Latest / Reformed Thinking / We Have Peace with God (Romans 5:1) | Jonathan Edwards

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We Have Peace with God (Romans 5:1) | Jonathan Edwards · Reformed Thinking

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You know, usually when we talk about a medical diagnosis,
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there's a very specific expectation of precision.
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I mean, it's kind of like engineering.
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You break your arm. The X-ray shows that jagged
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white line on the monitor, and the doctor just points at the
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screen and says, well there it is.
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Yeah, it's binary. You have a fractured radius, or
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you know, you don't. The visual evidence is just
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right there in front of you. Right.
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Broken or not broken, it's a clean assessment.
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Humans like things to be visible.
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We we kind of like things to be categorized, our eyes labeled
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and put into neat little boxes. It gives us a sense of control
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over our physical reality. But then you step into the realm
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of our internal state, right, our spiritual standing, and
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suddenly that X-ray machine just, it stops working entirely.
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We're looking at a diagnostic landscape that is, quite
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honestly, totally murky. Oh yeah, completely.
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We try to evaluate our souls using the same binary methods we
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use for our bones and we end up totally confused.
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It is the absolute definition of diagnostic Muddy Waters.
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I mean, the internal life just doesn't yield to simple visible
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metrics. Well, welcome to Reform
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thinking. Today we're taking you into a
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really comprehensive deep dive into the historical sermon notes
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of Jonathan Edwards, and we're focusing specifically on his
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theological breakdown of Romans 5.1, which states we have peace
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with God. Spot on.
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Our goal today is to unpack these really dense, centuries
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old bullet points and extract the core insights about what
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peace with God actually entails and.
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We need to be clear right from the start about what we're
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looking at with this source material.
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We're analyzing an outline. These are Edward's personal
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notes. Yeah, they're structured almost
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like an architect's blueprint for like a massive cathedral.
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He is not giving us light, casual reflections here.
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He is constructing a highly rigid logical argument about the
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nature of spiritual reality. Which means we're going to
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bypass all the modern fluffy definitions of peace.
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You know the ones I mean. Oh, for sure.
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Today, culture defines peace as just taking a deep breath, or
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having a quiet morning with a cup of coffee, or maybe feeling
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temporarily stress free after yoga class.
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But Edwards forces us to look at peace as an objective cosmic
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reality. Right.
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It's so much bigger than a feeling.
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Yeah, so we're going to look at how he defines peace, the
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origins of it, the distinguishing marks that prove
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it's genuine, the benefits it provides, and the necessary
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course of action to secure it. It's a really logical
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progression. I mean, he starts with the
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nature of the peace itself, moves to the divine mechanics of
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how it's brought to pass, teaches us how to spot the
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counterfeits, outlines the staggering benefits, and then
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finishes with the practical steps required for the
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individual. It's a lot.
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It is. It's a complete theological
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system condensed into a few pages of incredibly tight bullet
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points. So let's start with the very
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first distinction he makes, because it kind of sets the
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stage for everything else that follows.
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Edwards divides peace into two distinct categories.
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He calls them real peace and sensible peace.
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Yes, he reads that one consists in the state of the soul and the
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other in the sense of the soul. This is a crucial distinction.
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When Edwards says real peace, he means an objective legal state.
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It is a fact. Like a court ruling.
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Precisely, it exists independently of how you happen
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to feel on any given Tuesday morning.
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He calls this objective state the foundation.
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The sensible peace, on the other hand, is the sensation or
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apprehension of that objective reality.
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It's your subjective experience. He argues that the real peace is
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the ground of the sensible peace.
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You cannot have the true feeling without the actual legal reality
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underneath it. And he breaks down this real
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peace into two distinct halves, something negative and something
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positive. Let's dig into that negative
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aspect first. OK, so he defines the negative
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side as the removal of God's anger and displeasure, the
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forgiveness of sin. But then he gives this rapid
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fire list of scriptural metaphors to explain what that
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removal actually looks like in practice.
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The fear of volume of imagery he uses here is really striking.
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I mean he references Isaiah 1.18 talking about sins being washed
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white as snow. He mentions Isaiah 44 comparing
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forgiveness to the unrolling of a cloud.
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Wow, unrolling of a cloud. Yeah, and he points to Jeremiah
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50, describing sins as though they never had been.
