Latest / Reformed Thinking / How to Discern the True Work of the Holy Spirit | Jonathan Edwards

Transcript

How to Discern the True Work of the Holy Spirit | Jonathan Edwards · Reformed Thinking

0:01
Welcome to reform thinking. So I want you to imagine a
0:06
social anomaly so immense that it basically operates like a
0:10
system wide override on human behavior.
0:13
Oh man, like a complete reboot of society.
0:15
Right, like Taverns go bankrupt overnight.
0:19
Dancing schools, which were basically the epicenter of
0:22
social networking back then, they just shut their doors.
0:25
Yeah, that's wild. That was where all the status
0:26
building happened. It really was, and suddenly you
0:29
have stockbrokers and St. sweepers just weeping together
0:31
in the streets and the only thing anyone wants to talk about
0:34
is theology. It sounds like fiction,
0:35
honestly. It does, but today we are
0:38
opening a stack of primary sources from 1741, specifically
0:42
looking at the writings of Reverend William Cooper and
0:45
Jonathan Edwards. Right, because we need to look
0:47
at the actual historical. Yeah, and our mission for this
0:50
deep dive is to figure out how these men distinguished A
0:53
genuine heaven sent awakening from, you know, mass
0:57
psychological hysteria or some sort of social contagion.
1:00
Which is such a vital question. I mean, if an entire society
1:04
suddenly changes its fundamental operating system, you need a way
1:08
to verify who wrote the new code.
1:10
Spy not because when an event disrupts every single facet of
1:17
daily life, you are going to get people who claim it is the
1:21
absolute work of God. Yeah, and on the flip side,
1:24
you're going to get harsh critics who just dismiss it as
1:26
an emotional virus. Right.
1:28
Exactly. No, precisely.
1:30
And in a historical moment that is just saturated with competing
1:33
spiritual claims, having an infallible, objective standard
1:37
for truth isn't just some luxury.
1:38
No, it's a matter of survival. It really is.
1:40
So we're going to look really closely at William Cooper's
1:42
preface to Jonathan Edwards text, The Distinguishing Marks
1:46
of a Work of the Spirit. Of God and Cooper's great
1:48
because he gives us the sociological data, right?
1:50
Like the on the ground reporting of what this awakening actually
1:53
looked like in the streets. Yeah, he sets the scene and then
1:56
Edward steps in to give us the rigid analytical framework to
1:59
process it. Which they needed to prevent
2:01
society from falling into woeful delusion, as they would put it.
2:06
So let's start with the historical context Cooper
2:08
builds. Because he doesn't just, you
2:10
know, drop us right into 1741. He zooms all the way out.
2:14
He really does. He goes back to what he calls
2:17
the dispensations of grace throughout human history.
2:20
Right. He divides everything up so you
2:21
have the time of the patriarchs, guys like Abraham, Isaac and
2:25
Jacob. Yeah, the early days.
2:26
And then he moves the timeline forward to the era under the law
2:30
of Moses. And finally, he brings us to his
2:33
present day, which he calls the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
2:37
And Cooper categorizes this Gospel era as the brightest day
2:41
that ever shone. He uses this imagery of the sun
2:45
rising and completely obliterating the stars of the
2:48
legal era. I love that imagery.
2:50
And the defining characteristic of this Gospel era, according to
2:54
Cooper, is it's the ministration of the Holy Spirit.
2:56
Yeah, and that phrase, the ministration of the Spirit is
2:59
doing a ton of heavy theological lifting there.
3:01
Oh, for sure, because he's pulling that directly from the
3:04
apostle Paul, right? Second Corinthians.
3:05
Spot on. Paul draws a razor sharp
3:08
contrast between the Mosaic era and the Gospel era.
3:12
Under Moses, you had the Law written on literal stone
3:15
tablets. Right, which Paul acknowledges
3:17
was glorious. He does, but he also designates
3:21
it as the ministration of death. Which sounds harsh, but the
3:25
reason is simple, right? The letter kills.
3:27
Yeah, the law provides a perfect standard of righteousness.
3:30
It tells you the strict specifications of what you must
3:33
do to be holy, but it gives you 0 internal capacity to actually
3:37
do it. Like a mirror, it only exposes
3:40
human failure and guilt. Right, whereas the gospel
3:43
dispensation operates entirely differently.
3:46
It brings the internal saving operations of the Holy Spirit.
3:49
The Spirit actually gives life. So this era is defined by the
3:52
Holy Spirit accompanying the outward preaching of the Word to
3:56
produce genuine regeneration. Yeah, taking souls that are
3:58
spiritually deceased and giving them life.
