Latest / Reformed Thinking / Men Naturally Are God's Enemies (Romans 5:10) | Jonathan Edwards

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Men Naturally Are God's Enemies (Romans 5:10) | Jonathan Edwards · Reformed Thinking

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Welcome everyone to a brand new edition of Reformed Thinking.
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I am thrilled you have decided to join us today.
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We have a a rather intense mission for this particular deep
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dive. We really do.
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It is. It's not like material.
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No, not at all. We are looking directly at a
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sermon by the Puritan theologian Jonathan Edwards, and it is
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titled Men Naturally Are God's Enemies.
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And this entire text is built around a single verse, Romans
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5.10. Now, I want to be upfront with
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you, the listener right out of the gate.
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We live in an era where modern people are generally quite
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willing to admit they make mistakes.
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You know, you might freely confess that you were flawed, or
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that you have a bad habit, or that you occasionally fall short
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of your own moral standards. Yeah, getting someone to admit
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they are imperfect is is really not a difficult task today.
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Right, exactly. I mean, precisely.
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But identifying yourself as a literal enemy of the creator?
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That feels really jarring. It is totally offensive to our
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modern sense abilities. We prefer terms like broken or
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mistaken or, you know, seeking. But as we walk through this
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material today, I want to point out to you that looking through
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this unfiltered, stark lens at the reality of human nature is
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really the only way to grasp the staggering magnitude of God's
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grace. If you water down the diagnosis,
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you water down the cure. When you look at this through
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the Reformed lens, the cross makes zero sense unless you
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first understand the sheer hostility it was meant to
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overcome. That is a crucial starting point
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for us. The text we're analyzing today,
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it it strips away the masks of flight religion, It tears down
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the comfortable facades we build to make ourselves look
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presentable. What this Puritan framework does
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is reveal the raw reality of the human heart in its natural
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state. It is not a flattering picture,
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but it is an incredibly necessary one.
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It really is. If we connect this to the
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broader picture of Christian theology, particularly from our
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Protestant Reform perspective, we have to start with a clear
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eyed view of who we are before God steps in.
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The baseline is not neutrality. The baseline is active,
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aggressive hostility, and once you understand the depths of
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that hostility, the grace of God ceases to be a polite
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theological concept and become something truly staggering.
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It shifts from a nice idea to a shocking, earth shattering
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reality. The core problem with modern
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casual Christianity is that it assumes God is basically happy
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with us, save for a few minor infractions.
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This text shatters that illusion entirely.
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Yeah, it completely dismantles it.
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So let us look at the logic of Romans chapter 5, which sets up
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this whole framework. The focal verse is Romans 5.10,
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which says for if when we were enemies, we were reconciled to
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God by the death of his Son. The logical argument here is
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it's really fascinating. The text points out that the
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apostle Paul is making a comparison between two different
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actions of God. On one hand, you have the act of
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God giving his own Son to die for people who are actively his
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enemies. On the other hand, you have the
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act of God granting eternal life to people who have already been
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justified and reconciled. The argument here is that the
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first act is a vastly greater feat than the second.
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To put it simply, the hardest part of salvation was the
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purchase. The application of that
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salvation is a necessary consequence of the purchase
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having been made. Getting you into heaven is.
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It's just the administrative follow through of a cosmic
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buyout that already happened. What makes this Puritan
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framework so brilliant is the sheer economic logic of grace it
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highlights. Think about it this way.
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When Christ died, he paid the full price.
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He purchased salvation at a remarkably high rate.
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He endured the cross, the shedding of blood, and the wrath
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of God. That was the monumental hurdle.
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The massive hurdle? Exactly.
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In comparison, actually bestowing eternal life on
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someone after that massive price has already been paid is a small
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thing for God. The text uses the freezing that
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sinners who are justified by the death of Christ were already
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virtually saved. Think about how wild that is.
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The paperwork is signed, the transaction is closed.
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The primary obstacle was not how to get a friend into heaven.
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The obstacle was how to reconcile an active, hostile
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enemy. When God looked at the elect to
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give Christ to die for them, He looked at them precisely as they
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were in themselves, as ungodly, without strength and His
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enemies. But when he looks at them to
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bestow eternal life, he looks at them as they are in Christ.
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The heavy lifting is finished. I think an analogy helps make
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this concrete for you, the listener.
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Imagine a scenario where an individual is kidnapped, and not
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just an innocent person, but someone who has actively
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campaigned against you, fart you, and tried to ruin your
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life. A literal mortal enemy.
