That is a highly revealing
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  hypothetical scenario, and it cuts to the very core of human
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  motivation. Edwards uses that exact logic to
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  answer the question of true spiritual affections.
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  What does he say? He argues that if heaven were
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  filled with immense treasures, perfect health and vast wealth,
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  but it was empty of God, it would be an empty, melancholy
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  place for the true Christian. Here's where the distinction
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  between the unregenerate heart and the regenerate heart becomes
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  glaringly obvious. To a person still dead in their
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  sins, your hypothetical heaven sounds absolutely perfect.
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  It is the ultimate dream. They want the gifts without the
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  giver. They want the benefits of God's
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  creation without having to submit to God's authority or
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  bask in His Holiness. But Edwards points out that for
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  the Saint, God is the center of the soul's desires.
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  If you keep the soul from its center, it cannot rest.
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  Sensual delights and material perfection do not satisfy the
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  regenerated soul. In Reformed theology we teach
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  the doctrine of unconditional election.
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  Yes, meaning God chose his people not based on anything
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  they would do, but solely by His grace.
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  And the application of that grace involves giving them a
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  brand new nature that craves Him above all else.
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  A regenerate heart placed in a golden paradise without God
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  would be an absolute agony because its primary affection,
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  its greatest love, has been starved.
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  So the Christian preference for heaven is strictly a preference
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  for God himself. It is not about the gold, it is
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  not about the pearls, and it is not even primarily about the
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  absence of physical pain. It is about the presence of the
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  Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
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  But if that future reality is true, how does that heavenly
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  mindset actually change what a Christian does on a random
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  Tuesday when they are surrounded by physical earthly temptations?
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  How does a future unseen reality dictate present tangible action?
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  Right. Edwards argues that the Saint
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  prefers the future enjoyment of God over anything in this
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  present world. He cites Second Corinthians 4.18
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  where Paul says we look not at the things which are seen and
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  temporal, but those which are unseen and eternal.
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  Furthermore, the Saint prefers present spiritual attainments
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  over the world. They actively desire to know
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  more of God today, to have more of His image stamped upon their
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  character right now. They hunger and thirst for
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  righteousness like newborn babes craving milk.
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  And crucially, the Saint prefers what they already possess of God
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  over the greatest earthly dignities or ornaments available
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  in human society. They value the imparted grace
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  received, a conversion, the relation of a child to a father,
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  and the robe of Christ's righteousness above any crown a
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  human king could wear. The contrast Edwards is drawing
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  here highlights the radical countercultural nature of the
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  Christian life. The believer values what they
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  currently have in God far more than any earthly possession they
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  could potentially acquire. You mentioned the robe of
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  Christ's righteousness and the relation of a child.
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  This is the perfect place to examine the Reformed doctrines
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  of justification by imputed righteousness and the doctrine
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  of adoption. Those are the mechanisms that
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  make the believers joy possible. The Westminster Confession
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  teaches that we are not justified by any works or
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  righteousness we possess. We are not justified by grace
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  being infused into us to make us inherently good enough to earn
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  salvation, which is a view held by other traditions.
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  Instead, Reformed theology insists that Christ's perfect,
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  flawless righteousness is legally credited or imputed to
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  our account. We wear His righteousness like a
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  legal robe in the courtroom of heaven.
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  Furthermore, through adoption, we are brought into the family
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  as sons and daughters of the Most High, with all the rights
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  and privileges of heirs. The believer looks at the royal
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  robes of human Princess, the highest political offices, the
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  greatest societal honors, the coroner offices in corporate
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  America, and recognizes them as worthless, fading rags.
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  Worthless fading rags compared to the permanent legal
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  declaration of being justified before a holy God and adopted
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  into his eternal family. Psalm 84, Point Zorro
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  illustrates this value system beautifully.
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  The psalmist writes, A day in my courts is better than 1000.
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  I had rather be a doorkeeper in the House of my God than to
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  dwell in the tense of wickedness.
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  That is a wonderful verse for this concept.
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  Think of it like holding a winning lottery ticket that is
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  verified to be worth a billion dollars, but the full payout is
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  not legally available until a future date.
