Latest / Reformed Thinking / The Peace Which Christ Gives His True Followers (John 14:27) | Jonathan Edwards

Transcript

The Peace Which Christ Gives His True Followers (John 14:27) | Jonathan Edwards · Reformed Thinking

• 0:00
  Welcome back to Reformed Thinking.
• 0:01
  I am your host and it is really good to have you with us for
• 0:05
  another deep dive into the archives of Church history.
• 0:08
  Glad to be here. We have a well, we have a really
• 0:10
  fascinating text to look at today.
• 0:12
  We do. We are not just going to skim
• 0:15
  the surface of this one. Our goal today is to really get
• 0:18
  into the weeds, to pull apart the arguments and see how the
• 0:20
  theology works under the hood. So we are heading back to the
• 0:23
  mid 18th century. Right, August 1750 to be
• 0:27
  specific. And the man of the hour is
• 0:29
  Jonathan Edwards. Now I think for a lot of people
• 0:32
  the name Edwards brings up a very specific image.
• 0:35
  Oh absolutely. They immediately think of fire
• 0:38
  and brimstone sinners in the hands of an angry God.
• 0:41
  Yeah, that is the classic association.
• 0:43
  Which is a valid part of his ministry for sure, but it is a
• 0:47
  very narrow slice of who the man actually was.
• 0:50
  Edwards was a pastor who cared intensely about the comfort of
• 0:53
  his people, not just their conviction.
• 0:55
  And that is spot on with what we are going to see today.
• 0:59
  We're looking at a sermon he preached titled The Peace which
• 1:02
  Christ Gives his true Followers. And right off the bat, I have to
• 1:05
  say this isn't just a, you know, a fluffy, don't worry, be happy
• 1:09
  kind of message. No, not at all.
• 1:12
  Edwards treats peace almost like a mechanic treats an engine.
• 1:15
  He wants to know how it functions.
• 1:17
  He. Wants to know the source?
• 1:18
  Yes. He wants to know why it lasts,
• 1:21
  and he really wants to know why the peace the world offers falls
• 1:25
  apart so easily. So let's set the seam for you
• 1:27
  guys listening. It is August 1750 in
• 1:30
  Northampton, MA. But the text Edwards chooses
• 1:33
  takes us back to a much darker, much heavier night.
• 1:36
  We are in the Gospel of John chapter 14, specifically verse
• 1:39
  27. The upper Room.
• 1:41
  This is the night before the crucifixion.
• 1:43
  I think we often gloss over the atmosphere of that room.
• 1:46
  You look at the famous paintings and it all looks very serene,
• 1:48
  very calm. But historically and biblically,
• 1:51
  what is the actual mood in that space?
• 1:53
  It is thick with tension. I mean, you have to remember
• 1:56
  Judas Iscariot has just walked out the door.
• 1:58
  Jesus has identified him as the betrayer.
• 2:00
  So the group has shrunk. The traitor is out in the night,
• 2:03
  and the remaining disciples are staring down the barrel of a
• 2:06
  complete catastrophe. Because Jesus has just dropped
• 2:09
  the bomb that he is leaving them.
• 2:11
  Yeah. He's been dropping hints for a
• 2:13
  while, but now he is being explicit.
• 2:15
  He says I am going away. And for these men, that is the
• 2:19
  worst possible news they could hear.
• 2:21
  They gave up everything. They really did.
• 2:23
  They left their Nets, their tax booths, their entire families.
• 2:25
  They have staked their entire lives on this man being the
• 2:28
  Messiah who stays and sets up a Kingdom.
• 2:31
  And now he says he is dying. So they are terrified.
• 2:36
  They feel entirely abandoned. They feel like orphans.
• 2:38
  In fact, Jesus uses that exact word a little later.
• 2:41
  I will not leave you orphans. But in this specific moment, the
• 2:45
  sorrow is just crushing them. And right into that panic, Jesus
• 2:48
  speaks these words. Peace I leave with you, My peace
• 2:51
  I give unto you, not as the world gives, give I unto you.