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Now imagine you decide to pay an astronomical ransom to secure
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their release. You liquidate all your assets,
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you go through immense suffering, and you pay millions
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to free this enemy. A.
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Huge, huge cost. Yes, massive.
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Once that massive ransom is paid and the person is legally
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released, offering them a safe ride home in your car is a tiny
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detail by comparison. The hard part was paying the
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ransom for someone who hated you.
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Giving them a lift home is just the logical next step.
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And this is what this text wants you to consider.
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How do you view salvation? Do you view the cross as a minor
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transaction, just a small hurdle to get over?
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Or do you see it as the monumental overcoming of intense
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hostility? If God has already done the
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hardest possible thing, why would we doubt He will finish
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the job? That analogy captures the
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essence of the argument perfectly.
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The apostles logic is exceptionally clear and strong.
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If God has already done the hardest possible thing, giving
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His Son to shed precious blood for active haters of His throne,
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we should never doubt that He will accomplish the smaller feat
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of actually giving us life. The barrier of our enmity was
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the greatest obstacle in the universe.
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Once Christ made an end of sin and rose from the dead, He
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virtually brought the elect up from death with Him.
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The reconciliation is secure because the hardest labor is
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finished. And this brings us to the core
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thesis, the text, the undeniable reality that natural men are
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God's enemies. The goal here is to prove this
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not just as an abstract theological label, but as a
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practical, observable fact of human existence.
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We are not talking about a theoretical category.
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We are talking about the daily operating system of the human
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heart. So if our hearts are truly that
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hostile, how does this actually play out in real time?
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The text does not just say you are an enemy and leave it there.
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It's systematically maps out the battleground.
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It breaks down human hostility into 5 distinct fronts.
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Those are judgments. Relish wills, affections and
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practice. Let's walk through this.
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Yeah, let us start with that first front judgments.
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This is all about how we evaluate worth.
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The argument is that in our natural state we have a very
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mean low esteem of the Creator. We might pretend to honor him,
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but our practical actions show we regard Him very little.
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Natural humanity values a few pennies of worldly gain or just
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a mere morsel of meat above the Creator of the universe.
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It's totally upside down. It is we are terrified of
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offending our human equals, yet we have No Fear of displeasing
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the God who made us. We cast contempt on Him by
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preferring every vile desire over His glory.
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When you really analyze your daily decisions, you, the
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listener, might find this hits uncomfortably close to home.
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The insight regarding judgments is incredibly sharp.
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We evaluate God and find him lacking in worth compared to
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temporal things. But the second front, relish, is
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where the text strikes even closer to the bone.
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Now the word relish sounds like a hot dog topping to us today.
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But the text is talking about our fundamental palate or taste.
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It is saying our spiritual taste buds are broken.
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We find holy things bitter and toxic things sweet.
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Humans have an inbred distaste for God's perfections.
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That is a great way to put it. Now, people might like a generic
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deity, A cosmic grandfather who gives gifts and asks no
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questions. But the text specifies that
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humans despise God's holy attributes.
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We are averse to an infinitely pure and righteous being.
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Natural humanity dislikes omniscience because it is a holy
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omniscience that sees every hidden sin.
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They dislike His omnipotence because it is a holy might that
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will punish rebellion. They even dislike His mercy
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because it is a holy mercy offered only on His specific
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righteous terms. Contemplating these true
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attributes is a chore, a real bondage to the natural mind.
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There's no sweetness or beauty seen in them.
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That concept of broken spiritual taste buds explains so much
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about how we interact with the idea of God.
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It explains why reading the Bible or engaging in secret
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prayer feels like such a heavy burden to the natural mind,
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while spending hours on a hobby feels completely effortless.
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It is purely a matter of taste. The natural heart simply does
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not taste any sweetness in communion with a holy God.
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It finds the entire exercise incredibly dry, but then the
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text moves to the third and 4th fronts, the wills and the
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affections. Yes, these are heavy.
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The argument is that our wills are entirely contrary to God's
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will. We love what he hates, and we
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hate what he commands. And regarding the affections,
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there is a truly intense illustration used here.
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The text says there is a seed of malice in every natural person,
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and it compares the human heart to a Viper hissing and spitting
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poison at God. That is a shocking image to
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internalize. Are we really supposed to view
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ourselves as venomous snake striking at the Creator?
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It is a shocking image, absolutely, but one drawn
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directly from the words of Christ, who called his opponents
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a generation of Vipers. The text points out that this
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malice might lie dormant during secure, comfortable times.
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A snake sunning itself on a rock looks perfectly peaceful.
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You wouldn't think it was dangerous at all.