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He quotes Micah 7 about sins being cast into the depths of
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the sea and Daniel 9 about making an end of sin.
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I really want to spend some time with those metaphors because
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they are incredibly visceral. They're very physical.
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Take that phrase Unrolling of a cloud.
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That's a great one. If you think about a massive,
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severe storm system blocking the sun, you know the removal of
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that cloud changes the entire atmosphere of the Earth below.
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It right, the temperature shifts.
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The barometric pressure drops, the sun is shining again, the
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darkness is completely gone. It alters the environment on
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fundamental level. Or consider the imagery from
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Micah 7, casting sin into the depths of the sea.
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That's heavy. That is not just tossing
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something into a puddle on the sidewalk.
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The depths of the ocean represent absolute
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irretrievability. We're talking about extreme
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pressure, total darkness. Once something goes down into a
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place like the Mariana Trench, it's never coming back up to the
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surface. The absolute totality of the
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language is the main point Edwards is trying to convey.
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He wants to make sure we understand that this negative
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aspect, the removal of anger, is not a partial reduction.
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It's not a compromise. No, it's not God down grading
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his hostility from a level 10 to a level 4.
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It is an absolute definitive termination of hostilities as he
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quotes from the book of Daniel. It is making an end of sin.
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The legal Ledger is completely wiped out.
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The state of animosity is entirely dismantled.
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But Edward says that's only half of the equation, right?
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Right. That is just the negative side.
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That is the removal of the bad. Then he moves to the positive
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side of real peace. He says it's being received and
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treated as the objects of God's favor.
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And he notes that in Scripture, this is something more than a
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neutral state. He uses specific legal words
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like title, manifestation, and treatment.
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Well, if we look at the broader theological context here, it's
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the difference between a judge simply dropping the criminal
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charges against a defendant versus the judge formally
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adopting that defendant into his own.
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Family. Oh wow, that's a huge leap.
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It is and making him the legal heir to his estate.
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Dropping the charges is the negative part.
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You are no longer going to prison.
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The penalty is removed, but the positive part is the adoption.
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You now have a title. You have a legal right to the
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inheritance. He explicitly points out the
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difference between mere love and active favor.
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Here he talks about acceptance, compliance, and being entitled
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to a reward. It's a staggering shift in
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status. You go from an enemy under
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absolute displeasure to an accepted heir entitled to a
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reward. And all of this, Edwards
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insists, is real peace. It is the objective legal
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reality of the believer state, whether they feel it in the
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moment or not. Which logically brings us to the
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second category, sensible peace. This is the inward holy calm and
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quietness of the soul. It arises from an apprehension
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of that real union with God. Edwards points out that when
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Christ speaks of peace in John 14.27, saying Peace I leave with
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you, My peace I give unto you. This inward sweet calm is
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usually what is intended by the text.
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And even within the sensible Peace, Edwards finds 2
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subcategories. He breaks sensible peace into
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peace of conscience and peace of confidence.
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The peace of conscience is described as a sweet calm
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arising from a sense of the pardon of sin and acceptance
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with God as righteous. OK.
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He states that it relies on 2 specific things, a sense of
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sufficiency and an apprehension of the faithfulness of the
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promise. You realize the payment that was
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made is sufficient to cover the debt, and you trust the promise
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of the one making the offer is reliable.
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That combination produces REST. Then he contrasts that with the
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peace of confidence. He says this is the rest of the
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soul that arises from the sense or feeling of a real conformity
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to and union with Christ. The piece of conscience is a
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rest that arises from hope, but this piece of confidence is a
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rest that arises from love. The distinction between those
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two subjective states is remarkably sharp.
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Piece of conscience is looking at the legal transaction and
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feeling relief. It's looking at the courtroom
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verdict and saying well, I am safe because the debt is paid.
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But the piece of confidence is relational.
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It's looking at the person of Christ and feeling union.
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It is driven by an act of love for who he is, not just a
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reliance on what he has done for you in a legal sense.
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So imagine a distant, incredibly wealthy relative passes away and
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legally leaves you a massive inheritance.
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OK, I. Like where this is going?
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Right the moment the judge signs the paperwork in probate court,
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millions of dollars are legally placed into your bank account.
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The funds are there. The bank guarantees them.
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The legal transfer is complete. That is your real piece.