• 2:54
  It is incredibly famous verse. It is, but Edwards does
• 2:58
  something with it that I honestly did not expect.
• 3:01
  He takes that phrase peace I leave with you, and he looks at
• 3:04
  it through a strictly legal lens.
• 3:06
  He calls it a last will. That is the core analogy of the
• 3:10
  entire sermon, and it is not just a poetic flourish on his
• 3:14
  part. Edwards is being very precise
• 3:16
  with his Reformed theology here. So let's unpack this idea of the
• 3:20
  last will. Why does he take the sermon in
• 3:22
  that direction? Well, look at the language Jesus
• 3:24
  uses. There I leave with you.
• 3:26
  That is the language of a dying man bequeathing his property.
• 3:30
  It is what you do on your deathbed.
• 3:32
  You look at your family and you say I am leaving you the house.
• 3:35
  I am leaving you the savings. Edwards connects us directly to
• 3:38
  the Book of Hebrews, doesn't he? He does.
• 3:39
  He goes to the Hebrews Chapter 9, verses 15 through 17.
• 3:43
  The author of Hebrews makes a very technical legal argument
• 3:46
  there. He says that a testament, a
• 3:48
  will, is of no strength at all while the testator lives.
• 3:51
  The testator being the person who actually wrote the will.
• 3:54
  Correct. If I write a will today, leaving
• 3:56
  you my library, you do not get the books today.
• 3:59
  You do not get them next week. As long as I am breathing, that
• 4:02
  will is just a piece of paper. It has no legal force to
• 4:05
  transfer those assets. It requires a death to trigger.
• 4:08
  It death is the activating mechanism, and Edwards applies
• 4:12
  this to what we call the covenant of Grace.
• 4:15
  He says that Christ is the testator.
• 4:18
  All the blessings of the Christian life, the forgiveness,
• 4:20
  the adoption, and specifically this peace are the assets
• 4:24
  sitting in the estate. But for the heirs to receive
• 4:27
  them, the testator had to die. So the cross wasn't just a
• 4:30
  sacrifice for sin in this framework, it was the legal
• 4:34
  execution of the will. Precisely, Edwards argues that
• 4:38
  Christ died to purchase the legacy and to ratify the will.
• 4:41
  Without the death of Christ, the peace would remain theoretical.
• 4:44
  He would stay up in heaven with God.
• 4:46
  But the death of the Son releases it to us down here.
• 4:48
  That is a fascinating way to view the atonement.
• 4:51
  But here's where I need you to break down the distinction
• 4:53
  Edwards makes. Because he compares Jesus to an
• 4:55
  earthly parent, but then he completely flips that comparison
• 4:57
  on its head. This is the sheer brilliance of
• 5:00
  the sermon. Think about a normal earthly
• 5:04
  inheritance. If a wealthy father dies, he
• 5:07
  leaves a large estate to his children.
• 5:10
  The children now take possession of the estate.
• 5:12
  But where is the father? He is gone.
• 5:14
  He is in the grave. Right.
• 5:15
  He does not get to enjoy the estate with his children.
• 5:18
  The father's possession has to end so that the children's
• 5:21
  possession can begin. There's absolutely no overlap.
• 5:24
  It is a transfer caused by absence.
• 5:26
  You get the house because he isn't around to live in it
• 5:28
  anymore. Exactly.
• 5:30
  But Christ is an entirely different kind of testator.
• 5:32
  Yes, he died to activate the will.
• 5:34
  That was a strict legal necessity.
• 5:36
  But, and this is the turning point, he rose again.
• 5:39
  He didn't stay dead. He conquers the grave.
• 5:41
  So Christ is the only testator in history who dies to leave a
• 5:44
  will and then comes back to life to be the executor of that very
• 5:47
  same will. And not just the executor.
• 5:49
  Edwards points out that he enjoys the legacy alongside the
• 5:52
  heirs. That is the crucial take away.
• 5:55
  Because he is alive. He continues to possess the
• 5:58
  peace he bequeathed. He didn't give it away and lose
• 6:02
  it. He shares it.