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But the moment God touches the person's conscience, or
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manifests a little of his wrath, or drastically alters their
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circumstances, that Viper nature surfaces, comes right out,
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interrupts an inward wrangling, blasphemous thoughts and bitter
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complaining. We see this all the time when
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tragedy strikes, or when life does not go according to plan.
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The immediate human response is often to accuse God of
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injustice, and this ties into the 5th front practice.
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Humans do not just have bad thoughts, they are actively
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engaged in a war they list under Satan's banner.
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They oppose God's Kingdom, his government, and his declared
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designs in the world. Whatever God is building up, the
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natural human is attempting to tear down.
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The daily actions of a natural person are a continuous campaign
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against the throne of heaven. To illustrate this, the text
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draws on the historical examples of Pharaoh and the Scribes and
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Pharisees. The argument is that Pharaoh did
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not have any more natural enmity against God than anyone else.
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He was not a unique monster created with extra malice.
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He was just put in circumstances where that enmity was drawn out
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into the open. He had absolute authority, and
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God challenged that authority directly.
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The conditions were just right to expose his heart.
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Yes, and the same goes for the scribes and Pharisees who
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opposed Christ. They were not uniquely evil
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anomalies, they were just acting out the natural human response
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to God. Drawing near the text even makes
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the chilling point that the only difference between a wicked
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person on earth and a wicked person in hell is restraint.
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The seed of malice is identical in hell.
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There are no new corruptions added to the human heart.
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The heart simply operates without any of the earthly
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restraints that currently hold it back.
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It is the exact same root, just fully blamed.
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If we pull back and look at the systematic theology here, this
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is the doctrine of total depravity articulated with total
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clarity. Total depravity does not mean
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every person commits every possible crime.
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It means the infection of sin extends to every single faculty,
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the judgments, the taste, the will, the affections, and the
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practice. There is no pristine, unfallen
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corner of the human soul that still loves God.
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Naturally, the intellect is darkened, the will is enslaved,
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and the affections are corrupted.
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This brings us to analyzing the degree of this hostility.
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The text is clear that this rebellion is not a mixed bag.
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It isn't 5050. Not at all.
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It is not a situation where a person has 50% love for God and
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50% enmity. The argument insists there is 0
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love for God in the natural state.
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The heart is as destitute of love for God as a cold, stiff,
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dead corpse is destitute of vital heat.
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That analogy of the corpse really drives the point home.
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You cannot coax A corpse into being a little bit warm.
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It is entirely devoid of life. You can pump it full of
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electricity to make the muscles twitch, much like human religion
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can stimulate a person to perform moral actions, but that
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twitching is not actual life. And the text insists that this
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total lack of love means the enmity is insuperable by finite
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interventions. What do you mean by insuperable
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here? It means it cannot be overcome
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by normal earthly means. I love the historical examples
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brought up here. To prove this point, we are
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prompted to look at the Israelites in the wilderness.
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They saw literal miracles, seas parting, mana falling from the
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sky, water flowing from solid rocks.
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Yet their underlying enmity remained constantly surfacing
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and murmuring and rebellion. The text also points to the Jews
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who witnessed the earthly ministry of Christ.
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They saw Him heal the sick and raise the dead, yet their
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spiteful hearts obstinately stood out against Him.
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Finite miracles, human arguments, and angelic
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persuasion are all completely useless in overcoming this
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hostility. Seeing a miracle does not change
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a Viper into a dove. This brings us to a terrifying
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theological concept. Natural humans are not just
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casual opponents of God. The text calls them mortal
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enemies. Now what does that mean?
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A regular enemy might just want to see you fail or lose your
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job. A mortal enemy strikes at your
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very life. The argument is that the natural
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heart is fundamentally opposed to the being of God.
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The heart's deepest inclination is let the world be emptied of a
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God. That is a chilling thought.
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It really is. This means atheism is not just
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an intellectual conclusion, it's a moral wish.
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The fool who says in his heart there is no God is actually
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saying I wish there were no God. He stands in my way.
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If the natural human had the ability, they would dethrone the
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Creator and strip Him of His existence.
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The presence of a sovereign God is an intolerable thought to a
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heart that wants absolute autonomy.
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Hold on, let me play devil's advocate here.
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I get the theological argument, but telling a modern listener
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they actively want to murder God sounds extreme.
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The average person walking down the street, drinking their
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coffee, heading to work, they don't feel a burning, homicidal
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rage toward the Almighty. How does this Puritan framework
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actually prove that to someone who just thinks they are mildly
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agnostic or indifferent? It seems like a massive leap
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from I don't really care about religion to I am a mortal enemy
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who wants to eliminate the Creator.
