Latest / Reformed Thinking / Christian Cautions (Psalm 139:23-24) | Jonathan Edwards

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Christian Cautions (Psalm 139:23-24) | Jonathan Edwards · Reformed Thinking

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Think about the last time you you did something just totally
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selfish. Oh wow, starting right off with
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the heavy stuff. Yeah, we're not pulling any
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punches today, but seriously, think about a moment where you
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prioritized your own comfort or, you know, your own ego, or even
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just your bank account, right at the direct expense of someone
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else. Right now be honest.
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When you explained that action to yourself in your own head,
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did you actually call it selfishness?
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Or did you, did you maybe call it setting healthy boundaries?
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Oh man. Yeah.
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Or financial prudence. Right financial prudence or like
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protecting your peace? We are brilliant at acting as
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our own defense attorneys. We really are.
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We are so good at it. Well, welcome to Reformed
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thinking. I am so glad you are here with
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us today for this deep dive. Yeah, glad you could join us.
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Today we are looking at a text that argues you are in fact, the
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absolute worst judge of your own character.
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Pretty much the most biased judge possible one. 100% it
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argues that the virtues you are most proud of right now might
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actually be, well, perfectly disguised vices.
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Yeah, and that is a terrifying thought.
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It really is. We are turning our attention to
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a 300 year old highly meticulous diagnostic manual by Jonathan
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Edwards. It's titled Christian Cautions
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and it's based on Psalm 139 versus 23 and 24.
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And you know, as always, we are speaking directly to you, the
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listener. Right, whether you are driving
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or, I don't know, doing the dishes or just sitting quietly,
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we are glad you're here to do this internal audit with us.
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It is going to be a rigorous audit.
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I mean, Edwards does not leave a single stone unturned in this
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text. No, he really doesn't.
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He comes for everything he does. So let's start by looking at the
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premise of the Psalm he bases this whole thing on.
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In Psalm 139 David is praying and he says, Search me, O God,
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and know my heart, try me and know my thoughts, and see if
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there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way
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everlasting. A very famous passage.
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Super famous, but I want to pause right out of the gate
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because there is a massive logical question staring us in
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the face here. OK, what is it?
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Well, if you read the rest of Psalm 139, the text explicitly
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notes God's absolute omniscience.
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Like David literally just finished saying that God already
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knows our down sitting and our uprising.
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Right, he knows everything. Right.
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God knew our substance while we were still being formed in the
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womb. So if God already possesses
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perfect infinite clarity about every single atom of our
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existence, why on earth would David ask God to search him?
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Yeah, it sounds like a contradiction.
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Doesn't. It it really does.
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Like he already knows. That is the core paradox Edwards
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tackles first. The distinction here is between
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information and illumination. OK, break that down for me.
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Well, God does not need to search us to gather data for
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himself. The Almighty is not, you know,
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running a background check to update his files.
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Right, he doesn't need to refresh his browser.
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Spot on. The search is not for God's
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information, it is entirely for our elimination.
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When David prays for God to search him, he is asking God to
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turn the discovering light of his Spirit onto David's own
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heart so David can finally see what God already sees.
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Oh wow, so we are the ones stumbling around in the dark,
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not God. Precisely.
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And the mission of our conversation today is to take
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that exact discovering light and shine it into the corners of our
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own lives. Yeah.
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We're going to evaluate our hidden habits.
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Right, those subtle daily practices that we just brush off
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as, you know, minor character flaws to see if there was any
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wicked way in US. And the goal isn't just to feel
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terrible about ourselves. Right.
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No, not at all. The goal is not condemnation for
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the sake of feeling bad. The goal is diagnosis so that we
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might be LED in the everlasting way.
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Diagnosis. I like that.
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So if we are in the dark, how did we get there?
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Yeah, that's the big question. Edwards makes a very stark
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assertion right at the beginning about the pervasiveness of
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hidden faults, and he uses some specific theological language
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here that I want to make sure we translate for everyone.
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Definitely. He points out that unregenerate
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individuals live entirely in a state of sin.
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Let's define that first. When he says unregenerate, he's
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essentially talking about people who have not experienced a
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spiritual rebirth, right? He's referring to like, the
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factory settings of humanity. Yes, from a Reformed
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perspective, the unregenerate person is operating under the
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default human condition following the fall.
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Their core disposition, their will, is bent away from God.
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So for them, sin is not just an occasional misstep, it is the
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entire operating system. Wow, the whole operating system.
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Yeah, the whole course of their life is directed by it, even
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their seemingly good deeds. Wait, even the good deeds?
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Yeah, because those deeds are not motivated by a love for God.
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They're motivated by something else, usually self-interest.
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OK, so that makes sense for the under generate, but Edwards goes
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on to say that believers, people who have been given a new heart,
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can also easily fall into particular habitual sins without
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even realizing it. Which is the scary part for me,
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for us. Yeah, he says.
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We are exceedingly prone to walk in some such way because the
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heart is naturally prone to sin. Like like a stone naturally
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tends downwards by its gravity. It's a great image.
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Right, even with a new nature, there is still that
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gravitational pull of our old flesh.
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And the mechanics of how we become blind to this are
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terrifyingly logical. I mean, Edwards argues that the
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difficulty in knowing our own fault is not due to a lack of
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external light. Meaning the rules aren't hidden
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from us. Right.
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The rules in Scripture are plentiful, they're clear, and
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they're readily available. The problem is the darkness
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within us. It's an internal issue.
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Exactly when a particular sin or lust starts to gain ground in
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your life, it does something to your cognitive faculties.
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It biases the will, and once the will is swayed, it prejudices
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the understanding. OK, I want to flesh this out
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because this is the psychological core of everything
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we were talking about today. Sure, it makes me think of like
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a corrupt corporate accountant. OK, go with that.
