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Glorious Grace (Zachariah 4:7) | Jonathan Edwards · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to Reformed Thinking, the deep dive.
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It's good to be here. Today we're plunging into a
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piece of source material that, well, it really sits at the core
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of reformed theology. We're talking about the writings
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of Jonathan Edwards. He's arguably the most
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significant American theological mind, a synthesizer, really.
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He took so much European thought and just gave it this, this
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unique spiritual fire. And you sent us his sermon.
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Glorious Grace. Our mission today is pretty
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straightforward. We want to give you a shortcut
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to understanding its structure, its logic, and, frankly, its
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revolutionary conclusions. That's right, we're zeroing in
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on a single verse that seems short but becomes explosive in
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Edward's hands. Zechariah 4.7 This isn't just
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looking at history, it's a systematic case for why God's
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mercy, His sovereign grace, is the greatest wonder in all of
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existence. Yeah, And we're trying to figure
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out the why. Why does this attribute outshine
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even the act of creation itself? Exactly.
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And Edwards, he sets the bar incredibly high right away.
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His central claim is, I mean, it's audacious.
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He says the wonders of divine grace are greater than any other
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wonder. Greater than creation.
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Greater than the wonders of divine wisdom and power you see
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in the cosmos, and even more surprisingly, greater than the
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terrifying but perfect wonders of divine justice.
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It just forces you to ask why is mercy, the act of holding back a
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deserved punishment, the crowning marvel of God?
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Well, it's because the entire architecture of the gospel is
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built on absolute, unfiltered free favor.
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And so this Dee dive is all about tracing Edwards argument
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step by step to show why the constant ecstatic shout of the
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redeemed isn't just for now, but for all of eternity.
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And that shout has to be Grace. Grace.
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He argues the work of redemption is finished, holy and entirely
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in glorious grace. From the very first thought in
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God's mind to save all the way to the final outcome.
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It's Grace from start to finish. OK, let's unpack this.
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We have to start where Edward starts, with the biblical and
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historical anchor he uses for this whole doctrine, the story
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of the headstone. Right.
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And the setting is just so vital to get the emotional and
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theological weight of this text when Zechariah is speaking.
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The children of Israel have just come back from that long, hard
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Babylonian captivity. And they're trying to restore
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their city, Jerusalem. And most important of all,
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they're rebuilding the temple. God's dwelling place among them,
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but they're struggling. I mean really struggling.
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The spiritual high of coming home has just slammed into the
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physical reality of opposition poverty, You know, just being
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demoralized. Rebuilding a huge building is
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hard enough when you have everything you need.
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And they had nothing. They were doing it under
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pressure, constantly fighting off enemies who wanted them to
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fail. And on top of all that, the
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results were, well, they were visibly not as good as the
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original. That's a huge weight on their
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shoulders mentally. It is, yeah.
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The source material points out that this new temple, even as it
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was going up, just didn't have the incredible physical splendor
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of Solomon's temple. The one they all remembered from
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before the captivity. Right.
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This was, you know, a second rate building.
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Maybe it was structurally sound, but it didn't have the gold, the
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cedar, the sheer scale of the old one.
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And that's where you get that emotional drama from Ezra
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Chapter 3. You have these old men, the ones
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who could actually remember the glory of the 1st house.
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When the foundation of this new, smaller temple is laid, the
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reaction is completely split. Some people are shouting for joy
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because hey, the work has begun. But those old men are weeping
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with a loud voice, because they're mourning what was.
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Lost and that contrast, the sound of weeping mixed with
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joyful shouts. It really shows you the people
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state of mind. They were just disheartened.
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They were judging God's future based on their limited, meager
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present. They needed a huge shift in
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perspective. A massive 1.
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So the immediate mission for the prophets, for Hagon Zechariah,
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was to step in. They had to comfort the people
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by telling them that the true value of this temple wasn't in
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its stones, it was in the spiritual reality appointed to.
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They had to shift the measure of success.
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It's not about the architecture or the wealth.
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It's about the internal spiritual glory, and Edward
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draws this out beautifully using Haggai chapter 2 where the Lord
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speaks right to this feeling of let down.
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The Lord asks who is left among you that saw this house in her
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first glory, and how do you see it now?
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Is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing?
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So he acknowledges their disappointment, he sees it, but
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then he immediately counters it with this absolute promise.
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The glory of this latter house shall be greater than of the
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former, and that is the great pivot.