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It's an objective legal fact. You are wealthy.
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But you might be walking around all day entirely unaware of that
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courtroom proceeding, you know, stressing about how you're going
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to pay your electric bill before the power gets shut off.
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Yeah, your subjective experience is still sheer anxiety, even
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though your objective reality is absolute financial security.
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The sensible piece is the overwhelming relief you feel the
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moment you finally open your banking app on your phone, see
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those massive numbers on the screen, and realize the money is
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actually sitting right there in the account.
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That makes total sense. The money existed whether you
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check the app or not. The legal reality was completely
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independent of your emotional state or your awareness.
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But checking the app, seeing the proof and resting in the
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security of the bank's promise, that is what provides the
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sensible calm to your nervous system.
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What Edwards is mapping out in these notes is that the
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objective reality, the money in the bank, to use your analogy,
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must be actively constructed by someone.
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A legal standing of that magnitude does not just
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materialize out of thin air. No it doesn't.
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It requires deliberate action, authorization and execution by a
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higher authority. So if this piece is an objective
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steed of the soul, how is it brought to pass?
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Who built this legal reality? This takes us right into the
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divine mechanics of Edwards theology.
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Edwards doesn't offer a simple one sentence answer to how this
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happens. He lays out a five step
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framework detailing the distinct roles of the Trinity in securing
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this peace. OK, lay it out for.
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Us Well, He starts at the absolute very beginning of
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existence. The 1st and highest source, he
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says, is God's eternal foreknowledge and the choosing
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of particular persons by the Father.
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He quotes Jeremiah 31.3 here. I have loved thee with an
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everlasting love. He talks about the Father giving
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these persons to the Son, and the Son owning them,
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predestinating them. He references Ephesians 1.4 and
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Titus 1.2. He calls this the first
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foundation of the entire system. This requires us to really
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stretch our concept of time. Edwards is anchoring this piece
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not in a spontaneous reaction to human history, but in eternity
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past. Way before we existed.
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Right before the medical X-ray machine was even invented,
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Before the physical universe existed, before Light itself was
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spoken into existence, this piece was conceptualized and
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initiated by the Father. The motivation is not a sudden
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burst of pity. It is, as the text explicitly
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states, everlasting love. So the Father initiates the
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plan. Then Edwards moves to the Son's
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role in this massive framework. He says the purchase of this
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blessing was made by the offering that Christ made to the
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Father. He calls Christ the Prince of
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Peace from Isaiah 9.6 and points out that we are made nigh by the
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blood, referencing Ephesians 2.14.
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Christ acts as the great High Priest in this scenario.
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Notice the specific economic language Edwards employs in the
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text. He says the purchase of this
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blessing, a very real transaction, took place.
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It wasn't just waved away. No, the legal reality of peace
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required a literal physical offering.
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The hostility between a holy God and sinful humanity wasn't just
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brushed aside, it was absorbed and paid for by the high priest.
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This is the central mechanism that makes the real peace
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objectively valid. The infinite debt was settled
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with infinite blood. After outlining the purchase,
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Edwards addresses the way we actually come to have an
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interest in this purchase. He says we are brought into
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peace with God by being united to Christ.
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Yes, he mentions A threefold union, stating that the real
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union is the foundation of the legal union.
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Because the believer is in Christ, the believer necessarily
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becomes a partaker of the peace that Christ purchased.
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This is a massive theological concept within Reformed thought.
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You don't get the benefits of the purchase from a distance.
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You don't receive a package in the mail while remaining a
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stranger to the sender. Right.
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You have to be intimately united to the purchaser.
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The legal standing of righteousness is transferred
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specifically because of the relational union with the Son.
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And who facilitates that union? Edwards moves to the third
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person of the Trinity. He says the immediate efficient
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of this union is the Holy Spirit.
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He references Romans 8.9 and 10, explaining that Christ is in
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them and they are in Christ through the operation of the
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Spirit. The phrase immediate efficient
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cause is a really dense philosophical term.
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It is. It basically means the Holy
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Spirit is the direct active agent who executes the
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connection in real time. The Father planet in eternity
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past. The Son purchased it on the
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cross, but the Spirit is the one actually applying that purchased
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reality to the individual person right now.
