jonathanedwards

The Billboard-topping songwriter talks about his early years in the Boston folk scene, accidentally recording a hit, and his relationship to a song that has become a part of the American cultural fabric.

Many of us look to the brand new year as a fresh start to begin again. Whether starting new habits or reorienting old patterns of life, we are hopeful this year will be different in a good way. In this episode we consider what new resolutions for the year could look like in our journey of discipleship, and we get a little help from the Puritan Jonathan Edwards. What does a pastor from the 1700's have to say to us in 2022? Take a listen.

Today we discuss the literally worst thing that has ever happened in recorded history - and how God inserted a lovely bit of good news into the midst of this horrible news. We will hear from Jonathan Edwards, John Newton, and John Piper today as well, discussing the Fall of Man.

Dr. Leighton Flowers, Director of Evangelism and Apologetics for Texas Baptists, reads from Jonathan Edwards' sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," to demonstrate that even respected Calvinistic scholars agree that God's sovereign will to save some and condemn others is "arbitrary" on the Calvinistic worldview.

To support this ministry please go to: www.soteriology101.com/support

2 Timothy 4:1-4

There are some verses of Holy Scripture that by their very nature are weightier than others.  The passage that comes before us in this sermon is surely one such weighty giant and one of the great go-to passages of every preacher.  Worn are its pages through frequent visiting, for it is here where he gets his instructions from the Almighty and the royal commandment to preach the Word!

In an age where the Word of God is so seldom preached as it once was, in the power and strength of the Holy Spirit.  The exhortation is given in this sermon of the need again for such anointed preaching that God might in His mercy see fit to visit a people with great stirrings and awakening in this desperate hour of need.

Hello friends, and happy Monday to you all! As you might recall, I'm preparing for a short road trip this week, and trying to record a few extra episodes before I head out on the road, so the next few episodes might be a little shorter than normal. Have no fear, I should be back to my normal long-winded self by next weekend. Today's Bible readings are sort of complicated - thank you Robert Murray M'Cheyne - but they are still awesome. I actually had to debate between three different passages for our focus question, so that's a good sign. We're reading Numbers 20, Psalms 58 and 59, Isaiah 9-10:4 and James 3. Our focus question comes from the Numbers passage, and it concerns the episode at Meribah that caused God to say that Moses would not be able to go into the promised land. In this episode, we see the truth of James 3:1 (on our reading today) played out: "Not many should become teachers, my brothers, because you know that we will receive a stricter judgment." Let's read Numbers 20, and see how Moses gets disqualified, and also read about the death of Aaron.

Heartbreaking passage in many ways. The fact that Moses is barred from entering into the earthly promised land is quite stunning, since this is God's testimony about Moses:

⁵ Then the Lord descended in a pillar of cloud, stood at the entrance to the tent, and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When the two of them came forward, ⁶ he said:

“Listen to what I say:
If there is a prophet among you from the Lord,
I make myself known to him in a vision;
I speak with him in a dream.
⁷ Not so with my servant Moses;
he is faithful in all my household.
⁸ I speak with him directly,
openly, and not in riddles;
he sees the form of the Lord.

So why were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?”

Numbers 12:5-8

So - why was God so...so what with Moses? Numbers actually does not say God's reaction, but we do later learn in Deuteronomy that God was indeed angry with Moses. But why? I think that this was a bigger deal than what we see at first. I see two big things that Moses did. First, He disobeyed the direct command of God. Moses was told to speak to rock, but He struck the rock instead. Of this incident, Spurgeon cleverly said:

Certainly Moses erred in smiting the rock, for he was bidden to speak to it. The best of men are men at the best.

C. H. Spurgeon, The Interpreter: Spurgeon’s Devotional Bible (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Book House, 1964), 128.

Disobedience is serious, but I wonder if the second thing Moses did was even worse. In vs. 11, this happens:

Moses and Aaron summoned the assembly in front of the rock, and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels! Must we bring water out of this rock for you?”

