Title: Jonathan Edwards: The Use of Your Time
Meta: Jonathan Edwards wanted his present life to be shaped by what would be most important upon entering heaven. Whatever is important there in heaven, must dominate the landscape of my life now. In this sermon Steve Lawson goes over some of the Resolutions that Jonathan Edwards wrote when he was only 18 and 19 years old.
Tags: use,time,resolutions,resolved,vapor,life,forever
1
00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:05,315
To focus upon Jonathan Edwards and specifically the resolutions
2
00:00:05,315 --> 00:00:11,303
that he wrote as a young man, 18 and 19 years of age.
3
00:00:11,304 --> 00:00:16,742
Let me begin by just putting Edwards in his right place,
4
00:00:16,742 --> 00:00:20,709
even in the mountain range of church history.
5
00:00:20,710 --> 00:00:23,369
It was Martyn Lloyd-Jones who said:
6
00:00:23,369 --> 00:00:28,476
I am tempted to compare the Puritans to the Alps,
7
00:00:28,477 --> 00:00:32,384
Luther and Calvin to the Himalayas,
8
00:00:32,386 --> 00:00:37,166
and Jonathan Edwards to Mount Everest.
9
00:00:37,167 --> 00:00:44,648
He seems to me to be the man most like the Apostle Paul.
10
00:00:44,649 --> 00:00:49,096
That's quiet a statement, from the Doctor himself, Lloyd-Jones.
11
00:00:49,097 --> 00:00:53,525
That it was Jonathan Edwards, who in essence,
12
00:00:53,525 --> 00:00:58,690
stood on the shoulders of Calvin, and Luther, and the Reformers,
13
00:00:58,690 --> 00:01:04,384
and climbed up a little higher and stood on the shoulders of the Puritans
14
00:01:04,384 --> 00:01:10,739
like John Owen, and Thomas Watson, and other great divines.
15
00:01:10,740 --> 00:01:15,468
And he went all the way to to the top of the mountain range, as it were,
16
00:01:15,468 --> 00:01:20,859
and had the clearest view of God, and Systematic Theology,
17
00:01:20,860 --> 00:01:24,900
and the inner workings of the truth of Scripture.
18
00:01:24,900 --> 00:01:28,433
That is why I think it is very worth our while,
19
00:01:28,433 --> 00:01:32,258
to look, in this last session, at Edwards.
20
00:01:32,259 --> 00:01:35,363
And what I want to set before you, is:
21
00:01:35,363 --> 00:01:41,954
There is a reason why, I believe, God so greatly used Edwards.
22
00:01:41,955 --> 00:01:43,518
Granted,
23
00:01:43,519 --> 00:01:50,972
he was the greatest American pastor to ever walk on the soil of this continent.
24
00:01:50,973 --> 00:01:57,786
He is arguably the greatest preacher over the last three centuries in America.
25
00:01:57,787 --> 00:02:01,868
He is called the greatest theologian America has ever produced
26
00:02:01,868 --> 00:02:06,663
and the greatest philosopher that America has ever produced.
27
00:02:06,664 --> 00:02:10,155
He has been argued to be the most profound author.
28
00:02:10,156 --> 00:02:14,251
R. C. Sproul has said, his book the Freedom of the Will is the greatest book
29
00:02:14,251 --> 00:02:17,283
ever to be written on American soil.
30
00:02:17,284 --> 00:02:22,234
He certainly preached the greatest sermon ever to be preached in this land:
31
00:02:22,234 --> 00:02:25,131
Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God.
32
00:02:25,131 --> 00:02:32,942
It is an amazing thing that all of those lines would intersect in one person.
33
00:02:32,943 --> 00:02:34,073
Greatest author,
34
00:02:34,073 --> 00:02:35,167
greatest philosopher,
35
00:02:35,167 --> 00:02:36,371
greatest pastor,
36
00:02:36,371 --> 00:02:37,509
greatest theologian,
37
00:02:37,509 --> 00:02:38,594
greatest preacher,
38
00:02:38,594 --> 00:02:40,321
greatest book,
39
00:02:40,322 --> 00:02:43,234
greatest sermon.