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The real fulfillment of the temple isn't physical, it's
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Christological. That's the whole key to Edward's
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reading, isn't it? It's the.
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Cornerstone of it? The spiritual glory that was
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coming, the coming of the desire of all nations, who is Christ.
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That glory would fill this humble rebuilt house with
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something that makes gold and silver look like dust, and that
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promise that sets the stage for Zechariah 4.7.
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Which brings us to the phrase that defines the whole sermon.
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And he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shouting,
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crying grace, grace. Architecturally, the headstone
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or the capstone, that's the final stone, right?
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It's the one they put at the very top that completes the
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whole structure. It's the moment the work stops
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and the building stands finished, and Edwards grabs onto
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this moment of completion as a symbol for the entire work of
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the Gospel. So the meaning isn't just, hey,
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we finished the building. The meaning is that the whole
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plan of salvation, the spiritual temple of God's redemption, was
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always meant to be finished in mere grace.
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Yes. And the repetition grace.
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Grace that's so important. It's not just a polite thank
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you, it's an emphatic ecstatic shout.
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It's a dual recognition. First, you're recognizing the
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sheer wonder and glory of the grace that's been shown.
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And second, you're recognizing that this grace is the single
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defining feature of the whole finished work.
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Nobody's shouting our effort, our effort, or our merit.
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Our merit. Exactly, the final word on
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salvation is pure unmerited favor.
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And this whole historical and prophetic setup, it just
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prepares the stage for Edward Score doctrine.
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Great. It moves the conversation from a
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temporal building project to the eternal architecture of God's
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plan, a plan which by its very design just had no room for
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human contribution. And that flows so logically into
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Edward's main statement, which is really the heart of this deep
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dive. The Gospel dispensation is holy
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and entirely finished in free and glorious grace.
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He says it's so plainly the foundation is laid in grace, the
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superstructure is reared in grace, and the whole is finished
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in glorious grace. What gets me is just how
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complete that statement is. There's zero room for ambiguity
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if the foundation, the walls, and the roof for all grace.
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There's literally no part left for human effort to try and
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claim. And that's the whole point.
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Yeah. And to really get why this is so
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radical, we have to look at the contrast Edwards draws between
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the grace offered to Adam and the grace of the gospel.
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If we don't get that difference, we'll misunderstand what
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redemption is all about. OK, explain that distinction,
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because I think a lot of people tend to blend God's general
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goodness, which is always there, with the specific redemptive
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nature of gospel grace. So think about Adam in the
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garden. He's living under what
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theologians call the covenant of works.
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If Adam had obeyed God perfectly, continuously, he
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would have in the end achieved eternal happiness and glory.
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And Edwards would say that reward was still due to God's
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goodness or bounty. He concedes that yes, God
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created him happy and offered him this glorious future.
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But, and this is the key, Adam's successful obedience would have
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been part of a covenanted transaction.
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Right. He does the work the contract
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requires, and God being faithful to his own promise, would have
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given him the reward he stipulated.
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Correct. Adam would have earned it, not
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in the sense that his finite obedience could ever merit an
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infinite reward, but in the sense that God had bound himself
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by covenant to recognize that perfect obedience as the grounds
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for the reward. It was a conditional agreement,
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performance based. The reward wouldn't have been a
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gift to a rebel, it would have been a payment to a loyal
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servant. Exactly.
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So what makes gospel salvation so different?
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It's completely disconnected from performance completely.
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Gospel salvation, the way that fallen, rebellious, sinful man
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is brought back to God, is given all together freely.
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It's independent of any action, past, present or future, that
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could possibly be called merit. It's the difference between an
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employee getting a paycheck and a beggar receiving a full
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inheritance from a stranger. A perfect analogy, and this is
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where the precision of Edwards theology comes in, using Romans
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11.6. And if by grace then it is no
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more works, otherwise grace is no more grace.
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But if it be of works, then it is no more grace.
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Otherwise work is no more work. That verse is like a theological
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bulldozer. It just clears the ground of any
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kind of self-reliance. For Edwards, the principles of
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grace and works are just fundamentally opposed when it
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comes to salvation. They operate on different
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logics. If you earn it, it's a wage.
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If you get it freely, it's a gift.
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You can't mix those two. You can't.
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If even 1% of salvation is earned by human effort, a good
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thought, a moral act, anything, then grace by definition is
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gone. It just becomes conditional
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help, not free favor. If there's any element of work,
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then the whole system becomes a meritocracy and God owes you
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something. And.