4:00
And Cooper points out that this massive outpouring kicked off
4:03
the early church. Like you read the book of Acts
4:06
and thousands are converted under a single sermon?
4:08
The growth was just exponential. But then Cooper traces a
4:11
historical decline, he notes a gradual withdrawing of this
4:15
light. Christianity just sort of
4:17
withered in various regions. Right, which brings them up to
4:20
the Reformation. He describes that as a localized
4:24
explosion of gospel light breaking in and dispelling the
4:27
anti Christian darkness. The divine vigor really
4:30
accompanied the preaching of the reformers.
4:33
But, and here's the massive problem Cooper identifies
4:36
following that bright spot, things took a really dark turn.
4:39
Yeah, a severe spiritual drought.
4:42
He calls it a dead and barren time.
4:44
Across all the churches of the Reformation, the golden showers
4:48
of grace were restrained. Conversions became exceedingly
4:51
rare. The worship services just felt
4:53
entirely lifeless. It's such a devastating
4:56
assessment of the religious landscape in the early 18th
4:58
century. It really is.
4:59
I mean Cooper's describing a period where the orthodox
5:02
theology of the Reformation is still technically on the books.
5:04
Right. The confessions of faith are
5:06
perfectly accurate. The church structures are
5:08
functioning normally. But the vitality is completely
5:11
absent. Faithful ministers and serious
5:14
Christians are just lamenting this.
5:16
They're holding annual days, praying constantly.
5:19
Just pleading with God to pour out his spirit and revive the
5:22
work. And the critical point Cooper
5:24
makes here really forces the reader to confront human
5:28
impotence. Yeah, the doctrines were
5:31
correct. The sermons were being delivered
5:33
every Sunday with total precision, yet the hearts of the
5:36
listeners were not quickened. Right, it makes me think of.
5:40
Well, you brought up an analogy earlier that I think fits
5:42
perfectly here. Oh, the factory analogy.
5:44
Yeah, think of a massive state-of-the-art manufacturing
5:47
facility. You have millions of dollars.
5:49
Or robotic arms, conveyor belts, precision tools.
5:52
The engineering is absolutely flawless.
5:54
And the raw materials are stacked right there on the
5:56
loading dock. The workers are wearing their
5:58
hard hats, standing at their stations, ready to go.
6:00
But someone cut the power line from the main grid to the
6:03
factory. Yes, the machinery is perfect,
6:06
but without electricity, literally nothing moves.
6:09
Yeah. The workers can push the buttons
6:11
all day long. They can read the manuals out
6:13
loud to each other over the intercom.
6:15
But they cannot manufacture the electricity themselves.
6:18
They are completely dependent on the grid being turned back on.
6:21
That captures Cooper's theological reality perfectly.
6:24
I mean human effort, no matter how precise or Orthodox, cannot
6:28
manufacture spiritual life. Right.
6:30
The machinery the church existed in the early 1700s, but the
6:34
necessary divine intervention was suspended.
6:36
Because the Holy Spirit is sovereign, his influences are
6:40
dispensed according to his own will, not according to human
6:43
scheduling or, you know, institutional demands.
6:46
Which is a tough pill to swallow.
6:47
Oh, absolutely. When the golden showers of the
6:49
spirit are restrained, no amount of human eloquence or program
6:53
development can produce a single genuine conversion.
6:57
It leaves the church in a posture of total, unvarnished
7:00
dependence. And let's be honest, that is a
7:02
posture humans absolutely despise.
7:05
Oh, we hate it. If you look at this from a
7:07
modern sociological perspective, when an institution feels dead,
7:11
our first instinct is to just work harder.
7:14
Right. We hire consultants, we change
7:16
the marketing strategy, we rebrand the whole factory.
7:19
We desperately want to believe that if we just find the right
7:22
technique, we can guarantee the outcome from within our own
7:25
resources. But Cooper is showing that you
7:27
cannot fix a severed power line by painting the robotic robotic
7:31
arms a different color. Man, that is a great way to say
7:35
it. We resist it because it strikes
7:37
at the very root of human pride. We want autonomy.
7:41
Yeah, but the drought Cooper describes proves that Orthodox
7:44
theology and proper practice, while absolutely necessary, they
7:48
aren't sufficient on their own to produce life.
7:51
They're just the dry wood waiting for the spark the fire
7:54
has to fall from heaven. And Cooper's historical
7:56
documentation shows a church that had finally realized its
7:59
own complete inability to fix the problem.
8:02
Right. But then the text pivots so
8:03
dramatically, the drought just suddenly ends.
8:06
It's an incredible shift. Cooper writes.