• 6:03
  So when a Christian experiences this piece, they are not just
• 6:06
  holding on to a sentimental gift from a departed hero.
• 6:09
  They are sitting at the table with the living Lord, sharing
• 6:12
  the exact same meal. That changes the dynamic
• 6:14
  completely. It moves it from a cold legal
• 6:17
  transaction to a living relationship.
• 6:20
  We are Co heirs in the most literal sense of the word.
• 6:22
  We are participating in his life.
• 6:24
  We are not just looking back and remembering him.
• 6:26
  OK, so we have established the legal framework.
• 6:29
  It is a bequest from a dying testator who lives again.
• 6:33
  Now let's move to the second part of our discussion.
• 6:35
  What is actually in this will? What is the nature of this
• 6:38
  legacy? Well.
• 6:39
  Edwards starts by clearing the deck.
• 6:41
  He tells his congregation what is not in the will.
• 6:44
  And this is vital because we all tend to project our own earthly
• 6:47
  desires onto God. Right, it is not silver and
• 6:49
  gold. No, Edwards points us back to
• 6:53
  the humiliation of Christ. He quotes that famous line Jesus
• 6:56
  said about himself. The foxes have holes and the
• 6:59
  birds of the air have nests, but the son of man had not where to
• 7:03
  lay his head. Jesus was poor.
• 7:06
  Economically speaking, he was destitute.
• 7:08
  He did not have a diverse portfolio.
• 7:10
  He didn't have a massive estate in Jerusalem to leave to Peter
• 7:12
  and John. So if you were coming to Christ
• 7:14
  expecting material wealth, you are looking for something He
• 7:17
  never promised to leave you. He left them what he actually
• 7:19
  had, and what he had in massive abundance was peace.
• 7:23
  Edwards identifies 2 main characteristics of this piece.
• 7:27
  First, he calls it true peace, and second, he calls it Christ's
• 7:29
  peace. Let's look at that first one,
• 7:31
  true peace. I think in our modern context,
• 7:34
  we tend to define peace as a pure feeling.
• 7:36
  If I feel calm, I have peace. If my heart is racing, I don't.
• 7:40
  But Edward seems to be pointing to something far more objective.
• 7:42
  He is because if peace were just a feeling, it would be
• 7:46
  incredibly fragile. It would depend entirely on your
• 7:49
  blood sugar or the weather outside, or how much sleep you
• 7:52
  got last night. Edwards grounds true peace in
• 7:56
  objective reality, and the first pillar of this is peace with
• 7:59
  God. This is the theological concept
• 8:01
  of reconciliation. It is forensic, it is illegal
• 8:04
  standing. He leans heavily on Romans
• 8:07
  chapter 8 verse 34. Who is he that condemneth?
• 8:11
  The legacy Christ leaves is a status.
• 8:13
  You stand before the judge of the universe, and the verdict
• 8:16
  handed down is not guilty. The act of war between the
• 8:20
  Sinner and a holy God is over. So even if I feel massive
• 8:23
  turmoil in my emotions, that objective peace remains intact.
• 8:27
  The treaty is still valid. That's right, the treaty has
• 8:29
  been signed in blood. That is the bedrock foundation.
• 8:31
  From there, Edwards moves to a second aspect, safety.
• 8:34
  He talks a lot about protection from enemies.
• 8:36
  Enemies The ultimate enemies. He mentions wicked men and the
• 8:38
  powers of Darkness Shore, but the biggest enemy he highlights
• 8:42
  is Death. He says that for the holder of
• 8:44
  this legacy, Death has lost its sting.
• 8:47
  That phrase lost its sting. It doesn't mean we get a pass on
• 8:50
  physical death. No Christians still face the
• 8:52
  grave, but the threat of death, the penal aspect of it, the
• 8:57
  absolute terror of facing the wrath of God, that is gone.
• 9:01
  You are safe even if the entire society is falling apart around
• 9:04
  you. You were in a safe habitation
• 9:05
  because your soul is secure in the hands of the testator.
• 9:09
  Then he moves to the internal experience of it.
• 9:11
  He calls it internal tranquility.