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  OK, I'm following you. However, the lottery Commission
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  gives you a tiny fractional advance on the payout right now,
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  maybe just a few $100 just to tide you over until the final
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  distribution. The believer values that small
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  current fraction of the payout, which represents their presence,
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  spiritual attainments, and their daily communion with God, vastly
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  more than the sum total of the entire world's current wealth.
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  The unregenerate world is busy fighting tooth and nail over
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  dirty pennies in the mud, betraying each other for a
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  slight advantage while the believer is holding a
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  guaranteed, legally binding ticket to infinite riches.
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  And they're rejoicing intensely in the small taste of grace they
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  have been given today. That analogy captures the
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  economic reality of the believers mindset very well.
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  It is a completely different accounting system.
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  It really is. But I want to extrapolate on the
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  vital tension Edwards introduces in this part of his argument.
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  He is realistic. He notes that believers are
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  capable of making progress, which means they are not perfect
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  right now. They are not stagnant in their
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  spiritual lives, but they also fluctuate.
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  There are seasons where they are intensely focused on God, where
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  their affections are burning hot, and there are seasons where
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  they might be distracted, cold or wandering.
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  Edwards readily acknowledges that Saints are not always in
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  the lively exercise of grace. They might go through periods of
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  severe spiritual dryness or even stumble grievously into sin.
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  However, the underlying spirit, the fundamental bedrock
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  disposition of desiring God more than earthly riches, remains
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  intact. Because it is anchored by
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  sovereign grace, not by the believers fluctuating emotional
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  state or daily performance. Right.
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  They might be a distracted, grumpy doorkeeper for a season,
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  but if forced to choose, they still categorically prefer being
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  a doorkeeper in God's house over dwelling comfortably in the
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  luxurious tents of wickedness. If the believers true most
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  valued treasure is this adopted relationship and this legally
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  imputed righteousness, what happens when the physical
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  earthly things they possess are violently taken away from them?
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  What happens when the bank forecloses or the diagnosis is
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  terminal? Edwards states plainly that
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  whatever changes a godly man passes through, whatever
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  tragedies strike his life, he remains happy because God is
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  unchangeable and cannot be lost. The believers main foundation
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  for happiness is located entirely above the world and
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  above all earthly changes. Edwards points out that earthly
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  enjoyments are incredibly fading.
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  They slip through our fingers like sand.
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  Worldly men, he notes, would view an unbreakable, ironclad
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  guarantee on their earthly wealth as a massive privilege.
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  They spend their entire lives, their absolute best energy,
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  trying to secure their assets against loss.
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  The pursuit of security is the driving force of the entire
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  unregenerate world. Look at human behavior.
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  People buy massive insurance policies.
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  They build highly diversified investment portfolios.
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  They create elaborate estate plans, and they install
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  expensive security systems, all to prevent their earthly
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  enjoyments from fading or being taken.
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  Yet those things are inherently, unavoidably corruptible.
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  As Kreis said, moths eat them, rust destroys them, and thieves
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  break in and steal them. Inflation ruins wealth, disease
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  ruins health, and time ruins everything else.
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  Edwards is arguing that the godly possess the very security
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  that worldly men desperately try to manufacture for their fading
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  assets, but the godly possess it in an internal, infallible
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  format. Because the Christian's portion
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  is the immutable, unchangeable God who exists outside of time
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  and decay, their ultimate inheritance is completely immune
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  to stock market crashes, physical disease, political
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  upheaval, or even death itself. Hearing the word happy in this
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  context might sound incredibly confusing to you.
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  Does Edwards mean a Christian is supposed to be walking around
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  with a superficial plastic smile on their face, even when they
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  lose their job, their physical health or tragically lose a
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  child? Are believers expected to just
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  laugh off agonizing human suffering because their
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  inheritance is secure in heaven? That sounds bordering on
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  delusional or callous. That is a crucial distinction we
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  have to make, because bad theology often leads people to
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  fake their emotions. We must carefully parse Edward's
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  words here. He is absolutely not talking
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  about a superficial emotion, a forced smile or denying the
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  reality of pain. The biblical Christian life is
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  filled with genuine grief, bitter mourning, and profound
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  sorrow over the brokenness of this world.
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  Jesus himself wept at the tomb of Lazarus.
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  What Edwards identifies is the main foundation for happiness.