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So the mind, the intellect is just the accountant, the heart
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or the will is the corrupt CEOI. See where this is going?
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Right, so the CEO decides I want to embezzle this money, I desire
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this thing and instead of the accountant saying no that is
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illegal and wrong, the accountant says give me a minute
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I will find a loophole to make this look like a legitimate
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business expense. That is a brilliant analogy.
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The mind justifies whatever the heart has already decided it
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wants. Spot on.
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The mind is highly motivated to protect the desires of the
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heart. The intellect cooks.
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The books to keep the contents quiet cooks.
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The books, I love that. Yeah, and the primary way the
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mind does this, according to Edwards, is through the
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rebranding of Vice. Rebranding, right?
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Self love makes us hate self condemnation.
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No one wakes up and says I am going to be a villain today.
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No, we all think we're the good guys.
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We do. We need to feel like we are the
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hero of our own story, so we find virtuous, respectable names
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for our evil dispositions. Oh man, the examples he uses are
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so cutting because they are so incredibly relevant right now.
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Very contemporary, yeah. He says covetousness, the
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idolatrous love of money and material gain, gets rebranded as
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prudence or diligence in business.
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Yeah, think about modern hustle culture.
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Oh, it's everywhere. Right.
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We idolize the person who works 80 hours a week, who never sees
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their family, who is ruthlessly climbing the corporate ladder.
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We call them driven. We call them successful.
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We give them awards. We do, But Edwards would look at
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that and say, no, that is covetousness.
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You have just cooked the books to make it look like a virtue.
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And look at how we rebrand our speech.
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Gossiping and backbiting get dressed up as zeal against sin.
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Oh Ouch, that one hurts. It should.
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I mean, how often do we share a scandalous story about someone
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else under the guise of like prayer requests or holding them
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accountable? I'm just sharing this so we can
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pray for them. Right, the classic Christian
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gossip loophole. We convince ourselves we are
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just bearing testimony against wickedness, taking a brave
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stand, when in reality we're just enjoying the thrill of
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tearing someone else down. We feel morally superior while
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engaging in slander. Yeah, it's pretty dark when you
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look at it clearly. And Edwards points out what
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might be the most twisted rebranding of all, rejoicing at
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someone's calamity. This one is rough.
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And someone we secretly dislike goes through a terrible
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hardship. We mask our quiet satisfaction
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by saying, well, I just hope this hardship will humble them.
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I hope it teaches them a good lesson, Right?
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We dress up our malice in the close of pastoral concern.
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It is a brilliant, devastating psychological insight.
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The mind invents pleas and arguments to stop the mouth of
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conscience. If a man desires the profits of
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the world inordinately, he will convince himself that those
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specific profits are absolute necessities for his family
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security. I'm doing it for my kids.
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Right, and if there are necessities, he is entirely
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excusable for eagerly desiring them and cutting corners to get
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them. It becomes a closed loop of self
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deception. He also highlights another
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massive blind spot, the danger of partial compliance.
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Oh, this is a big one. This is where we perform a few
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visible duties while totally ignoring the rest, and we use
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that part partial performance to trick ourselves into a false
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sense of righteousness. This is a classic diversion
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tactic. A person might be hyper focused
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on religious duties. They read their Bible every
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morning. They pray in secret.
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They keep the Sabbath strictly. They attend every church
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service. You're checking all the boxes.
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Right. Their thoughts are wholly taken
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up with these vertical acts of piety, but simultaneously they
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completely ignore their horizontal moral obligations to
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their neighbors or their family. So they are perfectly orthodox
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in their theology, but they are a nightmare to live with.
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Spot on. They might be just in their
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business dealings. They do not steal, they do not
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lie in their taxes, but they completely neglect deed deeds of
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charity. Yeah, or they avoid outward
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physical sins, but they think nothing of talking lightly
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against others or constantly quarrelling with her spouse.
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Because they've got their good things to point to.
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Right. They look at the two or three
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things they do exceptionally well and use those as a shield
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to block their eyes from the glaring omissions.
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And the rest of their character. They say to themselves, how
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could I be in sin? Look at how faithfully I attend
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church. So if our minds are this prone
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to self deception, if we are constantly cooking the books and
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hiding behind our three good habits, how do we actually go
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about fixing this internal audit?
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That's the crucial question. How do we break the loop?
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Because if I can't trust my own assessment of myself, I am in
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serious trouble. LR.
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This leads us into the practical mechanics of self examination,
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what we can call Edwards Diagnostic Toolkit.
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Yeah. To run a proper diagnostic, you
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need 2 necessary components. First, you need an accurate
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objective standard. For the Christian, that is the
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Scripture. The ultimate standard, right?
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Second, you need a willingness to scrutinize yourself against
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that standard. You have to know the rule, and
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you have to be willing to place yourself under.
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It Edwards says we have an abundant revelation of the mind
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of God. The rules are not hidden, but
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they are completely useless if we do not engage with them
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actively. Like a mirror.
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Yes, he urges us to treat the Word of God as a mirror.
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Now everyone has heard the Bible as a mirror analogy, but I want
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to talk about how Edwards applies it to the act of
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listening to a sermon. Oh, this part is so good.
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He says the natural tendency when we hear a sermon about a
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specific sin or read a historical account in the Bible
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about someone's failure is to immediately think about how it
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applies to someone else. Oh, the mind immediately
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deflects. You hear a sermon on pride and
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you immediately think, oh, I really hope my boss is listening
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to this. He really needs to hear this,
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Yes. Or your spouse.
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Right, you fix your mind on the person in the next Pew.
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It is such an arrogant reflex, but Edwards says if you want to
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break the blindness, you must violently force that application
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onto your own life. You have to force.
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It you have to ask how am I exhibiting this exact pride?
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In what ways am I making this exact mistake?
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He calls this the duty of self reflection.
