Latest / Reformed Thinking / Charity, or True Grace, Not to be Overthrown by Opposition (1 Corinthians 13:7) | Jonathan Edwards

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Charity, or True Grace, Not to be Overthrown by Opposition (1 Corinthians 13:7) | Jonathan Edwards · Reformed Thinking

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  Welcome to Reform Thinking. I am your host and I am glad you
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  have pulled up a chair for this session.
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  This is the show where we take those massive lever bound
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  theological works. You know the ones.
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  They're probably sitting on a high shelf somewhere gathering
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  dust and we will we open them up.
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  We want to see if the ink on those pages still speaks to the
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  reality of our lives today. We are really asking the
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  question, does this old theology actually work?
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  It is good to be with you and that question I think is just
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  the right one to ask. We are not doing this for for
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  the sake of nostalgia or anything like.
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  That right, it's not a museum tour.
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  No, not at all. We are doing it because we
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  believe these texts hold the keys to understanding who God is
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  and just as much who we are. As always, our framework here
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  is, you know, it's specific. It is.
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  We are looking at these things through the lens of the
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  Protestant Reformation and for us, the Westminster Standards.
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  We want to see the sovereignty of God and salvation not just as
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  some abstract concept, but as the actual ground we stand on.
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  We want to get to the steel beams of the faith, and today we
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  are looking at a sermon by a man who is often considered the
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  greatest mind America has ever produced, Jonathan Edwards.
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  Jonathan Edwards, Yeah, That's a name that brings a lot of
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  baggage with it doesn't. It it really does.
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  I think if you stop the average person on the street, or maybe
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  even the average churchgoer, and ask them about Edwards, you'd
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  get one answer. I know exactly what you're going
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  to. Say they'd say, oh, he's the
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  sinners in the hands of an angry God guy.
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  Yep. Every time.
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  They picture this grim, you know, angry man in a white wig
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  dangling a spider over a candle just trying to scare people into
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  heaven. That's the caricature that has
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  stuck for centuries, and it's so unfortunate because it misses
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  the, I mean, the vast majority of who Edwards was you?
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  Really does. Yes, he preached on hell.
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  He absolutely believed it was real.
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  But Edwards was also a philosopher.
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  He was a scientist who studied spiders in light, and he was a
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  pastor who was deeply concerned with the affections, the the
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  emotions of the Christian life. He wasn't just trying to scare
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  people, he was trying to wake them up to reality.
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  And in the text we were looking at today, we definitely see a
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  different side of him. We see Edwards, the physician of
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  the soul. He is dealing with a very tender
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  subject, the durability of Christian love.
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  The sermon is titled Charity or True Grace, not to be Overthrown
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  by Opposition. And it's a study on the doctrine
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  that we in our Reformed circles often called the perseverance of
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  the Saints, right? But Edwards approaches it in a
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  way that is, well, it's pretty unique.
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  He doesn't start with a high theological treatise, which is
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  what you might expect. No, he goes somewhere else
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  entirely. He starts with First Corinthians
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  13.7, the. Love chapter.
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  I mean, that's usually wedding territory.
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  It is. That's what we hear, right?
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  Right. But Edwards something much
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  stronger than wedding vows. In it, he focuses on just one
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  phrase from that verse. Charity endureth all things.
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  So let's set the stage here. When I hear love endures all
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  things, I immediately think of the horizontal relationships in
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  my life. I think about my kids driving me
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  crazy, or you know, a Co worker who choose too loudly or a
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  spouse who forgets to put gas in the car.
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  I just think enduring means putting up with annoying
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  behavior without exploding. And that's the social
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  application. And look, it's valid.
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  Patience is a virtue, no question.
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  But that's not what he's getting at, no.
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  Edwards argues that Paul, and more than that, the Holy Spirit
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  inspiring Paul, are doing much heavier lifting here.
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  This isn't just about having a long fuse with difficult people.
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  This is about the spiritual survival of grace itself.
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  Survival. That puts a completely different
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  spin on it. It does.
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  Edwards is arguing that the grace of God in a human heart is
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  an indestructible substance. It is facing a world, and
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  crucially, a heart that is determined to kill it.
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  Wow. So when the text says it
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  indoors, it means it survives an onslaught.
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  It is about the ability of God's work to stay alive in a hostile
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  environment. That raises the stakes
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  significantly. So let's look at the text
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  itself. In First Corinthians 13 verse 7,
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  Paul lists a few things that sounds suspiciously similar.
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  They do on the surface. He says charity suffereth long,
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  then he says it beareth all things and then endureth all
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  things. I have to be the skeptic here
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  for a minute. Is Pol just using a thesaurus?
