I want to clarify one thing.
I had first pick, and I actually wanted to do the study tonight
biographically on Rick Holland. He's the only man I know who
has an entire nation named after himself, the nation of Holland. So I thought that in and of itself
was worthy of our attention tonight. But he has a few cracks in his
dam, so we're unable to. But seriously, though, folks,
it's a pleasure to be here tonight. So, take my friend, please. So,
Rick, thank you for inviting me and you know I love to be
here and especially with the Crossroads gang and so much energy
and love for the Lord, passion for the Lord and it just charges
my batteries. but you are one of my very best
friends. And as iron sharpens iron, so
one man another, Proverbs 27, 17. And you are pretty sharp. So, it is a joy to be with you,
to fellowship with you today. And you have the greatest spiritual
leader in the history of the church right here with Rick Holland.
So, that is right. That was Kim that
started that clapping then right there. Well, what a joy is mine tonight
to be able to talk to you about Jonathan Edwards. And we've been
doing the Resolve conferences. What? Jonathan Edwards? What's
so funny about that? Oh, the picture. Okay. Well, that is
Jonathan Edwards. Yeah, that's way out there for
me. I had him on 8-track soundtrack, so there he is, Jonathan Edwards. No, we have, the last three years,
have had the Resolve Conference. Probably most of us have attended
at least one, if not all, of the Resolve Conferences. And
as you're probably aware, the name is drawn. from a series
of resolutions that Jonathan Edwards wrote as a young man.
And we've captured those. He wrote 70 resolutions that
were like purpose statements to really guide and direct his
life to hit the target of the glory of God. And so tonight,
what I want to do is just give you the big picture. of Jonathan
Edwards. Who was Jonathan Edwards? When
did he live? What did he accomplish in his
life? And just walk you through the sum and substance of who
he was. In times past, I have focused
on certain resolutions and zeroed in on certain details, but what
I want us to do tonight is just get in the helicopter, go up
high and survey the big picture of this man. And quite frankly,
he is a hard man to get your arms around, because he lived
the life of ten men, twenty men, thirty men. He was prolific. He was mightily used by God. And his life was so high, so
deep, so full, that we'll have to move quick to be able to have
this introduction. He's been called the Prince of
the Puritans and the last of the Puritans. And I want you
to know, quite frankly, that it's virtually impossible tonight
for me to exaggerate or overestimate his importance in church history
and really the establishment of this country. There are many
noted testimonies that have been given, so many it would be impossible
to cover them. But I want to give you some sense
of the importance of this man. John E. Smith has said unquestionably
regarding Jonathan Edwards, he is the major theologian of American
Puritanism and the most acute philosophical thinker on the
American scene. Perry Miller, who is one of Edwards'
primary biographers, has made this staggering statement about
Edwards. He is the greatest philosopher,
theologian yet to grace the American scene, unquote. That is a staggering
statement. That is to say, in his estimation,
Jonathan Edwards is the single one greatest theologian to ever
live here in America. Staggering. And Mark Knoll, who's
a very noted church historian, has written more recently, America's
greatest evangelical theologian, referring to Jonathan Edwards.
And perhaps the greatest of any variety, meaning whether evangelical,
liberal, whoever he is in the spectrum in between, the single
one man and voice who emerges out of all American theological
study is this towering figure that we are considering tonight,
Jonathan Edwards. George Marston, who has written
his more recent biography, says Edwards was the most acute early
American philosopher and the most brilliant of all American
theologians. At least three of his many works,
and he cites these three. Religious affections, freedom
of the will, and the nature of true virtue stand as masterpieces
in the larger history of Christian literature. You see, not only
was he a preacher, and not only was he a pastor, and many have
argued he is the greatest preacher to ever live in America. and
the greatest pastor to ever live in America. These statements
are saying he is the greatest philosopher to ever live, and
the greatest theologian to ever live in America, as well as the
greatest author to ever live in America. So, quite frankly,
I want to know something about this man. I don't want to be
in a fog about him, and tonight I want to give you an introduction
and an overview to this man. Harry Stout, who is also a great
Edwardian scholar, has said, the remarkable feature of Edwards
is his enduring ability to speak across the ages. In other words,
there is a timeless profoundness about Jonathan Edwards. He's
not trendy. He's not hip-hop. He's just speaking
to the moment. No, he is way too weighty, way
too full of gravitas, way too profound, way too deep, way too
transcendent in his thoughts about God and his teaching of
the Word of God, that he is the one man in America who speaks
across the centuries and across the generations, this man, Jonathan
Edwards. Martin Lloyd-Jones. who is one
of the great expositors from England the past century, said,
no man is more relevant to the present condition of Christianity
than Jonathan Edwards. When you read Edwards, he speaks
with penetrating insight and to the issues of the day. And
the reason is, is because he was so God-focused. God is the
same yesterday, today, and forever. He is the God who was and who
is and who shall be forever. And he was so God-centered that
he cannot be limited to speaking to one age or to one generation. He transcends the time. R.C. Sproul, who was a An outstanding
theologian today has said, I believe his Freedom of the Will is the
most important theological work ever published in America. That's
a staggering statement. Jonathan Edwards, staggering
endorsement. Listen to Martin Lloyd-Jones,
what he has to say about Jonathan Edwards. I am tempted, perhaps
foolish, to compare the Puritans to the Alps, Luther and Calvin
to the Himalayas, and Jonathan Edwards to Mount Everest. He
has always seemed to me the man most like the Apostle Paul. Lloyd-Jones is not a man given
to exaggerated praise. A towering statement that he
says he overshadows even Luther and Calvin in the great Puritan
age. Ian Murray says there is an urgent
need of a new generation to take up and read Edwards. So tonight, in an attempt to