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I mean, we are the only creatures on Earth capable of
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reflecting upon our own actions and analyzing what passes in our
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own minds. Which is why while to think
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about. It is.
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Yet strangely, the knowledge of ourselves is the most difficult
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thing to obtain because we actively resist it.
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We fight it tooth and nail. We do.
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That is why Edward suggests a highly compelling, almost
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shocking diagnostic tool to force the issue, the deathbed
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test. OK, I found this concept
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incredibly arresting. It wakes you up for sure.
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He says we should evaluate our current habits, our current
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secret behaviors, by asking if we will be comfortable with them
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on our deathbed. Why does he use death as the
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ultimate metric here? Because when we are healthy and
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life stretches out in front of us, our consciences are easily
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muffled. We think we have forever.
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Right. We have time.
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We have energy to construct elaborate defenses for our
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behavior. We can plead for our habits,
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argue for their lawfulness, and keep ourselves pretty
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comfortable. But the proximity of death
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strips away the public relations department.
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It removes the blinders. The accountant stops cooking the
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books when the company is literally burning to the ground.
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That's a perfect way to put it. Edwards advises us to try
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ourselves with the awful expectation of soon going out of
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the world. Imagine yourself lying there,
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knowing you were about to stand before a holy God.
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Look back at that habit you have been justifying.
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Look back at the way you speak to your spouse, or the secret
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media you consume or the grudge you have been holding.
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Ask yourself, will I rejoice in this habit in that moment?
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Or will I wish with everything in me, that I had let it alone?
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Right. Will I need some better argument
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to prove to myself that this behavior is not sinful when I'm
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staring eternity in the face? That is intense.
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The clarity that comes from contemplating your own mortality
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is piercing. Now I have to bring up another
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piece of advice from this section that made me
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immediately. Defensive, I think I know it's
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when you're talking about. Yeah, Edwards tells us that if
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we want to know our true faults, we need to listen to what our
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enemies say about us. Yes, the enemy insight.
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Now I want to push back on this. Go for it.
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Why on earth should we take the malicious words of enemies
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seriously? I mean, if someone actively
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dislikes me, their perspective is entirely biased.
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They're just trying to tear me down.
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Why would I use the insults of a hater as a diagnostic tool?
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Your reaction is the completely natural, universal human
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response. We want to dismiss an enemy's
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words out of hand because their motive is corrupt.
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Right, they don't mean well. But Edwards unpacks the tactical
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rationale here brilliantly. You have to separate the malice
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of the delivery from the potential truth of the critique.
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An enemy is highly motivated to attack your weakest structural
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point. Because they want to see the
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building fall. Precisely.
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Even if their spirit is malicious and they are speaking
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in a reviling manner purely to cause you injury, they are
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looking for the spot where they can inflict the maximum amount
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of damage. They aren't going to critique my
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good points. Right.
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They're not going to attack your strongest virtues, they're going
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to fix upon your actual flaws because that is where you have
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given them the most occasion to strike.
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Your friends love you too much to point out your worst traits.
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Friends will sugarcoat it. Your enemy has no such
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hesitation. So they're doing the hard,
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painful work of finding our blind spots because they want to
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hurt us. But Edwards is saying we can
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basically hijack their militias effort for our own
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sanctification. That is exactly what he's
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saying. Think of it as free, albeit
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painful, auditing. Free auditing.
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Wow. If an enemy calls you arrogant
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or materialistic or manipulative, the instinct is to
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fly into a rage, defend yourself, and attack their
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character in return. Which proves them right,
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usually. Yeah, it does.
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The prudent, spiritually mature move is to stop, absorb the blow
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and turn inward. Ask yourself, is there a grain
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of truth in this? An enemy's insult is a highly
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effective mirror because they see the deformity in your ways
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that your own self love absolutely refuses to let you
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see. That is a remarkably tough pill
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to swallow. It requires killing your ego on
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the spot, but the logic is undeniable.
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OK, so we've established this diagnostic toolkit, the mirror
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of the word applied directly to ourselves, the brutal clarity of
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the deathbed test, and the painful inside of our enemies.
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A solid toolkit. Now Edwards takes this lens and
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starts turning it on to specific areas of our lives.
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And he starts in the most public sphere, our time and our
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worship. Right.
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He moves into the sanctuary in the theology of the Sabbath, and
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what is striking here is how he focuses not just on blatant
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violations, like completely skipping church to go to a
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football game, but on the subtle, almost invisible
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encroachments. He examines the critique of
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Sabbath keeping by looking at the edges of holy time.
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The edges. This is where his analytical
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mind really shines, he says. It is not just about avoiding
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work in the middle of Sunday afternoon.
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It is about encroaching on the Sabbath at its very beginning.
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Yeah, the transition periods. People stay out late with their
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friends, or they keep doing worldly business right up until
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the last possible second, bleeding over into holy time,
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and they excuse it by saying, well, I just couldn't get the
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work finished in time. It was unavoidable.
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And here is the logical trap he sets for that exact excuse.
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He argues that if there were a natural necessity, people would
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find a way to finish their work on time.
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What does he mean by natural necessity?
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He uses an analogy from his era. If you knew that at a certain
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hour it would be pitch black outside and you physically could
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not see to work anymore, you would manage your time
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throughout the day to ensure you finished before the dark fell.
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Because the darkness is an unyielding boundary, you respect
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it because you have to. You can't argue with the sun,
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right? Therefore, since you're
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perfectly capable of managing your time to accommodate a
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natural necessity like the setting sun, your failure to
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finish before the Sabbath is purely a lack of care.
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Ouch. It is a failure to treat a moral
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necessity with the same diligence as a natural one.
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You are communicating that God's command is less pressing than
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the rotation of the earth. That is such a sharp
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observation. If we update that to today, it
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is the person who answers work emails at 11:30 PM on a Saturday
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night or who checks Slack on their phone while walking into
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the church building. Yeah, we say we have to do it.