8:08
Behold, the Lord whom we have sought has suddenly come to his
8:12
temple. He describes a dispensation of
8:14
grace that neither they nor their fathers had ever seen.
8:18
He compares it directly to the pouring out of the Spirit right
8:22
after Christ's ascension. And to really drive home how
8:25
shocking this shift was, Cooper quotes a late minister, Mr.
8:29
Howe, who had lamented the previous state of preaching.
8:32
Oh, I remember that quote. The psychology there is
8:34
fascinating. It is, Howe said, that ministers
8:37
felt faint and despondent. He actually said our words die
8:41
in our mouths, or drop and die between you and us.
8:44
The despair in that is just palpable.
8:47
Our words die in our mouths. Imagine the psychological weight
8:50
of standing in front of a congregation week after week,
8:53
holding a message you believe contains eternal life and death.
8:56
And just watching it bounce off the audience like tennis balls
8:59
against a brick wall, yeah. How recognized a massive
9:03
retraction of the Spirit of God. He knew the methods of
9:06
persuading and awakening souls were just lost them.
9:09
Words were leaving the preacher's lips, but they were
9:11
literally evaporating before they reached the ears of the
9:13
congregation. But Howe also predicted that
9:16
when a plentiful effusion of the Spirit did come, souls would be
9:20
dealt with at another rate. He anticipated a day when
9:24
ministers would speak with an entirely different level of
9:26
compassion, seriousness and authority.
9:30
And according to Cooper, that is exactly what happened in 1741.
9:34
Suddenly, a totally new era of preachers emerges.
9:37
Cooper compares them to Barnabas from the book of Acts.
9:40
He describes them as good men, full of the Holy Ghost and a
9:43
faith. They start preaching with this
9:45
uncommon zeal and acidity, Cooper says.
9:49
God made these ministers active spirits, a flame of fire in his
9:52
service. Their words act like a fire and
9:55
a hammer breaking rocks in pieces.
9:56
Well, we have to look at the specific mechanics of what these
9:59
men were preaching, right to understand why it acted like a
10:01
hammer. Yeah, because they didn't invent
10:03
some new user friendly theology to attract a massive crowd.
10:07
Cooper meticulously lists the doctrines they insisted upon.
10:10
Right. The preaching turned mainly on
10:12
man's guilt, total corruption and complete impotence.
10:15
They preached supernatural regeneration by the Spirit of
10:19
God and free justification by faith alone in the righteousness
10:23
of Jesus Christ. And they detailed the specific
10:26
marks of the new birth. But wait, hold on a second.
10:29
What if they are preaching total corruption and impotence?
10:33
That is the exact same theology the previous generation was
10:37
preaching. That's true.
10:38
How? And his contemporaries were
10:40
reading from the same Bible, subscribing to the same
10:42
confessions about justification and human depravity.
10:45
They were. So why the sudden explosive
10:48
reaction? If the doctrines are identical,
10:51
what is the mechanism causing the change?
10:54
Does the theology itself suddenly gain more strength?
10:57
The doctrines absolutely did not change.
11:00
The message remained identical to the theology of the
11:02
reformers. So what changed?
11:04
The divine influence accompanying the message and the
11:06
messengers Cooper explicitly states that the manner of their
11:10
preaching was not with the enticing words of man's wisdom.
11:13
Meaning they weren't relying on rhetorical tricks or emotional
11:16
manipulation. Right or philosophical
11:18
persuasion the difference is the accompanying force of the Holy
11:22
Spirit operating on the minds of the listeners it.
11:25
Goes back to the difference between reading a blueprint and
11:28
watching the building catch fire.
11:30
Oh, that's a brilliant way to phrase it.
11:32
Like the previous generation of ministers was standing in the
11:36
pulpit unrolling the blueprints of Reformed theology, pointing
11:40
to the schematic of human depravity.
11:42
Tracing the lines of justification by faith and it
11:45
was perfectly accurate. It was structurally sound.
11:47
But it was ink on paper. Yeah, this new generation of
11:51
preachers was standing in front of the congregation while the
11:54
building itself was Catching Fire.
11:56
That gets right to the core of the phenomenon.
11:58
The reality of the doctrines suddenly moved from the abstract
12:02
to the visceral. The terrifying weight of man's
12:04
guilt was no longer just a theological proposition to agree
12:07
with. No, it was a crushing reality
12:09
felt deeply in the conscience, and the glorious reality of free
12:13
justification was no longer a bullet point in a confession.
12:16
It was perceived as a desperate lifeline thrown to a drowning
12:20
man. The Holy Spirit took the ink on
12:22
the paper and made it vibrant and palpable to the spiritual
12:25
senses of the listeners. So the hammer breaking the rock
12:28
in pieces is really the doctrine of total depravity applied
12:32
directly to a human ego by divine energy.