• 9:13
  And this is where I had to slow down a bit with his language.
• 9:16
  He says that grace sets reason on the throne.
• 9:19
  That sounds very philosophical to our modern ears, doesn't it?
• 9:22
  Almost like something pulled from the Enlightenment.
• 9:24
  It really does. It sounds like he is saying the
• 9:26
  secret to peace is just being more logical.
• 9:28
  That is not what Edwards is is getting at.
• 9:30
  We have to understand his view of human nature.
• 9:33
  Edwards believes that sin creates massive internal
• 9:35
  disorder. In a natural sinful state, the
• 9:39
  human soul is essentially an anarchy.
• 9:41
  The passions, the physical appetites, the wild emotions,
• 9:44
  they run the show. So if I'm hungry, I eat.
• 9:46
  If I am angry, I lash out. The base impulse rules the man.
• 9:50
  Right. The lower faculties are
• 9:52
  dictating terms to the higher faculties.
• 9:54
  Reason is reduced to a slave to the gut.
• 9:57
  What grace does, according to Edwards, is restore the original
• 10:01
  created order. It puts reason, and by that he
• 10:04
  means a mind that has been enlightened by Scripture and the
• 10:07
  Holy Spirit back in the driver's seat.
• 10:09
  So it is not just raw human intellect, it is renewed
• 10:13
  thinking. It is the mind of Christ
• 10:15
  operating in the believer. So now when the passion of envy
• 10:18
  flares up, this sanctified reason steps in and says, no,
• 10:22
  God is sovereign. I have my assigned portion.
• 10:24
  I will not be envious. And the soul settles.
• 10:26
  Down South, internal peace is actually the direct result of
• 10:29
  internal order. Yes, peace is not just the
• 10:32
  absence of external trouble, it is the presence of rightful
• 10:34
  government inside the soul. Edwards used a very strong word
• 10:38
  here. Mortify says grace mortifies
• 10:40
  things like envy, wrath, and malice.
• 10:42
  That means to kill, to put. It to death.
• 10:44
  It is a violent word for a very peaceful result.
• 10:46
  You cannot have internal tranquility if you are keeping
• 10:49
  your envy alive. Like a pet in the backyard.
• 10:51
  You have to kill it, and this legacy from Christ gives you the
• 10:54
  actual strength to do that. He also brings in the image of
• 10:57
  an anchor. I love that specific image
• 10:59
  without this piece, he says. The soul is driven to and fro.
• 11:03
  We are blown around by whatever the circumstances are.
• 11:06
  One day we are thrilled because our bank account looks good.
• 11:09
  The next day we are crushed because we got a bad review at
• 11:12
  work. We are double minded.
• 11:15
  But the anchor fixes us in one spot.
• 11:17
  It gives the soul a single fixed aim.
• 11:21
  We are living for the glory of God.
• 11:23
  When you have one Master, you have peace.
• 11:26
  When you are trying to serve 10 different masters, you have
• 11:28
  constant anxiety. That covers true peace.
• 11:31
  But Edwards goes a step further. And this is where it gets really
• 11:34
  rich. He focuses heavily on that
• 11:36
  personal pronoun Jesus used my peace.
• 11:39
  What is the theological weight of that specific phrasing?
• 11:42
  This is perhaps the most beautiful section of the entire
• 11:44
  sermon. Edwards argues that Jesus is
• 11:46
  giving us the very same peace that he himself currently
• 11:48
  enjoys. That seems like an incredibly
• 11:50
  high bar. Jesus is God.
• 11:52
  He is, but remember his earthly life.
• 11:56
  Think about the peace Jesus had while he walked the roads of
• 11:58
  Galilee. He was called a man of sorrows.
• 12:01
  He was constantly haunted by the religious leaders.
• 12:04
  He was accused of being demon possessed.
• 12:05
  He had nowhere to sleep. And yet, was he ever frantic?
• 12:09
  Never. He always seemed completely
• 12:11
  centered, completely calm. He was because he had perfect
• 12:15
  peace in his relationship with the Father.
