Latest / Reformed Thinking / How to Know if You Are A Real Christian (James 2:19) | Jonathan Edwards

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How to Know if You Are A Real Christian (James 2:19) | Jonathan Edwards · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome to reformed thinking. Glad to be here.
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So if I asked you to prove you were a Christian right now, you
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would probably start by telling me what you believe.
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Right, you'd list out your theology.
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Yeah, you would recite facts. You might say you believe in the
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Trinity, or that Jesus died on the cross for sins and that he
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rose from the grave on the third day.
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Which are all true. Absolutely true.
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You would give me this whole list, but what if I told you
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that the devil agrees with every single theological fact you just
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listed? Yeah, and honestly, he probably
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has a much better grasp of the biblical text than you do.
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Without a doubt, he definitely does.
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So today we are scrutinizing the boundary lines of saving faith.
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We're doing a deep dive into a 1752 sermon by Jonathan Edwards.
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Such a heavy piece of writing. It really is.
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It's called How to Know if You are a Real Christian, though the
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original title was True Grace distinguished from the
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Experience of devils. Which is such a jarring concept
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right out of the gate. Yeah, it's very aggressive, but
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we're putting a magnifying glass over what actually separates
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genuine faith from, you know, just simple intellectual
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agreement. Or even emotional religious
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experiences, right? Because people rely on both.
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Yeah, they do. And Edwards does this by leaning
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heavily on one single verse, James chapter 2, verse 19, which
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says you believe that there is one God.
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Good. Even the demons believe that and
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shudder. That's.
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Quite the statement. It is.
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So as we pull this apart today, you have to evaluate your own
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definition of faith. You know, Ask yourself what you
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are actually relying on when you assume you are right with God.
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Because that verse from James, it's, I mean, it's a theological
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earthquake, yeah. It shakes the ground under any
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casual assumption of religious safety, Edwards notes.
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A very common question used in evangelism, which is why should
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God let you into his heaven? And the typical answer people
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give both back in the 18th century and today is simply
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well, I believe in God. Right.
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And James 219 acknowledges that this simple belief is good and
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it is necessary, but it makes an airtight case that factual
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belief is entirely insufficient for salvation.
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It's just not enough. No, it's not.
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Edwards builds a really tight, logical trap here.
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He looks at the demonic realm and sets up this brilliant
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syllogism. Walk us through that logic.
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OK, so if demons possess a certain trait, in this case a
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factual belief in God, and the biblical text is clear that
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demons have no hope of salvation.
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Which they don't. Right then, possessing that
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specific factual belief cannot be the defining proof of
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salvation for a human being. The logic is undeniable when you
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lay it out like that. I mean, you can't really argue
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with it. No, it's airtight.
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And think about the cultural context Edwards was preaching
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into 18th century New England was just saturated in cultural
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religion. Oh, entirely.
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You had the halfway covenant in place, where people were allowed
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to have their children baptized simply by giving intellectual
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assent to the Church's doctrines.
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Even if they had never experienced any kind of internal
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conversion themselves. Right.
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They were just steeped in an environment where showing up to
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the meetinghouse on Sunday and agreeing with the local creed
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was considered the baseline for being a decent person.
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It was just part of society. People assumed that because they
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were not atheists, they were safe.
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Yeah, and Edwards strips all of that away by pointing out that
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atheism does not exist in hell. That is such a terrifying
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thought. It is the demons are the most
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orthodox believers in the universe when it comes to the
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raw facts of existence. They know God is real.
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They know His laws are binding. And this applies so directly to
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modern cultural Christianity Today, where intellectual
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agreement with historical facts is, you know, routinely mistaken
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for true faith. Oh, all the time.
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People treat the Apostles Creed like a password.
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Yes, they assume that if they can recite the facts of the
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Gospel, they are cleared for entry into heaven.
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But the distinction between knowing facts and possessing A
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reconciled relationship is the core issue here.
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It is a person can say I know God exists, I know he sent Jesus
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and assume that just checks the box.
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But the problem is that the demons know all of that with
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Absolute certainty. They know the historical
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realities better than we do, and their future is still eternal
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punishment. So believing facts does not
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erase future punishment for demons.
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Nope. So there is no logical reason to
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assume that believing facts erases future punishment for
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humans. We have to separate the
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acquisition of data from the disposition of the heart.
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Data acquisition is just a natural human capacity.
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Any person with a functioning brain can read a textbook on
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systematic theology, memorize the definitions of
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justification, and, you know, pass an exam.
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The demons could pass any theological exam with a perfect
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score. Without a doubt.
