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The Character of Paul an Example to Christians (Philippians 3:17) | Jonathan Edwards · Reformed Thinking

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  Welcome to reformed thinking. So today we are tearing into a
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  pretty huge paradox. We really are.
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  Why would the Holy Ghost instruct you to model your
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  entire spiritual life after, well, a confessed accessory to
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  murder a former religious terrorist, and a man who openly
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  admitted he possessed the same corrupt, warring heart that you
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  do? Right.
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  It sounds completely counterintuitive.
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  Yeah, I mean, why not just look directly at the sinless
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  perfection of Jesus Christ and copy that?
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  That is the big question. So to answer that, we are
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  executing A rigorous deep dive into four highly specific
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  sermons. These were preached by the
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  theologian Jonathan Edwards in the winter of 1739 and 1740.
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  The series is titled The Character of Paul.
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  An example to Christians, Yes. And it is built entirely on the
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  text of Philippians 3.710, where Paul commands the church to mark
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  those who walk as he walked. It is a staggering command when
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  you read it in isolation. Oh, absolutely.
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  And we need to lay down our theological parameters right at
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  the start. Most of us are Protestant
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  Christians, and we hold strictly to Reformed theology and the
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  Westminster Confession. That framework is critical
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  because Edwards is operating from that exact same theological
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  bedrock. He is preaching this during the
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  rumblings of the First Great Awakening in Northampton.
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  So there was a lot going on there.
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  There was He is watching this intense religious fervor sweep
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  through his congregation, and he recognizes an urgent need to
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  define what genuine, tested Christian behavior actually
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  looks like. Right.
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  He wants to ground it in something concrete, yes.
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  He bypasses abstract theory and points directly to the Apostle
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  Paul as the supreme sanctioned pattern for Christian life.
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  OK, let me push back on the very premise of Edwards argument here
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  because to a modern ear Philippians 3.17 sounds
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  borderline narcissistic. It really.
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  Does sound that way today? Paul tells the church to follow
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  his example. I mean, if a pastor stood up on
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  a Sunday morning today and said I am the standard mimic my life,
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  we would immediately call an elder board meeting.
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  Oh yeah. We would ask for his resignation
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  by noon. Yeah, it sounds like an attempt
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  to build a personality cult. So how does Edwards defend Paul
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  from the charge of sheer arrogance?
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  Well, Edwards anticipates that precise objection.
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  He clarifies that Paul did not issue this command out of
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  personal ambition. It was not a desire for a
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  celebrity. Following, Edwards argues from
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  the doctrine of biblical inspiration, Paul spoke as he
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  was moved by the Holy Ghost. Right, the Holy Ghost directed
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  him. Yes, the Holy Ghost directed
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  Paul to establish himself as a pattern for the Church in all
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  ages. This was an inspired directive,
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  you know, divine mandate. It was not a personal marketing
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  strategy. That makes a lot of sense.
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  God basically chose a specific human being, forged him through
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  unimaginable trials, and then permanently canonized his life
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  as the template for the Gentile church.
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  Which brings us to the core tension of Edwards first
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  argument. He sets up a striding contrast
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  between a flawless model and a relatable model.
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  He does. And this is where my skepticism
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  kind of kicks in. Because the immediate logical
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  question any Reformed believer should ask is why look at Paul
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  at all? That is the natural reformed
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  instinct. Right.
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  If we hold that Jesus Christ is the supreme prophet, priest, and
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  king, isn't Christ the absolute perfect rule and pattern for
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  humanity? Christ is a supreme model, yes,
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  and Edwards readily affirms that the acts of the divine nature
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  possess the highest possible perfection.
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  Furthermore, Christ in his human nature is our greatest pattern.
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  I mean, Christ dwelt among men. He subjected himself to physical
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  limitations like hunger and thirst.
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  He faced all the brutal afflictions of a fallen world.
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  Yes, and he endured horrific abuse from men and direct
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  temptation from Satan. Christ is the flawless standard
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  of righteousness. OK, but Edwards introduces A
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  twist here. He does.
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  He makes a brilliant theological distinction regarding the
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  mechanics of sanctification. He points out that while Christ
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  is the absolute perfect rule, Christ had no sin.
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  He was entirely without blemish, right?