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  Think of a massive skyscraper built on solid, immovable
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  bedrock. A severe Category 5 hurricane
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  might come through and shatter the glass windows, tear off the
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  exterior panels, and cause immense superficial damage.
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  The building is taking an absolute beating, and it would
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  be foolish to pretend the storm isn't tearing it apart.
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  But the foundation driven deep into the bedrock remains
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  completely untouched by the wind and the rain.
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  The Christian can weep bitterly over the loss of a job or a
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  loved one, feeling the full, crushing weight of that temporal
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  loss while simultaneously possessing an undisturbed
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  foundation of joy because their supreme portion, God himself, is
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  unlost. Edwards contrasts the total
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  uncertainty of earthly enjoyments with God, who is the
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  fountain of all good. The hurricane can destroy the
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  landscaping, but it cannot touch the eternal fountain.
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  This unshakable foundation sounds incredible, and the
• 20:31
  absolute security it offers is something every single human
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  heart longs for. But how can you know if you
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  actually possess this foundation or if you are just deceiving
• 20:40
  yourself? How do you know you are not just
• 20:42
  pretending to prefer God while secretly clutching your earthly
• 20:45
  idols in your pockets? Edwards anticipates this exact
• 20:48
  anxiety. He does not leave his
• 20:50
  congregation to guess about their spiritual state.
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  He provides A rigorous, almost surgical litmus test for self
• 20:57
  examination. He lays out five distinct,
• 21:00
  highly diagnostic questions for you to ask yourself.
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  We need to spend substantial time breaking down each one of
• 21:06
  these questions because they're meant to strip away any self
• 21:08
  deception or cultural hypocrisy. Let's look at question number
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  one. Why do you desire heaven?
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  Is your desire to go to heaven simply to avoid the torments of
• 21:17
  hell, or is it to have active Holy Communion with God?
• 21:21
  This first question is ruthless in its precision, and Edwards
• 21:25
  asks it because he understands human psychology perfectly.
• 21:28
  He knows that anyone, regardless of their spiritual state, wants
• 21:31
  to avoid pain. An unregenerate person, a
• 21:33
  totally wicked person, will desperately want to avoid the
• 21:37
  literal fire and conscious torment of hell.
• 21:40
  Self preservation is a biological and psychological
• 21:43
  instinct. But wanting fire insurance is
• 21:45
  not the same as possessing A regenerate heart.
• 21:47
  Edwards is asking if your only motivation is the absence of
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  punishment or if it is a positive, burning craving for
• 21:54
  conformity to God's holiness. The true St. desires heaven
• 21:57
  because it is the place where their remaining sin, the sin
• 22:02
  they hate and battle every day, is finally eradicated forever
• 22:05
  and they can enjoy unbroken, pure communion with their
• 22:08
  Creator. If your only interest in heaven
• 22:11
  is staying out of hell so you can continue to exist
• 22:13
  comfortably, Edwards would argue, you have not yet
• 22:16
  recognized God as your supreme portion.
• 22:18
  You are just trying to avoid the consequences of your rebellion.
• 22:22
  Question #2 forces a hypothetical choice that cuts
• 22:25
  right through our modern sensibilities.
• 22:27
  Would you live forever on Earth? Edwards asks if you could avoid
• 22:30
  death entirely and have perfect earthly prosperity forever.
• 22:34
  You never get sick, you have limitless wealth, All your
• 22:36
  earthly desires and ambitions are met.
• 22:38
  Florida State, But you would have absolutely zero spiritual
• 22:41
  intercourse with God. Would you choose that scenario
• 22:44
  over dying to be with Him? If you could have the earthly
• 22:47
  gifts forever without the heavenly giver, would you take
• 22:51
  the deal? This question exposes exactly
• 22:53
  where our affections truly lie, and it is perhaps more relevant
• 22:56
  today than in Edwards time. Think about the modern secular
• 23:00
  dream. Transhumanism.
• 23:02
  Extending the human lifespan indefinitely, eradicating
• 23:05
  disease and building an earthly utopia through technology.
• 23:09
  The secular world is actively trying to build the exact
• 23:11
  scenario Edwards describes, eternal life on earth without
• 23:15
  God. Edwards says a man's choice is
• 23:18
  that which determines his state, and every man is as his God is.