12:35
Spot on. And once that fire started, it
12:38
spread with frightening speed. It really did.
12:41
Cooper documents the unprecedented physical and
12:44
demographic scale of this awakening.
12:46
He notes that it reached across several provinces spanning
12:49
hundreds of miles. It hit the most populous
12:51
commercial towns, the real centers of business and trade.
12:54
And it even visited the seats of learning colleges like Harvard
12:58
and Yale, Cooper praised. These colleges will produce
13:02
youth formed as polished shafts to fight the Lord's battles.
13:05
The geographical and sociological spread is actually
13:08
a key piece of evidence for Cooper's defense of the
13:10
movement. How so?
13:12
Well, think about it. This was not an isolated
13:14
incident in a rural backwater. If it only happened in one small
13:17
village, critics would just argue the people were
13:19
uneducated, isolated and easily swayed by a charismatic speaker.
13:23
Right, they'd brush it off his local hysteria.
13:25
But this awakening penetrated the highest academic
13:28
institutions and the busiest commercial hubs.
13:31
It disrupted the daily routines of the most pragmatic, cynical
13:35
and intellectual segments of society.
13:37
When a phenomenon sweeps across such diverse locations,
13:40
simultaneously ignoring all regional and class boundaries,
13:43
it really demands a serious investigation into its root
13:46
cause. Absolutely, and the demographic
13:49
breakdown he provides is just staggering.
13:51
It is. He enthusiastically catalogs the
13:54
diverse subjects of this operation.
13:56
You have elderly people whom he describes as being snatched as
14:00
brands out of the burning. Which is a highly dramatic
14:02
phrase for an elderly person deciding to get serious about
14:05
church. Very much so.
14:07
Then you have sprightly youth bowing to the Redeemer scepter,
14:10
and even little children. It reached the rich and the
14:12
poor. And it even crossed racial
14:14
boundaries, which is huge. Right Cooper specifically
14:17
mentions that Ethiopia has stretched out her hand, noting
14:20
that poor Negroes were brought into the glorious liberty of the
14:23
children of God. In 1741, an event crossing those
14:27
kinds of racial and social lines is practically.
14:29
Unheard of. The intellectual shifts are
14:31
equally fascinating to analyze. Cooper observes that the most
14:35
ignorant people, individuals he calls babes in knowledge, were
14:39
suddenly made wise unto salvation.
14:41
They were grasping complex heavenly truths that they
14:44
previously had zero capacity to understand.
14:47
Meanwhile, highly educated individuals abandoned what
14:50
Cooper calls the polite religion of the present times.
14:53
These learned men had their prejudices conquered and their
14:57
carnal reasoning is completely overcome.
14:59
They subjugated their highly trained intellects to gospel
15:02
mysteries. They realized their faith must
15:05
stand not in the wisdom of man, but in the strength of God.
15:08
It's like a universal software update being pushed to millions
15:11
of devices at the exact same moment.
15:13
Oh, I like that. It doesn't matter if the device
15:15
is a 10 year old flip phone or a brand new supercomputer.
15:19
Right, the update overrides the local hardware differences and
15:22
installs the exact same operating system on all of them.
15:25
This awakening ignored all human categorizations of wealth,
15:28
status, age, or education. It completely leveled the
15:32
playing field of society. The wealthy merchant and the
15:35
illiterate laborer were dealing with the exact same internal
15:38
conviction. This universal leveling is a
15:41
staggering demonstration of the sovereign nature of grace.
15:44
It really is. By converting the highly learned
15:47
and the entirely ignorant simultaneously, the event
15:50
confounds human pride. Yeah, if only the uneducated
15:54
were affected, critics would dismiss it as mass superstition.
15:58
And if only the intellectuals were affected, it would be
16:00
dismissed as a philosophical trend or an academic fad.
16:04
But by sweeping across all demographics simultaneously, it
16:08
proves that salvation relies entirely on divine choice.
16:11
It shatters the illusion that social status, wealth, or
16:15
intellect gives anyone an advantage before God.
16:18
It reinforces the doctrine of unconditional election in real
16:21
time. Showing that God has mercy on
16:23
whom he will have mercy, regardless of human credentials.
16:26
So what does the system override actually look like in the
16:29
streets? Because Cooper doesn't just talk
16:31
about internal theological shifts.
16:32
Right. He points to radical, tangible
16:35
behavioral shifts. He lists the drastic moral
16:38
alterations in society. Drunkards became temperate
16:42
fornicators and adulterers became chaste.
16:45
Swearers and profane people learn to fear God.