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But if our phone battery died, we would somehow survive.
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We would magically figure it out.
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I noticed Edwards reference Nehemiah commanding the gates of
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Jerusalem to be shut as the shadows fell before the Sabbath.
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Nehemiah did not wait until it was convenient.
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He anticipated the holy time and proactively shut out the burdens
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of the world. He took action.
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It shows the sheer intentional diligence required to protect
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that time from our own obsession with productivity.
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It does, and the encroachment happens not just with work, but
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with loitering and talk. Loitering.
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Yeah, Edwards points out how the day is subtly wasted.
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People sleep far more than usual on the Sabbath, idling away the
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time in bed instead of improving their minds in the Scriptures.
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Oh, guilty as charged. Sunday naps.
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Oh. Rest is one thing, but he's
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talking about sheer idleness, and their tongues violate the
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day just as much as their hands. The very moment the formal
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service ends, they walk out the doors and shift their
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conversations right back to worldly affairs, politics or
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sports. Did you see the game last night?
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Exactly. The spiritual focus evaporates
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the second the benediction is pronounced.
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Which brings us to the behavior within the House of God itself.
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Worship negligence, and Edwards is absolutely unsparing here.
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Let's talk about the Lord's Supper or Communion.
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This is a heavy section. He notices that people use what
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he calls scruples of conscience as a cloak for sheer negligence.
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Let's define what he means by scruples.
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A scruple in this context is a hypersensitive hesitation.
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Someone claims they feel too unworthy or too spiritually dry
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to partake in the sacrament. Oh, OK.
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They pretend they are too reverent to attend, claiming
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they are not fit to approach the table.
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It sounds very humble doesn't it?
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Like I am just such a Sinner I couldn't possibly take communion
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today. It sounds humble, but Edwards
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asks A piercing question. Are these scruples the result of
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serious, careful, agonizing inquiry into your soul?
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Are you actually doing the work? Right.
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Are you actively fasting and praying to resolve this
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unworthiness? Or are these scruples just a
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convenient cover for indolence and thoughtlessness?
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It's easier to just stay in your seat.
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Yes, if you are genuinely scrupulous, it is your absolute
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duty to thoroughly inquire and resolve those doubts, to repent
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and come to the table. You cannot just use a vague
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feeling of unworthiness as a permanent excuse to neglect what
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theologians call a positive institution.
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Meaning a direct command from Christ himself.
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Exactly. Now here is an area that
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fascinated me. The text has a remarkably strict
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view on singing praises during worship.
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I mean, you're going to bring this up?
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He does not just say we should try to sing if we feel like it.
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He says singing is a commanded duty for the whole assembly, and
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because it is commanded, individuals are obligated to
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actually learn how to sing. It is a brilliant piece of
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logical deduction. He argues that if the command is
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to worship God in vocal song, which the Psalms repeatedly
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command, then everyone must obey it.
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But wait. You can't just stand there and
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say I am joining in my heart while others sing.
21:26
I have to admit my initial reaction to this is highly
21:29
defensive because I am a terrible singer.
21:32
My immediate thought is God wouldn't want to hear me sing.
21:35
I am tone deaf. I am doing the congregation a
21:37
favor by keeping my mouth shut. A lot of people feel that way.
21:41
But Edwards isn't letting me off the hook, is he?
21:43
He is basically saying my discomfort or lack of natural
21:46
talent isn't an excuse to ignore a divine directive.
21:49
He is not letting you off the hook at all.
21:52
He points out that if everyone applied your logic, just joining
21:55
in their hearts, there would be no audible sound in the church
21:58
at all. Yeah, I guess that's true.
22:01
And if you do not know how to sing, that does not excuse you
22:04
unless you are physically, biologically incapable of
22:08
producing pitch. His logic is airtight.
22:11
You are commanded to do XX requires skill Y.
22:15
Therefore you are commanded to learn skill.
22:17
Y wow, he really breaks it down like a math problem.
22:20
He even says parents are obligated to teach their
22:22
children to sing just as they teach them to read the Bible or
22:25
pray. Neglecting to learn is living in
22:28
a way of sin because you are actively neglecting what is
22:31
necessary to attend an ordinance of God's worship.
22:34
It leaves zero wiggle room and he applies that same rigorous
22:39
strictness to our physical attention and respect during the
22:42
service. Oh yes, the distractions.
22:45
Arriving late because you couldn't be bothered to manage
22:47
your morning routine. Allowing your thoughts to Rove
22:50
after your business deals while the scripture is being read.
22:54
And the most egregious of all? Sleeping.
22:56
Sleeping during the service is treated with intense gravity by
23:00
Edwards. The analogy he uses for sleeping
23:02
in church is vivid. He says sleeping during public
23:06
worship is like falling asleep while a messenger from the King
23:08
of Kings is delivering a direct message to you.
23:11
It's an insult. If you were summoned to stand
23:14
before an earthly king and his appointed servant was reading a
23:17
decree to you in his name, laying your head down for a nap
23:20
would be a massive, treasonous affront.
23:22
It would show total contempt for the sovereign.
23:25
Right, you wouldn't do it to your boss in a meeting.
23:26
Exactly. So how can we justify doing it
23:29
when the creator of the universe is the one sending the message?
23:32
It forces you to consider the reality of what is actually
23:35
happening in the sanctuary. It is not just a lecture, it is
23:39
not a club meeting, it is an encounter with the living God.
23:43
And Edwards connects this back to the broader theme.
23:46
If our public worshipped the place where we are most aware of
23:49
being watched by others is fraught with these subtle
23:52
failures and disrespect, what happens when we move behind
23:55
closed doors? That's the scary.