40
00:02:43,235 --> 00:02:49,334
All of this did not merely happen.
41
00:02:49,335 --> 00:02:51,565
Nothing just merely happens.
42
00:02:51,565 --> 00:02:56,550
The sovereignty of God is in and through all things.
43
00:02:56,551 --> 00:03:01,318
But Jonathan Edwards, when he was 18 years old,
44
00:03:01,319 --> 00:03:07,901
he charted a course that he would follow the rest of his life.
45
00:03:07,902 --> 00:03:14,086
Jonathan Edwards was converted by the grace of God at age 17.
46
00:03:14,087 --> 00:03:17,496
And within one year he was the interim pastor
47
00:03:17,496 --> 00:03:20,943
in what is today Downtown New York City.
48
00:03:20,944 --> 00:03:23,582
On Wall Street.
49
00:03:23,583 --> 00:03:27,994
Pastoring a church where there had been a split, a divide,
50
00:03:27,994 --> 00:03:31,073
a Scottish Presbyterian Church.
51
00:03:31,074 --> 00:03:33,504
He was 18 years old.
52
00:03:33,505 --> 00:03:38,050
He had grown up in a home of a Puritan pastor
53
00:03:38,051 --> 00:03:43,313
and as soon as he was saved his heart was inclined to the ministry and the things of God,
54
00:03:43,313 --> 00:03:46,836
for that is what he had seen all his life.
55
00:03:46,837 --> 00:03:51,958
And at age 18 he began to pastor in Downtown New York.
56
00:03:51,958 --> 00:03:57,680
He still had his Master's thesis yet to write.
57
00:03:57,681 --> 00:04:04,918
He had completed his course work at Yale both in the Bachelor and Master's level.
58
00:04:04,919 --> 00:04:09,088
And as he began this interim pastor at age 18,
59
00:04:09,089 --> 00:04:14,270
there was a deep conviction and concern in his soul
60
00:04:14,271 --> 00:04:17,021
that he be faithful to God.
61
00:04:17,022 --> 00:04:19,959
That he not squander this opportunity.
62
00:04:19,961 --> 00:04:25,280
That he be one who would pursue holiness
63
00:04:25,281 --> 00:04:29,438
with every inch and every ounze of his being.
64
00:04:29,439 --> 00:04:37,603
So Jonathan Edwards sat down and wrote what has come to be known as his Resolutions.
65
00:04:37,604 --> 00:04:43,683
Over the course of the next year and a half he wrote 70 resolutions.
66
00:04:43,683 --> 00:04:45,348
They were like purpose statements.
67
00:04:45,348 --> 00:04:49,757
They almost all began with the word Resolved.
68
00:04:49,758 --> 00:04:53,629
And then would follow a declaration,
69
00:04:53,630 --> 00:04:58,237
that was rooted and grounded in the Word of God.
70
00:04:58,238 --> 00:05:02,989
These resolutions began with a preamble.
71
00:05:02,990 --> 00:05:06,347
And a preamble is a short two-sentence paragraph,
72
00:05:06,347 --> 00:05:09,459
that sits on top of the resolutions
73
00:05:09,459 --> 00:05:15,218
and they are very important because in it, in this preamble,
74
00:05:15,218 --> 00:05:19,800
he states how dependent he is upon the grace of God
75
00:05:19,800 --> 00:05:22,963
to be enabled to fulfill these resolutions.
76
00:05:22,963 --> 00:05:27,678
So this is not Jonathan Edwards pulling himself up by his own boot straps
77
00:05:27,678 --> 00:05:31,514
where he is self-willed to carry out his own sanctification.