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But possessing the data does not change the hostility of the
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will. I think about this through the
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analogy of a career criminal standing trial.
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OK, let's hear it. So this criminal knows the judge
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exists. He knows the Penal Code inside
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and out. He might even know the
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architectural layout of the courthouse better than the
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lawyers do. He's been in the system a long
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time, right? He believes the penal system is
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a real, functioning entity, but he hates the judge.
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He despises the laws. He hates the system that holds
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him accountable. Yeah, so believing the facts
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about the courtroom does not mean he has a loving
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relationship with the judge. Nor does it make him an innocent
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man. He is entirely orthodox in his
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understanding of the legal system, but his will is
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completely rebellious against it.
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Right believing facts simply does not equate to a loving
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relationship. It really doesn't.
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And the demons have perfect factual knowledge of the cosmic
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courtroom. They know the judge is holy.
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They know he hates sin. But no, he is a God of truth who
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is promised judgement. But that knowledge does not make
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them holy. The devil is perfectly wicked.
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John chapter 8 points out that he was a murderer from the
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beginning, the father of lies. His intellect is vast, but his
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will is entirely. Exactly.
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Well, I mean spot on. Anything in the minds of demons
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cannot be holy, nor can it lead to true holiness by itself.
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The sheer volume of data they possess about God only fuels
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their hatred of Him because they understand that His holy nature
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guarantees their destruction. That makes sense.
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This proves that raw knowledge disconnected from a changed
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heart is spiritually useless. Wait, hold on a second.
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If studying theology and memorizing scripture is
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literally doing what demons do, aren't we incentivizing the
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wrong thing in our churches? How so?
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Well, is Edwards actually arguing against theological
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education here? Because if knowing the facts is
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a shared trait with the demonic realm, it almost sounds like
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ignorance might be safer. Oh, I see what you're saying.
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No, Edwards is certainly not arguing for ignorance.
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He was one of the most brilliant theological minds in history.
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He believed that right knowledge is absolutely necessary.
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You cannot love a God you do not know.
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Right, that's true. The issue is not the knowledge
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itself. The issue is relying on the
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possession of that knowledge as the evidence of your salvation.
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He is attacking the false assurance that comes from
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intellectual pride. To understand why this is so
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dangerous, we have to evaluate the sheer intellect of demons,
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because Edwards makes a case that their intellect is
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staggling far beyond human capacity.
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Let's unpack the history of Satan to see why his intellect
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is so vast. Yeah, let's do that.
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According to passages like Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28, Satan
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was a chief Angel. He is described as a bright and
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morning star, excelling in strength and wisdom, standing
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before the very face of God. He was created as a being of
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immense majesty and cognitive ability, and when he fell from
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that position, his sin ruined his moral purity, but it did not
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erase his cognitive processing ability.
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Right. Sin corrupts the will, but it
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does not completely obliterate the natural faculties.
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Satan's memory is perfectly intact.
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I mean he was present at the creation.
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Yeah, Job 38 talks about the Angel shouting for joy when the
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Earth's foundations were laid. Satan knows the physics of the
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universe. He knows how God governs
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creation. And he has watched redemptive
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history play out in real time. He watched God interact with
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Adam and Eve in the Garden. He observed the flood in Noah's
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day. He watched God make the covenant
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with Abraham. He studied the rise and fall of
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David's Kingdom, and he watched Jesus Christ with the most
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intense, obsessive scrutiny imaginable.
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He had to watch Christ closely because he was actively trying
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to ruin the plan of redemption. Yeah, he watched Christ's
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miracles first hand. He listened to the Sermon on the
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Mount. He stood in the wilderness and
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debated Jesus. The text in Matthew 4 shows
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Satan quoting Psalm 91 from memory, trying to twist the
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Scriptures to tempt Jesus to throw himself down from the
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temple. He knows the book.
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He intimately knows the reality of heaven because he used to
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live there and worship before the throne, and he intimately
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knows the reality of hell because he knows it is prepared
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for him and his angels. The sheer volume of his
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theological knowledge is unparalleled by any human being.
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It's. Terrifying to think about.
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He has thousands of years of uninterrupted observation.
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He does not sleep. He does not suffer from
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cognitive decline. No brain fog?
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None. He has studied the human heart
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for centuries, learning our weaknesses, our patterns of
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temptation, and the specific ways we deceive ourselves.
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And that level of craftiness requires an actual, precise
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knowledge of the facts. He cannot twist the truth so
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effectively unless he knows the truth perfectly.
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Like a counterfeit bill. Yes.