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  Is he just repeating himself for emphasis, or is there a real
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  difference here? It is a fair question to the
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  modern ear, Burying and enduring sound almost like synonyms,
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  right? But Edwards performs a very
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  careful textual analysis here. He argues that these are
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  distinct aspects of how GRACE operates.
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  They're not the same thing. So break it down for us.
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  What is the distinction he makes?
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  Well, let's take the first one. Suffereth Long Edwards connects
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  this specifically to the injuries we receive from other
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  people. That's the patients you
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  mentioned earlier. It is the ability to be wronged
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  and not retaliate. That is the horizontal aspect.
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  It's about personal slights and offenses.
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  OK, so that covers the people are difficult part of life.
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  What about the next one Beareth all things?
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  Edwards interprets bearing as a willingness to carry a burden.
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  Think of a pack mule or a soldier with a heavy rucksack.
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  So it's active. It's active.
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  It refers to the willingness to suffer for Christ's sake without
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  quitting your duty. It is the Spirit that says this
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  is heavy, this hurts, but I am not going to drop the load God
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  has given me. It's about perseverance in a
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  task. That makes sense.
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  Yeah, it is about capacity for hardship.
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  But then we get to the main point of this sermon.
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  Endureth all things. How is that different from
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  carrying a burden? This is where it gets
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  interesting. The Greek word here implies
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  something structural. It's a different idea.
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  Structural. Yes, Edwards says.
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  It signifies the lasting and abiding nature of grace.
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  If we translate it literally as he does, it means charity
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  remains under all things. Remains under.
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  I like that image, it's very passive in a way.
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  It's visual, isn't it? Imagine a bridge support or a
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  pillar. You pile weight on top of it.
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  Enormous pressure. Enduring in this sense doesn't
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  mean the pillar is actively doing something.
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  It means the pillar doesn't crumble, it stays where it was
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  put. I see.
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  Or imagine a soldier in a foxhole under heavy artillery
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  bombardment. The shelling is the opposition.
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  Correct. To endure in that scenario
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  doesn't mean you charge the hill.
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  It doesn't mean you fight back. It means you don't run away, you
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  don't desert your coast, you don't curl up and give up.
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  You were being in the trench until the shelling stops.
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  When the smoke clears, you are still there.
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  So this is about the permanence of the Holy Spirit's work, is
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  about the the structural integrity of this new nature.
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  That is the logic. Edwards connects this directly
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  to faith and hope. He says faith overcomes the
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  world and hope looks to the weight of glory.
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  Charity or love is the principle that nurtures these things.
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  It's the soil they grow in. Good way to put it, because love
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  keeps faith and hope alive. The grace in a Christian's heart
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  cannot be conquered. It is designed by God to be
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  shockproof. So the thesis statement for this
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  entire deep dive is what Edwards says so plainly true.
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  Christian grace cannot be overthrown by anything that
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  opposes it. That is the doctrine in a
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  nutshell. But there is a shadow side to
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  that statement, isn't there? I mean, if you say something
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  cannot be overthrown, you are admitting right out of the gate
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  that there are forces actively trying to overthrow it.
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  Absolutely. You don't talk about the
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  structural integrity of a bunker unless you fully expect bombs to
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  fall on it. That is the reality Edwards
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  wants us to face. The Christian life is not a
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  peaceful Meadow, it is a siege. And he details this, this
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  coalition of enemies that are constantly working to destroy
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  the grace in a believer's heart. He lists three main enemies.
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  Let's walk through them because I think we tend to underestimate
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  them. The first one he lists is The
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  Devil's. And note the plural.
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  He isn't just talking about Satan as some abstract
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  figurehead. He is talking about a Kingdom,
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  an organization. A hierarchy of opposition.
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  Yes, and he describes them as artful, intelligent, active,
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  mighty and implacable. Each of those words is chosen
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  and carefully. Implacable.
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  That is a chilling word. It means you can't negotiate
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  with them. You can't sign a peace treaty.
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  There is no middle ground. They want you dead.
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  Spiritually speaking, Edwards describes them as besieging the
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  soul thing of a medieval city surrounded by a vast army that
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  is cutting off the food supply, poisoning the water and
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  launching flaming arrows over the walls day and night.
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  That's a powerful image. They are constantly looking for
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  a weakness in the gate. They are intelligent.
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  They have had thousands of years to study human nature.
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  They know exactly which buttons to push for you specifically.
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  They're not generic in their attacks.
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  That is the spiritual dimension. Then he moves on and lists the
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  world. And this is the environment we
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  live in, the air we breathe. The world opposes grace in two
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  main ways, according to Edwards. What are they?
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  First by allurements. It tries to seduce the believer.
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  Look at this money, Look at this fame.
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  Look at this comfort. Why carry that heavy cross when
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  you can have all this? So it's the carrot.
