JONATHAN EDWARDS ON THE SIGNS OF AUTHENTIC AFFECTIONS FOR JESUS

Have you ever wondered: What is the essence of true Christianity? What constitutes the essence of a life that is pleasing to God? Are there criteria by which we can distinguish between true Christians and those who only seem to be? Have you ever known someone who seemed so godly, but later abandoned everything they once held dear? Have you ever had the fearful thought that such a thing could happen to a loved one (or even you)? Have you ever struggled with assurance of salvation, or are you dealing with a friend who is? What makes for a true Christian? I am not talking about a professing Christian. I do not merely mean a church going Christian, a cultural Christian, a highly enthused Christian, a doctrine loving Christian, a social action Christian, a contemplative Christian, and on and on. I mean a born again, spirit filled, follower of Jesus Christ. Are there any tell tale signs that identify the real from the false?

Jonathan Edward's was  the great 18th century pastor from North Hampton Massachusetts who was a huge player in the great awakening during the mid eighteenth century. He witnessed many signs, supernatural phenomenon, great enthusiasm, and massive conversions. But were they all legitimate? He wrote four books about his observations experiences, and analysis of these moves of God, and his finest,  The Religious Affections is considered one of the great classics of evangelical literature. (You can access the entire critical edition from Yale University Press online for free.)

Edwards’s conclusion to what he witnessed in all that he saw is that ”True religion (Or we might say True Christianity or true conversion)  in great part, consists in holy affections”. He believed the soul has two faculties: (1) the understanding (by which the soul perceives, speculates, discerns, views,and judges things); and (2) the inclination or will (by which the soul is inclined or disinclined, pleased or displeased, approves or rejects). The affections have to do with the second faculty. Affections, according to Edwards, are “the more vigorous and sensible exercises of the inclination and will of the soul” 

Edwards sought to show that the Bible makes true affections an essential part of godliness and being a true follower of Jesus. But not all affections are created equal. Some are to be rejected and put to death while others are to be approved and cultivated: “The right way, is not to reject all affections, nor to approve all; but to distinguish between affections, approving some, and rejecting others; separating between the wheat and the chaff, the gold and the dross, the previous and the vile.". His book is an attempt to help us do precisely that.

So Edwards works through twelve “signs” that are uncertain. In other words, he explains twelve things that may look like indicators of truly gracious affections for God, but which do not prove things one way or the other. Edwards writes, “…as we ought not to reject and condemn all affections as though true religion did not at all consist in affection; so, on the other hand, we ought not to approve of all, as though every one that was religiously affected had true grace, and was therein the subject of the saving influences of the Spirit of God. The right way is to distinguish among religious affections, between one sort and another.”

Here are Edwards signs that by themselves indicates nothing with my own editorial comments with each one.

No Sign 1. The religious affections are very great, or raised very high. 1) intense affection or emotion
No Sign 2. They have great effects on the body. 2) a physical reaction to affection. 
No Sign 3. They cause those who have them, to be fluent, fervent and abundant, in talking of the things of religion. 3) talking with fluency and eagerness
No Sign 4. Persons did make ‘em themselves, or excite ‘em of their own contrivance, and by their own strength.  4) affection or emotions not excited by self-effort
No Sign 5. They come with texts of Scripture, remarkably brought to the mind. 5)affection or emotions accompanied by bible verses
No Sign 6. There is an appearance of love in them. 6) affection or emotions with the appearance of a fullness of love; which actually can be counterfeited
No Sign 7. Persons having religious affections of many kinds, accompanying one another, is not sufficient to determine whether they have any gracious affections or no. 7) experiencing many different kinds of affection or emotion, any of which can be counterfeited, especially when Satan inspires someone of great self-importance
No Sign 8. Comforts and joys seem to follow awakenings and convictions of conscience, in a certain order.8) the joy and comfort of a religious experience, which can occur without the Holy Spirit
No Sign 9. They dispose persons to spend much time in religion, and to be zealously engaged in the external duties of worship. 9) time and effort spent on religion — hypocrites have great energy
No Sign 10. They much dispose persons with their mouths to praise and glorify God. 10) verbal expressions of praise — words alone do not prove the condition of the heart
No Sign 11. They make persons that have them, exceedingly confident that what they experience is divine, and that they are in a good estate.11) self-confidence — people who have a high opinion of themselves usually are self-confident
No Sign 12. The outward manifestations of them, and the relation persons give of them, are very affecting and pleasing to the truly godly, and such as greatly gain their charity, and win their hearts.12) being able to please and inspire others through the demonstration of religious feeling