16:48
He even mentions deriders and scoffers.
16:50
These are people who specifically went to the revival
16:53
meetings just to mock the preachers.
16:55
Yeah, they would sit down to laugh and cause disruption, and
16:57
they would end up trembling under the word.
16:59
Going away, weeping and then cleaving to the message, he
17:03
actually compares them to Dionysius the Areopagite who
17:07
cleaved to the Apostle Paul in Athens.
17:09
That tangible moral alteration is crucial evidence, but Cooper
17:13
adds a very specific nuance that we really need to dissect here.
17:16
OK, what is it? It wasn't just the notorious
17:18
sinners, the drunkards and scoffers who were changed.
17:21
He explicitly mentions the virtuous and civil people.
17:25
Oh, right, the strict moralists who realized that their pristine
17:29
morality could not save them. Exactly.
17:31
I mean, yes. And he mentions the formal
17:33
professors, the regular standing churchgoers who were awakened
17:36
out of their dead formalities. He says these people were taken
17:40
off what he calls their false rests.
17:43
Let's pause on that term. False rests.
17:45
That sounds like the 18th century equivalent of modern
17:48
virtue signaling. Or like hustle culture?
17:51
Yeah, these are people whose entire identity is wrapped up in
17:55
being the good citizen, the reliable employee, the person
17:59
who never misses a Sunday service.
18:01
Their morality is their shield against vulnerability.
18:05
That is an excellent way to frame it.
18:07
A false rest is anything you rely on for your standing before
18:10
God other than the righteousness of Christ.
18:13
For the notorious Sinner, the need for grace is obviously, but
18:16
for the virtuous moralists, their morality is actually the
18:19
greatest barrier to grace. Because they believe they have
18:22
earned their standing. Right.
18:23
They're resting their assurance of salvation on their own good
18:26
behavior, their civic duties, or their church attendance.
18:29
The Awakening shattered that false peace.
18:32
It showed the moralist that their best deeds were entirely
18:34
polluted by pride. It drove them off their own
18:37
accomplishments and brought them to build their hopes solely on
18:40
the mediators righteousness. Psychologically, breaking a
18:44
moralist of their pride is a far more difficult task than
18:47
convicting a drunkard of his ruin.
18:50
Oh, 100% and the Boston case study he provides brings this
18:54
right down to the pavement. He lists the societal changes in
18:57
Boston. Taverns are suddenly empty.
19:00
The dancing schools are empty. People are reducing the vanity
19:03
in their clothing, trying to look more like the humble
19:05
followers of Jesus. Religious discussions are
19:08
dominating household conversations, replacing
19:11
whatever political gossip or business news they used to talk
19:14
about. And the evening lectures, which
19:16
were set up during the work week, are packed to the brim
19:18
with people who look like they are coming to hear words that
19:21
will literally save their souls. We are seeing a complete
19:24
reordering of societal affections here.
19:27
Yeah, the things that previously captured their attention, their
19:29
time and their wallets, the tabs, Taverns, the dances, the
19:33
expense of apparel suddenly lose their.
19:35
Appeal The internal appetite has completely changed.
19:38
Cooper mentions an extraordinary appetite after the sincere milk
19:41
of the word. People are eagerly attending
19:44
theology lectures on Tuesday and Friday evenings because an
19:48
evening in God's courts is now esteemed better than many
19:51
elsewhere. It's a total reallocation of
19:53
human capital based on a new set of eternal priorities.
19:58
But if you're looking at this from a modern sociological
20:01
perspective, you're probably asking yourself the exact same
20:04
question the critics in 1741 asked.
20:07
Which is isn't this just a fad? Right People change their habits
20:10
all the time. They adopt new diets, they get
20:13
into intense workout routines. They discover some new
20:16
productivity philosophy. And for six months it is all
20:20
they can talk about. It completely takes over their
20:22
lives and then they drop it. So how does Cooper prove this
20:25
societal shift in Boston is fundamentally different from a
20:28
cultural? Fad.
20:29
How do we know this isn't just the 18th century equivalent of
20:32
everyone suddenly getting really into marathon running?
20:34
It's a critical question, and the distinction lies in the root
20:37
cause and the object of the affection.
20:39
Could break that down. Fads rely entirely on human
20:42
willpower and center on self elevation.
20:45
A diet, a workout routine, or a productivity philosophy is about
20:50
improving yourself. Right.
20:51
Relying on your own discipline and generally building up your
20:54
own pride in your accomplishments.
20:56
You run a marathon to prove you can do it.
20:58
But the behavioral shifts Cooper describes stemmed from the exact
21:02
opposite realization. A terrifying recognition of
21:05
total depravity, guilt, and human impotence.