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A counterfeit is only effective if the counterfeiter knows every
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detail of the genuine article. Satan knows the genuine truth of
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God's Word. Florida State.
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This brings up a really heavy reality for anyone sitting in a
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Pew today. What's that?
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It means it is entirely possible to hold perfect theological
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orthodoxy, to agree with all biblical truth, to be completely
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free of heresy in your mind, and yet still remain completely
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opposed to God. You could have a library full of
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systematic theology books, you can write brilliant commentaries
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on the Greek text of the New Testament, and you can be
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completely aligned with the mindset of hell.
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Edward states explicitly that the devil is not a heretic.
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All the articles of his faith are firmly established in the
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truth. He knows there is one God.
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He knows the Trinity is real. He knows Jesus is the Son of
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God. Even the demons in the Gospels
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knew that. Right when Jesus was casting out
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demons in Matthew 8, they shouted.
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What do you want with us, son of God?
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Have you come here to torture us before the appointed time?
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They knew exactly who he was. They recognized the hypostatic
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union. They recognized Christ's
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divinity hidden in human flesh, instantly, long before the
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disciples fully grasped it. Their Christology was Florida
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State accurate. So a person could stand in a
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pulpit, preach a brilliant, exegetically sound sermon about
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Jesus Christ, articulate the mechanics of justification by
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faith alone, explain the nuances of the Trinity, and lead people
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to a clear understanding of the gospel.
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Absolutely. All of that might build up a
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church and enlighten people's minds, but if that preacher
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relies on their ability to explain those concepts as the
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proof that they are personally saved, they are resting on the
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exact same foundation the demons have.
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Because mere agreement with the Bible and the ability to
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articulate it is not a sure sign of salvation.
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It's a devastating critique of intellectualism and religion.
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It really is. If you remove a regenerate
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heart, the most brilliant theologian in the world is doing
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nothing more than organizing the data of their own condemnation.
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They're studying a judge they refuse to submit to.
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This forces the individual to look past their bookshelves,
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past their degrees, and past their ability to win theological
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debates and ask a much harder question about what is actually
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happening in their soul. But doesn't just stop at the
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intellect. Right.
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So if intellectual mastery fails the test, what about the realm
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of religious feelings? What about emotional responses?
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That's. Where a lot of people go next.
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I think a massive portion of the modern church assumes that if
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they feel a certain way during a worship song or if they're moved
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to tears during a prayer, that visceral emotion proves God is
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working in. The it's a very common
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assumption. But Edwards dismantles that
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assumption just as thoroughly, using the exact same verse in
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James. James 219 says the demons
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shudder or tremble, right? The Greek word used there
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implies A visceral physical bristling, like hair standing up
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in the back of the neck out of sheer terror.
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It's not just a passing thought, it is a massive emotional
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reaction. They are not just cold
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calculating computers processing theological data in a vacuum.
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They have genuine, sincere and intense emotional reactions to
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God's majesty and holiness. Their knowledge of God produces
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a massive emotional response. Yes, we see this principle
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illustrated vividly in the parable of the wealthy man and
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Lazarus in Luke 16. Oh, that's a great example to
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bring up. So the wealthy man is in hell,
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and he suddenly experiences an intense, agonizing spiritual
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clarity. He grasps the vastness of
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eternity. Right.
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He understands the absolute shortness of human life.
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He desperately begs for someone to warn his five brothers so
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they will not come to this place of torment.
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He feels the gravity of spiritual reality, the weight of
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sin, and the urgency of eternity in a way he never did while he
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was throwing lavish parties on earth.
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His emotions are dialed up to the absolute maximum.
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We really have to analyze the psychology of the wealthy man in
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that parable because it reveals the mechanism of demonic
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emotion. How so?
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The man is fully convinced of the spiritual world's reality.
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He feels the weight of it. He's terrified because he
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clearly perceives God's justice. He knows his punishment is real
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and irreversible. He has a strong sense of God's
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majesty and the terrifying nature of divine wrath.
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But that terror, that awe, and that sudden clarity about
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eternity do not equal repentance.
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Wow. Suffering reveals the strictness
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of God's justice, but it lacks the beauty required to change
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the will. The man wants his brothers to
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avoid pain, but he never expresses any sorrow for
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offending a holy God. His emotional response is rooted
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entirely in his current suffering, not in a new love for
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God's character. Yes.
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Think about how this applies to modern emotional highs in
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church. Yeah, let's bring it to today.
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A person might walk into a grand historic cathedral, look up at
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the vaulted ceilings and feel a deep sense of awe.