• 12:18
  He knew he was the beloved son. He was never disconnected from
• 12:20
  the Father's love. Edwards points out that he gives
• 12:23
  us that exact same peace, the peace of sonship.
• 12:27
  Edwards also talks about the exalted state here.
• 12:29
  Yes, Jesus is now in heaven. He has completely finished his
• 12:32
  work. He has entered into His rest,
• 12:34
  Edward says. We participate in that same
• 12:36
  justification. We are not down here frantically
• 12:39
  working for God's approval. We are resting in the finished
• 12:41
  work, just as Christ is resting right now.
• 12:44
  He uses an Old Testament analogy here that really paints A vivid
• 12:47
  picture, the oil on Aaron's head.
• 12:49
  This pulled straight from Psalm 133.
• 12:52
  Behold, how good and how pleasant it is for brethren to
• 12:55
  dwell together in unity. It is like the precious ointment
• 12:58
  upon the head. Walk us through the visual on
• 13:00
  that one. In the Old Testament system,
• 13:02
  when the high priest Aaron was ordained for ministry, they
• 13:05
  would pour this specially formulated, highly fragrant oil
• 13:08
  on his head, and they did not skimp on it.
• 13:11
  They used a lot. It would run down his hair, down
• 13:13
  his beard, and drip all the way down onto the collar and the
• 13:16
  skirts of his robes. It sounds incredibly messy.
• 13:19
  It was very messy, but the symbolism is profound.
• 13:22
  Aaron represents Christ, who is the head of the church.
• 13:25
  The robes represent the body of believers that is US, and the
• 13:29
  oil represents the Holy Spirit. So the oil doesn't just
• 13:32
  spontaneously appear on the robes.
• 13:34
  No, it is poured out on the head first, but it flows down.
• 13:38
  Edward is making the case that the peace, the Holy Spirit that
• 13:40
  rests in full measure on Jesus, flows down to the very lowest,
• 13:44
  most obscure member of his body. We don't get a different spirit,
• 13:48
  we get the overflow of His Spirit.
• 13:49
  It connects right back to that idea of the air enjoying the
• 13:53
  estate with the testator. We are enjoying the Spirit with
• 13:55
  Christ. It it is an organic union, we
• 13:58
  are branches in the vine. The SAP that is running through
• 14:01
  the vine is the exact same SAP that is keeping the branch
• 14:04
  alive. So we have this incredible,
• 14:06
  substantial Trinitarian peace now.
• 14:09
  In Part 3 of the sermon, Edwards makes a sharp pivot.
• 14:12
  He turns his gaze away from the upper room and looks out at the
• 14:15
  world around him, and he draws a contrast that is quite stark.
• 14:19
  The great contrast? This is typical Edwards
• 14:22
  methodology. He believes you see the light
• 14:24
  much better when you put it right next to the darkness.
• 14:27
  He asks the congregation a simple question.
• 14:30
  What does the world give? And he lists the things we all
• 14:33
  naturally crave. Large tracts of ground, stately
• 14:37
  mansions, vast treasures, crowns and scepters.
• 14:41
  The things people betray each other for.
• 14:43
  The things entire nations go to war over.
• 14:46
  But then he makes an observation that stops you cold.
• 14:48
  He says look at who actually possesses these things.
• 14:51
  God often gives these things to his worst enemies.
• 14:54
  It is a really jarring thought for most people.
• 14:56
  We are heavily conditioned to think that wealth and success
• 14:59
  are a clear sign of God's favor, Edward says.
• 15:01
  Not necessarily. Look at human history.
• 15:04
  The most wicked, ruthless tyrants often have the most
• 15:06
  goal. He says God throws these things
• 15:08
  out like bones to dogs. It is a harsh image, but it is
• 15:12
  incredibly effective. Imagine a wealthy man inside his
• 15:16
  house, feasting at a massive table with his children.
• 15:20
  Outside. In the yard, there are dogs.
• 15:23
  He throws a bone out the window to the dogs.
• 15:25
  The dogs are happy. They're gnawing on the bone.
• 15:28
  But are they part of the family? No.