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  It's the carrot. And then there is the stick.
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  Direct opposition, Persecution. Mockery.
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  The world tries to make the cost of following Christ so high that
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  you will just give up. It wants to shame you out of
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  your faith. But the third enemy, this is the
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  one that really stopped me in my tracks reading the sermon.
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  Edwards calls it the worst enemy.
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  And it is not the devil, It is not the culture.
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  It is the flesh, the enemy within.
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  This is such a hard pill to swallow.
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  We like to think of ourselves as the good guys in the story.
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  You know, we're the victims of the devil or the victims of a
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  bad culture. But Edwards says the traitor is
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  inside the house. He is right though, isn't he?
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  If we are truly honest with ourselves, we carry enemies
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  inside our own chest. Edwards talks about evil
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  thoughts, corruptions and sinful inclinations that still hold a
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  footing in the heart even after conversion.
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  It is like a sleeper cell. Precisely.
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  You can lock the doors against the world, You can resist the
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  devil and he will flee from you, but you cannot run away from
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  your own heart. Wherever you go, there you are,
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  and there your sin is. So these internal corruptions
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  are constantly trying to sabotage the work of grace.
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  They want to open the gates to the enemy outside.
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  They do. They're sympathetic to the cause
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  of the enemy. So you have the most powerful
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  spiritual beings in the universe attacking you from the outside,
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  a culture designed to distract and shame you, and your own
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  heart trying to betray you from the inside.
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  When you stack it all up like that, it makes grace seem
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  incredibly fragile. It does.
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  It looks like it doesn't stand a chance.
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  And Edwards uses some metaphors here that are just stunning.
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  They are beautiful, but they are also terrifying if you think
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  about the physics of them. Let's look at those because he
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  paints a picture of just how impossible this survival seems
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  from a human perspective. He says grace in the midst of
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  this opposition is like a spark of fire encompassed with
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  swelling ocean billows. Just picture that for a second.
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  You are in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean during a
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  hurricane. The waves are 3040 feet high.
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  It is a raging storm and floating on the water is a
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  single tiny spark. Physics says that spark is gone
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  in a nanosecond. It should be extinguished before
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  you can even blink. There's no scenario where it
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  survives. Or take his other image, a flake
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  of snow falling into a burning volcano.
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  I mean, that's even more extreme.
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  Think about the heat of a volcano.
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  We are talking about magma that is over 1000°.
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  The radiant heat alone should vaporize a snowflake when it is
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  still 100 feet in the air. It is a physical impossibility.
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  A snowflake cannot exist in a volcano.
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  It's a contradiction. And yet Edwards says that is the
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  picture of the Christian soul, a delicate white snowflake of
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  grace sitting right in the mouth of the volcano of hell and
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  corruption. And yet it does not melt.
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  He also compares it to a rich jewel of gold in a fiery
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  furnace. The fire is hot enough to melt
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  iron, but the jewel remains solid.
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  Edwards is using these impossible images to drive home
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  one single point. The preservation of grace is a
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  miracle. It is not a natural outcome.
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  It's supernatural. It's entirely supernatural.
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  If you look at the power of the devil, the weight of the world
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  and the sickness of our own flesh, and then you look at this
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  little seed of grace, the odds are 0 it shouldn't work.
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  It shouldn't. But it does.
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  He also zooms out from the individual to history.
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  He calls the church God's Post, the small besieged outpost in
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  enemy territory. And he points to Israel and
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  Egypt. Think about that dynamic for a
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  moment. You have the mightiest empire on
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  earth at the time. Pharaoh has the Chariots, the
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  gods, the economy, the absolute authority, and he decides to
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  extirpate the Hebrews. To wipe them out.
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  He wants to wipe them out. He throws the babies in the
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  river. He enslaves the adults.
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  He works them to death. By all rights, the Hebrew people
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  should have vanished from history.
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  They should be a footnote, another tribe assimilated or
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  destroyed. But they remained.
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  The Bush burned, but it was not consumed.
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  Or look at David. Edwards mentions him being
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  hunted like a Partridge. You have King Saul with a
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  standing army, combing the wilderness for one shepherd boy.
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  It's a massive imbalance of power.
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  Completely. David is living in caves.
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  He is isolated. He is terrified.
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  He has outnumbered 1001. And yet Saul falls and David
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  stands. And the Church under the Roman
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  persecutions, Nero, Diocletian. They tried to stamp out the
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  superstition called Christianity.
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  They fed believers to lions. They burned them as torches for
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  their garden parties. Millions were killed.
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  The snowflake was well and truly in the volcano.
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  But the volcano went cold and the snowflake is still here.
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  That's the historical record. This leads us right to the
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  segment I want to call the impossible survival.
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  We have established the paradox. The physics don't work, so how
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  does the snowflake win? How is that even possible?