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And Edwards uses some incredibly vivid language to describe this
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union. Facilitated by the spirit, he
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writes. The vine is united by deriving
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SAP, the womb by deriving life. Those are intense metaphors.
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Really intense. Up until this point in the
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notes, we've been talking about legal transactions, purchases,
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titles and objective states. It all sounds very courtroom
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oriented. Why does Edwards suddenly shift
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to such visceral biological metaphors?
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SAP flowing through a vine? A womb deriving life?
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Why use organic imagery for illegal reality?
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The shift in language is highly intentional.
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Edwards is demonstrating that justification, the legal
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standing of peace, cannot be isolated from a living, vital
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connection to the source of life.
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I see a courtroom verdict changes your legal status on a
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piece of paper, but it doesn't change your internal biology.
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Edwards is arguing that the union forged by the Holy Spirit
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does both simultaneously. So the legal union is completely
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inseparable from an organic life giving union.
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Think about the imagery of the vine and the SAP.
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A branch is not declared legally part of the tree while remaining
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a dry severed stick lying on the dirt.
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No, it would be dead. Right.
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The union is established by the actual physical flow of living
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SAP from the main trunk into the branch.
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The legal reality of belonging to the tree is built on top of
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the organic reality of receiving life from it.
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The branch has a right to the soil specifically because it is
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organically deriving life from the main vine.
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And the wound metaphor is even more intense than the vine
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metaphor. A fetus in the womb is not just
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legally classified as a dependent for tax purposes, it's
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physically deriving oxygen and nutrients through the umbilical
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cord every single second. It's constant.
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The connection is a matter of ongoing biological survival.
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Edwards is saying that our peace with God is not just a dusty
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contract sitting in a filing cabinet somewhere in heaven.
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It's a living, pulsating connection where spiritual life
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is actively being transferred to us by the Holy Spirit.
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He says the work by which the Spirit effects this living union
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is faith. Faith is the uniting act.
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Because the soul unites itself to Christ through faith.
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God looks on the center as one with Christ.
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And the end goal of all of this divine machinery?
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Edwards concludes in this section is the sanctification of
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heart and life, including faith and all other graces.
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This sanctification is what gives the sensible peace.
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He calls it the Seal of the Spirit, the earnest of the
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Spirit, the spirit of adoption. We can see the full trajectory
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of his thought process here. I mean from the eternal mind of
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the Father, to the physical blood of the Son, to the active
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application by the Spirit utilizing faith to forge a
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living union which results in a fundamentally changed heart.
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It's huge. The divine mechanics are
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incredibly thorough and leave no room for human effort in the
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initial construction of the objective reality.
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But if this vital living connection is established and it
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is supposed to produce a sensible feeling of peace, it
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forces a very practical issue that everyone has to deal with,
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which is human beings are incredibly skilled at self
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deception. Oh yes, we are.
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We can convince ourselves we're at peace when we are actually
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just ignoring our massive problems.
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If we're looking at this complex divine machinery, how can a
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person differentiate this genuine spiritual reality from a
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counterfeit feeling? How do you know you are not just
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faking it or mistaking a good mood for divine peace?
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Edwards anticipates this exact problem.
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He recognizes that because there is a real peace and a true,
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sensible peace, there must logically also be a false peace.
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He provides specific criteria to separate true peace from false
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appearances and emotional counterfeits.
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OK, so he starts with a very stark contrast regarding the
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origin of the feeling. He says that in those who have
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true peace, their sensible peace has its foundation laid in
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conviction. He specifically notes that
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spiritual conviction has its foundation in light and not in
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darkness. This is a diagnostic test for
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the soul. A false peace is built on
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darkness. It relies entirely on ignoring
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the truth of the situation. It's the peace of someone who
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refuses to open their mail because they know it is full of
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past due bills and collection notices.
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As long as they don't look at the bills, they feel peaceful.
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But that specific type of peace requires deliberate ignorance.
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It requires the room to be completely dark.
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True peace, according to Edwards, requires staring
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directly at the harsh reality of the situation.
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It involves legal conviction. You have to turn the lights all
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the way up. You have to face it.
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You have to look at the massive pile of spiritual debt,
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recognize the utter impossibility of paying it off
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yourself, and feel the crushing weight of the conviction.