21:08
Yes, these people were not trying to elevate themselves.
21:12
They were being crushed by the weight of their sin and driven
21:14
to a complete reliance on an external Savior.
21:17
It's not a self improvement project generated by human will,
21:20
it's a fundamental recreation of the human heart by an external.
21:23
Force and Cooper points out that these changes produce abiding
21:27
fruits. He's writing this preface while
21:29
observing that the people who were awakened are continuing to
21:32
strive to enter the Straight Gate.
21:34
They continue to give evidence of being new creatures long
21:36
after the initial emotional wave has passed, no?
21:40
He is realistic. He acknowledges that some
21:42
instances of hypocrisy and apostasy are expected in any
21:45
large movement. Scripture and experience teach
21:48
us to expect that some seeds fall on rocky ground and
21:51
eventually wither. But he's surprised and thankful
21:54
that there have not been more Dr. Outs.
21:56
The vast majority seem to be cleaving to the Lord with full
21:59
purpose of heart. His realism actually strengthens
22:02
his argument. He isn't presenting A utopian
22:04
fantasy where every single person who shed a tear is
22:07
perfectly sanctified forever. He admits the presence of
22:10
terrorism among the beat. But the overwhelming abiding
22:13
fruit of righteousness in the vast majority of cases requires
22:17
an explanation that goes beyond a temporary emotional hype
22:20
cycle. When you see a long term
22:22
sustained death to sin, a persistent reliance on the
22:26
righteousness of Christ, and a permanent shift in societal
22:29
values across thousands of people.
22:32
You're witnessing the ordinary sanctifying work of the Holy
22:34
Spirit. A fad burns out when the
22:37
willpower runs dry. A genuine awakening sustains
22:40
itself because the source of the life is external.
22:43
Of course, a movement this massive and disruptive did not
22:45
happen without fierce opposition.
22:47
Well, yeah, if you shut down the Taverns in the dancing schools,
22:50
you are going to make enemies. Cooper spends a significant
22:54
portion of his preface defending the work against critics.
22:57
He addresses the primary accusations circulating at the
23:00
time. That some people are attributing
23:02
this entire awakening to the devil.
23:04
Which, Cooper argues, is entirely illogical.
23:08
He uses Jesus Christ's own logic from the Gospel of Matthew.
23:12
A Kingdom divided against itself cannot stand.
23:15
If Satan casts out Satan, his Kingdom falls.
23:19
Cooper basically asks. Why in the world would the devil
23:22
made people sober, chaste, and completely reliant on Jesus
23:25
Christ? It makes 0 tactical sense for
23:28
the old serpent to pluck down his own house.
23:30
The logic is airtight. The devil's primary objective is
23:34
to keep souls in darkness, bound in their sins and trusting in
23:38
themselves rather than in Christ.
23:40
If the devil is the author of this awakening, then the devil
23:42
has suddenly decided to promote the pure doctrines of the
23:45
Reformation, empty the Taverns, inspire a deep love for
23:49
Scripture, and drive people to plead for the mercy of God.
23:52
It's a completely irrational accusation, born out of
23:55
desperation to dismiss the movement without having to deal
23:58
with its theological implications.
24:00
Cooper then lists the motivations of these opposers.
24:03
He tries to analyze why people are resisting this awakening so
24:07
vehemently. He says some are simply
24:09
misinformed by rumors from abroad.
24:11
They hear wild stories and believe them.
24:13
Others lack personal experience. They have never felt anything
24:16
like this internal spiritual conviction themselves, so they
24:18
assume it must be fake. Some, he hints, might be jealous
24:22
because they are not the prominent instruments being used
24:25
in the work. But the motivation that demands
24:28
the most attention is when he says they cling to Armenian
24:31
ground. He writes that the fruits of
24:33
this awakening do not grow on Armenian ground.
24:36
We really need to spend time unpacking that phrase Armenian
24:39
ground, because it is the theological epicenter of the
24:42
conflict. OK, let's unpack it.
24:44
Arminianism, to put it succinctly, is a theological
24:47
framework that highlights human free will and human cooperation
24:51
and salvation. It suggests that man has the
24:54
inherent ability to accept or reject grace on his own terms.
24:57
Right. It places a significant amount
24:59
of the deciding capability in the hands of the human creature.
25:02
The theology driving this Great Awakening, however, was solidly
25:06
reformed. It preached human total
25:09
depravity, meaning humans are completely incapable of choosing
25:13
God on their own. It preached unconditional divine
25:16
election, meaning God chooses whom to save based entirely on
25:21
his own sovereign mercy, not on any foreseen faith or action of
25:25
the human. The awakening itself was a
25:27
massive, visible demonstration of human inability and God's
25:31
sovereign prerogative to save whom He wills when He wills.