Numbers 20:11

Is this Moses attempting to take credit for a miracle that originated with God? It is certainly possible, and that would be an egregious sin - and one that is often alive and well in church leaders today. I think that this is the reason that God says this later in Deuteronomy:

⁵¹ For both of you broke faith with me among the Israelites at the Waters of Meribath-kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin by failing to treat me as holy in their presence.

Deuteronomy 32:51

Of this second failure, Spurgeon writes:

Angry he certainly was; and when, reverting to a former miracle, the Most High directed him to take the wonder-staff—his rod of many miracles—and at the head of the congregation “speak to the rock,” and it would “give forth its water,” in the heat and agitation of his spirit he failed to implement implicitly the Divine command. Instead of speaking to the rock be spoke to the people, and his harangue was no longer in the language calm and dignified of the lawgiver, but had a certain tone of petulance and egotism. “Hear now, ye rebels; must we—must I and Aaron, not must Jehovah—fetch you water out of this rock?” And instead of simply speaking to it, he raised the rod and dealt it two successive strokes, just as if the rock were sharing the general perversity, and would no more than the people obey its Creator’s bidding. He was angry, and he sinned. He sinned and was severely punished

C. H. Spurgeon, The Treasury of David: Psalms 88-110, vol. 4 (London; Edinburgh; New York: Marshall Brothers, n.d.), 392.

I think that the major issue here was the petulance and egotism of Moses. This is a temptation to those who would lead God's people and a deadly danger to give into. Shepherds and leaders of God's people must constantly point them to Jesus and to the abundant blessings at the right hand of the Father. When leaders/pastors/elders/deacons begin to read their own press clippings - so to speak - when they begin to feel as if they are the one feeding/protecting/taking care of the people, then the eyes of the people can turn from God to the human leaders...and this is dreadful. Hebrews 12 instructs us to keep/fix/focus our eyes on Jesus - the author and finisher of our faith. When that focus shifts from Jesus to a human leader - even an incredibly gifted one - than our gaze is on that which cannot save nor sustain us. Psalms 34:5 notes that those who look to God for rescue are 'radiant' and they will never be ashamed. When we look to human leaders for our salvation - instead of to God - then our faces will not be radiant and we will indeed be disappointed. I'll close with some wise words from Jonathan Edwards:

[Moses] had a great zeal for God, and he could not bear to see the intolerable stiff-neckedness of the people, that they did not acknowledge the work of God, and were not convinced by all his wonders that they had seen. But human passion was mingled with his zeal, Psal. 106:32, 33. “They angered him also at the waters of strife; so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes: because they provoked his spirit, so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips.” Hear now, ye rebels, says he, with bitterness of language.—Secondly, He behaved himself, and spake, with an assuming air. He assumed too much to himself; Hear now, ye rebels, must we fetch water out of this rock? Spiritual pride wrought in Moses at that time. His temptations to it were very great; for he had had great discoveries of God, and had been privileged with intimate and sweet communion with him, and God had made him the instrument of great good to his church. But though he was so humble a person, and, by God’s own testimony, meek above all men upon the face of the whole earth, yet his temptations were too strong for him. Which surely should make our young ministers, that have of late been highly favoured, and have had great success, exceeding careful, and distrustful of themselves. Alas! how far are we from having the strength of holy, meek, aged Moses! The temptation at this day is exceeding great to both those errors that Moses was guilty of. There is great temptation to bitterness and corrupt passion with zeal; for there is so much unreasonable opposition made against this glorious work of God, and so much stiff-neckedness manifested in multitudes of this generation, notwithstanding all the great and wonderful works in which God has passed before them, that it greatly tends to provoke the spirits of such as have the interest of this work at heart, so as to move them to speak unadvisedly with their lips. And there is also great temptation to an assuming behaviour in some persons. When a minister is greatly succeeded from time to time, and so draws the eyes of the multitude upon him, when he sees himself followed, resorted to as an oracle—and people ready to adore him, and as it were to offer sacrifice to him, as it was with Paul and Barnabas at Lystra—it is almost impossible for a man to avoid taking upon him the airs of a master, or some extraordinary person; a man had need to have a great stock of humility, and much divine assistance, to resist the temptation. But the greater our dangers are, the more ought to be our watchfulness, prayerfulness, and diffidence, lest we bring ourselves into mischief

Jonathan Edwards, The Works of Jonathan Edwards, vol. 1 (Banner of Truth Trust, 1974), 403.