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The true sensible peace only comes after the light has
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exposed the fatal problem and the true solution, Christ, has
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been applied. He then adds another layer to
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the diagnostic test, stating that in those who have true
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peace, this quietness and rest of soul is not only their
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comfort, but their virtue or nature.
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Comfort versus virtue. What is the functional
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distinction he is drawing there? Comfort is entirely
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circumstantial. You sit in a warm room by a fire
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on a freezing cold day and you experience comfort.
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But the moment you walk outside into the snowstorm, the comfort
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vanishes instantly because the external circumstance changed.
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OK, I see. Virtue, however, is a permanent
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characteristic of the soul. Edwards is arguing that true
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peace actually alters your fundamental nature.
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It's not just a soothing sensation that washes over you
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and your life is going well. It becomes a resilient trait
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embedded in your character that persists regardless of the
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weather outside. He also gives us a clear order
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of operations to look for. He says a sense of glory and
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suffering precedes a sense of possession.
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And critically, a rest of choice and love precedes a rest of
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hope. This exposes the true hidden
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motives of the human heart. Are you seeking peace because
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you simply want a cosmic get out of jail free card to avoid
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punishment? Or are you seeking peace because
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you genuinely love the creator of the universe?
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That's a challenging question. Edwards says the rest of choice
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and love must always come first. You must find rest in God for
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who He is, His intrinsic glory and beauty, before you find rest
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in Him for what He gives you, which is the rest of hope.
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Loving the giver must logically and experientially precede
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hoping in the gift. I want to isolate his final mark
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regarding true peace because on the surface it sounds completely
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contradictory. Edwards writes that in Those who
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have Peace, there is a union of heart with God and Christ
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attended with an irreconcilable war with God's enemies.
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Yes, the irreconcilable war. How can genuine peace mandate an
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endless irreconcilable war? It feels like a massive paradox.
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You can't be at peace if you are actively fighting an
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irreconcilable war on multiple fronts.
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It sounds like a paradox until you examine the actual nature of
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the union he described earlier with the vine in the branches.
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Edwards is saying that if you are genuinely united in heart to
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the Creator of the universe, you are aligning yourself completely
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with His absolute standard of goodness, justice and truth.
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And by definition, anything that opposes that absolute standard
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becomes your mortal enemy. You cannot be at peace with
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absolute light without being at war with absolute darkness.
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You cannot be at peace with perfect justice without being at
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war with systemic corruption. The peace is specific to your
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relationship with God, but because God's enemies are
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actively trying to dismantle his order and his truth in the
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world, aligning yourself with God logically necessitates total
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opposition to those forces. The war is the actual proof of
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the peace. If you are not at war with the
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things that hate God, it proves you're supposed to.
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Peace with God is a counterfeit. Build on compromise.
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The proof of the piece is the active presence of the conflict
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against what is wrong. It's a really sobering test, but
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once you verify this true piece using these strict marks,
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Edwards moves from the intense diagnostic scrutiny to laying
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out the advantages of possessing this reality.
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The section of his nose detailing the benefits of this
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piece is almost overwhelming in its scope.
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The scale is breathtaking. He opens by talking about an
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infinite defense. He writes that those with this
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peace are infinitely above the reach of everything that might
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destroy them. He justifies this extreme
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language by anchoring it in the eternal attributes of God.
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He says destroying the believer is as impossible as destroying
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God himself, because infinite wisdom, infinite strength,
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infinite price, and infinite truth are all fully engaged in
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their defense. He uses the phrase dwell on
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high, infinitely high. He backs this up with Hebrew 6
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mentioning the oath of God. It's not just a promise written
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on paper, it's an oath backed by the eternal, unchanging nature
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of the Creator. It's an impenetrable fortress
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that nothing can breach. He then makes a claim that takes
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this defense to an even more radical level.
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He says this peace results in being at peace with all God's
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creatures across the entire spectrum of existence.
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Yeah, he lists them out 1 by 1. He says we're at peace with
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angels, Saints, the sun, the moon, the stars, beasts, stones,
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water, fire, and poisonous things.
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He references Job 5.23, Isaiah 43.2, and Mark 16.
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He's painting a picture of total cosmic alignment.
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Because you are at peace with the Creator of the universe, the
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physical universe itself is no longer fundamentally hostile to
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your existence. Imagine a massive, elaborate
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theater production. Imagine you are wandering around
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a dark, chaotic stage filled with trapdoors, swinging props,
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pyrotechnics and heavy stones hanging from the ceiling on thin
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ropes. Sounds terrifying.