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That is a very fair pushback and the text addresses this
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directly. We do not feel the urge to
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murder God because we know he is out of our physical reach.
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It is easy to feel indifferent court and invincible invisible
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monarch. But the text proves this mortal
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enmity by looking at the ultimate test case, the
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incarnation of Jesus Christ. The argument is that the divine
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nature is immortal and out of our physical reach.
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So to test whether human enmity is truly mortal, whether we
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would actually kill God if we had the chance, God took on
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human flesh. He stepped down.
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Yes, he became a man, stepped into our physical reality and
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came within human reach and was the immediate collective
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reaction of humanity. We murdered him.
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The crowd actively chose Barabbas, a known murderer, over
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the Creator of the universe. They did not just want him dead,
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they wanted him executed in the most cruel, ignominious way
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possible, mocking and scourging him.
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The cross is the historical proof that humanity is a mortal
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enemy of God. When the Holy God became
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accessible, humanity's instinct was to destroy him.
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That is the definitive experiment.
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It removes all our theoretical excuses.
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We cannot claim we would have acted differently because the
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scribes, the Pharisees, the Romans and the crowds
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represented a perfect cross section of human society.
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They were the religious elite, the political authorities and
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the common citizens. And they all agreed on one
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thing. The Son of God had to die.
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This raises A weighty question for you, the listener.
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To evaluate, consider your own casual thoughts about God's
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existence. It is a hard thing to examine.
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It is. Have you ever entertained a
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passing thought of atheism or felt a momentary relief at the
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idea that perhaps no one is watching or judging your private
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actions? The text would challenge you to
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see that such thoughts are not neutral intellectual musings.
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They mask a deeply rooted desire to dethrone the Creator.
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We want him out of the picture because he opposes what we
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naturally love. This perfectly sets up the
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question of why We have to ask the logical question.
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Why so much hatred? Why does humanity possess this
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mortal enmity toward a God who is objectively good, who
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provides sunlight and rain and breath?
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The text does not leave us guessing.
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It takes us straight to the root cause, the idol factory.
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The grand apostasy of the human race is explained here.
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When humanity fell, we broke the union with the true God.
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But humans are wired for worship.
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We cannot simply worship nothing.
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We are designed to bow down to something.
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We have to have a king. Exactly since we abandoned the
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Creator, we immediately set up the creature on the throne of
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our hearts. We turn to self, the world,
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money, worldly pleasures and honors, and made them our gods.
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The human heart is a relentless factory, constantly churning out
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new idols to trust and adore. I love the political analogy
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used here to explain the core dynamic of idolatry.
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The text says that 2 kings cannot rule one Kingdom.
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If 2 kings claim the same throne and our competitors for the same
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crown, anyone who is a loyal subject to the first king will
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necessarily hate the second king.
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Our hearts belong entirely to our idols, to our pride, our
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bank accounts, our desire for comfort, our reputation.
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God arrives on the scene and acts as the ultimate threat to
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those beloved idols. He demands the throne.
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He strictly forbids our competitors.
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He will not share the space. No, he won't.
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He opposes us and the very things we place our highest
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value upon. Therefore, by the basic laws of
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allegiance, we hate him. We view him as an invader trying
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to steal what we love most. Think about how we react when
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our idols are threatened. Anyone who has ever had their
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Wi-Fi go down during a crucial moment knows how quickly that
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Viper nature comes out. We lose our minds over minor
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inconveniences, yet pretend we are totally at peace with the
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Creator who demands absolute surrender of our entire lives.
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He is the ultimate threat to our autonomy.
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The text points out that if you try to take away something that
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is very dear to a person, nothing will provoke them to
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anger faster. And God does precisely that.
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He manifests His utter abhorrence of our idols.
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He forbids us from cleaving to them, not just asking us to
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refrain for a little while, but demanding a final, forever
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parting with them. And on top of that, He threatens
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everlasting damnation for choosing these idols over him.
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He promises eternal wrath for every degree of respect we give
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to our false gods. This brings up an Ave. for
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speculation within the text. What kind of speculation?
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There is a suggestion that if God were willing to accept half
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measures, or if his law were lenient, humans wouldn't hate
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him so much. If his wrath could be appeased
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by a few tears or a little casual reformation, we might
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tolerate him. The strictness of the law is
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what provokes the rage. We want a God who will
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negotiate. We want a God who says keep your
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favorite idol, just give me 10% of your income and show up on
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Sundays. But the true God is an
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implacable enemy to our idols. He refuses to negotiate terms.