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  And because of that sinlessness, there are mechanical aspects of
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  the Christian experience that Christ simply could not model
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  for us. Yes, that is the crux of the
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  issue. Like he could not model
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  repentance because he had nothing to repent of.
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  He could not model the mortification of lust because he
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  possessed no lust to notify. I mean he could not model the AD
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  advising daily internal war against a corrupted nature.
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  That is a massive distinction in Reformed theology.
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  Christ partook in human circumstances, and he suffered
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  the external assaults of a fallen world, right?
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  But because he lacked a body of sin and death, believers require
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  an additional model. We need a blueprint from a human
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  being who actually struggled with indwelling sin.
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  And Paul was a fallen creature. Yes, he was.
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  Edwards states explicitly that Paul naturally possessed the
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  same opposition of heart to good that we do.
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  Paul knew what it was like to feel the flesh warring against
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  the Spirit from the inside. I want to use an analogy to
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  solidify how this works in practice.
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  For you, the listener, Go for it.
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  Imagine you're trying to learn how to play professional
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  basketball. You were given a choice between
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  two models to study. The 1st is a player born with
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  superhuman physics, someone who is 7 feet tall, possesses a 40
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  inch vertical leap, and has reflexes that justify biological
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  limits. A.
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  Literal genetic marvel. Right.
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  Watching them is awe inspiring, but if you try to mimic their
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  physical maneuvers, you will fail because your skeletal
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  structure and muscle fibers do not possess their baseline
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  attributes. You physically cannot replicate
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  what they do. Right now, imagine studying a
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  second player with a completely average physical build, someone
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  who had to train obsessively, studying angles and developing
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  relentless endurance to overcome their typical physical
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  limitations. That changes the dynamic
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  completely. Right.
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  Which one offers a realistic, applicable training regimen for
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  you? The second player offers the
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  applicable blueprint without a doubt.
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  The first player shows you the pinnacle of the game, but the
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  second player gives you the actual mechanics for overcoming
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  the limitations you currently possess.
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  That makes perfect sense. And this is the precise argument
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  Edwards makes regarding Paul. Christ's perfection is the
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  ultimate standard we aim for, but Paul's life demonstrates how
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  a person afflicted with original sin fights back.
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  Paul provides the tactical blueprint.
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  He does. He gives us the strategies for
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  the daily grinding war against the flesh.
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  You know, if you apply Edward's logic to your own life, it is
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  incredibly freeing. You do not have to stare at the
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  unblemished perfection of Christ and let the weight of your own
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  inadequacy crush you. That is such a crucial take
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  away. Yeah, you have a gritty, battle
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  tested human model in Paul and he is sanctioned by the Holy
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  Ghost, demonstrating step by step how a Sinner pursues
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  holiness. And the phrase Edwards uses to
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  describe the pursuit of holiness is violent earnestness.
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  Violent earnestness. That is a heavy phrase.
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  It is. When Edwards breaks down Paul's
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  virtues regarding his own soul, this is the very first
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  characteristic he highlights. Edwards uses incredibly vivid
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  language here. Drawing from Christ's statement
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  that the Kingdom of heaven suffers violence.
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  Yes, Paul was like a man running a literal race for his life, or
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  a soldier in close quarters combat, sword in hand, facing
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  enemies that sought to destroy him.
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  Wow. Paul was willing to part with
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  all his worldly honors, his immense credit among the
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  Pharisees, his wealth and his physical comfort, all to win
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  Christ. OK, let's unpack this.
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  Let me push back on the timeline of that violent striving.
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  Sure. A core tenet of Reformed
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  theology is that salvation is a finished work of Christ.
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  Justification is by faith alone. If Paul was already converted,
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  if he is already justified by grace on the road to Damascus,
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  why is Edwards describing him as a man running with a sword in
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  hand, terrified of losing? I see where you're going with
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  this. That sounds suspiciously like
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  works righteousness. It sounds like Paul is trying to
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  earn his keep. That is a very common objection,
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  and it is the precise tension Edwards addresses.
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  He brings in a crucial chronological distinction here.
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  OK, many people assume Paul strove and fought to find grace,
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  and then once he met Christ, he relaxed into a state of
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  comfortable assurance. Right.
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  Like he crossed the finish line and just sat down.