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Right. If you were just a trespasser
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wandering onto that stage in the dark, every single object is a
23:03
deadly threat. You could fall through a loose
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floorboard or be crushed by a falling prop.
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The environment is actively dangerous and unpredictable.
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But if you are the child of the director who designed the stage,
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your entire perspective on that environment shifts completely.
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Exactly. The physical objects are exactly
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the same. The tract doors are still there.
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The pyrotechnic fire is still incredibly hot.
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The heavy stones are still hanging in the rafters above
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your head. But you know that the director
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is sitting in the control booth. He operates every single lever
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and pulley in the building. He knows exactly where you were
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standing on the stage at all time.
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Right, he's in control. The physical universe is no
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longer a chaotic, threatening environment governed by random
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chance. It's a meticulously operated
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theater controlled by a friendly director.
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The stones, the water and the fire are just props in His
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sovereign hand. Edwards takes that concept of
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the theater props to its absolute extreme limit.
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He adds wicked men and devils to the list of things the believer
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is at peace with. Which is wild to think about.
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It is, and he doesn't mean a warm, friendly relationship with
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devils, obviously. He references First Corinthians
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3.21 and 22, which says all things are yours.
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He is asserting the shocking reality that even the malicious
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actions of wicked men and devils are overruled by the director
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and inadvertently forced to work for the ultimate good of the.
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So they're like props? Yes, they are props in the
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director's hand, even when their explicit intention is to cause
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harm and destruction. The scale of that theological
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claim is just hard to comprehend.
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But then Edward zooms all the way back in from the macro
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cosmic scale of stars and devils down to the intimate scale of
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daily life. He lists communion with God and
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and holy and sweet walking and friendly conversing with God.
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He quotes Amos 3.3, Can two walk together except they be agreed
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and notes that God has called you friends.
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It's the juxtaposition of the infinite and the intimate.
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You are shielded by an infinite defense that the devils cannot
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penetrate, but your actual day-to-day experience is
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friendly, conversing with the creator of the cosmos.
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This daily conversation leads to what he calls assimilation to
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God, where you start to look and act more like him over time.
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And it leads to communion with other Saints who share that same
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reality. He also lists some intensely
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practical benefits for daily living in a broken world.
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He calls this peace and anchor to the soul, providing
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steadfastness under the constant changes of life.
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He describes A steadfast calm in the midst of violent storms and
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a steadfast meekness in the midst of harsh oppositions from
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others. Notice the deliberate repetition
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of the word steadfast. It implies A stabilizing weight
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holding a ship in place when external oppositions and storms
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rise up to batter the ship. This piece prevents you from
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being thrown off balance or capsized.
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It keeps you grounded. Right.
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It provides strong and conquering support under the
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physical and emotional troubles of life, even to the point of
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giving comfort when waiting for a physical death.
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He finishes the list of benefits with simply Joy Unspeakable.
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We have this massive objective legal reality.
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We see the divine mechanics of the Trinity securing it in
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eternity past. We have the specific marks to
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prove it's genuine in our own hearts.
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We see the staggering list of cosmic and intimate benefits.
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It's a lot to take in. With all of that established,
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the practical question is how someone actually takes hold of
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this reality. Edwards provides his final
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points, outlining the course to be taken in order to obtain this
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peace and maintain the sensible enjoyment of it.
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He provides 7 specific steps and they are incredibly rigorous.
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He begins by requiring a sense of the great breach.
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You have to clearly understand that a massive relational and
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legal rupture has occurred between you and the Holy God.
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Step 2 follows right on its heels, a sense of the sheer
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misery caused by that breach and the absolute necessity of
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reconciliation. But he adds A crucial
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instruction here. He says all false rest must be
27:00
destroyed. Yes, he specifically calls out
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two primary sources of false rest the world and own
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righteousness. Those are the two primary
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pillows human beings try to sleep on to avoid dealing with
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the reality of the breach. We either distract ourselves
27:15
with the world, chasing financial success, physical
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pleasure, or social comfort, or we rely on our own
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righteousness, convincing ourselves that we are basically
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good people who don't really need an external savior to
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rescue us. Edwards says both of those
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pillows must be completely destroyed before true peace can
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be found. That brings us to Step 3, which
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is remarkably severe. Edwards writes that the course
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to be taken requires A conviction that God may justly
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refuse ever to be at peace with us.