encourage you to take up and read Edwards, not merely to learn
about him, but that you would even read him for yourself, let
me give you an overview of his life. Let me put him in a historical
setting. The American Puritans. That's
a period of time, 1620 to 1758. And let me just give you a few
of these settings. I think it will help us appreciate
Jonathan Edwards. The pilgrims first came here
in 1620 to Plymouth Rock, and they came as separatists, meaning
they were outside the Church of England looking for religious
freedom. They came here and established in Massachusetts a land that
was given to the preaching of the Word of God. 1630, the first
English Puritans arrived, and Boston really became the dominant
city in the colonies. And it was outside of Boston,
which now is inside of Boston, that Harvard was founded, 1636. Harvard was established, this
may be surprising to you, Harvard was established, her charter
statement was for the training up of gospel preachers. And Harvard
came into existence to teach Calvinistic theology to men who
were called into the ministry. And they have the highest of
the high understandings of who God is. And it shows how institutions
can start with such lofty vision and direction and put one foot
on the slippery slope and begin a downward descent. And Harvard
then began to slide down. And the second Ivy League school
to be established was Yale in 1701. And Yale was established
to take the place of Harvard's original vision. Yale was established
to train preachers of the gospel of Jesus Christ in this land,
and it too was an institution established upon the theology
of the Reformers and a very straightforward Calvinistic understanding of
the Word of God. And so, it is in this setting
that 1703 Jonathan Edwards was born. Now, let me tell you about
the early years of Jonathan Edwards. He was born in East Windsor,
Connecticut, in the Connecticut River Valley, just west of Boston. I had the privilege a little
over a month ago of actually going and standing right here
where Edwards was born. He was the son of a Puritan pastor,
and he was born into a very godly Christian home. His father was
a Harvard graduate and pastored one church for almost 60 years. And his mother was born of one
of the most prominent families in Connecticut, really in all
of New England. And God very uniquely and sovereignly
was preparing this Christian home in which this towering Christian
leader would be raised and would be trained. He was the grandson
of one of the most prominent pastors in all of New England
who was really known as the Pope of the Connecticut River Valley. His name? Solomon Stoddard. He had 10 sisters. He was the
youngest of 11 children. He had 10 older sisters. You
think you have a tough time at your house trying to get into
the ladies' room. He had 10 older sisters. And they averaged being 6 feet
tall. And so what it was, they were
known as 60 feet of Edwards' daughters. Very good full court
basketball team, 5 on 5. And this is the home that he
was raised in. Every single one of them were sent off to Boston
for finishing school, that their social graces would be well refined,
that they would be taught and trained. And they all came home
and taught their young brother Jonathan. They tutored him in
Latin. They tutored him in literary
classics. They tutored him in all kinds
of intellectual development. And he was one who was very open
to God as a young man. He had all of these religious
influences coming into his life. His father was a pastor. His
grandfather was probably the greatest pastor in New England
outside of Boston. And yet, just because you grow
up in a Christian home does not make you a Christian, right?
It's been well said that you can sit in a garage, but that
doesn't make you a car, does it? And just because you're in
church does not mean that your life has been converted to the
Lord Jesus Christ. And that's the way it was with
Jonathan Edwards. And it may be you're here tonight,
and maybe you've grown up in a Christian home, and there must
be a time in your life when you come to the saving knowledge
of Jesus Christ, except you be born again. You shall not enter
the kingdom of heaven. Well, this was Jonathan Edwards.
and growing up in this environment, yet he still did not know the
Lord. Surrounded by ten sisters all
teaching him Christian truth, and yet he did not know the Lord.
Well, his father determined that it was time for him to go to
college, and at age thirteen he enrolled young Jonathan in
Yale. And he would not let him go to
Harvard. He himself had gone to Harvard, but Harvard was on
the slippery slope, and it was drifting away from its doctrinal
convictions, and he wanted his son Jonathan to be taught and
trained in the truth, and it mattered to him where he went
to school, because he understands that no education is neutral,
and there is an agenda to all education. And he wanted his
son to be in a Christian education that would shape his mind and
his thinking regarding the Word of God. Solomon said, as a man
thinks in his heart, so is he. The real you is what is inside
your heart and inside your mind. And so he was enrolled in Yale
in 1716 at the age of 13 and Jonathan Edwards received a classical
education. Let me read to you the classes
that he took at Yale while he was 13 years old and while he
was 14 years old. They are grammar, rhetoric, logic,
ancient history, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, metaphysics,
ethics, natural science, theology, the Bible, philosophy, Greek
language, Hebrew language, classical literature, etc. He was well
taught and he was well trained. And I'll tell you one thing that
I have learned as I have been studying church history is so
many of these great men were given a very strong education
as a young man. And I would urge you and encourage
you right now while you're in school to bring glory to God
by the way that you apply yourself to going to school. And God has
used so many of these great men and women throughout history
And they trained their mind and their ability to think for the
glory of God by not just passing their way through school as if
it's not important. It is critically important. It
is by no coincidence that Jonathan Edwards He stands out as the
leading Christian leader of America over the last 250 years. Well,
he received this extraordinary education. And he received an
education that was steeped in Calvinistic theology. When we
speak of Calvinistic theology, I hope you understand that we're
talking about the sovereignty of God in salvation. that man
is dead and trespasses in sin. He is utterly corrupt and defiled
in sin. Even his will is in bondage. And God, by sovereign grace,
has before the foundation of the world chosen His elect for