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Or they might stand in an arena with thousands of people singing
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a modern worst calm, with the lights pulsing and the music
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swelling. And they feel A rush of
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adrenaline, a sense of eternity, a feeling of being very small in
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the presence of something very large.
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And they interpret that rush, that awe, as the presence of the
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Holy Spirit. But Edwards argues these
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feelings alone prove absolutely nothing, because beings bound
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for hell feel awe and terror, too.
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Recognizing the majesty and might of God is not an exclusive
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capacity of the saved. Not at all.
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Romans 9 verse 22 talks about God bearing with great patience
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the objects of His wrath, prepared for destruction, to
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make the riches of His glory known.
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And Revelation 17 says that when Christ returns, every eye will
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see him, even those who pierced him, and all the peoples of the
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earth will mourn because of him. Everyone will recognize His
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infinite glory on that day. The most hardened atheists will
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see the sky split open and will fall on their face in absolute
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terror and awe. But that universal recognition
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of majesty is not special grace, it is just the undeniable
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reality of an infinite Creator forcing itself upon finite
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creatures. So shuddering, trembling,
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feeling overwhelmed by the thought of eternity, crying
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during a song because you feel small and God feels huge.
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Those are real human experiences.
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They are genuine emotions. But they are not exclusive to a
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regenerate heart. Demons shudder, unbelievers will
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mourn and tremble at the final judgement.
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It is a shared experience based on the massive differential
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between the creator and the creature.
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It is a reaction to strength, not an affection for holiness.
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And Edwards takes this a step further, doesn't he?
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He points out that demons actually have a much more
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concrete, intense knowledge of God's existence than humans do
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right now. Yeah, because we are hindered by
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our physical bodies. We perceive the world through
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physical senses, which blunts our perception of spiritual
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realities. But demons live entirely in the
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spiritual realm. Right.
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Their experiences of God's authority and justice are raw,
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immediate, and unfiltered. So if intense spiritual
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experiences, overwhelming awe, and massive emotional reactions
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were the definitive proof of saving grace, the demons would
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have more proof of grace than anyone on earth their.
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Emotional responses to God are far more intense than ours.
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At this point I can hear a listener objecting.
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Someone might say, look, I am not a demon, and my feelings
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during worship aren't just fear or shuddering.
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I am not just feeling terrified of God's might.
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I feel joy. I feel peace.
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I feel a deep sense of love for God.
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They might argue that because their emotions are positive and
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not negative, it proves they have the Holy Spirit.
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And Edwards anticipates this defense doesn't.
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He anticipates it perfectly, and his analysis of this objection
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is where his theology cuts incredibly deep into the human
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psyche. Let's look into that.
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He addresses the claim that humans experience Lovejoy and
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peace regarding God, which demons obviously do not.
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He acknowledges that people feel these things.
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OK, so he's not denying the feelings.
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Exist. No, not at all.
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But he argues that the source of these positive feelings and
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unsaved humans is often identical to the demonic
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mindset. Also, it is just natural
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understanding combined with the instinct of self love.
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Let's breakdown the mechanics of this How does self love
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weaponized blessings to create a counterfeit faith?
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Well, God grants what theologians call common grace to
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all humanity. He provides rain for the crops,
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heat from the sun, oxygen in the lungs, medical advancements,
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good food, pleasant relationships, and the capacity
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to enjoy music and art. Matthew 545 says God causes his
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Son to rise on the evil and the good and sends rain on the
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righteous and the unrighteous. Right.
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Additionally, the Holy Spirit works in the world to restrain
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full human wickedness, keeping human society from devolving
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into absolute chaos. We are surrounded by these
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unmerited blessings every single day.
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And on top of that physical provision, humans sitting in a
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church hear the hope of the gospel.
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They hear that God loves the world, that Jesus died for
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sinners, and that heaven is available.
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Now, human beings are hardwired with a massive instinct for self
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preservation and self love. We naturally love love things
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that benefit us. We naturally love people who are
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kind to us. So when a person receives all
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these physical blessings and then hears A preacher tell them
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that God loves them and wants to save them from hell, their
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natural instinct of self love responds with intense gratitude.
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They sit in the Pew and think God is being so good to me, He
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gave me a good job, my family is healthy, and now he is offering
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me a ticket out of hell. God must really love me.
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And because they feel that God loves them, they feel a
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corresponding surge of love back toward God.
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They cry tears of joy. They feel immense peace.
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But Edwards argues this is just self love acting like a mirror,
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reflecting a desire for safety back up toward the sky.