• 23:22
  If a person will gladly accept eternal earthly prosperity
• 23:25
  without God, they are declaring with their actions that the
• 23:28
  earth is their actual God. The true Christian might enjoy
• 23:31
  earthly blessings, they might love their family and their
• 23:33
  life, but the thought of an eternity permanently from the
• 23:36
  Presence, the voice, and the fellowship of their Heavenly
• 23:39
  Father is a definition of hell to them, no matter how much
• 23:42
  gold, health, or technological comfort surrounds them.
• 23:45
  Question #3 shifts the focus from the destination to the
• 23:48
  mechanism of salvation itself. Do you prefer a Christ is the
• 23:52
  way. Edwards asks if you value the
• 23:55
  way of free grace and the Redeemer's blood over your own
• 23:58
  personal righteousness. It is not just about wanting the
• 24:01
  final destination of heaven, it is about loving the specific
• 24:05
  vehicle God provided to get you there.
• 24:08
  Think of it like a breathtaking, priceless painting.
• 24:11
  It is like refusing to take any credit for a masterpiece someone
• 24:15
  else painted and actually being absolutely thrilled that the
• 24:18
  true artist Christ gets 100% of the glory for the work.
• 24:22
  You are not trying to sneak your own clumsy brush strokes onto
• 24:25
  the canvas and claim you helped. You want the artist to receive
• 24:28
  all the praise. Analogy perfectly illustrates
• 24:31
  the Reformed doctrine of sovereign grace, which Edwards
• 24:34
  explicitly ties to this third diagnostic question for.
• 24:38
  The true believer. It actually adds immense value
• 24:40
  to the heavenly inheritance that it is conferred strictly through
• 24:44
  the blood and imputed righteousness of Christ, rather
• 24:47
  than their own human performances or moral
• 24:49
  achievements. The unregenerate heart violently
• 24:51
  hates the doctrine of total depravity because it insists we
• 24:54
  contribute absolutely nothing to our salvation except the sin
• 24:57
  that made it necessary. The natural man's pride demands
• 25:00
  that he earn his keep. He wants a heaven where he can
• 25:03
  boast about his strict morality, his generous charity or his good
• 25:06
  choices. He wants to share the glory with
• 25:09
  God. But the godly man prefers Christ
• 25:12
  as the exclusive way because it glorifies the Savior and
• 25:16
  highlights the sheer staggering magnitude of God's unmerited
• 25:19
  favor. They love that they are saved by
• 25:21
  grace alone through faith alone in Christ alone, because it
• 25:25
  means Christ gets all the honor. Question #4 Deals with your
• 25:28
  daily practical conduct. Do you prefer a strict walk?
• 25:33
  If you could go to heaven by any course you pleased.
• 25:35
  If God said you could live however you wanted and still get
• 25:38
  in, would you choose a life of Labor, care and self denial with
• 25:41
  God over life of sloth and sin? This asks whether you love the
• 25:45
  process of sanctification. Do you actually want to put your
• 25:48
  sin to death, or do you just want a free pass to sin without
• 25:51
  facing the divine consequences? This question destroys the false
• 25:54
  gospel of easy believism. The unregenerate person looks
• 25:58
  the commands of God as a heavy oppressive burden.
• 26:00
  They obey only out of fear of punishment, and if that fear is
• 26:04
  removed, they immediately Sprint towards sin.
• 26:07
  But the regenerate heart has been given new desires.
• 26:10
  They agree with the apostle Paul that the law is holy, righteous,
• 26:14
  and good. Even when they fail, they love
• 26:17
  God's standard. They prefer a strict walk
• 26:19
  because they know that sin damages their communion with the
• 26:22
  Father they love. They do not view self denial as
• 26:25
  a miserable prison sentence. They view it as the necessary
• 26:28
  discipline to run the race unhindered.
• 26:31
  They want to be holy because God is holy.
• 26:33
  And finally, question #5 asks the ultimate practical trade
• 26:37
  off. Would you prefer poverty with
• 26:40
  God? Would you choose living in low
• 26:42
  mean circumstances, facing financial ruin, social rejection
• 26:46
  and obscurity, but having God's gracious presence with you over
• 26:49
  immense earthly prosperity, fame and wealth while being an alien
• 26:53
  to Him? These five questions leave
• 26:54
  absolutely no room for cultural nominal Christianity.