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  Edwards argues that despite being brought to the brink of
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  utter ruin, grace always lives. It can be pushed to the edge,
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  but it never goes over and he uses these biblical case studies
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  to prove this physics defying reality.
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  Let's re examine some of these. I think we gloss over a story
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  like Noah's Ark because we saw it in nursery cartoons, but
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  Edwards treats it as a study in, I don't know, hydrodynamics.
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  He does think about the flood. The waters rose above the
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  highest mountain peaks. The entire world was submerged.
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  The pressure of that destruction was total.
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  It was a global cataclysm. Nothing survived.
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  Except the Ark, and Edwards points out a simple fact.
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  The waters could not rise above the.
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  Ark. It was buoyant.
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  The more the waters of judgement rose, the higher the ark was
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  lifted. It was designed to stay on top.
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  The destruction that swallowed the whole world only lifted the
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  ark closer to heaven. It could not be submerged.
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  Then there is Jonah. That is a different kind of
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  horror altogether. Oh, that is the ultimate example
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  of being on the brink of utter ruin.
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  In fact, he's past the brink. Jonah is thrown overboard in a
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  storm. He sinks.
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  He is swallowed by a great fish. He is in the belly of a beast in
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  the crushing depths of the ocean.
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  He is as good as dead. There is no way out of that
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  situation. None.
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  If you were a betting man watching that scene, you would
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  lose your money betting on Jonah's survival.
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  And yet he was brought up alive. The grace in him, the calling of
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  God on his life, was not digested.
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  It survived the acid of the stomach and the pressure of the
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  deep. Or look at the disciples in the
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  boat with Christ. The storm of the Sea of Galilee.
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  The waves were crashing over the sides, covering the ship.
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  The boat was filling up with water.
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  In any normal situation, that boat sinks.
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  It's a matter of minutes. But the ship could not sink and
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  the reason is so simple. Why?
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  Because the master of the ocean was sleeping on a cushion in the
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  stern. The presence of Christ altered
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  the physical outcome. That's it.
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  And the outcome isn't just survival.
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  We have to be clear about this. It is not that the Christian
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  barely drags themselves across the finish line, battered and
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  broken and bleeding. It is about victory.
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  It is about triumph. Edwards points out that David
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  didn't just survive the caves, He eventually sat on the throne
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  of Israel. Grace endures these shocks to
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  eventually reign. The struggle is actually part of
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  the trajectory toward the crown. The opposition serves a purpose.
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  Now I have to play the skeptic again.
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  Or maybe just the realist, because I know there's a
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  listener right now who is nodding along but has this knot
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  in their stomach. I know that feeling.
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  They are thinking, OK, you say grace never fails.
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  You say it endures all things, but I know a guy, I know a
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  woman. They were an elder in my church.
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  They were a worship leader. They were on fire for God, and
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  then they left. They cheated, they lied, they
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  renounced the faith, and they never came back.
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  We all know those stories. We all do and they are
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  heartbreaking and confusing. So how does Edwards explain that
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  if grace is indestructible, why did their grace break?
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  Did the volcano finally melt the snowflake?
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  That is the critical question, and Edwards answers it with a
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  distinction. That is, while it's classic
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  Reformed theology, he distinguishes between true grace
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  and counterfeit grace. Counterfeit grace.
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  Fake gold. Yes, his argument is simple, but
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  it's devastating. If the grace failed, it was
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  never true grace to begin with. It was an imitation.
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  It looked like the real thing. It might have felt like the real
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  thing for a time, but it did not have the chemical composition of
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  the real thing. It was fool's gold.
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  That is a scary thought. It means we can be deceived
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  about our own state. It means other people can be.
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  It does, which is why Edwards doesn't just leave it there.
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  He gives us diagnostic tests. He wants us to be able to tell
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  the difference in ourselves and in what we see in others.
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  So let's run a little simulation here.
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  Let's imagine a guy named Bob. Bob goes to church.
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  He sings the songs. He puts money in the plate.
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  Let's see if Bob has true grace or false grace, according to
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  Edwards. What is the first Test?
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  The first Test is depth, Edwards says False grace is superficial.
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  It is like paint on a piece of wood.
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  It covers the outside. It might even look beautiful.
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  But the wood underneath hasn't changed its nature.
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  So Bob might get emotional during a worship song.
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  He might cry, he might get excited about a new sermon
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  series, he might change his behavior for a while.
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  But it hasn't reached the bottom of the heart.
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  As Edwards puts it, it's a surface level change.
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  So for Bob with false grace, the religion is an additive.
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  It is an accessory he puts on. For Bob, with true grace, it is
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  a new nature. That's a great way to say it.
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  True grace changes the molecular structure of the human heart.