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It is not actually a love for God's character, it is a love
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for God's gifts and the safety he provides.
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Edwards poses a brilliant hypothetical scenario to
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illustrate how this works mechanically.
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Oh, the amnesty scenario, yeah. He says imagine if demons who
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currently know their absolute certain doom were suddenly
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offered amnesty. Imagine if an Angel appeared in
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hell and a announced to a demon. God has decided to pardon you.
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He's going to forgive your rebellion and let you back into
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heaven, sin and all. You will never suffer again.
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How would that demon react? That demon would instantly
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exhibit intense love, immense joy, and overwhelming gratitude
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toward God. They.
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Would be the most enthusiastic worshippers imaginable.
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They would sing louder than anyone.
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But that love and joy would only be driven by self preservation.
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It would not be a love for God's holy character, His justice, or
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His purity, the demon. Would still hate Holiness.
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The demon would just be thrilled that he was escaping the pain of
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punishment. And Edwards argues that humans
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do the exact same thing when they only love God because they
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think he will save them from hell or fix their earthly
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problems. Think about the eviction
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analogy. Let's stretch that out to see
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the visceral difference. Yeah, let's hear it.
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Imagine you are facing eviction. You have no money, you are about
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to lose your home and you are terrified.
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A complete stranger steps in, hands the landlord a check, and
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pays your rent for an entire year.
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In that moment, you are going to feel a massive surge of
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affection for that stranger. You will feel intense joy,
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immense peace, and profound, well, heavy gratitude.
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You might even hug them and tell them you love them.
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But do you actually love them? You know nothing about their
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character, their morals, or their personality.
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You do not love them. You love the financial safety
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they just provided. You love the relief.
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That is the crucial distinction according to Luke 632.
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Jesus says if you love those who love you, what credit is that to
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you? Even sinners love those who love
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them. It is a basic, natural human
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response to feel affection for someone who benefits you.
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A corrupt politician will feel affection for a wealthy donor
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who funds his campaign. A mob boss will feel affection
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for a loyal soldier who keeps him out of.
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Prison based on mutual benefit requires 0 spiritual change.
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If your love for God comes solely from your feeling that
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God loves you or because you want the benefits he provides,
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like escaping hell, finding a spouse, or having a successful
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career, the source of your love is only self love.
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And self love reigns in the hearts of demons just as
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strongly as it does in humans. The only difference is the
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current circumstances, right? Humans are currently
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experiencing the restraint of common grace and hearing the
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offer of the gospel, so their self love produces positive,
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happy feelings. Demons are currently locked in
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irreversible judgment, so their self love produces terror and
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hatred. But the root engine driving the
22:00
emotion and obsession with the self is the exact same in both
22:04
scenarios. This is an incredibly tough pill
22:07
to swallow. It really is.
22:09
I mean if factual knowledge fails the test because demons
22:11
have it. And if spiritual awe and fear
22:14
fail the test because demons feel it?
22:16
And if even feelings of joy, peace and gratitude based on
22:20
self-interest fail the test because a pardon demon would
22:23
feel them too, we are left with a terrifying vacuum.
22:27
What is left? Yeah, what is the actual anchor
22:29
here? If fear, joy, and intellectual
22:31
masory are all insufficient, what does true grace actually
22:35
look like in the human mind? This brings us to the absolute
22:38
core of Edwards theology. True spiritual experience
22:41
differs in its fundamental source.
22:43
OK. The defining mark of genuine
22:45
saving faith is a sense of the overwhelming holy beauty and
22:49
loveliness of the things of Todd is the capacity to perceive the
22:53
moral excellence of the divine nature.
22:55
Let's define what we mean by moral beauty, because we aren't
22:58
talking about seeing a glowing light, or having a vision of a
23:01
majestic figure in the clouds, or looking at a beautiful
23:04
sunset. No.
23:05
Edwards is applying 18th century philosophical concepts of
23:09
aesthetics to theology. We have to look at how Edwards
23:12
understood beauty. He distinguished between natural
23:15
attributes and moral attributes. God's natural attributes are
23:19
things like His infinite strength, His omniscience, His
23:23
omnipresence. And demons see those natural
23:26
attributes perfectly. They understand his raw might
23:28
and it terrifies them. But God's moral attributes are
23:31
His Holiness, His infinite purity, His perfect justice, and
23:35
His unfathomable mercy. The harmony of all these moral
23:39
attributes operating together is what Edwards calls moral beauty
23:42
or moral excellence. And demons are utterly blind to
23:45
this moral beauty. They know God's justice and His
23:48
strength, but they cannot see His loveliness.