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  But Edwards points out from the biblical text that Paul strove
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  even harder after his conversion.
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  Really. Yes.
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  In Philippians 3, which is a letter written decades after his
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  conversion, Paul is still talking about forgetting what is
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  behind and pressing toward the mark.
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  His justification was secure, but his sanctification demanded
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  violence. He also quotes First Corinthians
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  9.27 right where Paul says I keep under my body and bring it
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  into subjection, lest that by any means when I have preached
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  to others, I myself should be a castaway.
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  Yes, that is a pivotal verse for Edwards.
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  And let us be clear, the Greek word for keep under my body
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  literally means to beat it black and blue.
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  Paul is actively, aggressively denying his flesh because he is
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  afraid of becoming a passed away, which means being
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  eternally damned. This raises a massive
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  intellectual challenge regarding the mechanics of salvation.
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  It really does. How do we reconcile the absolute
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  security of the believer, the perseverance of the Saints, with
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  Paul's intense stated fear of damnation if he were to live a
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  wicked life? Right.
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  How do those two things exist at the same time?
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  Edwards explains this through the concept of conditional
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  propositions. He states that the conditional
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  statement If I live wickedly I will go to hell remains an
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  absolute truth even for a justified St.
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  Wait, so even for the elect? Yes, the connection between a
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  wicked life and eternal misery is a law of spiritual physics.
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  God preserved his elect from hell by preserving them from a
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  wicked life. It is like a parent putting a
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  steel guardrail along the edge of a Cliff.
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  That is a great way to picture. It the presence of the guardrail
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  does not mean the Cliff is suddenly safe to jump off.
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  The terrifying, deadly reality of the Cliff is the very reason
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  the guardrail keeps you safe. God uses the terrifying reality
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  of hell as the gargrail to keep the believer on the narrow path.
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  That is a perfect mechanical analogy.
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  God uses means to accomplish his ends.
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  The means God uses to keep believers persevering is their
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  own godly caution. Right, he works through their
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  actions. Yes, God utilizes their fear of
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  scriptural warnings. Edwards notes that Paul knew
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  this conditional proposition was true concerning himself.
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  So if Paul decided to indulge his fleshly appetites, abandoned
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  his ministry, and live in willful rebellion, he would
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  perish. Precisely, therefore, his
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  theological assurance of salvation did not make him lazy,
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  it fueled his violence striving. That makes a lot of sense.
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  God's promise of victory is what engaged Paul to fight not as one
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  beating the air, but as one wrestling with principality.
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  You know, Edwards actually turns this into a sharp critique of
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  the people sitting in his own pews.
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  He was never shy about doing that.
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  He notes it is a common plague for professors of religion, once
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  they think they possess a ticket to heaven, to immediately drop
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  their weapons and become lazy. They discard the awful
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  threatenings of God's Word. Right, assuming those warnings
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  only apply to the unregenerate. But Paul, a man who possessed
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  actual visions of the 3rd heaven, still trembled at the
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  thought of indulging a wicked life.
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  And that transition from Paul's orientation toward his own soul
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  to his orientation toward the invisible world is the next
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  major category Edwards examines. Let's dig into that.
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  Edwards highlights that Paul lived by faith and not by sight.
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  He possessed an intense, constraining love for Christ.
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  The text describes Paul feeling the love of God shed abroad in
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  his heart like some precious, fragrant ointment.
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  That is a beautiful image. It is, And because of this
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  inward invisible reality, he was utterly unashamed of the gospel
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  and the visible world. Think about the physical
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  environments Paul was walking into.
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  Christianity in the 1st century was universally despised by the
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  intellectual elite and the wealthy ruling class.
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  Christians were considered the absolute offscouring of the
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  earth, yeah. Yet Paul marched right into
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  Athens, the intellectual capital of the ancient world, and boldly
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  confronted the Epicurean and Stoic philosophers.
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  He did not hesitate for a second.
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  He stood in Rome, the political metropolis of the globe, and
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  refused to dilute his message. He gloried in an instrument of
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  state execution, the Cross. His contempt for worldly status
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  is staggering. He actively despised riches.
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  He took pleasure in infirmities, reproaches, and necessities
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  rather than seeking carnal appetites.