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Why does Edwards insist on such a severe, humbling realization
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as a prerequisite for experiencing peace?
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Why must someone believe God has the absolute right to refuse
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them reconciliation? It goes back to destroying that
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false rest of your own righteousness.
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If you approach God believing He owes you peace, that He is
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somehow morally obligated to forgive you because you are
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trying your best, you are still resting on your own personal
28:05
merit. You feel entitled to the
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inheritance. OK, I see.
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But true peace, as we discussed earlier with the legal
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terminology, is based on an objective transaction of sheer
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grace. Stripping away your entitlement
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and acknowledging God's absolute right to leave you in your
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rebellion is the only way to genuinely recognize the
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unmerited grace of the Prince of Peace.
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You have to fully agree that you deserve the prison sentence
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before you can truly receive the royal pardon.
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The sense of entitlement blocks the ability to receive grace
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once that entitlement is shattered by conviction.
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Step 4 is an eternal divorce of the heart from that which made
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and maintains the breach. You have to formally and
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permanently sever ties with the sin that caused the hostility in
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the first place. That deliberate severance
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creates the spiritual vacuum for Step 5.
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The Prince of Peace must be resorted to and embraced.
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You turn away from the sin and turn directly to Christ as the
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only viable refuge. Step 6 echoes what we discussed
29:03
earlier in the Distinguishing Marks, and high war must be
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maintained with God's enemies. The Alliance has fundamentally
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shifted and you must act accordingly in your daily life.
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Finally, Step 7A, spirit of peace and love must rule in our
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hearts and lives. Edwards notes that this is the
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end goal of the union between God and the soul and the union
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between individual Christians. He offers a very clear warning
29:28
here. What's the warning?
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He says, if we are under the influence of a contrary spirit,
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if we are ruled by internal bitterness or outward hatred, we
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cannot expect to have the sensible peace of God resting
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upon us. He.
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Concludes the notes by bringing it all back to the sensation of
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the soul. He writes in the lively exercise
29:44
of this spirit of peace and love tends to give that other sort of
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sensible peace, the one that consists in hope.
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And his final line in the notes is a quote for perfect peace
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casts out fear. It's a brilliant synthesis of
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the entire theological framework.
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The objective reality of the legal peace secures the
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immovable foundation which allows the Holy Spirit to
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generate the sensible peace within the soul, which
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systematically begins to dismantle and cast out the
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internal fears and anxieties of the individual.
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We have travelled a massive intellectual and spiritual
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distance today through Edward's thought process on Romans 5.1.
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We have seen a vision of peace that originates in the eternal
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mind of the Father, is purchased by the physical blood of the
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Son, and is actively applied by the Holy Spirit.
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It's an incredible framework. We have seen that this piece
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provides an infinite defense, aligning the entire physical
30:35
universe, from the stars in the sky to the stones on the ground
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for your ultimate good. And it leaves absolutely no room
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for superficial comfort or cheap grace.
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It demands absolute conviction of sin and irreconcilable war
30:47
with darkness and a total reliance on the great High
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priest. But in return, it offers an
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anchor to the soul that can withstand the fiercest storms of
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human existence. As we wrap up this deep dive
30:58
into the source material, consider that concluding line
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from Edwards again. For perfect peace casts out
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fear, think about the X-ray machine we talked about at the
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very beginning of the show. We started by looking for a
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clear objective scan of our internal state.
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And Edwards has provided that scan.
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He has. He has shown us the objective
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legal reality of this piece. If this rigorous, objective,
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legal reality means the entire universe, including the very
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stones, water and fire, is aligned by a friendly director
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for your good, what physical or social anxiety in your daily
31:31
life can possibly remain A legitimate threat?
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That's a question worth pondering.
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I invite you to weigh your daily fears against the sheer massive
31:38
weight of this cosmic anchor. When you look at the X-ray of
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your standing before God through the lens of this text, the
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jagged lines of your own failures are gone, replaced by
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the solid, unbreakable reality of the Prince of Peace.
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Thank you for joining us today. We will see you next time on
31:54
reformed thinking.