23:57
Part If we act this way when the lights are on and the
23:59
congregation is watching, what do we do when no one is
24:03
watching? That takes us directly from the
24:04
public sphere into the private. Edwards defines secret sins as
24:09
those committed when only the eye of God is watching.
24:12
This is where the diagnostic X-ray gets deeply uncomfortable.
24:14
He focuses heavily on the thoughts and imaginations.
24:17
This is where the battle is often fought and lost.
24:19
In the mind. Right.
24:20
Secretly gratifying sensual appetites in your mind,
24:23
entertaining lustful scenarios, or fantasizing about revenge
24:26
against someone who wronged you is a direct provocation to a
24:29
pure God who sees the mind as clearly as the hand.
24:33
But he also mentioned something very subtle, intemperance in
24:36
lawful things. Let's explore that.
24:38
What does he mean by intemperance in lawful things?
24:41
You can take something that is perfectly fine, even a blessing
24:44
in itself, like food or rest or entertainment, and indulge in it
24:48
excessively in secret. Like it becomes a coping
24:51
mechanism. Exactly, you gratify your animal
24:54
appetites in a way that displeases God.
24:57
Think of modern binge watching or secret gluttony.
25:01
The thing itself isn't a sin, but the lack of self-control,
25:04
the elevation of physical, comfortable, spiritual
25:07
discipline becomes a secret idol.
25:09
And it is not just sins of Commission in secret.
25:11
It is the secret neglect of duty.
25:14
He points specifically to the private reading of Scripture.
25:17
He says the Bible must be a constant companion.
25:20
The guide for the blind man. Yes, the analogy he uses is that
25:23
the scriptures are like a rule for a builders measuring tape or
25:26
a guide for a blind man. If you walk in darkness, you
25:29
must have your light with you. Continue reading it once in a
25:32
great while. Just skimming a verse on Sunday
25:35
morning does not answer the design for which it was given.
25:38
Think about the physics of his analogy.
25:40
If you are literally blind, you do not check your guide once a
25:43
week, say thanks, and then try to walk through a crowded city
25:46
alone the rest of the time. You would crash immediately.
25:49
You lean on the guide constantly.
25:51
You check every step. This secret neglect of the word
25:55
starves the soul. It leaves you operating on your
25:58
own flawed instincts which we have already established are
26:01
completely corrupted by self love.
26:03
From these secret internal habits, he moves outward to our
26:08
interpersonal dispositions. He measures the internal
26:11
temperature of our hearts toward our neighbors.
26:13
Yes, the social temperature. He absolutely condemns furious,
26:17
passionate temperaments, Edward says.
26:19
An angry, fiery disposition turns a rational creature into a
26:23
wild beast. It unmakes a man.
26:25
Unmakes a man that's strong. When you are under the
26:27
prevalence sea of furious passion, when you lose your
26:30
temper and start screaming, you lose the exercise of reason.
26:34
He cites the warning from Proverbs to make no friendship
26:37
with an angry man, lest you learn his ways and get a snare
26:40
to your soul. But beyond loud, explosive
26:44
anger, he diagnosis the quieter, more subtle sicknesses of the
26:48
heart, hatred and envy. And his definitions here are
26:52
surgical. They cut right past our usual
26:54
defenses. I noticed that we usually think
26:56
of hatred as outward violence or screaming or actively plotting
27:01
to ruin someone's life, but he defines hatred as a secret
27:05
disposition to be pleased when a neighbor is rundown or
27:08
disappointed. Yes, the secret joy in another
27:11
sorrow. It is so convicting if you hear
27:13
that a Co worker you dislike got passed over for a promotion or a
27:16
neighbor you find annoying how to Fender Bender and you feel
27:19
that little warm spark of satisfaction.
27:21
That's that tiny thrill. Right, that tiny thrill that
27:23
says good, they deserved it, Edwards says.
27:25
That is hatred working in your heart.
27:26
You are guilty of hatred. It is the desire for revenge,
27:29
even if you do not have the courage to execute the revenge
27:32
yourself. You are simply glad when
27:35
circumstances do The Dirty work for you.
27:37
And envy is related but distinct.
27:41
Envy is exposed as a selfish irritation at another person's
27:44
prosperity or advancement. You look at your neighbors new
27:47
house, or their talented kids or their professional honor and it
27:50
makes you physically uncomfortable.
27:52
Why does it make us uncomfortable?
27:53
What is the root of that irritation?
27:55
Because you feel like their success is depressing your own
27:58
value. In your mind, the universe is a
28:01
0 sum game. If they win, I lose.
28:04
Exactly. You feel like they are standing
28:06
in your way. You would be pleased if they
28:08
lost their status, not because it would benefit the public
28:11
good, but merely from a selfish spirit that wants to be the
28:14
center of attention. When you envy someone, you are
28:17
essentially lodging a structural complaint against God's
28:20
Providence. You are saying God made a
28:22
mistake in blessing them instead of you.
28:25
Yes, which goes right back to the rebranding we talked about
28:27
earlier. We call our envy a concern for
28:30
fairness, or we say we are just worried that their sudden wealth
28:34
will ruin their character. We constantly lie to ourselves.
28:37
We never want to admit we're just jealous.
28:39
Never. But let's look at how this
28:41
internal decay bleeds out into the marketplace.
28:45
He brings up business and charity financial ethics.
28:48
Oh, the daily grind. Defrauding people, delaying debt
28:51
payments, hiding the faults of products being sold or even
28:54
denying the good qualities of what you buy just to squeeze the
28:58
seller for a better bargain. Oh, this has a scratch on it.
29:00
I can only give you half. Right.
29:02
All of these are violations of strict truth and justice.
29:06
They are the practical outworking of covetousness.
29:09
But equally condemned in this section is the failure of
29:12
charity, and this is a massive point in Edwards theology, the
29:17
sin of omission. A huge point.