23:50
Why is that? Well, because you need a
23:52
corresponding nature to appreciate a moral attribute.
23:55
A corrupt wicked will cannot see the attractiveness of a holy
23:59
pure will. The more a demon sees God's
24:01
holiness, the more the demon hates him.
24:04
Encountering pure moral excellence only feels the
24:07
hostility of a wicked being. They have the data about God's
24:10
holiness, but they hate the reality of it.
24:12
True converts receive something that demons do not possess.
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In 2nd Corinthians 4, the Apostle Paul talks about the God
24:20
of this age blinding the minds of unbelievers, keeping them
24:23
from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ.
24:26
But then Paul says, for God, who said, let light shine out of
24:29
darkness, made his light shine in our hearts to give us the
24:33
light of the knowledge of God's glory displayed in the face of
24:35
Christ. True converts receive a
24:38
supernatural light. This is not an upgrade to their
24:41
existing natural faculties, it is a completely new spiritual
24:45
sense given by the Holy Spirit. This new sense allows them to
24:49
actually perceive and be drawn to the inherent glory and
24:53
attractiveness of Christ's moral nature.
24:56
Edwards uses this analogy of a blind man that I think is
24:58
incredibly helpful for understanding this new.
25:00
Sense. Oh yeah, the blind man analogy.
25:02
A man who has been blind from birth can be taught the physics
25:06
of light. He can learn the exact
25:08
wavelengths of red, blue and green.
25:10
He can pass an exam on optics. He have all the factual data
25:13
about color in his intellect. But he has no actual perception
25:17
of the beauty of a sunset. He has never experienced the
25:20
qualia, the actual subjective experience of seeing the color
25:24
red. The demons and unregenerate
25:26
humans have the data about God. They have the theology.
25:29
But they have no perception of his moral beauty.
25:32
They are spiritually blind to the attractiveness of holiness.
25:35
When God grants the supernatural light, it changes the entire
25:38
motivation for belief. When a person is operating out
25:41
of self love, their internal monologue is constantly
25:44
calculating. How do I escape hell?
25:47
How do I get God to bless my life?
25:49
How do I ensure my own comfort? Their religion is a strategy for
25:52
self preservation. But when a person is granted the
25:55
spiritual sense to see divine beauty, that selfish calculation
25:59
stops. The Sinner is suddenly
26:01
captivated by the worthiness of Christ himself.
26:04
They see the preciousness of Christ's blood, the perfection
26:07
of God's character, the beautiful harmony of His justice
26:09
punishing sin, and His mercy forgiving the Sinner of the
26:13
cross. And they love him simply because
26:15
he is inherently worthy to be loved, regardless of the
26:18
personal benefits they receive. It is like standing at the edge
26:22
of the Grand Canyon. You do not look at that massive,
26:25
breathtaking expanse and think, how can this Canyon pay my
26:28
mortgage? How can this Canyon fix my car?
26:31
You just stand in silent awe of it because it is inherently
26:34
magnificent you. Appreciate it for what it is in
26:36
itself, not for how it can work for your agenda.
26:40
True faith looks at the character of God the same way.
26:43
It is a love for God because of who God is.
26:46
When a soul recognizes the pure moral excellence of Christ and
26:50
realizes that it is accepted by God not because of any personal
26:54
merit, but purely because of the immense, beautiful value God
26:57
places on the obedience and sacrifice of Christ, that soul
27:01
finds a heavy, massive rest. It is a rest that cannot be
27:04
found in any intellectual argument or emotional high.
27:07
This sight of the divine beauty of Christ captivates the human
27:11
will. It draws the heart irresistibly.
27:13
It is no longer a matter of forcing yourself to obey a set
27:16
of rules, it is a matter of being drawn to a beauty you
27:19
cannot ignore. This changes everything about
27:21
how a person lives. When a person actually sees this
27:24
divine loveliness, it inevitably alters their internal character
27:28
and their external actions, which.
27:30
Brings us to how we measure this change, because this kind of
27:33
site does not leave you unchanged.
27:35
It produces a very specific heart response.
27:38
Edwards gives a primary metric to measure this change, and it
27:42
comes down to humility versus pride.
27:44
False spiritual experiences have a strong, almost inevitable
27:48
tendency to cause pride. The Apostle Paul warns in First
27:51
Timothy 36 that a recent convert should not be put into church
27:54
leadership, or he might become conceited and fall under the
27:58
same judgment as the devil. Pride is the devil's special
28:01
sin. It was the desire to exalt
28:03
himself above God that caused Satan's fall.