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If it's 100% grace, then God owes you nothing and everything
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is a gift, and that preserves the infinite scale of His
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goodness and, well, the other humility of the one receiving
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it. Edwards insists on this purity.
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So any theology that suggests man can prepare himself or
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contribute to his own redemption is essentially trying to shout
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grace grace while at the same time trying to add their own
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little Pebble to the headstone. And Edward says you can't have
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both. So this whole architecture means
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we now have to breakdown the stages of redemption to see how
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grace really does permeate every single step.
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Edwards lays out five distinct manifestations of this sovereign
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favor. And we start at the source, the
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very first moment redemption even became a possibility.
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First, God's initial design after the Fall.
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The question here is maybe the most humbling of all.
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Why would the Infinite God even think about rescuing creatures
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who would willfully turn their backs on Him?
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Edwards does not mince words here about Man's condition after
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the fall. Man wasn't just weak or
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mistaken. He was actively, willfully
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rebellious. He was put in a happy state
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given Dominion offered eternal life on reasonable terms.
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And he rebelled and turned over from God to the devil out of a
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wicked ambition of being a God himself.
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The sin wasn't an oops, it was high treason fueled by deep
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ingratitude. That portrayal is so important.
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If man was just weak, then redemption is, you know,
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necessary charity. But if man was a willful
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traitor, redemption becomes this astonishing act of clemency.
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Absolutely, And Edwards presses this God was under no obligation
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to help. Who are we to demand God step
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in? God is self-sufficient.
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He had no manner of need of us. He didn't need our pathetic
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praises to complete His glory. Right, he dismantles that whole
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idea that God somehow needed to be worshipped by us.
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You already had thousands and 10 thousands of angels whose
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worship was definitely more perfect than ours could ever be.
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And beyond that, if God wanted more worshippers, he could just
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create other beings more perfect and glorious than man eternally
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to sing his praises. So man's ruin wouldn't have left
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any kind of hole in the divine Kingdom.
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Not at all. The path of justice, just
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letting man suffer the eternal ruin he chose for himself, was
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completely open to God, and it would have glorified His perfect
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righteousness. So the decision to even begin
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thinking about recovery had to come from somewhere else.
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Somewhere completely outside of man's merit or God's necessity.
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It had to flow from a source infinitely deeper than simple
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kindness. Edwards calls it an immense
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fountain of goodness and boundless grace.
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Just the inclination toward recovery given our rebellion and
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God's self-sufficiency, that's the first shout of grace.
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Grace. The unlikelihood of the design
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is itself a marvel. OK, so he's established how
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unlikely it was that God would even look our way.
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Now we have to confront the devastating cost he demanded of
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himself. This just raises the stakes even
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higher. 2nd, the infinite cost giving his only son.
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Edwards argues this is the supreme proof of boundless
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grace. The depth of humanity's sin and
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misery was so great that redemption couldn't be paid for
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with anything finite. It required infinite costs.
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And when Edwards says infinite cost, he's not talking about
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God's power, is he? It wasn't hard for God to do.
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No, not at all. God could speak a universe into
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existence. The cost was related to His
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Holiness and His justice. Justice demanded an infinite
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penalty for sin against an infinite God.
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Right. And the theological problem is,
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well, it's inescapable. Since man is finite, he could
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never, not in a trillion years, pay off an infinite debt.
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So to satisfy that justice, the payment had to be of infinite
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worth and value, and this meant the intervention of the blood of
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His Son and improper speaking, the blood of God, of divine
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Person. So the choice wasn't between God
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forgiving a small debt or asking for a small payment.
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The choice was stark. It was terrifying.
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It was either miserable worms of the dust that had deserved it
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endure eternal death, or the glorious, amiable, beautiful and
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innocent Son of God must suffer the full wrath of God and the
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decision to spare the offending worms at the expense of the
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glorious innocent sun that was driven by a strangely free and
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boundless grace. Edwards insists there's no
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greater act of self giving you could possibly imagine, which
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brings him to that analogy of human sacrifice.
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Yeah, he mentions that even the heathens, in their limited
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understanding, saw sacrificing an only son is the ultimate
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offering you could make to your gods.
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But Edwards says the Gospel presents something even
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stranger, infinitely more shocking.
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It's not man sacrificing his only son to appease God.