Himself and by Himself and given them to His Son, the Lord Jesus
Christ, before time began and came into this world that He
might save His people from their sins. He went to the cross and
laid down His life uniquely for the sheep, and did not merely
make salvation possible for them, He actually redeemed them. He
actually saved them at the cross. He actually reconciled them to
God. He actually propitiated the anger
of God upon the cross, not in a hypothetical way, but in an
actual way for all who would believe. And he was taught the
great doctrine of the effectual, irresistible call of God that
is a summons that draws unto the Lord Jesus Christ all those
who are chosen before the foundation of the world. And once drawn
to faith in Jesus Christ, they will never fall away from grace. They have eternal life and they
are saved throughout the rest of their life and throughout
all eternity future. And this and this alone brings
greatest glory to God. From everlasting to everlasting,
God is God and His saving grace towards His chosen people is
a triumphant grace. that brings them into the kingdom
of God. This is what Jonathan Edwards
was taught, what he received, what he believed, and once he
was saved, he spent the rest of his life declaring the supremacy
and the sovereignty of saving grace for all of God's people. He received his bachelor's degree
in 1720, and at this point he is still yet unconverted. He has graduated from his bachelor's
degree and yet has been taught all of this towering theology. He has it in the head, but he
does not yet have it in his heart. He continued at Yale. He entered
the master's program in 1720. And in 1721, he was converted
to faith in Jesus Christ. And he was converted by 1 Timothy
1 and verse 17, this great verse that reads, Now to the King,
eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory
forever and ever. Amen. He was converted under
the power of this towering presentation of the awesome greatness of Almighty
God, and he said it was like a light that came shining into
his dark heart and soul, and his heart lit up with an understanding
of the knowledge of the Gospel, and dramatically he was converted
to faith in Jesus Christ. One year later, Jonathan Edwards
became a pastor. He served an interim pastorate
in downtown New York City on Wall Street, a Presbyterian church,
and while he was there, he wrote his resolutions. of which I have
already made mention. They were purpose statements
intended to direct his life into the glory of God. And I want
to give you just a little bit of an overview of these resolutions. He writes a preamble to these
resolutions and he would read them every week of his life for
the rest of his life. so that his Christian life would
not meander, so that he would be disciplined, and so that he
would be dedicated to live his life full throttle for the glory
of God and for his kingdom. So, here is the preamble that
he wrote, being sensible that I am unable to do anything without
God's help. I hope you realize that here
tonight. Jesus said in John 15 verse 5, apart from me you can
do nothing. There is nothing of any eternal,
lasting value that you can ever accomplish in your life apart
from dependence upon the grace of Almighty God. And Edwards
realized this. And so he said, being sensible
that I am unable to do anything without God's help, I do humbly
entreat Him by His grace to enable me to keep these resolutions
so far as they are agreeable to his will for Christ's sake. The first four resolutions all
focus upon living for the glory of God. You want to know why
Jonathan Edwards was so greatly used by God? Number one, because
God sovereignly chose to use him. But number two, because
he was so intent that everything in his life would line up under
this master purpose whatsoever I do, whether I eat or drink,
but to do all for the glory of God." So note what he wrote out.
I've summarized them for you. Resolved. That I will do whatsoever
I think to be most to God's glory. Every decision that he made in
life, here was the question. What will most glorify God? What will most honor God? That should be the number one
determinative question in your life, where you go to school,
where you live, who you marry, who you date, what job you take,
how you spend your time, how you spend your money. The number
one issue in everything in your life, what will most glorify
God? And Edwards put that number one
on his list more than anything else with my life. I want to
bring honor and glory to my God with the way that I live my life. Number two, resolve to be continually
endeavoring to promote the aforementioned things. So in other words, I
want to do everything to support this master thesis. Number three,
resolve if ever I shall fall and grow dull, to repent. If I should ever become lukewarm
toward living for the glory of God, I want to immediately repent
of my apathy and cold-heartedness and be fervent and passionate
again and wholehearted to living for the glory of God. And then
number four, resolve never to do anything, to do any manner
of thing but what tends to the glory of God. May the Lord write
that on your heart tonight. May the Lord write that across
your forehead tonight, that everything I will do as long as I am upon
this earth, it will be what will most glorify God. That's why Edwards was such a
candidate to be so used by God. Look at these other resolutions,
just very quickly. Resolved, never to lose one moment
of time. He realized, if I'm going to
live for the glory of God, then I don't have any time to kill.
It's a gift from God. I'm a steward of the time that
I have, and it must be wisely invested, not in squandering
my time and just hanging out. And he wrote this as a 19-year-old
young man. but that every moment of every
day will be wisely spent to most promote the glory of God. This was a man on a mission even
as a young man. Number six, resolve to live with
all my might. Number seven, resolve never to
do anything if it were the last hour of my life. Resolve to think
much on all occasions of my own dying. resolves when I feel pain
to think of the pains of martyrdom and of hell." That brought everything
into rightful perspective as he thought about martyrs being
burned on the stake for the gospel of the glory of God that he realized,
you know, I'm not really having such a bad day. It has a way
of putting things in proper perspective to compare even your difficulties
with those of the martyrs and those who are already in hell.
And there's one last one that I would like to read, number
63, and I hope that you'll be alert as I read number 63, on
the supposition that there never was to be but one individual
in the world at any one time who was properly a complete Christian. This is what he was thinking.