• 15:30
  They are entirely outside. Edwards is telling his people do
• 15:33
  not envy the wicked their wealth or their earthly peace.
• 15:36
  It is just a bone. It is not the bread meant for
• 15:39
  the children. And Christ's peace is the bread.
• 15:41
  Yes, it is the real sustenance meant for the family.
• 15:45
  Edwards then breaks down this contrast into four specific
• 15:47
  points. I want to walk through these
• 15:49
  very carefully because I think this is the absolute core
• 15:51
  argument of the Synod. The first point of difference he
• 15:53
  highlights is reasonable versus delusional.
• 15:57
  This is, in my opinion, the most brilliant insight Edwards offers
• 16:00
  in the whole text. He argues that Christ's peace is
• 16:03
  founded on light. It loves the light.
• 16:05
  The more you know about the holiness of God, the more you
• 16:08
  know about the demands of the law, the reality of the
• 16:10
  judgement, the truth of eternity, the stronger your
• 16:13
  peace actually gets. Reason is a friend to Christian
• 16:16
  peace. But worldly peace?
• 16:18
  Worldly peace is founded entirely on blindness.
• 16:21
  It requires ignorance to survive.
• 16:23
  That is a bold claim. He's saying the only way a
• 16:27
  worldly person can be at peace is if they actively stop
• 16:30
  thinking. Think about the logic of it.
• 16:33
  If a person whose only hope is in their bank account actually
• 16:36
  stops to think, really think, about their own mortality, about
• 16:40
  the fact that they will inevitably leave every single
• 16:43
  penny behind, about the coming judgement of God, what happens
• 16:47
  to their peace in that moment? It completely evaporates.
• 16:50
  Instantly. So the only way to maintain that
• 16:52
  false peace is to not think about those things.
• 16:54
  You have to actively suppress the truth.
• 16:56
  You have to keep the blinds pulled down.
• 16:58
  Edwards uses some very vivid metaphors here to drive this
• 17:01
  home. He talks about a stupefying
• 17:02
  poison. He compares worldly peace to a
• 17:05
  man who has taken a heavy drug that makes him physically numb.
• 17:09
  But the most haunting image he uses is the drunkard in the
• 17:12
  burning house. Walk us through that one.
• 17:14
  Imagine a house is fully engulfed in flames.
• 17:16
  The structural beams are burning through.
• 17:18
  The roof is minutes away from collapsing.
• 17:21
  But inside, right in the middle of the living room, there was a
• 17:23
  man sitting in an armchair. He is relaxed.
• 17:27
  He might even be singing a song. Why is he so calm?
• 17:30
  Is he actually safe? No, he is an imminent mortal
• 17:33
  danger. He is calm because he's dead
• 17:35
  drunk. He is consumed enough alcohol to
• 17:38
  make him completely insensible to his reality, Edward says.
• 17:42
  That is the exact nature of the piece of the world.
• 17:45
  It is the ease of a man who simply does not realize his
• 17:47
  house is burning down. He also mentions the man in
• 17:50
  Bedlam the insane asylum who thinks he is a king.
• 17:52
  Yes. The man is perfectly happy.
• 17:54
  He's strutting around his locked cell giving orders, but his
• 17:57
  happiness is based on a total delusion.
• 17:59
  If you woke him up to his actual reality, he would be miserable.
• 18:02
  So Edwards is directly challenging the listener.
• 18:05
  Is your piece real or are you just distracted by the poison?
• 18:09
  Yeah, that is the question, he says.
• 18:10
  Do but let light in upon their consciences, and it will at once
• 18:13
  destroy all their quietness. If the truth destroys your
• 18:16
  peace, you are holding onto a false peace.
• 18:18
  But Christian peace is reasonable.
• 18:21
  It stares physical death right in the face and says I am safe.
• 18:24
  It looks at the perfect law of God and says I am justified.
• 18:28
  It does not need to hide from the facts.
• 18:30
  It actually thrives on the facts.
• 18:31
  That leads right into the second difference he outlines, virtuous
• 18:34
  versus vicious. If worldly peace is based on
• 18:37
  stupidity and blindness, Edwards calls it a vile thing.
