Jonathan Edwards Sermon Podcast

God's Excellencies (Part 2)

2010-10-13T08:00:00.000-07:00

For who in the heaven can be compared unto the Lord, and who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord? Psalms 89:6

This book of Psalms has such an exalted devotion, and such a spirit of evangelical grace every[where] breathed forth in it! Here are such exalted expressions of the gloriousness of God, and even of the excellency of Christ and his kingdom; there is so much of the gospel doctrine, grace, and spirit, breaking out and shining in it, that it seems to be carried clear above and beyond the strain and pitch of the Old Testament, and almost brought up to the New. Almost the whole book of Psalms has either a direct or indirect respect to Christ and the gospel which he was to publish, particularly this Psalm wherein is our text.

Of the ten penmen of these Psalms, Ethan the Ezrahite was the penman of this. He was a man peculiarly noted for wisdom, as appears because the greatness of Solomon's wisdom is set forth by its being greater than his; see 1 Kings 4:30–31, "And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite." This Ethan, in this Psalm, or rather the Spirit of God by Ethan, gives us a most glorious prophecy of Christ. He begins it, as it is very proper to begin a prophecy of this nature, by setting forth the glorious excellencies, perfections, and works of God, for never were God's perfections manifested so gloriously as they have been manifested in the work of redemption; never did his infinite glories so brightly shine forth as in the face of Jesus Christ.

Preached by Jonathan Edwards: Summer 1721-Summer 1722

God's Excellencies (Part 1)

2010-10-11T08:00:00.000-07:00

For who in the heaven can be compared unto the Lord, and who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord? Psalms 89:6

This book of Psalms has such an exalted devotion, and such a spirit of evangelical grace every[where] breathed forth in it! Here are such exalted expressions of the gloriousness of God, and even of the excellency of Christ and his kingdom; there is so much of the gospel doctrine, grace, and spirit, breaking out and shining in it, that it seems to be carried clear above and beyond the strain and pitch of the Old Testament, and almost brought up to the New. Almost the whole book of Psalms has either a direct or indirect respect to Christ and the gospel which he was to publish, particularly this Psalm wherein is our text.

Of the ten penmen of these Psalms, Ethan the Ezrahite was the penman of this. He was a man peculiarly noted for wisdom, as appears because the greatness of Solomon's wisdom is set forth by its being greater than his; see 1 Kings 4:30–31, "And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite." This Ethan, in this Psalm, or rather the Spirit of God by Ethan, gives us a most glorious prophecy of Christ. He begins it, as it is very proper to begin a prophecy of this nature, by setting forth the glorious excellencies, perfections, and works of God, for never were God's perfections manifested so gloriously as they have been manifested in the work of redemption; never did his infinite glories so brightly shine forth as in the face of Jesus Christ.

Preached by Jonathan Edwards: Summer 1721-Summer 1722

The Nakedness of Job

2010-10-09T08:00:00.000-07:00

Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither. Job 1:21

We have an instance in this chapter of one of the greatest men in the world, in the most prosperous worldly estate and condition, brought to be externally one of the meanest of men; brought from seven thousand sheep, and three thousand camels, and five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she-asses, and a very great household, all at once to nothing at all, as poor as the meanest beggar: a most remarkable instance of the vanity of worldly honor, riches, and prosperity. How soon is it gone and lost; how many hundred, yea thousands of accidents, may deprive the most prosperous of all in a little time, and make him most miserable and forlorn!

Here is a man that sat like a king and dwelt as a prince, but, as yesterday and today, is become a miserable and forlorn beggar. Before the messenger had finished his bad news, another came with more of the like upon the back of it. First, he has the news of his servants' being killed and his oxen and asses being taken, as you may see in the fourteenth and fifteenth verses; but before he had done telling this sad news to Job, there comes in another and brings him tidings that fire from heaven had burnt up all his sheep, and servants that kept them; and before he had done speaking there comes in another, and tells him that the Chaldeans had carried away all his camels and killed his servants; and before he had done, there came another with the yet more dreadful news that his children were all suddenly killed, as they were feasting together in their eldest brother's house.

Grace, Grace, Glorious Grace!

2010-10-07T16:31:00.000-07:00

And he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shouting, crying, Grace, grace! Zechariah 4:7

The mercy of God is that attribute which we, the fallen, sinful race of Adam, stand in greatest need of, and God has been pleased, according to our needs, more gloriously to manifest this attribute than any other. The wonders of divine grace are the greatest of all wonders. The wonders of divine power and wisdom in the making [of] this great world are marvelous; other wonders of his justice in punishing sin are wonderful; many wonderful things have happened since the creation of the world, but none like the wonders of grace. "Grace, grace!" is the sound that the gospel rings with, "Grace, grace!" will be that shout which will ring in heaven forever; and perhaps what the angels sung at the birth of Christ, of God's good will towards men, is the highest theme that ever they entered upon.