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He fixed eternal death as the wages for our rebellion.
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He refuses to accept our money, our tears or our religious
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performances as a bribe. Because his opposition to our
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false gods is absolute and infinite, our hatred toward Him
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becomes absolute and infinite. We are greater enemies to God
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than to any other being because no fellow creature stands in the
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way of our idols as much as God does.
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The text even makes the point that we treat Satan as a friend
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joining his rebellion because Satan encourages our idolatry
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while God condemns it. Satan tells us to hold on to our
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pride. God tells us to crucify it.
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It is obvious who the natural heart prefers.
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So if our hearts are truly this hostile, why aren't we just
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walking around in a constant state of Rage Against God?
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How do we hide that from ourselves?
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At this point in the deep dive, I can imagine you, the listener,
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having a strong internal objection.
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You might be thinking, I don't feel like an enemy of God.
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I go about my day. I try to be kind.
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I don't feel a burning malice in my chest toward the Creator.
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The Paraton framework anticipates this exact
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objection. A huge portion of this analysis
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is dedicated to unmasking the psychological defenses we build
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to hide our own enmity from ourselves.
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The text says. First of all, our blindness and
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our functional atheism keep us from feeling the hatred.
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Because we do not truly realize God's being, because His reality
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is faint to our minds, our malice stays dormant.
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The argument is that if you truly believed right in this
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moment that the infinitely holy God was standing in the room
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with you, your malice would instantly surface.
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There is a very relatable illustration used here.
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Imagine you have a rooted malice against someone, but you hear
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they have died. Your hatred goes quiet.
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You don't feel the active burning of anger because the
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person is out of the picture. But the moment you find out the
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news was false and they're actually alive and standing
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outside your door, your hatred flares right back up.
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Our functional atheism acts like that false news.
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We live as if God is dead or distant, so we don't feel the
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hatred. Our atheism actually prevents
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our malice from showing its face.
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That is a brilliant way to frame it.
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It really is. Furthermore, the text points out
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that we create a false God in our imaginations.
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We invent A sanitized, lenient deity who does not hate sin
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quite so much, who is not strictly just, and who is easily
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pleased. We love that concept.
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But loving a fake God that we invented to suit our own tastes
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is actual proof that we hate the true God.
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We love the idle we named God, but we despise the God of the
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Bible. We also hide our enmity through
21:18
fear. We know God can destroy us.
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He has the ultimate upper hand, so we hide our hatred through
21:24
feigned obedience. We are like a captive who
21:27
flatters his captor just to stay alive, all while secretly
21:30
looking for a chance to escape or strike back.
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Because the throne of God is out of our physical reach, we don't
21:36
bother manifesting our revenge. But the text points to the His
21:40
ALE principle to show what would happen if we had the chance.
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Muslim good Second Kings chapter 8.
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Let's hear it. The prophet Elijah starts
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weeping because he sees the atrocities Hosea will commit in
21:50
the future against Israel, setting strongholds on fire,
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slaying young man, dashing children.
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Ezel is shocked. He says what is thy servant, a
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dog? That he should do this great
21:59
thing? Ezel genuinely did not think he
22:01
was capable of such evil. Hezel was offended by the
22:04
suggestion. He thought he was a decent guy,
22:07
but Elijah's answer was incredibly revealing.
22:10
He said, The Lord hath showed me that thou shalt be king over
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Syria. Hazel was a servant at the time.
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He had no authority, no freedom to act out his dark impulses.
22:21
His cruel disposition lay hidden because he lacked the
22:24
opportunity. But the moment he was handed the
22:27
crown, the moment the restraints were off and he had absolute
22:30
power, oops, absolute authority, he committed those precise
22:33
atrocities. The venom was always in his
22:35
heart, he just lacked an outlet. The text applies this directly
22:39
to us. We think we are not mortal
22:41
enemies of God because we have never tried to dethrone Him, but
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that is only because we know it is impossible.
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If God's throne were suddenly within our reach and we knew we
22:48
could seize it without consequence, our hearts would
22:51
instantly manifest thoughts so horrid they would make us
22:53
tremble. Lack of opportunity hides the
22:55
venom. The text asks you, the listener,
22:58
to consider your own daily behavior through a practical
23:01
lens. If you had a human employee who
23:04
treated you the way you treat God, what would you think of
23:07
them? Think about this.
23:09
If your employee constantly disregarded your commands, did
23:12
the exact reverse of what you asked, sought ends that
23:15
destroyed your business, and spent all their free time
23:18
fraternizing with your fiercest corporate rivals, you would
23:20
instantly recognize them as an enemy.