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It's that God gave his only son to be slain, A sacrifice for
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man. He forces you to compare this to
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Abraham and Isaac. We marvel at Abraham's
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willingness to lift that knife, but how much more astonishing is
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it that instead of Abraham offering Isaac to God, God
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should give his only son to be offered for Abraham, and not
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only for friends, but for enemies?
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That inversion just changes the whole framework of sacrifice.
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It's a downward flowing, self giving love, not an upward
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flowing attempt at appeasement. And we have to look closely at
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who was receiving this. Edwards uses language that you
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know many find difficult today, but it serves a very specific
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theological purpose. He's trying to maximize the
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distance between the gift and the recipient, right?
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To make sure Grace is seen as utterly pure.
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Exactly this immense infinite cost was spent for whom?
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For enemies and haters? For rebels?
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For creatures he describes as being more hateful than toads or
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Vipers. OK, hold on, that is shocking
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language. Why did you feel the need to be
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so extreme? What purpose does that serve
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other than to offend people? I think the purpose is to make
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the grace as big as possible. If he described us as, you know,
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nice people who made a little mistake, the grace is lessened
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by describing the unredeemed human heart as containing such
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spiritual vileness, enmity against God, rebellion that it's
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repulsive, He's magnifying the grace shown.
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It was a choice made purely because of God's love in spite
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of the objects actual worth or merit, which was in his view
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negative. So it's a rhetorical strategy.
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Make the cost infinite and the recipient infinitely vile, which
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mathematically forces the resulting grace to be infinitely
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glorious. And from and that flows the
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Third Point, the free terms of acceptance.
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Since the infinite debt was paid in full by Christ, there is
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nothing left for the Sinner to pay.
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God now offers happiness on far more gracious terms than He ever
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offered Adam. Adam had to perform perfect
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lifelong obedience to the Law. What are the terms of the
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Gospel? God offers to save man for
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nothing. Man is only required to receive
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salvation as it's offered freely through Christ by faith in Him.
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The terms require no amends, no restoration and no penance in
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order to be forgiven. Everything necessary has already
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been done by the Redeemer, right?
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And that must have been incredibly liberating, but also,
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you know, terrifyingly counterintuitive.
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Yeah. Especially in a world that's so
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used to the idea of penance and earning your way to salvation.
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It flips human logic on its head.
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We naturally assume we have to contribute something.
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And Edwards insists we contribute nothing because
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anything we try to contribute, any effort, any penance, any
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self-righteous act would imply that Christ's payment wasn't
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enough. The terms are free because the
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purchase was absolute. The only thing we're required to
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do receive the gift is simply an acknowledgement that we
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contributed nothing to buying it.
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We focused a lot on the Father's design and the cost, but
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redemption is a Trinitarian act, so we have to look at the grace
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shown in the Son himself. 4th The Son's willingness, his
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joyful undertaking, the grace of redemption, shines not just from
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the sovereign will of the Father, but from the completely
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willing, cheerful participation of the Son.
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So how willingly did the Son embrace this?
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I mean he was the one who had to descend, be humiliated, bear our
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sin, become sin for us. And he was entirely voluntary.
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Edwards points to Psalm 40, where Christ speaks
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prophetically of his sacrifice. Lo, I come in the volume of the
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book. It is written of me.
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I delight to do thy will, O God. This wasn't a reluctant OK, I
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guess I have to do this. It was a joyful undertaking.
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Rooted in eternal love. I find his use of Proverbs 8.31
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so moving here. That Christ delights were with
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the sons of men. That's a pre Incarnate
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declaration of affection. It speaks to a voluntary prior
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commitment which just heightens the grace.
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He was willing to endure the most painful death out of mere
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love and pity, knowing full well that the ones he was rescuing
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were rebels. And that they could never ever
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repay him for that cost. His motivation was purely
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redemptive love for an undeserving object.
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So the Father's grace is in the design, the Son's grace is in
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the cheerful acceptance of the suffering.
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But even with the provision fully made, man is still
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incapable of receiving it. And that's the fifth point, the
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application by the Holy Spirit. This step seals the entire
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argument. Even though the Savior has been
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provided and the Christ has died and risen, man is so dead in sin
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that he would still eternally perish if God didn't also
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provide the grace needed for the application.
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We're not just incapable of earning salvation, we're
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incapable of even reaching out and taking the free gift without
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help. We need divine intervention for
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the ability to believe. And that's the critical point
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that just demolishes any last scrap of self-reliance.