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  He looked only at unseen things. He trained his mind to do that,
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  yes, And Edwards draws out a highly specific detail regarding
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  how Paul managed his relationship with the Unseen
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  World, specifically regarding his extreme caution in sharing
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  his spiritual experiences. Oh, you were referring to 2nd
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  Corinthians 12, right? Where Paul mentions being caught
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  up to the 3rd heaven? Yes, he brings it up, but then
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  he abruptly breaks off his account.
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  He deliberately stops talking about the most spectacular
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  spiritual experience a human being could possibly have.
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  Why would he hold that back? Paul explicitly says he will for
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  bear, lest any man should think of him above that which he sees
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  him to be or hears of him. Wow.
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  Edwards analyzes the psychological restraint required
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  for this Paul possessed spectacular, undeniable visions
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  of paradise. But, Edwards concludes, Paul
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  silenced himself deliberately because he understood the severe
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  danger of spiritual boasting. So he was actively managing his
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  own reputation. Yes, if Paul created an
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  expectation of massive spiritual superiority based purely on his
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  words or his invisible experiences, and then his daily
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  visible deeds failed to match that impossibly high standard in
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  the eyes of onlookers, it would wound the reputation of the
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  gospel. Paul wanted people to evaluate
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  his Christianity based on his visible daily behavior, not his
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  secret visions. Exactly.
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  I mean, yes, that is spot on. If you apply Edwards logic to
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  the modern day, it fundamentally upends how we evaluate spiritual
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  maturity. We live in a culture that
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  constantly broadcasts spiritual highs.
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  Oh, everywhere you look on social media.
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  Right. People build massive platforms
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  by describing their internal revelations, their emotional
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  peaks during worship, or their supposed direct words from God.
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  Paul's restraint is a sharp rebuke to that culture.
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  It really is. He refused to let his words
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  outpace his observable actions. He preferred the grueling metric
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  of gritty daily obedience over the flashy metric of a
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  supernatural anecdote. That observable behavior forms
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  the anatomy of Christian affection, which Edwards
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  analyzes next. How did Paul's internal theology
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  manifest in his treatment of other human beings?
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  Edwards begins with Paul's meekness under severe abuse.
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  The historical record shows Paul was hated by a vast portion of
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  the civilized world. Haunted, beaten and slandered.
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  Yes, yet there is 0 biblical evidence of him harboring hatred
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  toward anyone in return. When he was reviled, he blast.
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  The prime example Edwards points to is Paul standing before King
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  Agrippa. Paul is physically bound in
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  chains. Literally chained to the floor
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  of the guards. He has been unjustly imprisoned
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  for years, targeted by assassination plots from
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  religious mobs, and yet he looks directly at the political ruler
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  keeping him in chains and says, I would to God, that not only
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  thou, but also all that, hear me this day.
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  We're both almost and all together, such as I am, except
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  these bonds. He genuinely wishes that his
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  captors could possess all the spiritual privileges of heaven
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  that he enjoys, minus the physical suffering.
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  That requires A psychological state that is difficult to even
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  comprehend. Edwards pushes it further by
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  bringing up Romans 9. Oh, that is a heavy chapter.
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  It is, Paul declares, he possesses such great heaviness
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  and continual sorrow for the unbelieving Jews, that he could
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  wish himself a cursed from Christ for their sake.
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  Let me stop you there, because that verse always causes
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  friction. I know it does.
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  Is that even psychologically possible for a human being?
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  Or is Paul just using extreme hyperbolic rhetoric?
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  How does a person reach a mental state where they are willing to
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  suffer temporal and eternal separation for the sake of
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  people who hate them? Well, Edwards does not treat it
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  as hyperbole. He attributes it to the vast,
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  expansive nature of Paul's sanctified compassion.
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  So it was a genuine, literal desire, yes.
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  Paul yielded in lawful things to please others.
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  He became all things to all men, to save some.
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  This was not a cold, calculated sense of duty.
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  It was intensely, genuinely emotional.
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  Edwards points out that Paul wept bitterly over the
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  incestuous man in the Corinthian church.
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  When Paul had to write a severe letter of ecclesiastical
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  discipline, his heart yearned toward the offender.
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  He was consumed with concern lest the man be swallowed up by
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  over much sorrow. His theology produced intense
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  empathy. It did.