28:06
And false religion feeds this exact same desire.
28:09
False religion is incredibly deceptive because it guys as
28:12
pride as spiritual maturity. A person can be intensely proud
28:15
of their own humility. Oh absolutely, they can look at
28:17
other people and think I am so glad I am not as arrogant as
28:20
them. I'm so glad I understand
28:21
theology better than they do. I'm so glad I had a more intense
28:24
emotional experience during worship than they did.
28:26
They become the star of their own spiritual show.
28:29
The religion is just a sophisticated service of self.
28:32
They are using God as a prop to build their own self esteem.
28:36
True sight of Christ's beauty kills the ego completely.
28:39
It deflates human pride. When the pure, unblemished light
28:43
of God's moral perfection shines into a human heart, it exposes
28:47
the soul's own ugliness by comparison.
28:50
You cannot stand in the presence of absolute moral perfection and
28:54
feel arrogant about your own slight moral achievements.
28:57
It is like holding a flashlight up to the sun.
29:00
The Sun's brilliance makes the flashlight completely
29:02
irrelevant. True grace makes God bigger and
29:05
bigger in your estimation and makes your own self importance
29:08
smaller and smaller. I love how clear that
29:10
distinction is. False grace inflates the ego.
29:12
True grace deflates the ego. And this internal humility
29:15
directly impacts daily behavior. It leads to a genuine hatred of
29:19
evil and a desire to actually obey God's commands.
29:22
First, John 2 says we know that we have come to know him if we
29:26
keep his commands. Whoever says I know him but does
29:29
not do what he commands is a liar and the truth is not in
29:32
that person. The book of James argues that
29:34
faith without deeds is dead. Good works, genuine acts of
29:39
obedience and love are the visible evidence of this
29:41
internal sight. When the heart is captivated by
29:44
the beauty of Christ, it naturally wants to align with
29:47
His character. It is the difference between
29:49
duty and delight. An unregenerate person might
29:52
obey God's laws out of a terrifying obligation to avoid
29:56
hell or to earn a reward. They're gritting their teeth and
30:00
complying with a force they cannot defeat.
30:02
But a person who has seen the beauty of Christ obeys because
30:05
they love the one who gave the commands.
30:07
They want to be like him. There is a massive difference
30:10
between authority, force and compliance and beauty capturing
30:14
the will. Edwards contrasts the outward
30:16
greatness of God overwhelming A Sinner at Judgment Day with a
30:20
single ray of spiritual beauty shining into a heart right now.
30:23
At the final judgement day, the wicked will be forced to bow the
30:26
knee. They will see the infinite might
30:28
of Christ, and their knees will buckle.
30:30
But they will still hate the judge.
30:32
Their wills remain hostile even while they comply outwardly.
30:35
But a single ray of this moral beauty shining into a human
30:39
heart today overcomes that hostility entirely.
30:43
It draws the will freely. You obey because you want to.
30:47
That is the dividing line. Authority can bend the knee, but
30:51
only beauty can capture the heart.
30:53
And Edwards makes it painstakingly clear that this
30:55
rare ability to see and love God's moral beauty is not a
30:59
natural human capacity. You cannot manufacture it by
31:02
reading enough Puritan paperbacks, or by singing enough
31:04
worship songs, or by trying really hard to be humble.
31:08
It is a specific granted gift from the Holy Spirit.
31:11
It is the supernatural work of regeneration.
31:14
Which brings us to the final conclusion.
31:16
Edwards reaches the greatest gift of all.
31:19
Edwards argues that granting a human being the ability to see
31:21
the beauty of Christ is God's greatest possible gift.
31:25
He uses some really stark, jarring language from the Bible.
31:28
Here he points out that God gives gold, silver, and earthly
31:31
kingdoms to people the Bible refers to as dogs and pigs.
31:34
He gives massive material wealth to people who ate him, but he
31:37
gives this spiritual sight only to his own children.
31:41
The theological weight of that statement is immense.
31:44
We spend so much of our lives, even within the church, chasing
31:47
earthly wealth, assuming that financial prosperity or physical
31:50
health is a sign of God's special favor.
31:53
We look at a wealthy person and assume God is blessing them.
31:56
But Edwards says earthly wealth means absolutely nothing
31:59
regarding God's saving favor. God gives material wealth to his
32:03
enemies all the time. But participating in the divine
32:06
nature, second Peter 14 describes it and sharing in His
32:10
Holiness, according to Hebrews 12/10, that is the highest, most
32:14
exclusive token of His everlasting love.