23:22
You would have fired them on the spot.
23:24
You would never consider them a loyal friend.
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Yet we treat God with far more contempt.
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We align with Satan's interests, we ignore God's counsel, we use
23:32
his resources for our own selfish gain, and we still
23:36
manage to convince ourselves we are neutral or even friendly
23:38
toward Him. Actions are the best
23:41
interpreters of the disposition. Our actions prove we are enemies
23:44
regardless of what our self deceived minds tell us.
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And that leads naturally to the next line of defense.
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People use the religious defense.
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A listener might object, but I pray, I attend worship services,
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I even cry during sermons. How can I be an enemy when I
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have all these religious affections?
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The analysis here is relentless. It unmasks outward religion that
24:05
is devoid of actual saving grace.
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It points out that much of the respect we show to God is purely
24:11
a product of our geographical education.
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It is cultural conditioning. Precisely.
24:16
We were taught from childhood to use reverential tones when
24:19
Speaking of the Almighty. In other parts of the world,
24:22
children are taught to show the exact same solemn reverence to a
24:25
wooden statue or a serpent. The outward posture of respect
24:28
has no better foundation than cultural habit.
24:30
It is a painted veil over a hostile heart.
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Just because you bow your head before a meal does not mean your
24:35
heart is reconciled to the sovereign of the universe.
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The text notes that are religious acts are often driven
24:40
entirely by self-interest. The crowds following Jesus for
24:44
the loaves and fishes are a perfect example.
24:47
They called him rabbi and wanted to make him king.
24:50
Not because they honored his true identity, but because they
24:53
wanted free food. They wanted the benefits he
24:55
could provide. It was sheer self-interest
24:58
disguised as devotion. And what about the tears shed in
25:02
prayer? The argument is that these are
25:04
almost always rooted in self love or pride.
25:07
When you weep over your sins, are you mourning because you
25:10
offended the majesty of God? Or are you weeping because you
25:13
realize your sins have messed up your own life and exposed you to
25:16
punishment? You are pitying your own
25:18
circumstances. Right, you were sad about the
25:20
consequences, not the rebellion. Or worse, the tears come from
25:23
pride. You admire your own religious
25:26
performance. You think highly of yourself for
25:28
being so emotionally invested in your prayer.
25:30
You're effectively worshipping your own repentance.
25:32
The story of King Saul and David is brought up to prove that
25:35
affection does not equal a changed heart.
25:37
In First Samuel, David spares Saul's life when he had the
25:40
chance to kill him. In The Cave, Saul is overwhelmed
25:43
with emotion. He weeps aloud.
25:45
He calls David my son. He acknowledges David's
25:48
righteousness and his own guilt. It looks for all the world like
25:51
Saul's heart has been completely softened and reconciled.
25:54
But what happens next? It was just a temporary
25:57
emotional pang. His underlying enmity was not
26:00
mortified. Almost immediately, Saul resumes
26:02
hunting David with an army trying to kill them.
26:05
Emotional experiences, tears, and religious vocabulary are no
26:08
argument against the presence of mortal enmity in the heart.
26:11
You can cry a river of tears during a worship song and still
26:14
be a mortal enemy of God when you walk out the door.
26:16
So if we look at this idea of total hostility, how does the
26:20
text explain why the world isn't just in total chaos?
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If humanity is truly this hostile, If every natural person
26:26
has a heart like a Viper filled with mortal enmity toward God,
26:30
why isn't the world currently a literal hell?
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Why do people generally act somewhat decent?
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Why are there functional societies?
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This brings us to a massive, crucial concept in Reformed
26:40
theology, restraining grace. The doctrine of restraining
26:44
grace is essential for understanding the world we live
26:46
in. The argument is that natural
26:48
humans have nothing within their own nature to hold them back
26:51
from the worst possible wickedness.
26:53
Hatred itself has no brakes. Therefore, whatever evil we have
26:56
not committed is purely because God has sovereignly held the
26:59
reins on our corruption. God restrains the wickedness of
27:02
the world through external mechanisms, and this is entirely
27:04
an active His unmerited mercy. God uses the light of natural
27:08
conscience to make us feel guilt.
27:10
He uses human laws and the fear of societal disgrace.
27:14
People don't commit atrocities because they don't want to go to
27:16
jail, or they don't want to ruin their reputation, or they don't
27:18
want to lose their jobs. He uses the fear of hell.
27:22
All of these mechanisms are gifts of God's mercy to keep
27:25
humanity from destroying itself entirely.
27:28
The text calls it a glorious work.