The Importance of a Future State (Part 2)

2010-09-16T08:11:00.000-07:00

Preached by Jonathan Edwards, 1721-1722
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, and after that the judgment. Hebrews 9:27

How solemn and awful a thing is it to receive an eternal doom and sentence. It is accounted an awful thing to receive sentence of an earthly judge; it is what has made the stoutest hearts to tremble. What, then, must it needs be to receive an everlasting sentence from the great God which will determine our condition without end?

1. The sentence of the Judge in the other world will determine to the everlasting happiness of the godly.

The godly in this world are oftentimes judged by temporal judges to pain and torment. Millions of godly men have been adjudged to tormenting deaths. But after the Judge of heaven and earth has past that blessed sentence upon them, Matthew 25:34, "Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world," they will be happy and inherit that kingdom, that glorious kingdom, in spite of all the regions of darkness, which will then be put everlastingly out of a capacity of molesting of them, and the godly will be exalted clear out of the reach of their molestations.

2. The sentence of the great Judge will determine the misery of the wicked to eternity.

O how dreadful and amazing will every word and syllable of that...

The Importance of a Future State (Part 1)

2010-09-13T07:14:00.000-07:00

Preached by Jonathan Edwards, 1721-1722
And as it is appointed unto men once to die, and after that the judgment. Hebrews 9:27

The scope of the chapter: to show how the things of the law and first covenant were types [and] shadows of things under the gospel state, and how much more excellent the antitypes.

There is a parallel run between the tabernacle and heaven: between the sacrifices of bulls, goats and calves, and the sacrifice of Christ, between their blood and his blood; between the high priests and Christ, between their entering into the Holy of Holies and his entering into heaven. But only, there is this difference: the high priests entered often into the holy place, but Christ the antitype of them entered but once into heaven, as in the two verses foregoing our text: "Nor yet that he should offer himself often, as the high priest entereth into the holy place every year with blood of others; for then must he often have suffered since the foundation of the world: but now once in the end of the world hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice of himself." And this is illustrated by the verse of our text, "As it is appointed unto men once to die, and after that the judgment." That is, as man, for whom Christ died and was offered for, is to die but once, so Christ that died was offered but once to save him from death, from spiritual and eternal death, and from the sting and power of natural death.

Wicked Men's Slavery To Sin

2010-09-10T07:29:00.000-07:00

Preached by Jonathan Edwards, 1721-1722

Jesus answered them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. John 8:34

This whole chapter is composed of nothing but excellent speeches and discourses of Christ to Jews in the temple on the Feast of Tabernacles, one of the great feasts wherein all the males were to appear before the Lord at Jerusalem, the city which he had chosen to put his name there. So that these discourses were delivered in the most public manner, at the most public time, and in the most public place that could be: before the whole nation of the Jews, and many of other nations, who went up to Jerusalem to worship.

In these discourses are contained many glorious and mysterious truths of the gospel, by the divine light of which many were convinced and believed on him, as in the thirtieth verse.

Which, Christ, who knew what was in man, perceiving, directs his discourse to them in particular, and tells them plainly, as he was always wont to do, that if they intended to be his disciples, they must be so rooted and established in their belief, and to persevere therein in spite of all opposition; "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed."

And [he] tells them for their encouragement, if they were established in the truth they should be made free by it, having respect to the bondage they were in to the Romans, as much as if he had said, "Although you are under the heavy yoke of the Romans, yet if you heartily embrace my doctrine, you shall be made free, and shall enjoy a better and more glorious liberty than [if] you were perfectly delivered from their servitude and enjoyed freedom under your own kings and rulers, under your own vines and your own fig trees" (which was but a type of this gospel liberty; see Zechariah 3:10).

To which the Jews, agreeably to their pride and self-righteousness...

The Value of Salvation (Part 3)

2010-09-08T17:01:00.000-07:00

Preached by Jonathan Edwards, Fall 1722
For what is a man profited, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul, or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Matthew 16:26

Thus we have endeavored to show that the salvation of the soul is more worth [than] the whole world, and I suppose it is by this time so plain that it is impossible for a man to doubt of it.

Use.
Inf. I.3 Our miserable and lost estate by nature. Is the soul so precious, and is the salvation of the soul more worth than all the world, and the loss of the soul more than the loss of all the world? Then how dreadful is our lost condition by nature, for our souls naturally are all lost souls, naturally in a lost estate and condition, bound over unto the eternal wrath of God, and to suffer his indignation forever. We are all "by nature children of wrath" (Ephesians 2:3); we are naturally condemned to everlasting misery; we are naturally unbelieving, and "he that believeth not is condemned already" (John 3:18). What a dreadful thing is it to be a condemned person. A person that is condemned to a bodily death is looked [upon] as a miserable creature: how much more miserable are those which are condemned to spiritual and eternal death, but so we are all by nature.

Inf. II. The great folly of the greatest part of the world. [They] neglect their souls and do nothing, pursue violently after the pleasure and vain profits of the world. They are laboring for those vanities of vanities as if they were the most precious things imaginable, and neglect that which is really so; they spend themselves for the world as if they were to live in the same forever and ever, whereas it will fade and vanish like [a] phantom in a few moments, and they must be parted from it forever, and see it no more at all. Thus foolish and sottish are the greatest part of the world: they take care for the world but take no care for themselves; they love the world but hate their own souls.