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  And Edwards points out another manifestation of that empathy
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  that feels surprisingly applicable to everyday life.
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  Paul was rigorously courteous. He was very polite, yeah.
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  It sounds almost quaint to discuss courtesy in a
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  theological deep dive, but Edwards treats it as a serious,
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  weighty virtue. He treats it as a tactical
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  manifestation of love. When Paul was dragged out of the
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  temple by a mob acting like rabid animals, he addressed them
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  respectfully as fathers. That is incredible restraint.
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  When he defended his life before a corrupt Pagan Roman governor,
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  he addressed him as most noble Festus.
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  He filled the closing chapters of his epistles with warm,
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  highly specific salutations to individual men and women.
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  He did not treat people as abstract theological projects.
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  Right. He treated them with strict
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  individual dignity. Edwards uses this to level a
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  direct critique at modern Christian behavior.
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  He explicitly states that incivility is a failure of
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  Christian manners. He calls it out directly.
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  He reproves professing Christians who neglect good
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  manners and basic politeness toward their superiors or their
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  neighbors. Edwards argues that failing to
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  be courteous is a direct failure to imitate the apostle Paul.
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  We often excuse our own rudeness or abrasive behavior by claiming
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  we're just being bold for the truth.
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  We use it as a shield for bad behavior.
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  Exact. I mean, yes, that is precisely
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  what we do. But nobody in human history was
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  bolder for the truth. And Paul.
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  And yet he maintained strict, unyielding courtesy toward Pagan
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  dictators and hostile mobs. Courtesy was not a compromise to
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  the truth. It was the vehicle he used to
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  deliver. It which brings us to the
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  intersection of Paul's love for God and his love for men.
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  Edwards categorizes this as Paul's public spirit.
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  A public spirit. Yes, Paul's deepest emotional
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  reactions were tied directly to the prosperity of Christ's
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  Kingdom, not his own personal circumstances.
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  Other men grieve over lost real estate, physical pain or damage
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  to their reputation. Paul made zero count of this.
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  Thing none at all. His tears were shed over
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  doctrinal corruptions creeping into the local churches.
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  His jealousy was for the purity of the gospel, not his own bank
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  account. He wept over the Corinthian
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  church's moral compromises. Yes, that was his true sorrow.
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  Conversely, his joy was not tied to amassing earthly comfort.
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  He rejoiced when the church prospered.
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  He even rejoiced when his personal enemies preached Christ
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  out of envy and strife, as he explicitly states in Philippians
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  1. As long as the Kingdom was
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  advancing, Paul was thrilled. Even if the men advancing it
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  were simultaneously trying to destroy his personal reputation.
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  What's fascinating? Here is the mechanics of how he
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  advanced that Kingdom. Edwards highlights a specific
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  word from 2nd Corinthians 12.16. Paul admits to the Corinthians
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  that he was crafty and caught them with guile.
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  Guile that usually carries a negative connotation like
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  deceit. In this context, it means
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  rigorous calculating strategy. Paul was highly strategic.
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  He willingly surrendered lawful biblical rights because he
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  calculated that doing so would advance the Kingdom at a faster
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  rate. Can.
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  You give an example well. Marriage was completely lawful.
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  Eating meat sacrificed to idols was, under the New Covenant,
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  lawful. Taking a financial salary for
• 20:05
  preaching was not only lawful, but specifically ordained by
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  Christ. But Paul analyzed the specific
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  cultural circumstances of the churches he was planting.
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  And he strategically refused all three of those rights.
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  He just gave them up. Yes, he worked an exhausting
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  physical handicraft trade making tents day and night specifically
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  so he would not be a financial burden and risk hindering the
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  gospels reception. I want to frame this as an
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  intellectual challenge for the listener.
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  Think about the modern obsession with corporate strategy.
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  Is everywhere. Men and women spend endless
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  hours optimizing their worldly businesses.
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  They build complex spreadsheets, analyze market trends, wake up
• 20:45
  at 4:00 AM to gain a microscope topic edge on their competitors,
• 20:48
  and read endless books on leadership tactics.
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  They use immense craft and subtlety to advance their
• 20:53
  personal portfolios. Right now, apply Edwards
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  Standard to your own life. How much calculating, rigorous
• 20:59
  strategy do you put into advancing the Kingdom of Christ?