This is what he was purposing. There has to be one person on
the earth at any one point in time who is the most devoted
Christian on the entire earth. We would have to agree, that's
true. There has to be one man or one woman someplace on the
globe who is the most devoted believer in Jesus Christ. So this is what Edwards resolved.
This is bold. This is audacious. Resolved to
act just as I would if I strove with all my might, to be that
one who should live in my time." You know what Edwards said? I
want to be the one Christian on this earth who is most sold
out to live for the glory of God. That's what you and I should
purpose tonight. Not in a prideful way, not in
an arrogant way, in a humble way. God, I want to be a living
and holy sacrifice placed on the altar for You. And may there
be no one else upon this earth more determined than me by your
grace to bring honor and glory to your name. Would you make
that resolution your resolution tonight? Would you take ownership
of this? God's not after mediocrity in
any one of our lives. That doesn't glorify God. But
what does honor God? and say, God, I want to glorify
You more than anything else in life, and I want to be that one
Christian. So that's what he wrote as a
young man, and set his course on a path that would affect the
direction of his life for the rest of his life. Listen, so
many of you here tonight are 18, 19, 20, 21 years of age. And you may be thinking, you
know, one of these days I'll be at a certain point in my Christian
life and I will really make some significant decisions and some
determinative decisions for my life. And I want to challenge
you tonight to be like Jonathan Edwards. While you're at this
point in your life, when your life is relatively simple, before
you're married, before you have children, before you have to
make some other big issues in life. Right now, at this point
in your life, to be like Jonathan Edwards and say, I will point
the direction of my life at the glory of God and I will be the
most committed believer upon the earth. God, I want to be
that man. God, I want to be that woman.
No one will be more determined than me to be sold out to live
for you. Well, Edwards continued at Yale
after pastoring, doing this interim pastorate for two years, and
he wrote these resolutions, and after keeping a diary, he received
his master's degree in 1723. It's a rather interesting story
about this. How many of you have graduated
from college? I'd just be curious. OK, a lot
of you, and a lot of you still yet to go, by the grace of God,
all right? When Edwards graduated, a couple
of things. Number one, he graduated number one in his class. That
was a given. Number two, when you graduated,
you walked out on stage. The entire faculty would be seated
on the stage, and you would present your thesis to everyone who showed
up in Latin. And then after you present your
thesis, and Jonathan Edwards thesis was the imputation of
the righteousness of Christ to all who believe. You would then
be cross examined by the faculty publicly on the stage before
they hand you your diploma. And you would be cross examined
in Latin and you would answer in Latin. You see, you've got
it very easy right now, okay? And then after this public oral
exam in Latin, only then would they make the final decision
to confer upon you your master's degree. This was Jonathan Edwards. And after he received his master's
degree, he then served as a tutor instructor for the next two years.
And then he began his pastorate that began in 1727. He became
the assistant to Solomon Stoddard. Solomon Stoddard at this point
is the most famous pastor in America outside of Boston. He is 83 years old and the congregation
realized he needs an assistant. And so Jonathan Edwards became
his assistant, and remember Solomon Stoddard was his grandfather. And so it was there that he marries
Sarah Pierpont in 1727. Stoddard died two years later. And Jonathan Edwards in 1729
assumes the pastorate of the church in Northampton, which
is one of the most visible and one of the most prestigious pulpits
and pastorates in all of New England. And it's as if the hand
of God is upon Jonathan Edwards in an extraordinary way, and
at this very young age, of 26, he now becomes the pastor of
this church. And you'll note in 1731, as he
begins now to preach week by week publicly, he preached this
sermon, God Glorified in Man's Dependence. It's the first thing
that was ever published that Jonathan Edwards gave. And here's what happened. All
of the Boston elite, these well-educated, Harvard-trained, pastors. They met together on Thursdays.
And one of the greatest moments for any pastor's life would be
to be invited to come to Boston and to address the elite Harvard,
Harvard graduates in Boston. And at age 28, some pastors would
go their entire life and never be asked to come to Boston to
address them. Jonathan Edwards is asked to
come to Boston. The Harvard graduates were becoming
Arminians, meaning they were in this drift toward a man-centered
theology. And by the way, that's the ultimate
oxymoron, man-centered theology. Second only to rap music as an
oxymoron. Alright, I knew I'd get you on
that one. Man-centered theology. Theology
means the study of God. A man-centered study of God?