29:18
Shutting one's eyes to a neighbor's need.
29:21
We have this idea today that giving to the poor is an
29:24
optional commendation. It is a nice thing you do if you
29:26
have a little extra cash at the end of the month and if you do
29:28
it you get a Gold Star. Extra credit.
29:30
Yeah, extra credit. But Edwards asserts that charity
29:34
is an absolute command. He references Deuteronomy,
29:37
showing that God will not acquit us for neglecting this when you
29:41
see a neighbor suffering and you harden your heart or you
29:45
purposefully avoid inquiring into their necessities.
29:48
It's like crossing the street to avoid them.
29:50
Exactly. You cross the street so you
29:51
don't have to make eye contact or you can drive ways to avoid
29:55
knowing about their poverty so you do not feel obligated to
29:58
give. You were living in a way of sin.
30:01
You are not just missing an opportunity to be nice.
30:04
You are committing an aggressive act of omission against God's
30:07
law. And there is another sin of
30:09
omission, he highlights, that I think is even harder for modern
30:12
ears to hear, failing to reprove a neighbor who is sinning.
30:16
We are terrified of doing this today.
30:18
We are paralyzed by the fear of being labeled judgmental.
30:21
Nobody wants to be the judgmental person.
30:23
But Edwards frames reproof as a necessary duty of love and
30:26
charity. How is it loving to tell someone
30:29
they are sinning? It feels mean.
30:31
Think about it this way. If you see a blind man walking
30:33
toward the edge of a Cliff, is it loving to stay silent because
30:37
you don't want to hurt his feelings, but pointing out his
30:39
blindness? No, obviously you'd yell for him
30:42
to stop. Of course not if you see someone
30:45
going down a destructive path, engaging in a habit that will
30:49
ruin their family or their soul, and you say nothing because you
30:52
fear for your own reputation or you just don't want to make
30:54
things awkward at the neighborhood BBQ.
30:56
Right, keep the peace. You are failing them completely.
30:59
You are allowing them to continue in destructive
31:01
blindness. He points out that people often
31:03
continue in bad behavior because no one in their circle says
31:06
anything, so the Sinner assumes their ways are generally
31:09
approved of, or at least not that bad.
31:12
Your silence acts as a rubber stamp of confirmation on their
31:15
sin. It takes immense courage to
31:17
speak the truth and love. It is much easier to just stay
31:21
quiet to their face and then go talk about them behind their
31:24
backs. Which leads perfectly into his
31:26
next critique, The sins of the Tongue, Speech and Company.
31:30
Yes, spreading uncertain reports.
31:33
Being eager to take up an I'll report about someone because it
31:36
gives you entertaining news to share.
31:38
Judging a matter before you have even heard the other person's
31:41
side, just because the first person to speak sounded
31:44
convincing. Gossip is a currency and he
31:47
targets the double tongued practice.
31:50
This is a very common social survival tactic.
31:52
Oh, I think everyone has seen this and if we are honest, most
31:55
of us have done it. Oh yeah, you agree with whatever
31:57
party you are currently standing with just to fit in.
32:00
When you are with Group A, you not along and criticize Group B.
32:04
You laugh at their jokes. Then an hour later you are
32:08
hanging out with Group B and you suddenly see their side and
32:12
subtly criticize Group A. Playing both sides.
32:14
You seem friendly to both faces, but you are an enemy to both
32:17
behind their backs. The entire performance is
32:20
motivated by a cowardly desire to please the people currently
32:24
in the room. It is social cowardice, and it
32:26
establishes and deepens the differences between people doing
32:30
massive relational damage just to secure a momentary sense of
32:33
social comfort and acceptance for yourself.
32:35
I want to zero in on one specific critique of speech from
32:38
the text that hit me incredibly hard.
32:41
It is something so common we don't even register it as a sin
32:44
exaggeration. Yes, the fisherman's tale.
32:48
Edwards notes how people add circumstances and magnify
32:51
stories just to make their conversation more entertaining.
32:54
This is deeply tied to our modern social media habits,
32:57
isn't it? Totally.
32:58
We want the story to be more wonderful, more shocking or
33:01
funnier. We want the retweets.
33:02
We want to be the life of the party, so we vary the
33:05
circumstances. We invent dialogue that didn't
33:08
quite happen. We rest words from their natural
33:10
meaning, and in doing so we violate strict truth.
33:14
We sacrifice truth for entertainment.
33:16
We justify it because we say I am just trying to be an engaging
33:20
storyteller, but God views it as a failure of veracity.
33:24
It all ties back to self love. We exaggerate to make ourselves
33:27
look better, to make our lives seem more dramatic, or to ensure
33:31
our stories keep us at the center of attention.
33:33
We're willing to sacrifice the truth on the altar of our own
33:36
ego. It's all about us.
33:38
So we have moved from the church sanctuary to the secret chambers
33:41
of the mind to the marketplace in the neighborhood.
33:44
But the text argues that the most significant sphere of
33:47
action, the place where most of our true character is revealed
33:51
and where our sanctification is truly tested, is the home.
33:54
Edwards calls the home the primary world.
33:57
He highlights that a person's house is the greater part of
34:00
their world. This is where the vast majority
34:03
of our actions, our words and our reactions take place.
34:05
And this is exactly where the diagnostic lens is most
34:08
revealing, because the PR department is officially closed.
34:11
You can't fake it at home. No, you can't.
34:14
A person might appear highly civilized abroad, maintaining an
34:17
honest, patient civil behavior among Co workers and neighbors.
34:21
They get employee of the month, but follow them home, walk
34:25
through their front door and you might find them perverse,
34:27
impatient and cruel in their ways.
34:30
They save their worst for the people closest to them.