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  That is a piercing question. Do you actually sit down and
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  calculate how to optimize your time, your money, and your
• 21:09
  social influence for the gospel? Paul utilized the exact same
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  level of intense calculating strategy that a modern CEO uses,
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  but he applied it entirely to the salvation of human souls.
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  Edwards laments that exact disparity in his congregation.
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  He asks why so many men show themselves wise in promoting
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  their worldly interests, utilizing every ounce of their
• 21:29
  intellect for temporary gain, but so few show themselves wise
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  as serpents for the cause of Christ.
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  Paul optimized his entire existence for one objective.
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  And the physical cost of that optimization was a life of
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  unimaginable endurance. Edwards details the brutal
• 21:44
  catalog of sufferings found in 2nd Corinthians 11.
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  It is a brutal list. Stripes above measure prisons 5
• 21:51
  separate times. He received 39 lashes from the
• 21:53
  Jewish authorities. He was beaten with rods 3 times.
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  He was stoned and left for dead. He survived 3 shipwrecks.
• 21:59
  He faced perils in the city, perils in the wilderness, perils
• 22:02
  in the sea. He endured constant hunger,
• 22:04
  thirst, cold and nakedness. Edwards summarizes this not just
• 22:08
  as a life of suffering, but as a literal series of deaths.
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  Paul himself stated he was always bearing about in the body
• 22:15
  the dying of the Lord Jesus. He died daily.
• 22:17
  He did. His sufferings pressed him out
• 22:19
  of measure, far above human strength in so much that he
• 22:22
  despaired even of life, and this series of brutal deaths
• 22:26
  continued relentlessly until his actual physical execution under
• 22:30
  the tyrant Nero. You know what makes that
• 22:32
  endurance even more staggering is that Paul knew these
• 22:35
  afflictions awaited him in advance.
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  He did the Holy Ghost witness in every city.
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  The bonds and afflictions were waiting for him.
• 22:42
  Yet Paul's response was none of these things move me.
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  He never utilized his past sufferings as an excuse to quit.
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  He never said I have suffered enough.
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  I have put in my time, it's time to retire to a comfortable
• 22:54
  villa. That level of relentless
• 22:56
  endurance forces us to address the final argument Edwards makes
• 22:59
  in these sermons, the weight of obligation.
• 23:02
  Why are we sitting here, centuries later, strictly
• 23:05
  obligated to follow this specific man's grueling example?
• 23:09
  Edwards constructs a tight theological argument for this.
• 23:13
  First, he establishes that teachers are appointed as
• 23:15
  examples by God. It is an inherent part of the
• 23:18
  pastoral office. But Paul is not just a local
• 23:21
  elder. No, he's not.
• 23:23
  God made Paul the principal teacher of the entire Christian
• 23:25
  Church by inspiring him to write more of the New Testament than
• 23:29
  any other human being. Moses taught the nation of
• 23:32
  Israel under types and shadows, but Paul used great plainness of
• 23:36
  speech as the primary minister of the New Covenant.
• 23:39
  If you trace the historical reality, the bond becomes even
• 23:42
  tighter. We are Gentiles.
• 23:44
  Paul is specifically designated as the apostle to the Gentiles.
• 23:47
  That is the crucial link. It was chiefly by his agonizing
• 23:51
  labor, his shipwrecks, and his beatings that the countries of
• 23:54
  Europe, and subsequently the Americas, receive the Gospel in
• 23:57
  the first place. Our specific spiritual heritage
• 23:59
  traces a Direct Line back to his strategic labor.
• 24:02
  Therefore, Edwards argues, we are uniquely obligated to form
• 24:05
  our notions of Christianity directly from Paul's scriptural
• 24:08
  example. We cannot form our ideas of
• 24:10
  religion from the shifting cultural norms of our current
• 24:13
  decade. Or from whatever popular speaker
• 24:16
  happens to be trending right now.
• 24:17
  Exactly. Paul is our divinely appointed
• 24:20
  pattern. And Edwards promises massive,
• 24:23
  tangible benefits to those who take this obligation seriously.
• 24:27
  He does not just offer a life of beatings and shipwrecks.
• 24:30
  No, he points to massive spiritual rewards in this life.