Might as well talk about a heavenly devil. And so, Jonathan Edwards
chose as his task, and these Harvard graduates were looking
down their long stuffed noses at this young man with envy and
jealousy as he came to address them, and Jonathan Edwards was
a lion in heart. And Jonathan Edwards went in
there and went for the juggler. He could care less about being
accepted in their popular circles. And it was the day before commencement
for Harvard to begin, so all of the Harvard graduates were
there in attendance. And Jonathan Edwards chose 1
Corinthians 1, 29 to 31 as his text, and he preached and he
proclaimed the absolute, unrivaled sovereignty of God and salvation
from before time began, carried out in the Lord Jesus Christ
that brings glory and honor to God alone. And there were two
Boston pastors who were there that day who were so overwhelmed
with the message, they'd never heard such a transcendent view
of God, that they asked for permission to publish the manuscript of
the message, which they did. And overnight, Jonathan Edwards
became a name that was known not only throughout New England,
it was distributed across the ocean as well. As finally someone
lifted up their voice and declared that God is God and there is
none other and God rules and reigns in the heavens and His
sovereignty is over all and He does whatever He pleases. That was Jonathan Edwards. In 1734, the first winds of revival
began to blow in the colonies, and it was under the preaching
of Jonathan Edwards. In 1734, Jonathan Edwards began
to preach a series of sermons on justification by faith. that
the only way a sinner can be made right before a holy God
in which there is an infinite chasm that separates holy God
and sinful man is to believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ and
the active righteousness of Jesus Christ is charged and imputed
to the guilty sinner by faith in Christ and dressed in the
righteousness of Jesus Christ, now the sinner who believes upon
Christ may stand with acceptance before a holy God because of
the righteousness of Christ. That's what Edwards began to
preach. And God began to bless from heaven, and there was one
converted, then two, then three, and suddenly there was a great
revival that was beginning to sweep not only through his church,
but it spread like wildfire to other churches in this area,
and there was this great work of God that was on. He began
to record what God was doing in a book entitled A Faithful
Narrative. And this great revival that came
to New England is one of the greatest movements of God in
the history of America. Note, this work of God as it
was carried on, Edwards wrote, and the number of true saints
multiplied soon made a glorious alteration in the town. so that
in the spring and summer following 1735, the town seemed to be full
of the presence of God. It never was so full of love,
nor so full of joy, and yet so full of distress as it was then. There were remarkable tokens
of God's presence in almost every house. It was a time of joy in
families on the account of salvations being brought unto them. Note the next overhead. Our public assemblies were then
beautiful. The congregation then was alive
in God's service. Everyone earnestly intent on
the public worship. Every hearer eager to drink in
the words of the minister as they came from his mouth. The
assembly in general were from time to time in tears. While
the Word was preached, some weeping with sorrow and distress, others
with joy and love, others with pity and concern for the souls
of their neighbors, and not only the entire church, but the entire
town, supernaturally and suddenly came alive unto the glory of
God through the preaching of the Word and the movement of
God's Spirit, and it cut across the entirety of the land. And Edwards wrote in a faithful
narrative, conversion is a great and glorious work of God's power,
at once changing the heart and infusing life into the dead sinner. It was a remarkable time and
Jonathan Edwards became the leading church historian of revival. At this time and what he recorded
became used by God throughout all of the colonies, and even
across the ocean into Scotland and into England and Wales. And
everyone began now to long that God would do something like this
in our church, and in our community, in our city, where the glory
of God would be put on display. Well, that then began to wane,
like the ocean coming in and the ocean receding. So, a time
of revival came in and then it pulled back, but in 1740 came
the Great Awakening. It came the revival of all revivals
and Jonathan Edwards was in the very center of the revival as
the primary pastor of the revival and a man named George Whitefield
who was the great evangelist of the revival. Note the great
awakening 1740 to 1742 and you need to understand our country
was birthed literally out of the flames of this revival. George Whitefield's preaching
tour in 1740, no, it was only ten weeks. It is arguably the
greatest preaching tour in the history of the church since the
Apostle Paul's missionary journeys. In ten weeks, coming to America,
George Whitefield went to seven colonies and preached to thousands
He came to Philadelphia and he preached to 6,000 who would gather
each morning, 8,000 at night. On Sundays he preached to 10,000
and 25,000 in the evening. His farewell sermon from Philadelphia,
35,000 people came and gathered to hear
the preaching of the gospel from George Whitefield when there
were less than 35,000 people even living in Philadelphia. and people were dramatically
converted. They came under the conviction
of their sin, and they saw the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
as the only Redeemer, and people were swept into the Kingdom of
God. And when George Whitefield left
Philadelphia, he got on a horse and headed to New Jersey, and
3,000 men got on horses and followed Whitefield just to hear him preach
at the next town where he was going. He came to New York, it
was the same. He came to Boston and it was
the same. George Whitefield in this time
of the Great Awakening was heard by half of the population of
the colonies in ten weeks. George Whitefield was more recognized
than even George Washington as he stood before half of the colonists
And in that period of time, there were 50,000 converts to Christ
out of a population of 500,000. Ten percent of all of the colonists,
it is carefully estimated or conservatively estimated, came
to faith in Jesus Christ and there were 300 new churches established
under the preaching of the gospel. And as Whitefield is riding up
and down the eastern seacoast going from city to city preaching,
you must be born again, Jonathan Edwards is pastoring one church
and he becomes the single most strategic pastor in the colonies
to advance the cause of this great awakening. Let me tell
you a couple of things about this great awakening. In 1741,
two things of great importance happened. Jonathan Edwards preached
a message entitled, Distinguishing Marks of a Work of God's Spirit.
In 1741, followed up by Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God. 1741 was the hottest year for
the revival of the Great Awakening. And in 1741, when he preached
this message, distinguishing marks of a work of God's Spirit.
Let me tell you what was going on. It was creating great tension
in the body of Christ, because so many people were being saved,
and they were going back into their churches, and in those
churches many were unconverted. And as they were telling their
testimony, it was creating great conflict, and there began to
be a division, and new churches were being established. And there
began to be this debate, is the Great Awakening, is it a true
work of God? And there was much emotional
enthusiasm that was going on. And so, Jonathan Edwards in The
Providence of God just happened to be at Yale University, set
up to be the commencement speaker in 1741. And Jonathan Edwards
addressed this subject Is the great awakening a true movement
of God or is it a counterfeit? Jonathan Edwards said this as
he began this message. In the apostolic age, there was
the greatest outpouring of the Spirit of God that ever was.