78
00:05:31,514 --> 00:05:36,846
He is totally dependent upon the grace of God, the ministry of the Holy Spirit
79
00:05:36,846 --> 00:05:40,333
to work and to will for his good pleasure in his own life.
80
00:05:40,334 --> 00:05:42,053
The preamble reads:
81
00:05:42,053 --> 00:05:46,885
Being sensible that I am unable to do any thing...
82
00:05:46,885 --> 00:05:49,346
Now you hear John 15, verse 5, in that.
83
00:05:49,347 --> 00:05:54,385
Jesus said: Apart from me you can do nothing.
84
00:05:54,386 --> 00:06:01,660
Being sensible that I am unable to do any thing without God's help,
85
00:06:01,661 --> 00:06:07,942
I do humbly entreat him, (God) by his grace,
86
00:06:07,943 --> 00:06:13,395
to enable me to keep these resolutions,
87
00:06:13,396 --> 00:06:20,648
so far as they are agreeable to his will, for Christ's sake.
88
00:06:20,649 --> 00:06:25,998
Having said that, he began to write his resolutions.
89
00:06:25,999 --> 00:06:34,854
The first four are directed and pointed at the glory of God.
90
00:06:34,855 --> 00:06:39,866
There is no rhyme or reason as to the order of these resolutions.
91
00:06:39,866 --> 00:06:44,661
They are almost as reading the Proverbs, starting Proverbs 10 and following.
92
00:06:44,661 --> 00:06:51,505
There are somewhat jumbled together, except at the beginning,
93
00:06:51,505 --> 00:06:56,416
in which Edwards lays this foundation
94
00:06:56,416 --> 00:07:06,420
that the entirety of his life must be directed toward the pursuit of the glory of God.
95
00:07:06,421 --> 00:07:12,731
It is the overflow of his study of the Westminster catechism,
96
00:07:12,731 --> 00:07:15,052
the Westminster confession,
97
00:07:15,052 --> 00:07:16,793
the teaching of the reformers,
98
00:07:16,793 --> 00:07:18,725
the teaching of the Puritans.
99
00:07:18,725 --> 00:07:22,832
It was all steeped in the glory of God.
100
00:07:22,832 --> 00:07:24,323
He had read Calvin's Institutes
101
00:07:24,323 --> 00:07:26,913
that begins with the knowledge of God and the knowledge of men.
102
00:07:26,913 --> 00:07:30,756
He was steeped in the Westminster catechism: What is the chief end of men?
103
00:07:30,756 --> 00:07:34,178
To glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever.
104
00:07:34,179 --> 00:07:38,215
So as he takes pen in hand at age 18...
105
00:07:38,215 --> 00:07:46,900
The first four resolutions, let me read parts of them, focus upon the glory of God.
106
00:07:46,901 --> 00:07:49,868
Number 1: Resolved,
107
00:07:49,869 --> 00:07:57,639
That I will do whatsoever I think to be most to God's glory.
108
00:07:57,640 --> 00:08:02,086
Edwards said, the interpretive key in his life
109
00:08:02,086 --> 00:08:05,291
in the pursuit of the will of God is:
110
00:08:05,291 --> 00:08:09,327
What will bring greatest glory to God?
111
00:08:09,327 --> 00:08:10,893
Who should I marry?
112
00:08:10,893 --> 00:08:12,199
What should I do with my life?
113
00:08:12,199 --> 00:08:13,844
Where should I live?
114
00:08:13,844 --> 00:08:16,819
What endeavor should I undertake?
115
00:08:16,819 --> 00:08:22,929
The fundamental core principle, Edwards recognized for his life, is:
116
00:08:22,929 --> 00:08:25,299
What will most glorify God?
117
00:08:25,299 --> 00:08:30,981
Not: What will most advance me? What will most promote myself?
118
00:08:30,981 --> 00:08:36,880
But: What decisions, what turns in the road, what forks in the road lie before me...