Then in the third part, Edwards sets forth twelve true signs—those things which distinguish the truly gracious and holy affections as being part of true religion again with my own editorial comments.:

True Sign 1. Arise from those influences and operations on the heart, which are spiritual, supernatural, and divine. 1) True religious affection has a divine source.
True Sign 2. Objectively grounded in the transcendentally excellent and amiable nature of divine things, as they are in themselves (and not in any conceived relation they bear to self or self-interest. 2) Religious affection is caused by the nature of God alone, not what a personal understanding of a relation to divine things means to self-interest or a sense of self-worth
True Sign 3. Primarily founded on the loveliness of the moral excellency of divine thing; a love to divine things for the beauty and sweetness of their moral excellency is the first beginning and spring of all holy affections. 3) Religious affection based on holiness focuses on the beauty of God’s righteousness
True Sign 4 Arise from the mind’s being enlightened, rightly and spiritually to understand or apprehend divine things. Spiritually gifted affection is based on a proper intellectual understanding of what is godly
True Sign 5. Attended with a reasonable and spiritual conviction of the judgment, of the reality and certainty of divine things. 4) Religious affections have a reasonable basis for a belief in the reality of what is divine
True Sign 6. Attended with evangelical humiliation (= a sense that a Christian has or his own utter insufficiency, despicableness, and odiousness, with an answerable frame of heart). 5) Spiritually gifted affection is not proud but humble
True Sign 7. Attended with a change of nature. 6) Spiritually gifted affection changes our inner-being
True Sign 8. Tend to, and are attended with, the lamb like, dove like spirit and temper of Jesus Christ; they naturally beget and promote such a spirit of love, meekness, quietness, forgiveness, and mercy, as appeared in Christ. 7) Spiritually gifted affection differs from false and delusional affections, in that they express the gentle temperament of Jesus Christ).                                                                                                                             True Sign 9. Soften the heart and are attended to and followed with a Christian tenderness of  spirit. 8) Spirit gifted affection causes us to be tender.                                                                                                                                 True Sign 10. Have beautiful symmetry and proportion. 10) Spirit gifted affections are expressed with a balanced harmony.                                                                                 True Sign 11. The higher gracious affections are raised, the more is a spiritual appetite and longing of soul after spiritual attainments increased. 11) Spirit gifted affection moves a person to become more godly, as distinguished from being satisfied with an emotional experience itself.                                                                                                             True Sign 12. Have their exercise and fruit in Christian practice. 12) Spirit gifted and holy emotions cause a person to be Christ-like in character and action.

Challenged and prayerful,
Pastor Bill

 

 

A CALL TO GOSPEL COVER-UP

"Whoever covers an offense seeks love, but he who repeats a matter separates close friend" (Proverbs 17:9)

The media loves to splash the front headlines when it hears of a "cover up". My generation remembers well the infamous Watergate Cover Up that cost Richard Nixon his presidency. The whole idea of a cover up evokes suspicion, anger, and paranoia. It seems that there is always a new cover up being exposed by the media where facts have been manipulated, voices silenced, and blatant injustice has taken place. We know that this kind of cover up whether by being the perpetrator or victim is wrong.

But there is a kind of cover up that is right. It is a gospel cover up, the stewardship of information of one another's failures, sins, and weaknesses, that requires a gospel heart. I am talking about a gospel cover up. It is a cover up of others sins, sins against us, and our own confessed sins that I'm talking about.

How often do we chose to uncover and use old offenses against our spouse, our children, our parents, or our friends in order to win an argument, gain advantage, hold leverage over, or minimize our own sin. When we do this, we act as if we never forgave them the first time. It's like the couple who came into counseling and the husband said, "whenever my wife and I fight she gets historical." The counselor responded, "you mean hysterical". The man replied, "historical, whenever we fight she reminds me of everything that I ever did wrong."

Another form of uncovering that we do is repeating someone's sin or offense to others under the guise of seeking prayer. How often have people been slandered or maligned during a supposed time of prayer to the living God of mercy, forgiveness, and grace in Jesus name!

How about the uncovering that we do where keep uncovered and constantly rehearse the sins and offenses of others to ourselves-feeding our own self righteousness, refueling and kindling our anger, and percolating our desire for revenge?