32:17
Flesh and blood cannot give this gift.
32:19
No university can grant it. Only God can bestow it.
32:23
And the realization of this gift guarantees the future trajectory
32:26
of the soul. Edwards says it is eternal life
32:29
begun. Those who possess the sight of
32:32
God's beauty might suffer terribly in this life.
32:34
They might wander in the wilderness, they might face
32:37
intense persecution, they might be tossed by waves on the ocean
32:40
of this world, but they will absolutely arrive in heaven.
32:43
Their safe arrival is guaranteed because the anchor of their soul
32:46
is tied to the character of God, not to their own performance.
32:50
It provides an absolute, unshakable assurance that if God
32:54
has opened your eyes to love His character, He will bring you
32:58
home to be with Him. He will not start this work of
33:01
illuminating the heart and then abandon it.
33:03
Edwards uses this incredibly vivid closing imagery.
33:07
He says that in heaven, this heavenly spark, this initial
33:11
sight of divine beauty, will increase exponentially.
33:14
The souls of the Saints will become a bright and pure flame,
33:17
shining like the sun in the Kingdom of their Father.
33:20
The Small. All capacity to love God that we
33:22
have now will be expanded perfectly.
33:24
That is such a stunning contrast to the shuddering demons we
33:27
started with. The demons know all the facts,
33:29
they understand the theology perfectly, and they shudder in
33:32
the dark, consumed by terror and hatred.
33:34
But the Saints, who might know far less theology in this life,
33:38
see the beauty of God and will shine like the sun, consumed by
33:41
love and joy. It completes the entire
33:44
trajectory of Edwards theological argument.
33:46
He strips away every single false assurance we try to build
33:49
for ourselves. He strips away our reliance on
33:52
our intellect and our theological mastery.
33:54
He strips away our reliance on our fear of hell.
33:57
He strips away our reliance on our self interested joy and our
34:00
emotional highs. He burns all the counterfeit
34:03
wood, hay and stubble away until only the pure gold of genuine
34:07
humble affection for God's holy character remains.
34:09
This structure forces every single one of us to look past
34:13
our outward actions, past our church attendance, and past our
34:16
intellectual knowledge, and look straight into the deepest
34:19
motives of our hearts. We have walked through a massive
34:22
theological landscape today. We started by looking at the
34:25
inadequacy of simply agreeing with historical facts, seeing
34:29
that even the demons believe there is one God.
34:32
We evaluated the staggering intellect of Satan and realized
34:35
that vast theological knowledge can actually exist in a totally
34:39
corrupt mind. We saw the mere religious
34:41
experiences. The awe and terror of God's
34:44
might are shared by those in hell.
34:46
We deconstructed the idea that positive feelings like joy and
34:49
peace are proof of salvation, realizing that if they are
34:53
rooted in self preservation, they are no different than a
34:57
demon's hypothetical gratitude for a free pass out of hell.
35:00
And finally, we arrived at the singular, defining mark of true
35:04
grace, the supernatural capacity to see and cherish the moral
35:08
beauty and loveliness of God, which inevitably kills our pride
35:12
and leads to genuine, joyful obedience.
35:15
It is a diagnostic process that requires brutal honesty with
35:19
yourself. It is terrifying to realize how
35:21
much of our religious activity might just be dressed up self
35:24
love. It is terrifying, but it is also
35:26
liberating to know what the true anchor.
35:28
Is yeah, without a doubt. So as we wrap up this deep dive,
35:31
I want to address you, the listener, directly.
35:33
Take a moment this week to honestly reflect on your own
35:36
assurance. What are you resting your weight
35:38
on? Are you resting on mere facts?
35:40
Are you resting on the comfort that you agree with the right
35:42
doctrines and attend the right church?
35:44
Or is your faith built on a genuine affection for God's holy
35:47
nature? Do you love Him for who He is or
35:50
just for what He can do for you? The answer to that question
35:54
reveals the true state of the soul.
35:55
It really does I. Want to leave you with one final
35:58
thought to Mull over a new angle to consider as you go about your
36:01
life. If the core evidence of true
36:04
faith is the capacity to perceive and love the moral
36:08
beauty of God, how does our constant daily consumption of
36:12
the world's shallow versions of beauty and success affect our
36:15
spiritual eyesight? That's a great question.
36:17
If we spend all our time staring at superficial things, does it
36:20
blunt our ability to perceive the deep moral excellence of
36:23
Christ? Does focusing endlessly on the
36:26
temporary make us blind to the eternal?
36:28
Something to think about. Thank you for joining us on this
36:30
deep dive.