34:32
Edwards argues that the obligations of love are highest
34:35
within the family. Love is the uniting band of
34:38
society, and it is exponentially more demanding on your own roof
34:42
than anywhere else. The text gets incredibly
34:44
specific about spousal dynamics. He outlines critiques for
34:47
husbands and wives, condemning bitterness, the quickness to spy
34:51
faults, and this terrible tendency we all have to blow a
34:55
tiny spark of misunderstanding into a massive house burning
34:58
flame of contention. Making a mountain out of a
35:01
molehill, he reminds the reader that the vows of the marriage
35:05
covenant are not ordinary promises.
35:07
They are made in the presence of God.
35:09
When spouses cross each other, set up their own wills and
35:12
stubborn opposition, and actively study how to thwart
35:16
each other rather than accommodate each other, they are
35:18
making light of those sacred vows.
35:21
They are profaning a covenant. Let's look at the specific
35:24
instructions for husbands. The text rebukes husbands who
35:27
act imperious, treating their wives like domestic servants
35:31
rather than Co heirs of grace. Edwards provides A fascinating,
35:35
highly specific economic example.
35:37
Here. He criticizes husbands who lay
35:39
unjust restraints on their wives regarding the disposal of common
35:43
property for charity. Yes, this jumped out at me.
35:46
He points out that the Proverbs 31 wife, the biblical ideal of a
35:49
godly woman, stretches out her hand to the poor.
35:52
Edwards reasons that if God praises her forgiving to the
35:55
needy, it inherently implies she has the right, the authority,
35:58
and the power to do so. A radical thought for his time.
36:01
Very much so. A husband who restricts his wife
36:03
from exercising her own judgement and prudence and
36:05
giving to charity is directly violent, dilating the word of
36:09
God. He is stripping her of an agency
36:11
that God explicitly commends. It is a surprisingly progressive
36:16
economic argument for a Puritan in the 18th century.
36:19
It is, but it rests on a very solid exegetical foundation.
36:24
A biblical duty implies the right and the freedom to perform
36:27
that duty. On the other hand, he also has
36:29
stern warnings for wives. Right.
36:32
He warns against making a jest of the vows of submission and
36:34
coordination within the household.
36:36
Whatever order is commanded by God and solemnly vowed in the
36:39
marriage ceremony should never be treated lightly or treated as
36:42
a joke to complain about with friends.
36:45
From the dynamics between spouses, he moves to the immense
36:47
weight of parenting, and he poses A piercing question.
36:52
Our parents as concerned with their children's eternal state
36:54
as they are with providing them a worldly estate.
36:57
Oh, that hits a nerve today, doesn't it?
36:59
We spend so much energy, time and money trying to leave our
37:02
kids a financial inheritance, making sure they get into the
37:05
right college, making sure they are set up for success in this
37:08
world. But do we labor with the same
37:11
intensity to ensure they are fitted for the next?
37:14
To illustrate the terrifying danger of failing in this,
37:18
Edwards uses the chilling historical example of the priest
37:21
Eli from the Old Testament book of First Samuel.
37:24
For anyone who hasn't read First Samuel recently, who is Eli and
37:28
what did he do? Eli was the high priest and
37:30
judge of Israel. He had two sons, Hofni and
37:33
Phineas, who were also priests, but they were terribly corrupt.
37:37
They were stealing the best parts of the sacrifices from the
37:39
worshippers and engaging in gross immorality right at the
37:42
Tabernacle. At the Tabernacle itself.
37:44
Right there, now Eli knew about it.
37:46
He went to his sons and said, Why do you do such things?
37:49
I hear of your evil dealings from all the people know my
37:52
sons, it is no good report that I hear.
37:54
So to be clear, Eli did reprove them.
37:57
He spoke to them solemnly and told them their behavior was
38:00
wrong. So he had the hard conversation.
38:02
He didn't just ignore it. But Edwards says that wasn't
38:05
enough. Right, because Eli wasn't just
38:08
their dad. He held the highest authority in
38:10
the land. His sin was that he failed to
38:13
restrain them. He used words when he should
38:16
have used his authority to remove them from the priesthood
38:18
entirely. That distinction between
38:20
reproving and restraining is massive.
38:23
Reproof without government, without enforcing consequences,
38:26
brings ruin. Eli lost his authority and his
38:30
mere words meant nothing to his rebellious sons.
38:33
God ultimately judged Eli's house forever, declaring a curse
38:37
on his lineage because his sons made themselves vile and he
38:40
restrained them not. Edwards points out that when
38:43
family government vanishes, when parents weaken each other's
38:45
hands, one smiling while the other frowns, 1 protecting the
38:48
child from consequences while the other tries to correct them,
38:51
the children are likely to be completely undone.
38:54
He warns in very stark terms that the blood of the children
38:57
will be required at the parents hands if they neglect this
38:59
discipline. But he doesn't let the children
39:01
off the hook either, does he? Not at all.
39:04
He details the specific sins of children, despising the counsels
39:07
of parents, reacting to boundaries with fretfulness and
39:10
rebellion, and quite cruelly mocking the natural infirmities
39:14
of aging parents. He references the sons of Ham
39:17
from the Genesis narrative who made derision of their father
39:20
know his nakedness and shame. The family is the Crucible
39:24
because it strips away all pretenses.
39:26
You cannot hide your true temper from the people who share your
39:29
kitchen and your bathroom. If you are harboring a wicked
39:32
way, it will inevitably manifest at the dinner table, in the
39:35
discipline of your children, and in the tone of voice you use
39:38
with your spouse. Having swept through every room
39:40
of the listener's life, we've gone through the church, the
39:42
mind, the marketplace, in the home, The text asks the final
39:46
chilling question. What are the consequences of
39:49
letting these hidden sins remain in the dark?
39:52
We have run the diagnostic. What happens if we see the
39:54
cancer on the X-ray and decide to just ignore it?