But as the influences of the true Spirit abounded, so counterfeits
did also abound. The devil was abundant in mimicking. This made it very necessary that
the church of Christ should be furnished with some certain rules,
distinguishing and clear marks by which she might proceed safely
in judging of the true from the false. And so, Jonathan Edwards
set out, now, let me tell you how you can determine, how you
can discern if this is a true work of God in this great awakening. And he began by giving these
negative signs, saying this does not in and of itself disqualify
this from being a true work of God, nor does it validate it
as being a true work of God. And so you see these eight things
that time doesn't permit me to go through these, but he gets
now to the heart of the matter, the positive signs. And he preached
from 1 John 4, 1 through 6, and he said, wherever there is a
true work of God, these five evidences will always be marks
that will be seen. There will be the confession
of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God. Jesus Christ will be honored
in a true work of God. Number two, there will be the
rejection of the world. There will be a turning of one's
back to this world system, and there will be a burning of one's
bridges behind them, and there will be a total allegiance to
the Lordship of Jesus Christ, and there will not be trying
to have one foot in the world and one foot in the church. There
will be a rejection of seeking the applause of the world and
to be popular in the world and to receive that of the world's
accolades, and instead, There will be a pursuit of the approval
of God in all things. And then third, regard for the
Scripture. And there will be an intense hunger for the study
of the Word of God wherever there is a true work of God. And then
fourth, the knowledge of the truth. There will be a quest
to know the truth of Scripture. And then finally, love for God
and love for man will pour out of such a knowledge of the truth.
And Edwards rightfully argued from Scripture that day at Yale
that a true work of God is defined by these five marks. And this entire message was then
amplified and edited by Edwards and it was printed and it was
distributed far and wide And God used that to help the church
think through, is this an authentic revival or is it merely a satanic
counterfeit? And I believe it was a true work
of God. Well, the same year, just a couple
of months later, Edwards preached Sinners in the Hand of an Angry
God. You know it is the most famous
sermon ever to be preached on American soil. Jonathan Edwards
thundered this this sermon. He was not even to be the designated
preacher that day. In fact, he was not even in his
own church. He was visiting in Enfield, Connecticut. Someone else was to be the guest
preacher and he was unable to preach. Edwards just happened
to have in his saddlebag the manuscript for this sermon and
they prevailed upon him. He had just preached it in his
own church and there was really little response And Edwards that
day took this sermon that he had already preached, Sinners
in the Hand of an Angry God, and he preached it. And as he
preached it, the power of God was upon that congregation and
upon the proclamation of the Word. And people came under the
deepest conviction of their sin. It was like on the day of Pentecost
when their hearts were pierced and they cried out to Peter and
said, What must we do to be saved? And people began to cry out in
the middle of the sermon. In fact, they held on to the
back of the pew for fear they would fall down into the bowels
in the pit of hell itself under the preaching of the Word by
Jonathan Edwards. It was a divine visitation by
God by the power of the Spirit upon the preaching of the Word
of God. And it was the high point of
the entire Great Awakening And God used it to awaken the church
to her Savior and to bring the church to faith in Jesus Christ. I wonder, has God ever awakened
you to be aroused and to see who you are before a holy God? That you have sinned and fallen
short of the glory of God and that the wages of sin is death?
And there is no way that you can save yourself or commend
yourself before a holy God. Has God ever awakened you to
see yourself as God sees you? And have you ever been awakened
to see the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who died upon the cross
bearing the sins of His people, of all who would believe upon
Him? and that Christ alone is the only way of salvation, and
I must repent of my sins, and I must believe upon the Lord
Jesus Christ, and if I do not believe upon the Lord Jesus Christ,
I will be condemned and I will be damned forever in hell. Have you ever been awakened from
the slumber of your life to come to faith in Jesus Christ? This is what happened. As Edwards
preached that day in 1741, this extraordinary sermon centers
in the hands of an angry God. I give you but one excerpt from
it. O sinner, consider the fearful danger you are in. It is a great
furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit. full of the fire
of wrath that you are held over in the hand of that God whose
wrath is provoked and increased as much against you as against
any of the damned in hell. You hang by a slender thread
with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it and ready every
moment to singe it and burst asunder And yet you have no interest
in any mediator, and nothing to lay hold of to save yourself,
nothing to keep off the flames of wrath, nothing of your own,
nothing that you have done, nothing that you can do to induce God
to spare you one moment. And people came under such deep
conviction of sin, and then Edwards said this dramatic statement,
But there is a door of mercy that is flung open to you this
very moment. And Christ Himself stands in
this open door. And with arms stretched out,
He calls you to Himself. And there is but a moment now
for you to come to Christ and to be saved from the wrath of
God that will consume all sinners. And Edwards pled, O sinner, come
to Christ now and be saved. And the people were so moved
by the preaching of the Word of God that they began to give
their life to Christ, and in such a way that they were converted,
they were regenerated, and what God was doing in Enfield was
spreading throughout the other churches in that area. And it
was a turning to the Lord Jesus Christ. And as I said, a tenth
of the colonies were converted to faith in but this short period
of time. Edwards then recorded all of
this in Religious Affection, 1746. A great missionary, David
Brainerd, died in his own home. I don't have the time even to
tell you about David Brainerd. He was a young man who was so
sold out for the glory of God, he came to Edwards and asked
for permission to marry one of Edwards' daughters, and he said,
no, she's not worthy of you. Imagine a father saying that. She would be unequally yoked
to you. Because you are a flashing star
on fire for God. David Brainerd died in Edward's
home as a young man, age 29. And then his daughter contracted
the tuberculosis of which he died. And they are buried side
by side. in Hampton, North Hampton's cemetery. Jonathan Edwards gathered up
the journals of David Brainerd, who had been a missionary to
the Indians, and had them published and wrote his biography. And
it is what God used to launch the modern missions movement.