• 18:40
  It lowers our humanity. It makes us brutish because it
• 18:43
  forces us to shut down our higher cognitive faculties just
• 18:46
  to stay happy. Whereas Christian peace elevates
• 18:49
  the soul. It consists of a holy
• 18:51
  resignation and an active trust in God.
• 18:54
  It is an intelligent exercise of the soul, not a passive
• 18:57
  numbness. It makes you more human, more
• 19:00
  like God, to possess this kind of peace.
• 19:02
  The third difference is sweetness.
• 19:04
  He leans on Isaiah 55 verse 2 here.
• 19:07
  Wherefore do you spend money for that which is not bread?
• 19:10
  The world offers what he calls husks.
• 19:13
  It is pig food. It might fill the belly for a
• 19:15
  brief moment, but it provides absolutely no spiritual
• 19:18
  nutrition. It just doesn't satisfy.
• 19:20
  We all know this from experience.
• 19:21
  The thrill of the brand new car lasts maybe a month.
• 19:24
  The thrill of the big promotion lasts a week, and then the
• 19:27
  hunger comes right back. But Christian peace is
• 19:30
  exquisitely sweet because it rests on an immovable rock.
• 19:34
  It connects us to the infinite fountain of good, which is God
• 19:37
  Himself. And finally, we hit the 4th
• 19:39
  difference. This is the clincher duration.
• 19:43
  The eternal perspective. Edwards looks at the absolute
• 19:46
  best the world has to offer. The crowns, the massive
• 19:49
  mansions, the global empires. And he calls them bubbles on the
• 19:53
  face of the water. That is such a fragile image.
• 19:55
  A bubble exists for a second, it floats along and then pump.
• 19:58
  And it leaves zero trace behind. You can have the pizza the world
• 20:01
  for 40, maybe 50 years if you are incredibly lucky, but it
• 20:05
  ends. Usually it ends before you die
• 20:07
  as things start going wrong, but it certainly ends the second you
• 20:10
  die. But the legacy of Christ.
• 20:12
  It is unfailing. It remains when the physical
• 20:14
  body gives out. In fact, it actually gets better
• 20:17
  when the body dies. It remains, as Edwards puts it,
• 20:20
  when the heavens are rolled up like a scroll.
• 20:23
  Because it is built on the eternal God, it lasts as long as
• 20:27
  God lasts. That is the ironclad promise.
• 20:30
  This brings us to part four of the sermon, the application.
• 20:34
  Edwards turns his attention directly to the congregation
• 20:36
  sitting in front of him, and being a faithful pastor, he has
• 20:40
  a very sobering word of warning. He addresses the crisis.
• 20:44
  Yeah, he knows there are people in the room and perhaps
• 20:47
  listening to us right now who are actively seeking their
• 20:50
  satisfaction in the world, in profit, in human glory, in the
• 20:54
  vanities of youth. He does not pull any punches
• 20:56
  about the reality of their situation.
• 20:59
  No, he doesn't. He tells them that even when
• 21:01
  they are cheerful, even when they are thoroughly enjoying
• 21:03
  their wealth, they hang over an infernal pit.
• 21:06
  He uses the phrase the Sword of divine vengeance.
• 21:09
  He says it hangs right over their heads.
• 21:11
  He is actively trying to wake up the drunkard in the burning
• 21:13
  house. He is shouting, wake up, the
• 21:15
  fire is real, he quotes Isaiah 57.
• 21:18
  There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked.
• 21:21
  He argues that it is logically impossible to have true peace
• 21:24
  while you are actively at war with the creator of the
• 21:26
  universe. You can have a temporary truce,
• 21:29
  you can have a very effective distraction, but you cannot have
• 21:32
  peace. But he does not end the sermon
• 21:35
  on the warning. He pivots to a genuinely
• 21:38
  beautiful invitation. He invites them to what he calls
• 21:41
  the better portion. And notice the specific appeal
• 21:44
  he makes? He offers a piece that allows
• 21:47
  you to have your eyes wide open. That calls right back to the
• 21:50
  earlier point about reason. You do not have to be blind to
• 21:53
  be happy anymore. That is the main selling point.