Finally, there is the uncovering of our own sins and failures repeatedly to ourselves-choosing to indulge in self contempt and loathing and listening to Satan's accusations and lies. 

All of these uncovering's demonstrate how little that we really believe and treasure the gospel. The gospel reveals the forgiving, merciful love of Jesus. By His blood  He has once and for all covered up, covered over, and carried away our sins forever.

David writes in exaltation of God's forgiveness and covering of his own sin in Psalm 103:12, "as far as the east is from the west,    so far does he remove our transgressions from us.".God doesn't just forgive our sin; He actually casts it away as far from us as it's possible to be. The phrase "as far as the east is from the west" is a rhetorical description of an infinitely long distance.   

Isaiah proclaims in Isaiah 38:17, "you have cast all my sins behind your back" and in Isaiah 43:25, "I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins".

Listen to Micah exult in God's great cover up of your sins in Micah 7:19, "He will again have compassion on us; he will tread our iniquities underfoot.You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea".

Do you hear all this cover up language dear reader? Remove? Cast? Blot out? Remember no more? Tread underfoot? Are you like that towards others? Are you like that towards yourself?

Jesus never repeats my sinful matters to me or anyone else. Neither does He repeat others sinful matters to you or anyone else. He never does and never will. NEITHER SHOULD WE!

Is it no wonder why Paul exhorts us to...“be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ forgave you” (Ephesians 4:31-32).

John Newton writes, "[The 'wretch' who has been saved by grace] believes and feels his own weakness and unworthiness, and lives upon the grace and pardoning love of his Lord. This gives him an habitual tenderness and gentleness of Spirit. Humble under a sense of much forgiveness to himself, he finds it easy to forgive others."

Another time Newton wrote, “Whoever has tasted of the love Christ, and has known, by his own experience, the need and the worth of redemption, is enabled, yes, he is constrained, to love his fellow creatures. He loves them at first sight.”

If what I believe about myself as a flawed sinner who has a great savior and who lives upon the grace and pardoning love of my Lord is true; than is there any more important thing in my relationships with flawed people than covering up others sins by forgiving and forbearing? That is what Paul seems to think in Colossians 2:13, "...bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive"

This is the rule our Lord Jesus gave us: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" (Matthew 7:12). I would take it even deeper in light of the cross: Do unto others as Christ has done to us! Do to yourself as Christ has done to you! , Let love, mercy and forgiveness rule your life and be the fruit of what comes out of your life towards others and yourself. Cover up others sins and cover up your sins. Do not use them in any way against them and yourself. Why? Because God does.

It s time to not repeat others sins against you any more to God, yourself, and to others and its time to stop repeating your own sins back to yourself. After all, God does not.

ITS THE BEAUTIFUL GOSPEL COVER-UP!

Dear reader may you today begin to engage in a gospel cover up for his glory, others benefit, and your joy.

Pastor Bill 
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BLESSED FORGIVENESS

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. ² Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit. ³ For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.⁴ For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. Selah
I acknowledged my sin to you,  and I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” and you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Selah
⁶ Therefore let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found; surely in the rush of great waters,they shall not reach him.⁷ You are a hiding place for me;you preserve me from trouble; you surround me with shouts of deliverance. Selah

⁸ I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you.
⁹ Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle,
    or it will not stay near you.¹⁰ Many are the sorrows of the wicked, but steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord.¹¹ Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous, and shout for joy, all you upright in heart." Psalm 32:1-11

How do you picture God when you think about your sin? What do you think His expression is when you come to Him with the same old sin time after time again? What do you think His attitude toward you is in the light of your failures? What do your emotions tell you as you contemplate these questions? Are there sins from your past that continue to hang over you like a dark cloud? Do you feel your potential for God’s Kingdom has been destroyed because of your past disobedience? Your answer to these questions tells whether or not you have come to grips with God’s forgiveness or not. God has given Psalm 32 as a precious gift to encourage you. Psalm 32 is primarily about the joy and blessedness of God’s forgiving love!

David had sinned greatly and kept it covered for one year. (Read 2 Samuel 11-12) Then one day the prophet Nathan told David a story. It was all about a rich man who stole the one little ewe lamb of a poor man rather than taking a sheep from his own huge flock. "Surely this man deserves to die!" shouted an enraged David. With a bony finger pointed at David's nose, Nathan calmly declared, "You are the man! ... Why did you despise the word of the LORD by doing what is evil in his eyes? You struck down Uriah the Hittite with the sword and took his wife to be your own'(2 Samuel 12:7, 9).