• 26:57
  They demand that you examine the deepest, most hidden roots of
• 27:00
  your affections. Are you following God because He
• 27:03
  is useful to your earthly goals? Are you following Him because
• 27:07
  you think He will bless your business, fix your marriage and
• 27:10
  make you healthy? Or are you following God because
• 27:14
  He is God? If he stripped away your health,
• 27:18
  your wealth, your reputation and your physical comfort like He
• 27:21
  did to Job, but offered you Himself in the ashes, would you
• 27:24
  consider it a fair trade? These questions carry immense
• 27:28
  theological and pastoral weight because they force us to stop
• 27:31
  playing religious games. I can easily imagine you working
• 27:34
  through these five questions right now and feeling a rising
• 27:37
  sense of panic. What if you answer them honestly
• 27:40
  and feel entirely unsure? What if you realize you're
• 27:43
  struggling with massive, paralyzing doubt about whether
• 27:46
  you truly prefer God above all things?
• 27:48
  Edwards was not just a brilliant theologian, he was a pastor who
• 27:51
  cared for the souls of his flock, and he does not leave his
• 27:54
  readers without a remedy. Edwards offers 2 distinct ways
• 27:57
  to determine your sincerity and resolve these painful doubts.
• 28:00
  The first way involves the feeling of particular, strong,
• 28:03
  lively exercises of the Spirit. He says God sometimes gives
• 28:07
  discoveries of His glory that draw forth the heart beyond all
• 28:10
  doubt. Moments where the Holy Spirit
• 28:12
  explicitly witnesses with our Spirit that we are children of
• 28:15
  God. The Westminster Confession has
• 28:18
  an entire chapter dedicated to the assurance of grace and
• 28:21
  salvation, which perfectly aligns with Edward's pastoral
• 28:24
  counsel here. The confession acknowledges a
• 28:26
  vital truth. True believers may have the
• 28:29
  assurance of their salvation shaken, diminished, or
• 28:32
  intermitted for various reasons. They might fall into some
• 28:35
  special sin, yield to sudden temptation, or God might
• 28:38
  temporarily withdraw the light of His countenance to test them.
• 28:41
  It is a normal, expected part of the Christian experience to
• 28:45
  wrestle with doubt. Edward's first remedy points to
• 28:47
  those gracious, subjective moments of spiritual clarity
• 28:51
  where God grants an overwhelming sense of his presence and love.
• 28:55
  In those moments, the internal testimony of the Holy Spirit
• 28:57
  provides an undeniable comfort that silences the doubts of the
• 29:00
  mind. It is a taste of heaven breaking
• 29:03
  into the present darkness. I have to challenge that first
• 29:05
  point on a purely practical level.
• 29:07
  Go ahead. If someone is sitting at home
• 29:09
  right now, agonizing over their sin and actively doubting their
• 29:12
  salvation, is Edward suggesting the answer is to just sit around
• 29:16
  on the couch, do nothing, and passively wait for a mystical
• 29:20
  feeling of assurance to strike them like lightning out of a
• 29:23
  clear blue sky? That seems incredibly passive
• 29:26
  and potentially agonizing for someone in severe distress.
• 29:29
  That is a very valid concern, and Edwards vigorously
• 29:32
  dismantles the idea of passive waiting in his own follow up to
• 29:36
  that point, he does not tell the doubting believer to sit idly by
• 29:40
  and wait for a feeling. Instead, he issues a strict
• 29:43
  active command. You must labor to grow in grace.
• 29:47
  If you want these lively exercises of the Spirit, you
• 29:50
  must actively pursue the God who grants them.