• 21:56
  You can face reality, all of it, the good, the bad and the very
• 22:00
  ugly parts of your own heart and still be a total peace.
• 22:03
  He promises that sins can be blotted out like a thick.
• 22:05
  Cloud. He talks about the absolute
• 22:07
  security of this portion. He says God's promise and his
• 22:10
  oath are firmer than mountains of brass.
• 22:13
  I love that specific imagery. Mountains of brass, completely
• 22:16
  indestructible, immutable. If God says you are his, the
• 22:20
  entire physical universe will dissolve into nothing before
• 22:23
  that promise fails you. And he even reframes the things
• 22:26
  we naturally fear the most. He says that if you possess this
• 22:29
  piece, death and judgement actually become sweet objects of
• 22:32
  contemplation. Imagine that mindset, thinking
• 22:35
  about Judgement Day and finding the thoughts sweet.
• 22:38
  That is only possible if you are holding the legacy of Christ is
• 22:42
  perfect righteousness. Because then Judgement Day is
• 22:45
  not the day of your condemnation.
• 22:47
  It is the day of your public vindication.
• 22:49
  It is the day you receive the full estate.
• 22:52
  Edwards ends with a final earnest call.
• 22:55
  Turn your feet into the way of peace.
• 22:58
  He describes a beautiful progression.
• 23:01
  It starts as a dawning light in this world.
• 23:03
  It might be faint at first. You might just have a little bit
• 23:05
  of peace and it's a lot of struggle, but it shines more and
• 23:08
  more until you reach the perfect day in the regions of
• 23:11
  everlasting joy. It is a clear path from the
• 23:14
  initial grant of peace here on earth to the full inheritance
• 23:18
  and glory. A path that begins with the
• 23:19
  legal death of the testator and ends with us living in his house
• 23:23
  forever. So as we wrap up this deep dive,
• 23:25
  let's synthesize what we have covered today.
• 23:27
  We have seen that the peace Christ gives is a legal
• 23:30
  transaction, a last will secured by his physical death and
• 23:33
  guaranteed by his resurrection life.
• 23:35
  We have seen that it is totally distinct from the world because
• 23:39
  it is real, it is rational, and it is eternal.
• 23:42
  It is not the fragile piece of ignorance, it is the solid piece
• 23:45
  of truth. And we have seen that we are Co
• 23:48
  heirs. We are not just holding a fond
• 23:50
  memory of Jesus, we are actively sharing the very life and spirit
• 23:55
  of Jesus. It is.
• 23:56
  A highly challenging and yet incredibly comforting word.
• 24:00
  It forces every single one of us to ask where our piece is
• 24:03
  actually coming from. Are we just numbing ourselves?
• 24:05
  Yeah. Or are we building our house on
• 24:07
  the rock? That brings me to a final
• 24:09
  thought. I would love for you, our
• 24:10
  listeners, to Mull over as you go about your week.
• 24:13
  We talked heavily about the drunkard in the burning house.
• 24:15
  A very haunting image. If your personal piece depends
• 24:18
  on you avoiding a certain subject, whether that is your
• 24:20
  own mortality or a failure in your past or your fear of the
• 24:23
  future, is it really peace or is it just a pause button on your
• 24:28
  anxiety? That is the $1,000,000 question.
• 24:31
  True peace can look at anything. It can look at the grave, It can
• 24:33
  look at the demands of the law, it can look at our own massive
• 24:36
  failures and still stand firm because it is not based on our
• 24:40
  performance or our ignorance. It is based entirely on the
• 24:44
  finished work of Christ. If you have to close your eyes
• 24:46
  to keep your peace, it is not the peace of Christ.
• 24:49
  Amen to that. Thank you for joining us on
• 24:51
  Reformed Thinking. We hope this deep dive into
• 24:53
  Jonathan Edwards has been a real blessing to you.
• 24:56
  Until next time. Grace and peace.