Listen to what David says in Psalm 32 about the impact of his sin as it festered unconfessed and unforgiven in his heart for that year. " When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer." (Psalm 32:3-4) Then David confessed his sin in 2 Samuel 12:13, "So David said to Nathan, "I have sinned against the LORD." And Nathan said to David, "The LORD also has put away your sin; you shall not die." Psalm 32 is a recording of Davids confession and forgiveness in greater detail. Listen more closely still to the song of God's forgiving love.

First we read David’s heartfelt and sincere confession of His sin in verses. 1-2,5. You talk about confession! David ransacks his dictionary for every word for sin he can find. He calls what he did a transgression , a word that refers to the rebellious and disloyal nature of his actions. He calls what he did a sin , a word that points to any act that misses the mark of God's revealed will. And he calls it iniquity (v. 2,5), that is to say, a crooked deed; a conscious intent to deviate from what is right.

Why do you think David goes to such verbal lengths to portray his sin? First, He knew that the prerequisite of receiving forgiveness is confession or acknowledgment of our sin to the Lord from a spirit free of deceit (verses 5 and 2). When you put these two things together, acknowledgment of our sin and not deceiving God, a very precise meaning for confession emerges. Confession to God is not merely admitting our sin as real but also rejecting our sin as repulsive.The longer you walk with God, The more you understand who He is, what sin is, and who you are in Him and apart from Him, the better you become, the more you are ashamed for being bad, not just doing bad. As N.P. Williams said, “The ordinary man may feel ashamed of doing wrong, but the saint refined with moral sensibility, and keener powers of introspection, is ashamed of being the kind of man who is liable to do wrong.” 

 There is deceit in the spirit of the person who admits with his mind that he sins but feels no revulsion in his heart at those sins: his bad temper and irritability, his hypercritical attitude, his gossiping, his lukewarm love for Christ, his failure to discipline his children, his dishonesty on tax forms and financial reports, etc. This is deceit because sin is repulsive and horrid in God's eyes and ought to be hated and shunned. So to come to God admitting to sin and feeling no grief or repugnance is to come with deceit, for what you are acknowledging is not really acknowledged as sin. The prerequisite therefore of divine forgiveness is admitting our sin as real and rejecting our sin as repulsive,

Secondly, my sense is that he does so to emphasize that every sin, any sin, whatever its cause or character, no matter how small or big, secret or public, intentional or inadvertent, all sin can be forgiven!

David also uses three different words to describe his confession. He acknowledged his sin to the Lord. He refused to cover up his iniquity. He was determined to confess his transgressions (v. 5). Why is this necessary? Why doesn't God, in His great grace just forgive all sin in everybody, no strings attached? Why does there have to be in every individuals case the prerequisite of confession? Every sin we commit is an insult to God, a slap in His face, whether we see it that way or not. That is why  David says in Psalm 51:4, "Against You, You only, have I sinned, and done this evil in Your sight-- that You may be found just when You speak, and blameless when You judge."
This has to be seen if we are to understand the dynamics of confession and forgiveness. When David confesses his sin, nothing is held back, there is no cutting of corners, no compromise, he comes totally clean. All the cupboards of his soul are emptied. All little black books are opened and read aloud. His confession is like opening the floodgates of a dam. It may be messy at first, but the release of ever-increasing pressure is life to his burdened heart. Three different words for sin. Three different words for confession. But better still, three different words for forgiveness!

David joyfully pronounces, " Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven" (verse 1). The word literally means, "to carry away." David's sin, my sin, your sin, is like an oppressive weight from which we long to be relieved. Forgiveness lifts the burden from our shoulders.

Then he says, "Blessed is he whose sin is covered" (verse1). It is as if David says, "Oh, dear Father, what joy to know that if I will but uncover my sin and not hide it, You will" David doesn’t mean to suggest that his sin is merely concealed from view but somehow still present to condemn and defeat him. The point is that God sees it no more. He has covered it from all view.

Thirdly he says, "Blessed is that man or woman, young or old, whose sin the Lord does not impute or count against them" (verse 2). No record is kept. God isn't a spiritual scorekeeper to those who seek His pardoning favor!