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It is, Edwards brings in Ephesians 2.
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For by grace are you saved through faith, and that not of
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yourselves. It is the gift of God.
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And Edward's reading of this is very strict.
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Salvation is free, yes, but even the very means by which we
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access that salvation, faith, is itself a gift from God.
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Wrought in the heart by the Holy Spirit.
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Yes. So if faith is a gift, then what
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looks like the one human action we're required to do, believing
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is actually a divinely given ability.
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It solidifies the whole argument.
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The foundation was grace, the price was grace, and the
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application is grace. The whole process is not of
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works, lest any man should boast the capacity to accept.
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The free gift has to be a gift itself.
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Otherwise the person who accepts has a reason to pat themselves
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on the back for their wise decision, and that steals glory
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from God. It has to be 100% God's
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initiative and work. So now that we've established
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how completely free this grace is, Edwards moves to its
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gloriousness. It's not just free, it's
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glorious beyond all comparison. And he uses the angels as the
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yardstick for that glory. The angels admiration.
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This is such a crucial theological move.
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Angels are perfectly holy, perfectly wise.
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They have an infinitely clearer view of God's majesty than we
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do. They never sinned.
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And yet, Edwards says they stoop down with eyes full of wonder
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and joy to look into this mystery of redemption.
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And they're forced to shout Grace, Grace.
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So why does our redemption 'cause this celestial wonder
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when the creation of stars or the implementation of justice
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didn't get the same kind of ecstatic reaction?
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What's different about it? It's because Redemption saving
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rebels forces God to display his attributes in a kind of tension
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that only he could resolve. All of God's attributes shine in
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Christ, of course. His wisdom in coming up with the
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plan, His justice in punishing sin, His power and conquering
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death. But Edwards stresses that God
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has magnified his mercy above all his names.
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Because mercy's display is the overcoming of what looks like a
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theological contradiction. God's holiness demands that sin
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be punished infinitely, but God's love inclines him to save
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the Sinner. Justice and mercy seem to be at
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odds. They do, and redemption is the
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only way that God can be both just and the justifier of the
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ungodly. Mercy, when it's established
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through the blood of the sun, becomes the most spectacular
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demonstration because it resolves this divine tension and
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brings glory to all the attributes at once, with Mercy
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leading the choir. So the angels who get God's
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infinite holiness are just astonished that he found a way
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to express infinite kindness without compromising infinite
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justice. It's a wonder to them.
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And to analyze why it's so glorious, Edwards looks at the
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sheer scale of it. 1st the difference in parties.
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You have to compare the one showing petty with the 1
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receiving it. On one side, the great,
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infinite, holy, unchanging God. On the other side, worms.
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Yay, less than worms before God. And not only so, but sinful
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worms, worms swollen with enmity against God.
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The gap is just. Infinite The distance between
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the Infinite Majesty and this utterly wretched, repulsive
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creature. It makes the pity an infinite
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marvel. It's like a king spending his
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entire fortune to save a maggot that hates him.
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Then second, the greatness of the act, the means of salvation,
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has to be factored in. It wasn't done by a remote
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decree or by sending a lesser Angel.
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It required the Son of God, who is equal with the Father, to
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suffer and die most ignominiously and painfully in
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our nature. The majesty of the pity, or the
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vileness of the pity and the humiliation of the means, the
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cross, all of that just infinitely heightens the grace.
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The greater the person who condescends, the greater the
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grace. And since the person is
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infinite, the grace is infinite. And finally we get to the
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glorious fruit. What is the outcome of all this?
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It has to be proportional to the sacrifice.
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And the effects are not just forgiveness.
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They include every spiritual blessing you can think of.
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Salvation and eternal glory. Adoption into God's family.
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Union with Christ. Communion with God Himself.
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The indwelling of the Holy Ghost.
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And everlasting reign with Christ in the height of glory.
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And these results are given to people who deserve the exact
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opposite. Who deserved eternal destruction
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from the presence of the Lord? And this creates what Edwards
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calls the vast difference in the same person.
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He contrasts the starting point. A poor, miserable Sinner, full
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of spiritual leprosy, condemned by God's perfect law, headed for
22:53
Hellfire. And the end point a.