27:30
It says God holding the reins in a wicked world is a more
27:33
glorious work than His Son, His ruling the raging of the sea and
27:36
telling the proud waves where to stop.
27:38
In hell, God removes those reins.
27:41
He lets the wickedness rage without bounds.
27:43
If God removed his restraints on earth, our society would look
27:46
like hell immediately. The only thing standing between
27:49
our current society and total anarchy is the invisible hand of
27:52
God holding back human ballast. The text points to particular
27:56
Providence to explain why some people seem better than others.
27:59
Some people do not commit the horrific crimes of a Nero or a
28:02
Judas simply because Providence placed them in different
28:05
circumstances. They were born to pious parents,
28:08
or they received a good education, or they were shielded
28:11
from certain temptations. If you had been placed in the
28:13
exact same circumstances as Pharaoh, with the same absolute
28:17
authority and the same lack of checks and balances, your heart
28:20
would have hardened just as his did.
28:22
The historical example used here is David and Abigail.
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David was on his way to slaughter nay Ball and his
28:28
entire household in a foot of rage.
28:30
He was fully intending to shed blood, but God ordered
28:33
circumstances so that Abigail came out to meet him, pacified
28:36
his anger, and stopped him. David explicitly acknowledges
28:40
that it was the Lord who withheld him from shedding
28:42
blood. God used the wisdom of Abigail
28:44
as the mechanism of His restraining grace.
28:46
And this is highly relevant for you, the listener, even if you
28:49
are a believer. The text notes that even those
28:52
who possess saving grace still have the old man within them.
28:56
The remnants of corruption in a Christian are of the exact same
28:59
nature as the enmity in a wicked person.
29:02
Believers require God's covenant mercy to continuously restrain
29:06
them from gross sins. If a Christian is kept from
29:09
falling into the awful sins of a David or a Peter, it is owing to
29:12
God's faithful presence, not their own inherent strength.
29:16
This should completely shatter any sense of moral superiority
29:19
we might carry. We should never look at the
29:21
horrific crimes of pirates, persecutors, or tyrants and
29:25
boast about our own clean records.
29:27
We owe our seemingly clean records entirely to God's
29:29
restraints. We are not better, we are just
29:32
more restrained. And that realization shifts our
29:34
perspective entirely. We move from a posture of self
29:37
righteousness to a posture of absolute dependence on God's
29:39
mercy. This naturally leads to a
29:41
terrifying question. What happens if those restraints
29:44
are permanently lifted? The text outlines the dreadful
29:47
reality of entering eternity as an unreconciled enemy of God.
29:52
If you die in this natural state, there will be a mutual
29:54
enmity maintained for all eternity.
29:57
God will eternally act as your irreconcilable enemy, showing no
30:01
pity or mercy, and you will eternally act as his enemy, full
30:05
of spite and malice. You will be stripped of your
30:08
disguise. You will spend eternity cursing
30:10
and blaspheming the God you hate because the restraints on your
30:13
corruption will be entirely gone.
30:15
The text asks us to consider the sheer folly of this.
30:18
It asks if you think you can make your part good against an
30:21
omnipotent adversary. It is like setting briars and
30:24
thorns and battle array against devouring flames.
30:26
The fire will simply pass through them and consume them
30:28
entirely. The idea that finite creatures
30:31
can wage a successful war against the infinite creator is
30:34
the peak of madness. The image we used to describe
30:36
this destruction is stark. The text compares the
30:39
destruction of the wicked to the fat of lambs being burnt in the
30:42
fire. It is consumed entirely into
30:44
smoke. Nothing is left.
30:45
There's a perfect, complete destruction.
30:48
The analogy of Joab and Amasa is brought up to describe how God
30:51
views the religious works of an unrepentant enemy.
30:54
That is a brutal story. It is.
30:56
Joab walked up to a Massa, took him by the beard, kissed him,
30:59
asked art thou in health my brother, and simultaneously
31:02
stabbed him under the 5th rib, killing him.
31:05
The argument is that this is what our prayers and religious
31:08
duties look like to God when we are inwardly his mortal enemies.
31:11
We're offering him a kiss while hiding a dagger.
31:14
God is under no obligation to accept the prayers of an enemy.
31:17
He can justly abhor them as the flattery of a traitor.
31:20
You cannot bribe the judge of the universe with hypocritical
31:22
praise while secretly harboring a desire to overthrow his
31:25
throne. And this brings us directly into
31:27
the theological connection regarding God's absolute
31:30
sovereignty. Is God obliged to show mercy to
31:33
people who hate him? Is he bound to advance his
31:36
mortal enemies to the dignity of becoming his children?