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  It is not just paint. It is a transformation of the
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  wood into stone, or as the Bible says, the stone into flesh.
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  It's a new creation. OK, what is the second test?
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  This one seems the most practical, the most visible.
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  The relation to sin. This is crucial.
• 18:35
  Edwards says that false grace leaves corruption unmortified.
• 18:39
  Unmortified, that means not killed.
• 18:41
  Right. Bob, with false grace might
• 18:43
  struggle with a particular sin, say greed or lust, and his new
• 18:47
  religious feelings might give that sin a slight wound, as
• 18:50
  Edwards describes. It what does that look like?
• 18:52
  He might feel guilty about it, he might stop acting on it for a
• 18:55
  few months because he wants to be a good Christian.
• 18:58
  But the root of the sin is just stunned.
• 19:00
  It is hiding. It heals itself in the dark and
• 19:03
  eventually it comes back with a vengeance and reigns over him
• 19:06
  again. And true grace, how does that
• 19:08
  deal with sin? True grace deals a mortal wound
• 19:11
  to sin. It strikes at the vitals.
• 19:12
  Think of it like a hunter shooting a deer.
• 19:15
  The deer might run for another mile.
• 19:17
  It might still be on its feet, but it has been shot in the
• 19:19
  heart. It is going to die.
• 19:21
  It's a fatal blow. It's a fatal blow.
• 19:23
  The Christian still sins, but the dominion of sin is broken.
• 19:26
  The war has turned. Bob with true grace hates his
• 19:30
  sin in a way that Bob with false grace never really does.
• 19:34
  He might be inconvenienced by a sin, but he doesn't hate it as
• 19:37
  his mortal enemy. That is a very helpful
• 19:39
  distinction. A mortal wound versus a flesh
• 19:41
  wound. What about the third test he
• 19:43
  gives? Prayer.
• 19:44
  Edwards observes that false grace is not diligent in prayer.
• 19:48
  And if you think about it, why would it be?
• 19:50
  False grace is based on human effort or human emotion.
• 19:53
  It relies on itself. So Bob, with false grace, thinks
• 19:57
  he can handle it on his own. I got this, I got this.
• 20:01
  Or he only prays when he is in deep trouble as a last resort.
• 20:04
  But true grace lays hold on divine strength.
• 20:08
  The person with true grace knows they are a snowflake in a
• 20:10
  volcano. They know they cannot survive on
• 20:13
  their own for 5 minutes, so they are constantly crying out to God
• 20:16
  for help. They are dependent.
• 20:18
  And the final Test he mentions is desire.
• 20:20
  Yes, and this is the great paradox of assurance.
• 20:23
  False grace is often very confident, very cocky.
• 20:26
  It is careless. It assumes I walked an aisle.
• 20:28
  I signed a car hard. I had an experience so I'm safe.
• 20:31
  It doesn't really worry about falling away.
• 20:33
  He is presumptuous. It is, but true grace hungers
• 20:35
  and thirsts for perseverance. It fears falling.
• 20:38
  The person with true grace is often the one asking the hard
• 20:41
  questions. Am I real?
• 20:42
  God, please keep me, don't let me go.
• 20:44
  They're watchful. They value the treasure, so they
• 20:46
  are terrified of losing it. So the take away here is a
• 20:49
  counterfeit bill will tear. A real 1 won't.
• 20:51
  If it breaks, it was not gold to begin with.
• 20:55
  True grace is by its very definition and enduring
• 20:58
  substance. That's his argument, correct?
• 21:00
  OK, so we have defined what it is.
• 21:02
  We have separated the true from the false.
• 21:04
  But now we have to get to the bedrock.
• 21:05
  The big question why? Why does true grace endure?
• 21:09
  Is it because the true Christian is just a better person?
• 21:12
  Is it because they have stronger willpower or more moral fiber?
• 21:15
  Absolutely not, and Edwards is adamant about this.
• 21:18
  If that were the case, we would all be doomed.
• 21:20
  He is very clear it is not the inherent strength of the grace
• 21:23
  itself, as if God gave us a super battery that never runs
• 21:26
  out. It is about God's purpose to
• 21:28
  uphold it. He quotes first Peter 1.5 which
• 21:31
  is such a key verse for this whole idea.
• 21:33
  Kept by the power of God through faith.
• 21:35
  The active verb is kept. The agent is the power of God.
• 21:38
  Our faith is the instrument, but His strength is the cause.
• 21:42
  And he uses Adam to make this point so clearly.
• 21:45
  He does. It's a brilliant argument.
• 21:47
  Think about Adam in the Garden of Eden.
• 21:50
  He had perfect holiness. He had no internal corruption.
• 21:53
  There was no flesh fighting against him.