39:57
Edwards lays out what he calls awakening considerations.
40:01
These are the brutal realities for those who, through this
40:03
process of self examination, realize they have been living in
40:07
a secret sin. First, he looks at unanswered
40:09
prayers and languish and grace. He says if you have been seeking
40:13
salvation or spiritual comfort for a long time, crying
40:16
earnestly to God, reading your Bible, and all your pains seem
40:19
to be to no purpose, you see others obtaining comfort and
40:24
growing in joy, but you are left in darkness and spiritual
40:27
dryness, Secret sin might be the culprit.
40:30
The analogy he uses here is physical, visceral and highly
40:34
accurate. He says in a loud sin is like a
40:36
secret ulcer at the vitals. Think about the biology of that.
40:39
It's a great metaphor. You can eat the most wholesome,
40:42
nutritious food. You can listen to the best
40:44
theological sermons, you can attend all the ordinances of the
40:46
church. But that internal bleeding ulcer
40:49
will keep you weak, lean and languishing.
40:52
It drains the nutrients before they can strengthen the body.
40:55
In the same way, a cherished secret sin grieves the Holy
40:59
Spirit and prevents the good influence of the Word from
41:01
taking root in your soul. He also compares A retained sin
41:04
to a breech in a dam or a brooch in a fortress wall.
41:08
Yes. Think about the physics of a
41:10
dam. A retained sin acts as a
41:13
structural vulnerability. It is an open door through which
41:17
Satan can enter. If you leave a small crack in a
41:20
dam, it will not stay a small crack.
41:23
The water pressure, we'll see to that.
41:24
The immense pressure of the water will relentlessly exploit
41:28
that weakness, widening it little by little until it
41:31
inevitably destroys the entire massive structure in a
41:34
catastrophic flood. When we see a public figure
41:37
undergo a sudden massive moral failure, it is almost never
41:41
sudden. It is the result of a tiny crack
41:43
in the dam that they allowed to remain for years.
41:46
Edwards references Gideon's ephod as an example.
41:49
Oh, right, What was the ephod again?
41:51
After a great military victory, Gideon took gold and made an
41:54
ephod, A priestly garment, and set it up in his city.
41:57
It seemed like a memorial at first, but it became an object
41:59
of idolatrous worship. It was a snare that eventually
42:02
took down his entire family line.
42:04
A small compromise. The bred destruction.
42:06
And then there are the frowns of Providence.
42:08
Edwards points to some of the heaviest historical examples in
42:11
Scripture to show how God deals with a loud sin, even in his own
42:15
beloved people. He does not hold back.
42:17
He points to Moses, the great lawgiver who missed out on
42:20
entering the Promised Land because he spoke unadvisedly and
42:23
struck the rock and anger at Meribah.
42:26
Just one moment of anger. He points to David, the man
42:29
after God's own heart, who suffered horrific family
42:31
tragedies, murder among his sons, rebellion, and the
42:34
usurpation of his throne, all following the wake of his hidden
42:38
sins of adultery and murder. And we already discussed Eli's
42:41
cursed lineage. These are the severe temporal
42:44
rebukes of Providence. It makes the prospect of death
42:47
utterly terrifying. The text argues that unaddressed
42:51
sin keeps the mind sensual. It ties your affections to this
42:54
physical world and actively blocks out the comfortable
42:57
assuring presence of God. Without that internal assurance,
43:00
you cannot look death in the face without shrinking back in
43:03
absolute terror. It destroys your peace.
43:06
The only way to have undisturbed quiet when encountering the
43:09
reality of death is to walk closely with God, undefiled in
43:13
the way of obedience. The lingering terror of death
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and a believer is very often a symptom of a hidden, unconfessed
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sickness. And this brings us to the final
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reality where Edwards really brings the hammer down on the
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reader. He states that if you have
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recognized yourself in any of these descriptions today, if the
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light has hit something, if you've seen your Sabbath
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breaking, your subtle envy of a Co worker, your double tongue
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speech to fit in, your lack of charity to the poor, or your
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domestic bitterness, the shield of ignorance is officially gone.
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You cannot claim you didn't know anymore.
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The audit is complete. Exactly.
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To continue in that behavior from this point forward, having
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seen it for what it is, is no longer a mistake of
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inadvertence. It is no longer a blind spot.
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It becomes a known willful rebellion against God.
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The discovering light has exposed the fault.
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To remain in it is to actively choose the darkness.
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That is remarkably heavy place to land, but it is the
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necessary, unavoidable result of asking God to search us.
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We have covered a massive scope today.
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Edwards text leaves absolutely no corner of the human
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experience unexamined in his pursuit of spiritual integrity.
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He checks every room of the house.
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We have gone from the way we manage time on Sunday mornings
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to the pride that keeps us from singing, to the quiet envy we
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nurse in secret, to the way we manage our money, to the tone of
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voice we use when arguing with our spouse.
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It is a thorough, painful but highly necessary audit of the
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human condition. It is designed to dismantle our
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elaborate systems of self deception so that we can stop
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cooking the books, confess our poverty, and actually be LED in
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the way everlasting by the grace of God.
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So as we wrap up this deep dive, I want to leave you with a final
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provocative thought to Mull over.
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Think back over the last hour. Think about the one specific
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area we discussed today that made you feel the most
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offensive. Pay attention to that feeling.
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The area where you felt your heart rate go up, where you were
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the most eager to justify yourself, to explain to the
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dashboard of your car why your situation is different and why
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Edwards is being too strict. What if that sudden spike of
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defensiveness is the exact location where the discovering
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light of God is trying to do its most necessary work?
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A great question. What if that defensive reflex is
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the X-ray finally catching the fracture you have been trying to
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ignore for years? Thank you for joining us on
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Reformed Thinking. Keep seeking the light and keep
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examining the heart.