119
00:08:36,880 --> 00:08:44,125
The answer will always be: What will most glorify God?
120
00:08:44,126 --> 00:08:47,681
Resolution 2: Resolved, To be continually endeavoring to find out
121
00:08:47,681 --> 00:08:54,715
some new contrivance and invention to promote the aforementioned things.
122
00:08:54,716 --> 00:08:56,584
By that he is saying:
123
00:08:56,584 --> 00:08:59,542
As I am on the path to pursue the glory of God,
124
00:08:59,542 --> 00:09:04,179
what can be augmented to my life, that will springboard me
125
00:09:04,179 --> 00:09:09,280
even further in the promotion, in the pursuit of the glory of God?
126
00:09:09,280 --> 00:09:10,896
What new Bible studies could I undertake?
127
00:09:10,896 --> 00:09:12,804
What new ministries could I launch?
128
00:09:12,804 --> 00:09:15,542
What new endeavors could I undertake,
129
00:09:15,542 --> 00:09:20,469
that would be further extensions of glorifying God.
130
00:09:20,470 --> 00:09:26,946
Three: Resolved, If ever I shall fall and grow weary or grow dull,
131
00:09:26,946 --> 00:09:30,708
so as to neglect to keep any part of these Resolutions,
132
00:09:30,708 --> 00:09:33,830
to repent of all I can remember.
133
00:09:33,831 --> 00:09:39,232
So, if at any point he would grow fatigued or weary,
134
00:09:39,232 --> 00:09:43,291
become spiritually lukewarm in the pursuit of the glory of God,
135
00:09:43,291 --> 00:09:46,642
he would immediately repent of this,
136
00:09:46,643 --> 00:09:48,783
and turn away from this,
137
00:09:48,783 --> 00:09:52,586
that he might be fervent in the pursuing the glory of God.
138
00:09:52,587 --> 00:09:58,792
Four: Resolved, Never to do any manner of thing, whether in soul or body, less or more,
139
00:09:58,792 --> 00:10:03,968
but what tends to the glory of God.
140
00:10:03,969 --> 00:10:07,392
So, he is a man, who is preoccupied with the glory of God.
141
00:10:07,392 --> 00:10:12,707
J. I. Packer writes regarding these first four resolutions
142
00:10:12,707 --> 00:10:15,048
that Edwards was (quote):
143
00:10:15,048 --> 00:10:16,806
God centered,
144
00:10:16,806 --> 00:10:18,585
God focused,
145
00:10:18,585 --> 00:10:20,809
God intoxicated,
146
00:10:20,809 --> 00:10:23,073
and God entranced.
147
00:10:23,074 --> 00:10:26,387
There is no over-statement here.
148
00:10:26,387 --> 00:10:29,217
Every day from morning till night
149
00:10:29,217 --> 00:10:34,274
he sought to live in conscious communion with God.
150
00:10:34,274 --> 00:10:37,427
(close quote)
151
00:10:37,428 --> 00:10:39,129
Now...
152
00:10:39,130 --> 00:10:41,597
Later in these resolutions...
153
00:10:41,598 --> 00:10:46,731
Resolution number 63: This is an extraordinary resolution.
154
00:10:46,732 --> 00:10:52,497
I am just setting the table for what I really ultimately want to say in this session.
155
00:10:52,498 --> 00:10:54,651
He wants to glorify God,
156
00:10:54,652 --> 00:10:56,879
just like, I'm sure, you want to glorify God.
157
00:10:56,879 --> 00:10:59,493
You wouldn't be here today, I would not think,
158
00:10:59,493 --> 00:11:04,309
were you not one who would desire to glorify God with your life.
159
00:11:04,309 --> 00:11:05,670
First Corinthians 10:
160
00:11:05,670 --> 00:11:10,139
Whatsoever you do, whether you eat or you drink, do all to the glory of God.
161
00:11:10,140 --> 00:11:15,993
Resolution 63 is a shock-and-awe resolution.