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Saint shining forth in robes of glory and crowned with a crown
22:59
of victory and triumph. That transformation, that
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movement from utter condemnation to reigning glory, that's the
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ultimate measure of the grace. It's an infinite change brought
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about by infinite favor. OK, so having built this whole
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theological architecture of Grace, its source, cost, terms,
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outcome, Edwards then pivots to what it means for us.
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If it is all of grace, the practical conclusions are sharp
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and, well, unavoidable. And the first one is a powerful
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warning against pride. Hi, the dishonor of self
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dependence. If salvation is entirely of
23:29
grace, then any reliance on our own effort or righteousness or
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strength is a frontal assault on the gospel itself.
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The offense is just huge. People who rely on their own
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good deeds or inherent morality, they deprive the gospel of its
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glory. They're trying to sully the
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glory of God by claiming Co credit for a work that required
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infinite sacrifice. It's like telling the King of
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the world that his perfect gift needed your little tweak to make
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it better. And Edwards argues this is
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highly provoking and highly affronting to God.
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We're helpless wretches, justly condemned.
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Yet when we're offered deliverance bought at this
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infinite cost, we pridefully insist on contributing our own
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dirty, ragged clothes of self righteousness.
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It's an act of spiritual theft, really, stealing the honor that
24:15
belongs to God's free mercy and trying to claim it for our own
24:17
miserable efforts. We have to be so clear about the
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offer. God isn't offering an
24:22
opportunity to buy and procure our own salvation.
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That ship sailed with Adam. The offer is an opportunity to
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lay hold on that salvation which is already bought and procured
24:30
for us. And as we just established, even
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the act of laying hold is itself enabled by the Spirit's gift of
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faith. You can't even meet the free
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terms without help. This goes right after the
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conceit that constantly plagues the proud heart of man, the
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temptation to hope that our salvation is earned by being so
24:47
good and doing so well. Right, that God will just take
24:50
our goodness and put it on a scale to counterbalance our sin.
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And that conceit just shows a complete misunderstanding of sin
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and of God's infinite holiness. By trusting in their own virtue
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even a little bit, they're functionally making their own
25:04
goodness to equal value with Christ's blood.
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They're putting their 5 minutes of flawed effort on the scale
25:10
opposite the eternal Son of God and thinking the scales will
25:12
balance. Which for Edwards is the height
25:15
of pride, folly and theological contradiction.
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It reduces the infinite work of Christ to something that just
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tops off our already decent efforts.
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And he gives examples of this error, pointing to those who
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openly profess a system of merit.
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He mentions papists. He does, but he's quick to
25:31
include others, anyone who relies on being able to prepare
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or fit themselves for salvation or contribute something of their
25:39
own moral strength. His real concern is that many in
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his own church, though they might say they believe in grace,
25:45
are secretly depending on their own righteousness or their own
25:48
ability to choose God. And that secret dependence, that
25:52
psychological clinging to our own worthiness, is what truly
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dishonors the free grace of the gospel.
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It's a. Refusal to be stripped bare
25:59
before God and accept pure charity.
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So the first application is a warning against that internal
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pride. The second is a desperate plea
26:06
for immediate acceptance. 2 The horror of refusal Given the
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nature of the gift, there really shouldn't be any need for
26:13
persuasion. Yet man's dreadful wickedness
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and horrible ingratitude means we require a ton of convincing
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to accept this great kindness. Edwards uses this really searing
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analogy. Imagine a desperate, dying man.
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You go to much labor and cost. You risk your own safety, spend
26:29
all your money to provide relief for him.
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But the man proudly and spitefully refuses it and snuffs
26:34
at it. We would call that just insane
26:37
ingratitude and folly. And Edward says God has 1000
26:40
times greater cause to see us as base and ungrateful if we refuse
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His glorious grace. And think about the magnitude of
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the refusal. It's not just refusing some
26:48
small gift. Multitudes refuse this free gift
26:53
at the hands of the King of the world.
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They're refusing God's own Son, who endured A tormenting death,
26:59
specifically to deliver them from the damnation they deserve
27:03
and secure them heaven. They commit the daring, horrible
27:07
presumption of rejecting Jehovah's ultimate kindness.
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He then runs this direct dialogue with the refuser, just
27:13
confronting every possible excuse a person might have for
27:16
not accepting this is really the rhetorical climax of the whole
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section. The refuser might say, well, the
27:21
gift is too small. And, Edwards counters, can you
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say that when God offered his own Son the greatest gift
27:27
possible? Or the refuser might say Christ
27:29
didn't do enough. And Edwards replies, He died a
27:33
painful debt for you. What more could he possibly do?