25:35
So if you have spent your whole life building a theological
25:38
framework that protects human capability, and you believe you
25:41
are the captain of your own spiritual ship, this awakening
25:44
is terrifying. A tidal wave of divine grace
25:47
sweeps through and proves that humans are actually just
25:49
passengers entirely dependent on the wind.
25:52
It proves that the moralist and the drunkard are equally
25:54
helpless. If you cling to Armenian ground,
25:56
you're going to fight against that reality, you're going to
25:59
try to discredit the tidal wave. Because if the tidal wave is
26:01
real, your entire framework of human autonomy collapses.
26:05
Right. The critics clinging to Armenian
26:07
ground dislike the work because it confirms principles they
26:11
vehemently reject. If this awakening is truly of
26:14
God, then their own theological systems which elevate human
26:18
agency are exposed as flawed. The visceral reaction of the
26:21
critics is a defense mechanism to protect their own theological
26:25
pride. And This is why Cooper issues
26:27
such a severe warning to the critics.
26:30
He says that if they are resolutely set to disbelieve,
26:32
reproach and oppose the work, they must be left to the
26:36
sovereign versity of God to enlighten them.
26:38
And that warning gets incredibly dark.
26:41
He says that the malignity some critics have shown approaches
26:44
near to the unpardonable sin. He tells them to beware, lest
26:47
they sin the sin which is unto death.
26:49
He quotes Psalm 28 verse 5, which says, because they regard
26:53
not the works of the Lord, nor the operation of His hands, he
26:56
shall destroy them and not build them up.
26:58
That is a chilling text to drop on your theological opponents.
27:00
He's basically telling the critics you are playing with
27:03
fire, you are mocking the very spirit of God, and you are
27:07
putting your souls in imminent danger of divine destruction.
27:10
It is a highly sobering admonition.
27:13
Cooper is drawing a direct parallel between the critics of
27:16
the awakening and the Pharisees who witnessed the undeniable
27:20
miracles of Jesus and attributed them to Beelzebub.
27:23
He's saying that if you look at a work that so clearly bears the
27:28
fingerprints of God, people abandoning sin, embracing
27:31
orthodoxy and trusting in Christ, and you call it the work
27:34
of the devil, your heart is in a dangerously hardened state.
27:37
You are willfully disregarding the operation of God's hands.
27:41
The biblical consequence for that willful blindness,
27:44
according to the Psalm he quotes, is severe, irreversible
27:47
judgement. So if the Taverns are empty and
27:49
the critics are silenced by the sheer scale of the operation, we
27:52
hit a logical wall. What happens when someone
27:55
decides to fake it? Because this social clout in
27:57
Boston is suddenly tied to being awakened, you are inevitably
28:01
going to get imposters. Oh definitely.
28:03
People will mimic the weeping, they'll learn the vocabulary of
28:05
total depravity, and they'll claim to have visions.
28:08
How do they stop this massive societal shift from turning into
28:11
total chaos? This naturally forces us to seek
28:14
out Jonathan Edwards rules. Yeah, Cooper's preface is really
28:18
just setting the stage for Edwards to provide the
28:20
diagnostic. Tool.
28:22
Wait, I mean spot on. Edwards builds his entire
28:25
analytical framework on the text of first John chapter 4 verse
28:28
one. Beloved, believe not every
28:31
spirit, but try the spirits, whether they are of God, because
28:35
many false prophets are gone out into the world.
28:38
Edwards establishes A vital historical precedent right away.
28:41
He points out that during the Apostolic age, the early Church,
28:44
there was the greatest outpouring of the Spirit of God
28:47
in history. But he immediately notes that
28:49
this era also saw the highest number of counterfeits.
28:52
Because the true Spirit was working so powerful.
28:54
Excuse me? With such force, the devil was
28:58
abundant in mimicking those operations.
29:00
The logic there is brilliant. The devil does not bother
29:03
counterfeiting a currency that has no value.
29:05
He only mimics the real thing when the real thing is
29:08
circulating heavily. Edwards is a master logician.
29:12
He uses this historical fact to establish an undeniable premise.
29:15
Where the genuine work of God is most prevalent, the counterfeits
29:19
will also be most prevalent. The devil mimics both the
29:21
extraordinary gifts, like prophecy or visions, and the
29:25
ordinary influences of the spirit, like conviction of sin,
29:29
to cause maximum confusion. Therefore, the Church of Christ
29:32
must be furnished with certain rules and clear marks to safely
29:35
judge the true from the false. The Church cannot survive based
29:39
on feelings, intuition or majority opinion.