162
00:11:15,993 --> 00:11:17,714
It is mind boggling.
163
00:11:17,714 --> 00:11:20,333
This is what it says:
164
00:11:20,334 --> 00:11:25,445
On the supposition,
165
00:11:25,445 --> 00:11:31,849
that there never was to be but one individual in the world,
166
00:11:31,850 --> 00:11:34,802
at any one time,
167
00:11:34,803 --> 00:11:37,283
who was properly
168
00:11:37,284 --> 00:11:42,042
a complete Christian, in all respects,
169
00:11:42,043 --> 00:11:47,881
having Christianity always shining in its true lustre,
170
00:11:47,882 --> 00:11:49,664
and appearing excellent and lovely:
171
00:11:49,664 --> 00:11:51,529
Resolved,
172
00:11:51,530 --> 00:11:56,174
To act just as I would do, if I strove
173
00:11:56,174 --> 00:11:58,373
with all my might
174
00:11:58,373 --> 00:12:03,207
to become that one, who would live in my time.
175
00:12:03,207 --> 00:12:04,838
You know what Edwards is saying?
176
00:12:04,838 --> 00:12:08,516
I want you to think about this.
177
00:12:08,517 --> 00:12:13,833
There can only be on the Earth at any one time
178
00:12:13,834 --> 00:12:17,240
the strongest Christian alive.
179
00:12:19,444 --> 00:12:24,562
Edwards said: The goal for my life
180
00:12:24,563 --> 00:12:27,463
is to be that man.
181
00:12:27,464 --> 00:12:31,533
Someone may say: Well, that's kind of an... arrogant resolution.
182
00:12:31,533 --> 00:12:35,601
Okay, go be the worst Christian in your generation!
183
00:12:35,602 --> 00:12:38,194
You think that would glorify God?
184
00:12:38,195 --> 00:12:41,484
You talk about having everything upside...
185
00:12:41,485 --> 00:12:44,340
Everyone of us ought to say:
186
00:12:44,341 --> 00:12:48,595
God, I want to be that one in my generation at that time
187
00:12:48,595 --> 00:12:54,486
that Christianity is most fully shining through with its full lustre,
188
00:12:54,486 --> 00:12:56,726
shining forth from my life.
189
00:12:56,726 --> 00:13:01,853
That will glorify God.
190
00:13:01,854 --> 00:13:06,478
Edwards said that at age 18 and 19.
191
00:13:06,479 --> 00:13:10,296
When I was age 18 and 19 I would just think about playing football.
192
00:13:12,938 --> 00:13:15,991
Edwards is thinking about:
193
00:13:15,992 --> 00:13:22,146
I want to be the greatest Christian in my generation.
194
00:13:22,147 --> 00:13:25,205
Now, what he did and the rest of the resolutions
195
00:13:25,205 --> 00:13:30,233
charts the course for how he will glorify God
196
00:13:30,234 --> 00:13:34,639
and be that one most complete Christian
197
00:13:34,640 --> 00:13:37,828
in his lifetime.
198
00:13:37,829 --> 00:13:40,959
In my book on the resolutions of Jonathan Edwards
199
00:13:40,959 --> 00:13:43,905
I divide up all of the resolutions
200
00:13:43,905 --> 00:13:46,765
into different subject matters that he deals with.
201
00:13:46,765 --> 00:13:52,470
And there is a plethora of topics that he covers
202
00:13:52,470 --> 00:13:54,700
in the fullness of his own Christian life.
203
00:13:54,700 --> 00:14:01,325
And time does not permit me to do the overview of all 70 resolutions.
204
00:14:01,325 --> 00:14:07,083
What I want to do at this time right now is just isolate one slice of the pie.
205
00:14:07,083 --> 00:14:09,752
Just isolate one piece of the armor.