• 29:53
  Assurance is not a static possession that you put on a
• 29:55
  shelf. It requires constant
• 29:57
  cultivation. Edwards points directly to the
• 29:59
  Apostle Peter, quoting Second Peter 1.5, instructing believers
• 30:03
  to give diligence to add virtue to their faith and knowledge to
• 30:07
  their virtue. The way to increase your
• 30:08
  assurance is to earnestly press forward into greater
• 30:12
  acquaintance with God. You strengthen the principles of
• 30:14
  grace by utilizing the ordinary daily means of grace, diligently
• 30:19
  reading the Word, agonizing in prayer, and participating in
• 30:23
  corporate worship. As you pursue holiness through
• 30:25
  obedience, God often meets that diligence with the sensible
• 30:29
  assurance you are seeking. You do not wait for the fire,
• 30:33
  you gather the wood. That act of pursuit seamlessly
• 30:36
  connects to Edward's second remedy for doubt, which is
• 30:39
  practice. He says you can determine your
• 30:41
  sincerity by looking at your practical, real world choices.
• 30:45
  When God and worldly things come into direct competition in your
• 30:49
  daily life, which one do you practically choose?
• 30:51
  It is incredibly easy to say you prefer God in a theoretical
• 30:54
  classroom sense, but the proof is always in the action.
• 30:58
  The concept of competition is the ultimate proving ground for
• 31:01
  the human heart. Sincerity is proven in the
• 31:03
  Crucible of the trial. It is proven in that exact high
• 31:07
  stakes moment when a person is forced to forsake one thing to
• 31:10
  retain another. Will you lie on a report to keep
• 31:12
  your lucrative job, or will you tell the truth and risk your
• 31:15
  income to honor God's law? When those two competing
• 31:19
  interests collide violently in your life, your action reveals
• 31:23
  your true God. This is why the biblical text
• 31:25
  consistently insist on the necessity of denying oneself
• 31:29
  taking up the cross and following Christ.
• 31:31
  We often sanitize the cross today, wearing it as jewelry,
• 31:35
  but in the 1st century, the cross was an instrument of
• 31:38
  brutal execution. Taking it up means you are
• 31:40
  practically executing your earthly preferences, your pride,
• 31:43
  and your sinful desires whenever they compete with your evasions
• 31:46
  to God. This active, practical adherence
• 31:48
  to God's commands, especially when it costs you something
• 31:51
  tangible and painful, is the natural, inevitable result of
• 31:55
  truly viewing Him as your ultimate portion.
• 31:57
  You obey what you love most. Preferring God above all things
• 32:01
  is not an abstract concept or a nice theological idea to debate
• 32:05
  in a seminary classroom. It is the defining
• 32:07
  characteristic of a believer's heart, their mind, and their
• 32:10
  daily practical actions. It completely dictates how they
• 32:14
  view their money, how they spend their time, how they endure
• 32:17
  their suffering, and how they anticipate their future.
• 32:20
  It rewrites their entire value system from the inside out,
• 32:23
  turning the world's definition of success completely upside
• 32:26
  down. As we conclude this analysis of
• 32:29
  Edwards thought, I want to leave you with a concept to Mull over
• 32:33
  regarding your own life today. Edwards notes that keeping the
• 32:36
  soul from its proper center means it will never be at rest.
• 32:40
  Look at the staggering levels of anxiety, the pervasive burnout,
• 32:44
  and the inescapable restlessness that are so prevalent in our
• 32:47
  modern society. Consider the possibility that
• 32:49
  these are not just psychological issues to be medicated, but
• 32:52
  theological symptoms to be diagnosed.
• 32:55
  They are the symptoms of trying to make fading earthly portions
• 32:57
  bear the crushing weight of a divine center.
• 33:00
  A career was never meant to be your God.
• 33:02
  It will crush you with its demands.
• 33:04
  A political movement was never meant to be your savior.
• 33:07
  It will inevitably disappoint. You, a perfect family, was never
• 33:10
  meant to be your ultimate source of peace.
• 33:12
  They are flawed humans who cannot bear that burden.
• 33:15
  So ask yourself, what specific earthly thing are you currently
• 33:19
  asking to be your God, and how exhausted are you from watching
• 33:22
  it fail? That is a piercing question to
• 33:25
  consider as you examine your own affections and priorities.
• 33:29
  We want to thank you for joining us as we investigated this
• 33:31
  rigorous theological text today. May your reflections lead you to
• 33:35
  a clearer, more accurate understanding of where your true
• 33:38
  portion lies, and may it give you peace in the midst of a
• 33:41
  chaotic world. Until next time, keep seeking
• 33:43
  the truth.