• 21:55
  He was stronger, purer and in a better environment than any of
• 21:59
  us will ever be in this life. And yet he fell.
• 22:01
  He fell. He lost his standing.
• 22:04
  So Edwards argues, if Adam in his perfection could not keep
• 22:08
  himself, how can we in our brokenness possibly keep
• 22:11
  ourselves? If it depended on our strength,
• 22:14
  we would fall 1000 times faster than Adam did.
• 22:17
  So if Adam could not keep himself, we definitely cannot.
• 22:20
  We have zero chance less than 0. So this is where Edwards lays
• 22:23
  out what I want to call the theological fortress.
• 22:26
  He gives us 7 pillars, 7 arguments for why God keeps us.
• 22:30
  And this is really where the Reformed worldview shines and
• 22:32
  takes the burden completely off our shoulders and puts it
• 22:35
  squarely on gods. Let's walk through these 7
• 22:37
  pillars. Let's do it.
• 22:38
  Pillar number one is the promise.
• 22:40
  This is about God's reputation, his character.
• 22:43
  It is. God has explicitly promised to
• 22:46
  Kip his people. It's not something we have to
• 22:48
  guess about. Edward cites Jeremiah 32, Point
• 22:52
  Forest. God says I will put my fear in
• 22:54
  their hearts that they shall not depart from me.
• 22:57
  I want to pause on the grammar there that they shall not
• 22:59
  depart. It is not.
• 23:00
  I hope they don't depart or I'll help them not to depart.
• 23:03
  It is a statement of divine effect.
• 23:05
  God is the active agent. He puts the fear in the heart so
• 23:07
  that the result is guaranteed. It's cause and effect.
• 23:10
  Or think of John 10.28. Christ speaking.
• 23:13
  Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
• 23:16
  You have to ask who is strong enough to open God's hand?
• 23:19
  Nobody. So we are held by a promise from
• 23:22
  a God who cannot lie. That's pillar one.
• 23:24
  OK, pillar #2 the completeness of redemption.
• 23:27
  This is a logical argument about the work of Jesus.
• 23:30
  If Christ came to redeem us, but He left us liable to fall away
• 23:34
  and lose that salvation, then His redemption is by definition
• 23:37
  incomplete. Explain that a little more.
• 23:40
  We'll think about it. Adam fell and brought death.
• 23:43
  If Jesus comes as the second Adam to fix what was broken, but
• 23:47
  he leaves us a state where we can still fall and die
• 23:50
  eternally, then he hasn't really fixed the core problem.
• 23:53
  He's just. Given us a second chance to fail
• 23:54
  like Adam did. Exactly.
• 23:56
  He's just reset the game. Edwards argues that Christ came
• 23:59
  to do what Adam could not. He came to secure a salvation
• 24:02
  that was permanent. If he saves you today but loses
• 24:05
  you tomorrow, he is not a perfect savior.
• 24:07
  His work can be undone. That is a strong argument pillar
• 24:11
  #3 the covenant of grace. We need to distinguish this from
• 24:15
  the covenant of works. The arrangement with Adam was a
• 24:17
  covenant of works. The terms were simple, do this
• 24:21
  and live. It relied entirely on human will
• 24:24
  and human obedience. And it failed because the human
• 24:26
  will failed. Spectacularly, the new covenant,
• 24:29
  the covenant of grace, cannot fail for one simple reason.
• 24:32
  It does not rely on us. It relies on a surety, and that
• 24:36
  surety is Christ, Edwards says. It is ordered in all things and
• 24:40
  sure. It isn't a shaky agreement that
• 24:42
  depends on your performance this week.
• 24:44
  It is a contract signed in the blood of the Sun.
• 24:47
  That word surety leads us right into pillar 4.
• 24:50
  What exactly is a surety in this context?
• 24:53
  Think of it like a cosigner on a massive unpayable loan.
• 24:57
  But it's even stronger than that.
• 24:59
  If you have a cosigner and you default, they have to pay.
• 25:03
  In the ancient sense, a surety was someone who put their own
• 25:06
  life up as collateral for another's debt or promise.
• 25:09
  So Adam was our first surety. Adam was the surety for all of
• 25:13
  humanity in the first covenant and he defaulted.
• 25:15
  The result was that we all went to debtors prison so to speak.
• 25:19
  In Christ. Christ is the second surety.
• 25:21
  And here's the absolute key. He's already paid the debt.
• 25:24
  He has already persevered. He lived the perfect life we
• 25:26
  couldn't. He died the death we owed.
• 25:28
  He rose again. He is seated in heaven.
• 25:30
  He has finished the work. So because he made it through.
• 25:33
  We are attached to Him, We are united with him because the head
• 25:36
  of the body, Christ, stood firm and was victorious.
• 25:39
  The body which is US must also stand.