206
00:14:09,752 --> 00:14:14,935
Just focus upon one area of his resolutions
207
00:14:14,935 --> 00:14:21,465
that addressed a critically important area in his Christian life.
208
00:14:21,465 --> 00:14:27,753
Now, this subject matter may somewhat surprise you.
209
00:14:27,754 --> 00:14:31,571
As Edwards wanted to live for the glory of God
210
00:14:31,571 --> 00:14:34,664
and be the greatest Christian in his generation,
211
00:14:34,664 --> 00:14:39,724
he wanted to do so in the nitty-gritty of life,
212
00:14:39,724 --> 00:14:44,876
down in the day-to-day Christian living.
213
00:14:44,877 --> 00:14:51,454
And so he said: I want to live with an eternal perspective.
214
00:14:51,455 --> 00:14:55,936
And in order to live with an eternal perspective
215
00:14:55,936 --> 00:15:01,830
there are three subjects that need to be present before my life,
216
00:15:01,830 --> 00:15:05,637
on a daily basis, all the time:
217
00:15:07,643 --> 00:15:10,954
the shortness of life,
218
00:15:10,955 --> 00:15:13,976
the certainty of death,
219
00:15:13,977 --> 00:15:17,487
and the link of eternity.
220
00:15:17,488 --> 00:15:19,980
The shortness of life,
221
00:15:19,981 --> 00:15:23,168
the suddenness of death,
222
00:15:23,169 --> 00:15:25,661
and the link of eternity.
223
00:15:25,662 --> 00:15:29,123
Edwards would say elsewhere:
224
00:15:29,124 --> 00:15:31,157
God,
225
00:15:31,158 --> 00:15:35,501
stamp eternity
226
00:15:35,502 --> 00:15:38,809
upon my eyeballs.
227
00:15:38,810 --> 00:15:41,741
That was his way, metaphorically, to say:
228
00:15:41,741 --> 00:15:45,773
I want to live with an eternal perspective.
229
00:15:45,773 --> 00:15:50,471
I want to live in such a way as not to be confined
230
00:15:50,471 --> 00:15:57,813
with the mundane trivial things of this temporal life and world
231
00:15:57,813 --> 00:16:00,646
as if this is all that there is.
232
00:16:00,646 --> 00:16:06,373
If I am to rise above the temporal and live for the eternal,
233
00:16:06,373 --> 00:16:12,194
if I am to rise above that which I can see and live for that which I cannot see,
234
00:16:12,194 --> 00:16:18,091
if right now is to count forever
235
00:16:18,092 --> 00:16:22,049
then I must have this eternal perspective.
236
00:16:22,049 --> 00:16:26,173
That is what everyone of us here today needs.
237
00:16:26,173 --> 00:16:28,815
We need to live for eternity.
238
00:16:28,815 --> 00:16:35,946
What I do right now, how will it have its impact upon eternity?
239
00:16:35,946 --> 00:16:40,802
And so Edwards wrote several resolutions
240
00:16:40,803 --> 00:16:42,252
that dealt with time,
241
00:16:42,252 --> 00:16:44,185
and dealt with death,
242
00:16:44,186 --> 00:16:47,391
and dealt with eternity.
243
00:16:47,392 --> 00:16:51,003
Resolution number five.
244
00:16:52,658 --> 00:16:59,378
Edwards understood that time is a very precious commodity.
245
00:16:59,379 --> 00:17:02,987
And this is what was driving Edwards on this.
246
00:17:02,988 --> 00:17:05,941
He understood,
247
00:17:05,942 --> 00:17:09,948
if he wasted his time
248
00:17:09,949 --> 00:17:14,733
and squandered his time
249
00:17:14,733 --> 00:17:18,836
he could not most glorify God.
250
00:17:18,837 --> 00:17:23,088
Resolution number five reads thus:
251
00:17:23,089 --> 00:17:24,396
Resolved,
252
00:17:24,396 --> 00:17:26,170
And don't you like that word, resolved?