• 24:34
  If you actually imitate, Paul, Edwards argues, you will secure
• 24:38
  profound, excuse me, staggering piece of conscience.
• 24:42
  You will triumph over your internal spiritual enemies, just
• 24:45
  as Paul did. You will experience an
• 24:47
  extraordinary, verified intimacy with God.
• 24:50
  And you will become a literal tactical blessing to everyone
• 24:53
  around you. Edwards makes the striking claim
• 24:56
  that wherever Paul traveled, his arrival was a greater mercy to
• 24:59
  that city than if the wealthiest monarch on earth had arrived,
• 25:02
  scattering gold in the streets. But Edwards is also a brilliant
• 25:05
  pastor, and he knows that staring at Paul's life can feel
• 25:08
  absolutely crushing. It is a terrifyingly high
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  standard. It is exhausting just reading
• 25:13
  about. It so he finishes with a vital
• 25:15
  encouragement. He points out to his listeners
• 25:17
  that Paul was a man of like passions.
• 25:19
  With us he was a former violent persecutor.
• 25:22
  He sinned against massive light when he held the coats of the
• 25:25
  men who stoned Stephen to death. He faced intense external
• 25:28
  hindrances and opposition from every side.
• 25:31
  He possessed the exact same corruptions of heart, the same
• 25:34
  internal fleshly rebellion that we battle every single day.
• 25:38
  And the core encouragement is this.
• 25:41
  The precise same God, the precise same Savior, and the
• 25:45
  same head of divine influence that empower Paul is ready and
• 25:48
  willing to help you. That is amazing.
• 25:51
  The grace that sustained Paul's sanity in a dark, damp Roman
• 25:54
  prison is the identical grace available to a believer battling
• 25:58
  sin today. The mechanics of grace have not
• 26:00
  changed. We have covered a massive amount
• 26:03
  of theological ground today. We have analyzed the terrifying
• 26:06
  standards set by the Apostle Paul.
• 26:07
  We covered a lot, yes. We dug into his violent pursuit
• 26:10
  of heaven, his absolute contempt for worldly wealth, his rigorous
• 26:14
  CEO level strategy to save human souls, and his strict courtesy
• 26:17
  toward the very men trying to kill him.
• 26:19
  He is the ultimate human blueprint for the Christian
• 26:21
  life. I want to leave the listener
• 26:23
  with one final staggering concept drawn from the very end
• 26:27
  of Edwards text. What is that?
• 26:30
  It deals with the reality of eternal rewards.
• 26:33
  Now Reformed theology strongly and rightly affirms that
• 26:36
  salvation is by grace alone. Through faith alone, we do not
• 26:41
  earn our justification. We are totally clear on that.
• 26:44
  However, Edward suggests A striking reality regarding our
• 26:47
  eternal state based on the biblical doctrine of rewards.
• 26:51
  Because Scripture plainly teaches that every man will
• 26:53
  receive his reward according to his own labor, Edwards posits
• 26:57
  that the Apostle Paul is likely the very next, being in glory to
• 27:00
  the man Jesus Christ himself. The very next being in glory.
• 27:04
  That is a massive statement. Consider the implications of
• 27:06
  that theology. The degree of our eternal glory,
• 27:09
  the actual weight of our reward in the new heavens and the new
• 27:12
  earth, is tied directly to our labor, our endurance, and our
• 27:15
  suffering for Christ in this short earthly life.
• 27:18
  I ask you to ponder what this means for your own daily
• 27:21
  choices. If the scale of your eternal
• 27:23
  reward is proportional to your calculated violent labor for the
• 27:27
  Kingdom right now, how should that alter the way you spend
• 27:30
  your time tomorrow morning? That is a question that disrupts
• 27:32
  everything. It forces you to look at your
• 27:34
  daily routine not just as life maintenance, but as tactical
• 27:38
  resource allocation for an invisible Kingdom.
• 27:40
  That is the entire point Edwards is making.
• 27:42
  We want a simple binary diagnosis, saved or not saved.
• 27:46
  But Edwards, through Paul, presents a life of violent
• 27:49
  striving, strategic labor, and endless endurance, all pointing
• 27:53
  toward a terrifyingly glorious, eternal weight of reward.
• 27:57
  Thank you for joining us on this deep dive into reformed
• 27:59
  thinking. Keep striving.