31:39
Absolutely not. He owes mercy to no one.
31:41
This is the core of Reformed theology's understanding of
31:44
grace. If God is pleased to show mercy
31:46
to people who possess a viper's heart toward Him, it is entirely
31:49
A sovereign, arbitrary choice. He has the absolute liberty to
31:53
choose the objects of His mercy and to leave others to the
31:56
justice they deserve. No one can earn this favor
31:58
through works, because every work done by a natural man is
32:01
done by an enemy. Salvation must be an act of
32:04
sheer, unmerited, sovereign grace.
32:06
The moment we think we deserve salvation, we prove we do not
32:09
understand the Gospel. The Gospel starts with the
32:11
premise that we deserve nothing but unmixed wrath.
32:13
Which brings us to the most glorious resolution possible.
32:16
We've spent this entire deep dive looking into the abyss of
32:20
human depravity. We have unmasked the
32:23
psychological defenses, the religious hypocrisy, the idle
32:26
factory of the heart, and the mortal enmity we naturally
32:29
harbor against the Creator. It is heavy, heavy material.
32:33
But understanding this intense, unvarnished reality is the only
32:36
way to see the staggering beauty of the Gospel.
32:39
Think about what we have learned today.
32:41
Christ did not die for confused friends.
32:43
He didn't die for well meaning people who just needed a little
32:45
help over the finish line. He voluntarily left his throne,
32:49
took on human flesh, and allowed himself to be nailed to a cross
32:52
by Vipers who are actively trying to dethrone him.
32:55
The love of God is not a response to our loveliness.
32:57
It is a triumphant victory over our hideous hostility.
33:00
That is the supreme manifestation of love.
33:03
While we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death
33:07
of His Son. The Father gave His greatest
33:09
treasure for people who valued a morsel of meat above him.
33:12
The Son laid down his life for the very crowd, crying out for
33:16
his execution. When you realize the depth of
33:19
your own hostility, when you accept that your natural heart
33:22
is a mortal enemy to the sovereign of the universe, the
33:25
cross shines with a brilliance that is almost blinding.
33:28
It is unconditional election and sovereign grace in its purest
33:31
form. God loved his haters with a love
33:33
that absorbed their lethal strike and offered them life.
33:36
In return, He paid the astronomical ransom for the very
33:39
people who kidnapped His glory. And this incredible truth
33:43
demands A practical application in our daily lives.
33:46
The text points out a daily mandate for anyone who claims to
33:49
have received this grace. If God forgave us when we were
33:51
His mortal enemies, if He paid the astronomical debt we owed
33:54
Him while we were spitting poison at His throne, we have
33:57
absolutely no right to hold bitterness against our human
33:59
neighbors. The parable of the 10,000
34:02
talents is referenced here. If you have been forgiven a debt
34:05
of 10,000 talents by the king you tried to murder, how can you
34:08
possibly seize your fellow servant by the throat over a
34:11
debt of 100 pence? We must exercise the spirit of
34:15
forgiveness, loving our enemies because that is literally what
34:18
God did for us. Our horizontal relationships
34:21
must reflect the vertical grace we have received.
34:23
If we claim to be justified by the blood of Christ while
34:27
maintaining bitter, irreconcilable hatred toward our
34:29
human enemies, we show that we have not truly understood the
34:32
gospel. The grace that saves a Viper
34:35
must soften the viper's heart toward others.
34:38
You cannot be the recipient of sovereign grace and remain A
34:41
cruel, unforgiving person. The reality of what we were
34:44
saved from should absolutely crush our pride and produce a
34:47
deep, abiding humility in how we treat everyone around us,
34:50
especially those who wrong us. It changes everything about how
34:53
we operate in the world. As we bring this deep dive to a
34:56
close, I want to leave you, the listener, with a final
34:59
provocative thought, a lingering question to Mull over long after
35:02
the audio stops. We spent this time looking at
35:04
Romans 5.10, analyzing the incredible logic that God gave
35:08
His Son to die for active, hostile, mortal enemies.
35:12
Building on that source material, I want you to ponder
35:14
this. If God went to such agonizing,
35:17
monumental lengths and during the cross and the wrath of His
35:19
own justice to purchase and save those who are actively trying to
35:22
dethrone him, how incredibly secure must the salvation be for
35:25
those He has now justified and adopted as His own children?
35:28
If He loved you that much when you were a venomous Viper, how
35:31
secure are you now that you are a son or daughter?
35:33
Think on that. Thank you for joining us on
35:35
Reformed Thinking.