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The refuser often says, well, I'm just waiting to be invited.
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And Edwards presses. You hear him inviting, calling
27:43
and pleading with you daily through the gospel.
27:46
The invitation is always open. But the final, unavoidable
27:49
confrontation is about need. Do you not need it?
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And Edwards crushing response is that you need it so much that
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you must either receive it or be damned to all eternity.
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And what greater need can there possibly be?
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There's no middle ground. No amount of human goodness can
28:08
negate the need for an infinite rescue.
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This forces the listener right back to our unworthiness.
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We aren't worthy of even the smallest of God's common
28:15
mercies. Not a crumb of bread or a drop
28:17
of water. So instead of being worried that
28:19
Christ hasn't done enough, we should be astonished that he
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would even look at us, let alone urge us to accept eternal
28:24
happiness and the final realization for the person who
28:27
refuses, Edwards warns. We'll just be agonizing.
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Whoever keeps refusing Christ thinking they can manage on
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their own. We'll find hereafter that the
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least drop of his blood would have been more worth to them
28:37
than all the world. The infinite Price defines the
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infinite tragedy of refusing it. And that brings us to the final
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necessary application, the mandate for those who have
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actually received this incomprehensible charity.
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Three, the call to praise for the redeemed.
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If the logic of grace is true, then the only possible response
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is a life lived in continuous adoration.
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This doctrine is for those who have partaken to this glorious
29:03
grace. The mandate is simple.
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Spend your lives and praises and hallelujahs to God for the
29:09
wonders of His mercy in their redemption.
29:12
And the redeemed are reminded God entertained thoughts of
29:14
restoring you specifically. For you God gave His only Son,
29:18
and for you the application was made.
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All of it perfectly and all together freely, without any of
29:23
your desert, without any of your righteousness or strength.
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Since you contributed nothing, all the resulting glory has to
29:28
flow back to the giver. And this isn't just about, you
29:31
know, ritual. Thanks.
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Edwards demands that the practice of praise must be done
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with fervor, with sincerity, not with coldness and indifferency.
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When you engage in private prayer or sing a hymn, it has to
29:44
involve internal melody and lively affections.
29:47
It has to be more than just making a noise, it must be an
29:49
overflow of gratitude for being a condemned Wretch who was
29:52
raised to the height of glory through no effort of your own.
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And this isn't just a temporary requirement, it defines their
29:58
future. The eternal context shows that
30:00
Praising God for free grace will be a great part of your
30:04
happiness in heaven to all eternity.
30:06
This is what they will be doing forever.
30:08
And Edwards concludes by suggesting that practicing this
30:11
praise now, spending more time on earth and sincere adoration
30:14
would make this world much more of a heaven.
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The redeemed are told to speak and think and live God's praises
30:20
constantly because the grace they received is the greatest
30:23
wonder that shout grace. Grace must never stop.
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So we've traced the full theological arc of Edward's
30:30
glorious grace. The key take away is the
30:33
absolute purity of the redemptive architecture.
30:36
The foundation, the construction, the headstone.
30:39
It's all of grace. It's a completed work, freely
30:41
and gloriously given, summed up perfectly in that ecstatic,
30:45
repeated cry. Grace, Grace.
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And here's where it gets really interesting.
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Building on the sheer scale of this gift, we spend time
30:53
thinking about Edward's point that the holy angels who have
30:56
perfect knowledge and moral clarity are astonished by our
30:59
redemption. They shout with joy and
31:02
admiration at the sight of God's grace to human rebels.
31:05
Just think about that distance for a second.
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If those perfectly holy beings who never sinned and have a
31:10
perfect perspective, if they find themselves compelled to
31:12
shout with admiration at the sight of the grace shown to us,
31:15
at the incomprehensible distance between God's gift and our utter
31:19
unworthiness. What does that say about the
31:20
true nature of our own response? Right.
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If the angels are that moved, how must we, the actual
31:26
recipients of the infinite cost, approach every single aspect of
31:30
our lives in light of that revealed wonder?
31:33
We have to constantly examine ourselves to make sure we aren't
31:36
silently, unconsciously placing our own hand on that headstone.
31:39
So. I'm going to Mull over until
31:40
next time, thank you for joining us for this deep dive into
31:44
reformed thinking.