• 25:42
  You cannot have a living, triumphant head and a dead,
• 25:44
  defeated body. It is biologically and
• 25:47
  theologically impossible. We are confirmed in Him.
• 25:50
  OK, pillar #5 justification. This is a courtroom term.
• 25:54
  It is justification means a full final legal acquittal.
• 25:59
  Imagine you are in a court accused of treason.
• 26:02
  The evidence is overwhelming, but the judge slams the gavel
• 26:05
  and says not guilty. All charges dropped, record
• 26:08
  expunged, you are free to go. But Edwards adds A nuance here
• 26:12
  that's really important. He argues you cannot be fully
• 26:15
  acquitted of guilt and entitled to eternal life today if that
• 26:18
  title can be revoked tomorrow. Imagine a judge saying you are
• 26:22
  innocent, you are free, but if you mess up next week we are
• 26:25
  going to bring back all the old charges and hang you for them.
• 26:28
  That is double jeopardy. It's unjust.
• 26:30
  It is if your legal status can be revoked, you are not really
• 26:33
  justify. You were just on probation,
• 26:35
  Edwards says. Justification is a permanent
• 26:37
  change of status. You move from guilty to son.
• 26:40
  A son might get disciplined, he might get grounded, but he
• 26:43
  doesn't get fired from the family.
• 26:44
  Pillar number six, union with Christ.
• 26:47
  This feels related to the surety argument.
• 26:49
  It's the organic side of that legal reality.
• 26:52
  It goes back to a verse like Galatians 2.20.
• 26:55
  I live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.
• 26:59
  A believer shares in Christ's own resurrection life.
• 27:02
  Since Christ cannot die again, as Paul says, death has no more
• 27:06
  dominion over him. The spiritual life and the
• 27:08
  believer cannot die either. It is the same life source.
• 27:11
  So did it kill the Christians? Grace.
• 27:13
  You would have to kill Christ again.
• 27:15
  It is impossible. As a massive statement.
• 27:17
  And finally, pillar #7 the conquest.
• 27:21
  This is about God's sovereignty as a warrior.
• 27:24
  It's a military argument. God planted grace in your heart
• 27:28
  against the will of the devil. He planted it against the will
• 27:30
  of the world. He even planted against the
• 27:33
  resistance of your own sinful flesh.
• 27:35
  He invaded enemy territory to save you.
• 27:37
  He did. He established a beachhead in
• 27:39
  your heart when you were his enemy.
• 27:40
  So, Edwards argues, If God used his almighty strength to put
• 27:44
  grace there when we were hostile, he is certainly not
• 27:46
  going to let the enemy force him to take it out now that we are
• 27:49
  his children. It becomes a matter of God's
• 27:50
  honor. He's not going to be bullied out
• 27:52
  of his own home. That is it.
• 27:54
  He did not ask Satan's permission to save us, and he
• 27:57
  certainly does not need Satan's permission to keep us.
• 28:00
  The conquest will be seen through to the end.
• 28:03
  So we had this fortress, we had these 7 pillars holding it up.
• 28:07
  But Edwards is a pastor at heart.
• 28:09
  He never wants this to just be a theological lecture.
• 28:12
  He wants to apply it to the people sitting in the pews and
• 28:15
  to us listening today. So let's look at the practical
• 28:18
  application he draws from this. First, he talks about
• 28:21
  understanding spiritual warfare. This is a fascinating insight
• 28:25
  into the psychology of the devil.
• 28:27
  Edwards explains Satan's strategy based on this very
• 28:30
  doctrine. Satan knows his theology better
• 28:32
  than we do. That's a scary thought.
• 28:34
  It is, he knows, that true conversion is the point of no
• 28:37
  return. He knows that once a soul is
• 28:39
  truly converted, they are forever out of his ultimate
• 28:42
  reach. He can harass them, he can wound
• 28:45
  them, but he cannot destroy them.
• 28:47
  So that explains why the battle is so intense right at the Gate
• 28:50
  of Faith. Exactly.
• 28:51
  If you are seeking God, or if you are on the verge of true
• 28:54
  faith, Satan will throw everything he has at you,
• 28:57
  Edwards says. He heaps mountains in the way.
• 29:00
  He will suggest to you that you have committed the unpardonable
• 29:03
  sin. He will try to to terrify you
• 29:05
  with thoughts of God's anger. Or, and this is his most cunning
• 29:09
  trick, he will try to give you that false security we talked
• 29:12
  about, that counterfeit grace to prevent you from getting the
• 29:15
  real thing. Because the counterfeit
• 29:17
  inoculates you against the real disease.
• 29:19
  Precisely. He wants to stop the spark from
• 29:21
  ever Catching Fire because he knows once it truly burns, he
• 29:24
  can't put it out. Then Edwards gives a serious
• 29:27
  warning. He speaks to the person who
• 29:30
  might be taking all this for granted.