Have you ever fooled around with an "Etch-a-Sketch?" I never was much good at it. I'm not an artist by any stretch of the imagination. The Etch-a-Sketch was made for people like me. If you don't like what you've drawn, and especially don't want to be embarrassed should anyone else see it, you simply tip the screen and your work of art vanishes! It's a crude and simple illustration, but that is a lot like what God does with your sin when He grants forgiveness. Through the course of our earthly existence we sketch an ugly scenario of sin and rebellion and ingratitude and jealousy and lust. There it is, vividly imprinted on the screen of our souls. But when we confess our sin, as David did, God's loving and gracious hand tips the toy, and the slate is wiped clean! No matter how often we return to deface our lives with ugly pictures of hatred and anger and pride and envy, God is faithful to tip the screen. All it takes is confession. All it takes is the blood of Christ. But don't take my word for it, listen to what God Himself in Isaiah. 43:25, "I, even I, am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake; and I will not remember your sins".
When we confess our sin and plead the blood of the Lord Jesus, God promises never again to bring it up, either to Himself, to you, or to others. How about what David says in Psalm 103:11-12, "For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; As far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us."

That's forgiveness! That's love! God's not finished yet. He's got another illustration to make His point. Hezekiah put it this way in Isaiah 38:17; "You have lovingly delivered my soul from the pit of corruption, for You have cast all my sins behind Your back." God has taken your sin and placed it out of sight behind His back. All He sees now when He sees you is the blessed righteousness of His own dear Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Such is the love of forgiveness.

Still not good enough? Still not convinced? Still afraid that your sins will do you in? Then pay close attention to the word of the prophet Micah. He has something important to say about the kind of God we have in Micah 7:18-19, "Who is a God like You, pardoning iniquity and passing over the transgression of the remnant of His heritage? He does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in mercy. He will again have compassion on us, and will subdue our iniquities. You will cast all our sins into the depths of the sea."
How much more graphic do you demand God be before you enter into the joy of His forgiving love? All vestige of condemning guilt is gone. Again, "Just as God said He put our sins behind His back, so here He says He will hurl them into the depths of the sea. They will not 'fall overboard;' God will hurl them into the depths. He wants them to be lost forever, because He has fully dealt with them in His Son, Jesus Christ.

Finally, listen to David’s response to God’s forgiveness in verses 1-2 I don't know how all this affects you, but I agree with David when he says (shouts?), "Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven ... Blessed is the man whose sin the LORD does not count against him. . . ". All hope for happiness is contingent on the forgiveness of sins. The word blessed, by the way, is plural! As Spurgeon has said, "Oh, the blessedness’s! the double joys, the bundles of happiness, the mountains of delight" that abound to the forgiven. Having experienced for himself the joy of forgiving love, David encourages others to seek God's pardoning favor in verses 6-7. God is like a high rock on which we stand when the flood waters of adversity begin to rise. God is a hiding place, a shelter in whom we find safety and protection from all that threatens the soul. And remember, He is all this for men and women like David who have spurned His ways and transgressed His will! What accounts for this willingness in God to forgive? To what do we attribute the peace and release and joy that floods the pardoned soul?

David puts his finger on it in verse 10: "Many are the woes of the wicked, but the Lord’s unfailing love surrounds the man who trusts in him'. God's love is the bulwark of our lives, the bodyguard of our souls, the atmosphere of immutable affection in which we move and live and breath.

"Forgiveness is a powerful force. It never leaves the forgiven unchanged." Dan Allender is on target in saying that "the extent to which someone truly loves will be positively correlated to the degree the person is stunned and silenced by the wonder that his huge debt has been canceled."' Jesus said about a prostitute who had experienced His forgiving love and washed His feet with her tears in Luke 7:47, "Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven-for she loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little".
Perhaps you haven’t sinned as David did, nor as the woman of Luke 7. Adultery, murder and prostitution may not be on your list. Perhaps your sins are more subtle and less public, whether fewer or greater in number. Whatever the case, David's only hope, the weeping ex-prostitute's only hope-your only hope-is the unfailing love of God.What is so blessed about having our transgressions forgiven? O, that we might cherish our forgiveness more! ponder the value of your eternal pardon. Compare the affections you feel for things and people in this world with the affection you feel for Jesus and for being forgiven through His death. And if you find that your heart leaps up more vigorously for anything else than it does for the forgiveness of God, repent.

Treasuring divine pardon!
Pastor Bill