Well, is it so?

The Value of Salvation (Part 2)

2010-09-07T07:23:00.000-07:00

Preached by Jonathan Edwards, Fall 1722
For what is a man profited, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul, or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Matthew 16:26

VI. The life and salvation of the soul is of inestimable worth and value. Though the whole world is good for nothing in comparison, yet the life of the soul is of inestimable worth and value, insomuch that the value of the same cannot be conceived of nor imagined, and that appears:

First, because the salvation of it is the deliverance of it from so great misery, and secondly, because so great happiness is to be enjoyed in the salvation of the soul.

First. Because the salvation of the soul is its deliverance from so great misery. This misery which the soul is saved from is very dreadful.

1. Because in it they shall [be] deprived of all manner of good forever:

[(1)] They shall be deprived of all the pleasures they used to enjoy in this world. They shall no more enjoy the pleasures of eating and drinking, no more enjoy the pleasures of seeing and hearing; they shall no more enjoy their lusts: there shall be nothing in hell for men to satisfy their lust upon. They will have taken their leave, then, of all the riches, honors and pleasure of the world, which they used so to hug and make a god of; their dear lusts, which were so dear to them that they would not part with them for heaven, that they would not let go [of] for God himself, and all the happiness which God could bestow upon them: they must part with them for nothing now, never to enjoy anything like them again. If they have been used to please themselves by handling of their silver and gold, with the shining of precious stones and jewels, they shall enjoy no more of them forever; if they have been used to gorgeous apparel and to deck themselves with shining and glistening robes, they shall never more be clothed with any other sort of garments but scorching and tormenting flames which will wrap themselves about their otherwise naked bodies forever; if they have been used to dwell in proud and stately palaces upon earth, they will have nothing for their habitation then but the bottomless pit and the dismal and doleful dungeon of outer darkness; instead of lying at ease in beds of down, they shall have nothing but a sea of liquid fire for their bed, flames instead of...

The Value of Salvation (Part 1)

2010-09-06T06:58:00.000-07:00

Preached by Jonathan Edwards, Fall 1722

For what is a man profited, if he gain the whole world, and lose his own soul, or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Matthew 16:26

These words are occasioned by the pride, ignorance and unbelief of Peter, one of the chief—if not the very chief—of the disciples, whom Christ honored by making of him the rock upon which he would build his church, and making of him a chief defense of the same—that is, the chief amongst men, for although the church was built on the foundation of the prophets and apostles, yet Christ himself is the chief cornerstone—whom Christ had also honored by giving him the keys of the kingdom of heaven in a more especial manner.1 The way wherein St. Peter manifested that corruption which dwelt in him was this: our Lord, as it is said in the twenty-first verse, told his disciples, perhaps more plainly than ever before, how he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things of the elders, chief priests and scribes, and at last be killed, which was very surprising to Peter who, it seems, had been carried away hitherto with that common error of the Jews that expected when the Messiah came, that he would reign in abundance of worldly pomp and glory. And therefore, the news of [the] sufferings and death of him who he believed to be the Messiah and the Son of God, as in the sixteenth verse, was very unexpected, and very much contradicted the notion he had received and his ambitious expectation of being the chief man next to Christ himself in his earthly kingdom, because Christ had told him he should be the rock on which he would build his church and that he would give him the keys of his kingdom. Wherefore, Peter, being so much moved by the vain desire of earthly prosperity, ignorance of the nature of Christ's kingdom, and the great unbelief of what his....

Christian Happiness

2010-09-01T19:04:00.000-07:00

Preached by Jonathan Edwards, Fall 1720
Isaiah 3:10 "Say unto the righteous, it shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings."

A licensing sermon.
Reasonable beings, while they act as such, naturally choose those things which they are convinced are best for them, and will certainly do those things which they know they had better do than leave undone. (And, indeed, who in the world could imagine that there were such unreasonable creatures in the world, as that at the very same time that they themselves know a thing to be much to their advantage, yet will not choose or do it?) God always deals with men as reasonable creatures, and every [word] in the Scriptures speaks to us as such. Whether it be in instructing and teaching of us, he [gives us] no commands to believe those things which are directly contrary to reason, and in commanding of us he desires us to do nothing but what will be for our own advantage, our own profit and benefit, and frequently uses this argument with us to persuade us to obey his commands. For, "can a man be profitable to God as he that is wise may be profitable unto himself; is it any pleasure to the Almighty, that we are righteous, or is it gain to him, that we make our ways perfect?" (Job 22:2–3). But God has told [us] that if we be wise, we shall be wise for ourselves, and God, in our text, gives it as a special charge to assure the godly from Him that his godliness shall be of great advantage to him. (And that we may the better understand it and see how it is brought in, let us look back on the foregoing words.) God, in the beginning of this chapter, denounced great and terrible judgments against the children of Judah, as in the first [and succeeding] verses...