• 29:32
  He addresses the person with a morning cloud religion.
• 29:35
  In that climate, you would often see a thick cloud in the morning
• 29:38
  that looked like it was about to rain.
• 29:40
  But then the sun came up, the heat hit it, and it just
• 29:42
  evaporated. It vanished.
• 29:43
  No rain. No fruit.
• 29:45
  And he says that is a picture of false grace.
• 29:47
  Yes, if your religious experience is a morning cloud, a
• 29:51
  spike of emotion that gets you excited for a week or a month
• 29:54
  and then it vanishes, leading you right back to a carnal,
• 29:57
  worldly life, that is a serious warning sign.
• 30:01
  If the blossom falls off the tree without ever producing an
• 30:03
  apple, it was a failure of nature.
• 30:05
  It's a call to examine yourself, to make sure you're not
• 30:08
  mistaking a feeling for a new life.
• 30:11
  But on the other side of that warning, he offers tremendous
• 30:14
  comfort to the Saints, and I love the imagery he uses here.
• 30:17
  For those who see the war of sin in their hearts but are still
• 30:20
  fighting, and that is the key, they are still fighting.
• 30:23
  He says you possess an inestimable jewel.
• 30:26
  He calls your soul a strong city.
• 30:28
  God has appointed salvation as its walls and bulwarks, and
• 30:31
  because of that, he says, you can laugh at your foes.
• 30:34
  Laugh at them. That seems bold.
• 30:36
  I don't feel like laughing when I'm being tempted.
• 30:38
  I know, but it is not a laughter of arrogance as if you are
• 30:42
  strong. It is a laughter of confidence
• 30:44
  in your defender. It is looking at the volcano and
• 30:46
  saying you are hot and you are scary, but you cannot burn me.
• 30:50
  Not because I am fireproof, but because, as Edward says so
• 30:53
  beautifully, the everlasting arms are underneath me.
• 30:56
  And that leads to the final encouragement he gives.
• 30:59
  Yeah, it changes how we fight the battle.
• 31:01
  It's the soldiers mindset. Imagine two soldiers going into
• 31:05
  a battle. The first soldier goes in
• 31:06
  thinking I am probably going to die today.
• 31:08
  Our chances are slim. We are probably going to lose.
• 31:11
  How does he fight? He fights hesitantly.
• 31:14
  He's looking for an exit strategy.
• 31:16
  His heart isn't in it. Exactly.
• 31:18
  He is weak before the few shot is even fired.
• 31:20
  Now imagine a second soldier. He knows for a fact that his
• 31:24
  general has guaranteed the victory.
• 31:25
  He knows he might get wounded, he might get knocked down, but
• 31:28
  the flag will be raised over that hill at the end of the day.
• 31:31
  How does he fight? He fights like a lion, he takes
• 31:34
  risks, he pushes forward because he's not fighting for victory,
• 31:37
  he's fighting from victory. That's it, Edward says.
• 31:40
  Hope is half the victory. This doctrine of perseverance
• 31:43
  doesn't make us lazy or passive. It should make us brave.
• 31:47
  Certainty breeds courage. So to synthesize all of this
• 31:51
  First Corinthians 13.7 charity endureth all things is not just
• 31:54
  a nice motto for a wedding card, it is a divine promise that
• 31:58
  God's loving us is an indestructible, permanent
• 32:01
  reality. It is the snowflake in the
• 32:03
  volcano that refuses to melt because the creator of the
• 32:06
  volcano is personally holding the snowflake.
• 32:08
  It brings us back to that core reformed idea.
• 32:12
  Salvation is of the Lord from start to finish.
• 32:14
  He begins it, He sustains it, and he will finish it.
• 32:17
  And Edwards leaves us with this final, provocative thought.
• 32:20
  He suggests that our current struggles are depressions, as he
• 32:23
  calls them. The times we feel crushed and
• 32:25
  overwhelmed are actually preparing the way for our
• 32:27
  exaltation, just as David's time hiding in the caves prepared him
• 32:31
  for the crown. The pressure is part of the
• 32:33
  process. Which really raises a question
• 32:35
  for every one of us listening If you knew, I mean, if you were
• 32:39
  certain for a fact that your spiritual survival was
• 32:42
  guaranteed not by your grip on God, but by his unbreakable grip
• 32:46
  on you, how would that change the way you fight your sin
• 32:49
  tomorrow morning? That is the question to sit
• 32:51
  with. If the outcome is guaranteed,
• 32:53
  the battle is worth fighting with everything you have.
• 32:57
  Thank you for listening to this deep dive into reformed
• 32:59
  thinking. Until next time.