29:42
It requires A rigid standard to avoid what he calls woeful
29:45
delusion. But if the devil is an expert
29:49
counterfeiter capable of mimicking even the ordinary
29:52
spiritual convictions of the human heart, how can anyone ever
29:55
feel secure? Isn't that an incredibly
29:57
terrifying thought for a believer?
29:59
To think that the internal conviction you felt, the joy
30:02
you've experienced in worship, might just be a very clever
30:05
demonic forgery. If I look inward and realize the
30:08
devil can hack my emotional responses, how do I not just
30:11
live in a constant state of spiritual paranoia?
30:13
It is a terrifying prospect if you are looking inward for your
30:16
assurance, If your standard for truth is your own emotional
30:19
experience or the intensity of your weeping, you will
30:22
absolutely fall into paranoia. Because human emotions are
30:25
highly susceptible to manipulation.
30:27
But Edwards completely removes the panic by directing the
30:30
reader exclusively to the scriptures.
30:33
He argues that the Spirit who indicted or dictated the
30:36
Scriptures knew precisely how to give us good rules to
30:39
distinguish his operations from all false pretenses.
30:43
The Bible is. Presented as the infallible
30:45
sufficient rule, you don't need to guess.
30:48
You don't need to rely on your gut.
30:50
You take the subjective spiritual experience and you lay
30:52
it next to the objective standard of the Word of God.
30:55
Edwards points out the first John 4 is expressly designed for
30:58
this purpose. He says it is wonderful that
31:02
what is said in this chapter is not taken more notice of in this
31:05
extraordinary day when everyone is talking about the work of the
31:07
Spirit. Edwards makes it clear that he
31:09
isn't just going to give rules for judging extraordinary
31:11
miracles. He gives rules for judging the
31:13
ordinary, saving, sanctifying influences of the Spirit that
31:17
unite a soul to Christ. He's bringing the evaluation
31:20
down to the individual believers daily life.
31:23
Edwards sets up a very methodical approach.
31:25
Before he will even discuss what is a sign of the true Spirit, he
31:29
states that he must first clear the brush by establishing what
31:32
are not valid signs. He systematically dismantles the
31:35
false criteria that both the overzealous supporters and the
31:39
harsh critics used to judge the awakening.
31:41
This methodical, strictly scriptural approach is the only
31:44
Safeway to analyze spiritual claims.
31:47
It removes human bias, cultural prejudices, and emotional
31:50
reasoning from the equation, leaving only the infallible
31:54
touchstone of God's Word. We have covered massive ground
31:57
here today. We really have.
31:59
We started by looking at the desperate reality of spiritual
32:01
drought, a time when the machinery of the church was
32:04
running but producing no life, proving human impotence.
32:07
We analyzed the sudden radical intervention of divine grace
32:11
that completely leveled all human hierarchies, saving the
32:14
ignorant and the learned. Alike proving unconditional
32:17
election, we examine the genuine, tangible behavioral
32:21
changes in society that were rooted entirely in a realization
32:24
of total depravity and justification by faith alone.
32:27
And finally, we established the absolute necessity of using
32:30
Scripture as the sole metric for evaluating spiritual truth in a
32:35
world full of sophisticated counterfeits.
32:37
If we bring this directly to our own doorstep, the historical
32:41
realities we discussed prove that true spiritual life is
32:44
never manufactured from within ourselves.
32:46
It cannot be scheduled, programmed, or willed into
32:49
existence by human effort. It must be received from without
32:53
as a sovereign gift of divine grace.
32:56
Furthermore, it demonstrates that spiritual discernment is
32:58
not an optional hobby for the theologian.
33:01
It is a required daily discipline for every believer.
33:04
We must constantly weigh our experiences and the claims of
33:07
the institutions around us in the balance of the sanctuary.
33:10
I want to leave you with a closing question to ponder.
33:13
Consider the polite religion mentioned by Cooper, the
33:16
comfortable, culturally acceptable, highly respectable
33:18
religious habits of the 1700s that the highly educated use to
33:23
protect their pride. Think about our modern
33:25
equivalent. We have our neat schedules, our
33:27
acceptable norms, our comfortable ways of doing church
33:31
and living our lives. If a genuine, earth shattering
33:34
spiritual awakening erupted in our society today, one that
33:38
completely disrupted our schedules, leveled our social
33:40
hierarchies, and exposed our comfortable habits as dead
33:43
formalities, would you recognize it as a divine act?
33:47
Or would you be standing on the sidelines with the critics,
33:49
clinging to your own capability and complaining about the noise?