As an army of young people your very age began to read about
the missionary zeal of David Brainerd and said, by the grace
of God, Brainerd went down, but I will take up the cause and
I will go to another land and carry the gospel of Jesus Christ. It could be the most influential
thing Edwards ever wrote as David Brainerd died in his own home.
In 1750, very quickly, Jonathan Edwards was dismissed by his
own church. Think about this. The greatest
pastor, the greatest preacher, the greatest theologian, the
greatest philosopher, the greatest author, and he was put out of
his own church. Only 10% of his own church voted
to retain him as the pastor. It shows how fickle people are. And you know what the issue was?
Who can come to the Lord's table? Jonathan Edwards said, in order
to come to the Lord's table, you need to be born again. And
you need to come in a manner that is worthy of the Lord. said, you know what we need to
do? We just need to let everyone come to the Lord's table and
God will use that in their life to preach the gospel to them.
And Jonathan Edwards said, no, it will only be those who know
the Lord of the Lord's supper. Rightfully did he say that. The
people began to be indignant saying, who is he to tell us
we can't come to the Lord's table? And they voted him out. I don't really have time to read
this next quote from his farewell sermon, but let me just give
you the gist of it. Edward's farewell sermon is one of the
great sermons to ever be preached in America. And Jonathan Edwards
said, we, as he stood before the congregation on his last
Sunday, he said this. He preached from 2 Corinthians
1. We will all stand together at the judgment seat of Christ.
And God will weigh the hearts and the motives of every man.
And God will expose my heart, and God will expose your heart,
and everything that has been said in homes, and in this house
of worship, and in private places will all come out in the open.
And that final day, the great judge, the Lord Jesus Christ,
will determine who was in the right in this situation. Jonathan Edwards then had to
make a decision with his life. How would he spend the rest of
his life? He had offers to go to Boston. He had offers to stay
in Northampton and start a church with that 10%. He had offers
from as far away as Scotland. Many churches knew of the...
I mean, who did not know of the famous Jonathan Edwards? And
you know what decision Jonathan Edwards made? He said, I'm going
to go to the mission field and try to reach Indians with the
gospel of Jesus Christ. And he went to Stockbridge and
he preached the gospel on a fifth grade level to Indians. You'll note here, he began this
ministry to the Stockbridge Indians in 1752. And while Edwards was
here, he wrote his three greatest literary classics. He wrote Freedom
of the Will that R.C. Sproul says is the greatest book
ever been written and published in America. His last major work
was Original Sin and in between that he wrote the book that John
Piper has taken and has given an extended overview of the book
The End For Which God Created the World. Jonathan Edwards out
in the backwoods by himself virtually preaching to Mohawk Indians sat
down and wrote the three greatest books to ever flow from his pen. He's like the Apostle Paul in
prison in Rome writing his epistles under the most difficult circumstances. I think there's a lesson for
us to learn here, and even when we find ourselves in the most
difficult places of life, God is able to do the greatest work. Well, in 1757, he was approached
by Princeton, the Princeton trustees, to come and be the third president
of Princeton. His son-in-law, Aaron Burr, Sr.,
was the second president of Princeton. You've heard of his Aaron Burr's
son, Aaron Burr, Jr., he is the man who shot Alexander Hamilton
in that famous pistol duel and became an exile. Well, Jonathan Edwards declined
Princeton's invitations to come and be the president of Princeton.
And then finally, in the last episode of his life in 1757, He agreed to become the president
of Princeton University. And you know why God raised up
Princeton University? Because Yale began to slide away
from their doctrinal foundations. And so now a third university
is raised up to train ministers in the gospel of Jesus Christ
and who will hold forth the Westminster Confession as it had been written
by the Westminster divines. And so, Jonathan Edwards was
installed as president in January of 1758. And February 13, 1758,
he took a smallpox vaccination to show the rest of the student
body that we can all take the smallpox vaccination and we'll
all be safe. He took it and died in the strange
providence of God. He was only the president for
two months. He took it and died. And his
daughter, Lucy, was brought to his side. His wife, Sarah, was
still in Stockbridge with the Indians 40 miles away. It was
in the dead of winter. And so, Lucy comes to his side.
It's a very tender scene, and I have it for you here. It seems
to me to be the will of God that I must shortly leave you." A
reference to his death. Therefore, give my kindest love
to my dear wife and tell her that the uncommon union which
has so long subsisted between us has been of such a nature
as I trust is spiritual and therefore will continue forever. And I
hope she will be supported under so great a trial and submit cheerfully
to the will of God. And as to my children, you are
now to be left fatherless, which I hope will be an inducement
to you all to seek a Father who will never fail you, God in heaven."