Hello friends and happy Wednesday to you! Today we are covering a Bible passage that many might be familiar with, as this is a favorite for preachers to preach through - and with good reason! Hebrews 11 is rich with meaning and lots depth and encouragement. This passage gives us not only a definition of faith, but a plethora of illustrations that demonstrate to us what faith is, and how it might look in our lives. In addition to Hebrews 11, we will also be reading Numbers 14, Psalms 50 and Isaiah 3 and 4.

Let's go read Hebrews 11 and then return and discuss our major question: What is faith?

Did you catch the Hebrews definition?

Now faith is the reality of what is hoped for, the proof of what is not seen. 2 For by this our ancestors were approved. 3 By faith we understand that the universe was created by the word of God, so that what is seen was made from things that are not visible.

Hebrews 11:1-3

That is a very interesting definition of faith, isn't it? Hebrews 11:1 in the ESV says this, "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." and in the NIV, "Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see." and the NLT, "Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see." In the KJV: "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" In the Lexham, "Now faith is the realization of what is hoped for, the proof of things not seen,"and the Young's Literal, "And faith is of things hoped for a confidence, of matters not seen a conviction"

All of these translations are expressing the same Greek words in a slightly different way of explanation, but the meaning is clear: faith is not mere hopeful belief that something might happen - "I hope this quarantine will be over soon," "I hope Alabama wins the 2020 national championship," "I hope my doctor visit goes well." It is good to hope, but faith is something different - it is not hopefulness in an uncertain outcome in a wishful sense, but it is assurance, confidence, reality, realization and substance. Faith is a concrete belief in a reality - that is the point of what Hebrews is telling us, and that reality/substance/confidence/assurance/conviction produces actions....and not actions like merely going to church, or going through religious motions. Actions like Noah building an Ark for years in the middle of dry land. Actions like Abraham heading out on a life-changing move of himself and his whole family to a land he didn't know and had never seen. Actions like Rahab welcoming the Israelite spies and risking her life to protect them. Actions like Joshua leading a musical/prayer march around the walls of a well-fortified city that led to its capture. And actions like Moses refusing to live as fake royalty in the house of Pharoah. Hebrews is telling us that faith is a bedrock reality that causes people to make life-changing, life-altering decisions that are risky and stupid if our faith is somehow misplaced. Faith is concrete substance/reality/confidence/assured says Hebrews 11 and faith leads to action and life-change. Here are a few other definitions:

• "Faith is a living, daring confidence in God's grace, so sure and certain that a man could stake his life on it a thousand times." Martin Luther
• "True faith, not head knowledge, is a firm conviction that brings personal surrender to God and His Word." Kay Arthur
• "Faith means being sure of what we hope for now. It means knowing something is real, this moment, all around you, even when you don't see it." Joni Eareckson Tada
• "TRUE faith is reliance. Look at any Greek lexicon you like, and you will find that the word πιστευειν does not merely mean to believe, but to trust, to confide in, to commit to, entrust with, and so forth; and the marrow of the meaning of faith is confidence in, reliance upon. Let me ask, then, every professor here who professes to have faith, is your faith the faith of reliance? You give credit to certain statements, do you also place trust in the one glorious person who alone can redeem? Have you confidence as well as credence? A creed will not save you, but reliance upon the anointed Saviour is the way of salvation." - C. H. Spurgeon, Flashes of Thought (London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1874), 146.
• “Faith is the evidence of things not seen”; that is, it is their being evident. This verse is as much as if he had said, “Faith is the being present of things that are to come, and the being clearly seen of things that are not seen.” Jonathan Edwards, Notes on Scripture, ed. Harry S. Stout and Stephen J. Stein, vol. 15, The Works of Jonathan Edwards (London; New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998), 81.
• "Faith is a grounded, justifiable knowledge, and not a fancy, or ineffectual opinion; having for its object the infallible revelation and certain truth of God; and not a falsehood, nor a mere probability, or ‘verisimile.’" Richard Baxter, William Orme, The Practical Works of the Rev. Richard Baxter, vol. 12 (London: James Duncan, 1830), 54.
• "We all in one sense ‘believe’ we are mortal: but until one’s forties does one really believe one is going to die? On the edge of a cliff can’t one believe, and yet not really believe, that there’s no danger? But certainly this real belief in the truths of our religion is a great gift from God. When in Hebrews ‘faith’ is defined as ‘the substance of things hoped for’,179 I wd. translate ‘substance’ as ‘substantialness’ or ‘solidity’ or (almost) ‘palpableness’." - C. S. Lewis, The Collected Letters of C. S. Lewis, ed. Walter Hooper, vol. 3 (New York: HarperCollins e-books; HarperSanFrancisco, 2004–2007), 751.
• Faith is to believe what you do not see, or to trust words about a hidden thing which truly exists, though you cannot see it with your eyes. About the things that we see we have knowledge, and not faith.Elliot Ritzema, 300 Quotations for Preachers from the Early Church, Pastorum Series (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2013).

Great definitions there - let me close with a bit of exposition from John Piper to give us a fuller  idea of what exactly faith is:

Hebrews 11:1 says, “Faith is the conviction—or better, the evidence—of things not seen.” And then the writer illustrates this in verse 3 when he says that “we understand by faith” that God created the world. In other words, faith is not just a responding act of the soul; it is also a grasping or perceiving or understanding act. It is a spiritual act that sees the fingerprints of God. This does not mean that you believe them into being. That would be wishful thinking—the power of positive thinking. That is not authentic faith. Real faith is based on real Truth. It looks deeply at the world God has made—looks through it, so to speak—and by the grace of God, it sees the glory of God (as Psalm 19:1 says) standing forth off the creation like a 3-D image.

The Substance of Things Hoped For

Now that leaves us just a few minutes to focus on the other part of the definition of faith in verse 1: “Now faith is the assurance—or the substance—of things hoped for.” It may be that all this means is that faith is a deep confidence that the promises of God will come true so that we bank on them. That would be enough to free us from the fears and greed and worldliness that block the flow of radical, risk-taking, sacrificial love. If we have a strong conviction that God will care for us and bring us to glory and fulfill all his promises to us forever, then we will be free from self-indulgence and free for serving others.

But I think it means more—or maybe this is just a way of filling up this meaning with all that’s really here. The word “assurance” here can mean “nature” or “substance” or “reality” or “essence” in other places, for example, Hebrews 1:3 (“exact representation of God’s nature”). If that is what is meant here, then we should think like this.

What could the “substance” or “nature” of things hoped for mean? I think it could mean that faith apprehends the goodness and the sweetness of what God promises so clearly that this goodness and sweetness are substantially present in faith. In other words, faith grasps—lays hold of—God’s preciousness so firmly that in the faith itself there is the substance of the goodness and the sweetness promised. Faith doesn’t create what we hope for—that would be a mere mind game. Faith is a spiritual apprehending or perceiving or tasting or sensing of the beauty and sweetness and preciousness and goodness of what God promises—especially his own fellowship, and the enjoyment of his own presence.

Faith does not just feel confident that this is coming some day. Faith has spiritually laid hold of and perceived and tasted that it is real. And this means that faith has the substance or the nature of what is hoped for in it. Faith’s enjoyment of the promise is a kind of substantial downpayment of the reality coming.

John Piper, Sermons from John Piper (1990–1999) (Minneapolis, MN: Desiring God, 2007).

As a bonus, here are two other great quotes on faith:

"Let us see to it that we keep God before our eyes; that we walk in His ways, and seek to please and glorify Him in everything, great and small. Depend upon it, God’s work, done in God’s way, will never lack God’s supplies." Hudson Taylor

“Furnish thyself with arguments from the promises to enforce thy pravers, and make them prevalent with God. The promises are the ground of faith, and faith, when strengthened, will make thee fervent, and such fervency ever speeds and returns with victory out of the field of prayer…. The mightier any is in the Word, the more mighty he will be in prayer.” - William Gurnall