Sarah was not there. Sarah did not know at the time
that he had died. And when word reached her, she
wrote this note. What shall I say? A holy and
good God has covered us with a dark cloud. Oh, that we may
kiss the rod. That's what Calvin said when
he died. Oh, that I may kiss the rod that chastens me. Oh,
that we may kiss the rod and lay our hands on our mouths. The Lord has done it. He has
made me adore His goodness that we had Him so long. But my God
lives and He has my heart. Oh, what a legacy my husband
and your father has left to us. We are all given to God, and
there I am and love to be. Let me tell you, this woman had
sat under the strongest preaching of the Word for these many years,
and she was a mature woman who had set down deep roots in the
soil of the sovereignty of God, and she knows that God appoints
the number of the days that we all have to be here upon the
earth, and that God has determined the day of our death. And when
that day comes, it is to be accepted by faith that it was our appointed
time to pass from this world, if a believer, to go into the
very presence of God. And she humbly accepted this
as from the hand of God. She yielded and humbled her life
to the overruling providence and the sovereign will of God
in all matters. And she said, we are given to
God, and there I am and love to be. I can't help but ask you
this question before I wrap this up. How do you need to humble
your life under the sovereignty of God? How do you need to accept
from the hand of God what He has purposed to bring about in
your life and to not try to turn away the sovereign hand of God
who is ordering the very affairs and circumstances of your life,
but to accept it from God, even that which is filled with difficulty
and adversity, perhaps even the death in your life of a parent
or of a loved one, and to accept it as did Sarah, as within the
will of God and from the hand of God. Jonathan Edwards died
March 22, 1758 and is buried in Princeton Cemetery, which
has been called the Westminster Abbey of America with so many
other noted Princetonians. Sarah soon came, packed up their
belongings, and came to Princeton after Jonathan had died. And in the strange providence
of God, Sarah Edwards then herself died two months later. And in that short period of time,
both of their lives came to a seemingly untimely end. What do we learn? from the life of Jonathan Edwards.
We learn so many lessons from the life of Jonathan Edwards,
it would be impossible for us to even begin to list them. But
I want to leave you with just one lesson. Jonathan Edwards
was a man whose mind and his heart was devoted to God. He was a man with his mind who
studied the Word of God and perhaps as no other theologian in America
had such a high view of God. He believed in the absolute sovereignty
of God over all things and in his mind there was the light
of truth that was burning so brightly as he saw the vision
of God as revealed in Scripture as a holy, awesome, majestic,
transcendent, exalted, high and lifted up God. And tonight, I trust that you
see that God is an awesome God. He is towering in His holiness. He is exalted in His sovereignty. And He rules over every circumstance
in life. And not only did Jonathan Edwards
in his mind set it upon the truth, but in his heart There was a
burning, passionate devotion and love for God. He had a passion
for God. He was on fire for God. There was a fervency for God. He had light in His mind and
He had heat in His heart. Light in His mind, heat in His
heart, and I trust that tonight, There is in your mind a hunger
to know the truth of the Word of God and for you to see the
greatness of who your God is. And in your heart of hearts for
you to seek to love God with all of your heart and all of
your soul and all of your mind and all of your strength And
for in your heart there to be a holy fire of devotion for God
that is consuming the very inside of your life, mind and heart
devoted to the Lord. I close with this. I have pulled
out of his diary something that he wrote when he was your age.
that I believe reflects this mind and this heart on fire for
God. I close by reading this. Jonathan
Edwards said, and I pray this will be your testimony tonight,
I claim no right to myself, no right to this understanding,
this will, these affections that are in me. Neither do I have
any right to this body or its members, no right to this tongue,
to these hands, feet, ears, or eyes. I have given myself clear
way and not retained anything of my own. I have been to God
this morning and told Him, I have given myself wholly to Him. And I have given every power
so that the future I claim no right to myself in any respect
I have expressly promised Him, for by His grace I will not fail. I take Him as my whole portion
in felicity, looking upon nothing else as part of my happiness.
His law is the constant rule of my obedience. I will fight
with all of my might against the world, the flesh, and the
devil to the end of my life. I will adhere to the faith of
the gospel, however hazardous and difficult the profession
and practice of it may be. I pray God for the sake of others
to look on this as self-dedication. Henceforth, I am not to act in
any respect as my own. And here is the last page. I
shall act as my own if. I ever make use of any of my
powers to do anything that is not to the glory of God, or to
fail to make the glorifying of Him my whole and entire business. If I murmur in the least affliction,
if I am in any way uncharitable, if I revenge my own case, if
I do anything purely to please myself, or omit anything because
it is a great denial. If I trust myself, if I take
any praise for any good which Christ does by me, or if I am
any way proud, I shall act as my own and not God's. But I purpose. But I purpose. to be absolutely His. Will you purpose tonight to be
absolutely His? Will you say with Jonathan Edwards
as he repeats the claims of Christ upon his life that I will not
live for my own glory? I will not live for my own ambition. I will not live for this world.
I will fight against the world, the flesh and the devil, and
I will live exclusively for the glory of God, and I will be absolutely
His. If you will pray that tonight,
the eyes of the Lord roam to and fro throughout the whole
earth, looking to strongly strengthen the heart of the one His life
is completely His. As God looks down into this room
tonight, God sees every heart and every life. And He sees into
your heart, and He sees the very response there is in your heart
to this presentation of the life of a man who sought to live wholehearted,
for the glory of God and for the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
If you would purpose tonight to affirm your commitment to
be radically committed to the glory of God, I believe that
God would see that and God would be pleased to use you in ways
for the rest of your life that are beyond your comprehension
even here tonight. Who is to say what God has for
your future? Who is to say where God desires
to send you? Who is to say how God desires
to use your life to impact this world for Jesus Christ? Who is
to say? But if you would pray this, I
claim no right to my life. If you would devote your life
entirely to Christ, how He would take your life and use it for
His own glory for the rest of your life. I urge you to live
in no other fashion. I urge you to live in no other
way than to be totally, completely His. Live for the glory of God. Live as Jonathan Edwards would
urge us. to follow His Master and His
Lord, no matter where it may take you.