253
00:17:26,170 --> 00:17:29,476
How many people do you know that are actually resolved?
254
00:17:29,477 --> 00:17:31,620
How many people do you know that are actually
255
00:17:31,620 --> 00:17:35,880
intentionally, purposefully living their Christian lives
256
00:17:35,880 --> 00:17:40,287
and who are not like the wave of the sea, being tossed back and forth?
257
00:17:40,287 --> 00:17:46,176
How many people do you know that are not taking the path of least resistance
258
00:17:46,176 --> 00:17:49,016
but are taking the path of greatest resistance
259
00:17:49,016 --> 00:17:54,664
to the extent that they are being pointed into the center of living for eternity.
260
00:17:54,664 --> 00:17:57,863
Jonathan Edwards was determined.
261
00:17:57,863 --> 00:18:01,476
He was resolved.
262
00:18:01,477 --> 00:18:04,724
He would not become subject to the tyranny of the urgent,
263
00:18:04,724 --> 00:18:08,026
of the latest emergency to be thrown at his feet.
264
00:18:08,026 --> 00:18:11,397
Now he had set the priorities for his life
265
00:18:11,397 --> 00:18:16,814
and his priorities would dictate the decisions that he would make.
266
00:18:19,151 --> 00:18:22,337
Resolved,
267
00:18:22,338 --> 00:18:31,235
Never to loose one moment of time,
268
00:18:31,236 --> 00:18:36,574
but to improve it the most profitable way
269
00:18:36,575 --> 00:18:39,591
I possibly can.
270
00:18:39,592 --> 00:18:43,447
As Edwards said this, he understood,
271
00:18:43,448 --> 00:18:49,377
that I can only glorify God in this life
272
00:18:49,377 --> 00:18:53,078
in the prescribed amount of time
273
00:18:53,078 --> 00:18:55,958
that God has given to me
274
00:18:55,958 --> 00:18:58,797
to be alive on this earth.
275
00:18:58,798 --> 00:19:02,759
Therefore, this time is precious,
276
00:19:02,759 --> 00:19:04,495
and it is invaluable,
277
00:19:04,495 --> 00:19:07,762
and it is like liquid gold,
278
00:19:07,762 --> 00:19:09,892
and I cannot waste,
279
00:19:09,892 --> 00:19:11,910
and I cannot squander
280
00:19:11,910 --> 00:19:13,962
one moment of time
281
00:19:13,962 --> 00:19:16,041
because it is in the proper
282
00:19:16,041 --> 00:19:19,566
and most efficient use of my time
283
00:19:19,566 --> 00:19:21,039
that I will glorify God.
284
00:19:21,039 --> 00:19:23,234
If I use my time most wisely
285
00:19:23,234 --> 00:19:25,514
I can most glorify God
286
00:19:25,514 --> 00:19:27,764
with what is put in front of me.
287
00:19:27,764 --> 00:19:30,602
So he said: I have no time to loose.
288
00:19:30,603 --> 00:19:36,192
He would argue that riches can be lost and then later regained.
289
00:19:36,192 --> 00:19:38,090
But not time.
290
00:19:38,090 --> 00:19:44,882
Once time is forfeited and lost, it can never be replaced.
291
00:19:44,882 --> 00:19:48,244
Now, Jonathan Edwards had such a high view of the sovereignty of God,
292
00:19:48,244 --> 00:19:53,218
he understood a very basic truth, which is:
293
00:19:53,219 --> 00:19:54,512
that the number of days,
294
00:19:54,512 --> 00:19:56,038
and the number of hours,
295
00:19:56,038 --> 00:19:57,424
and the number of seconds
296
00:19:57,424 --> 00:19:59,603
that we have to live upon this earth
297
00:19:59,603 --> 00:20:05,520
have already been sovereignly preordained by God.
298
00:20:07,280 --> 00:20:12,247
From before the foundation of the world God determined
299
00:20:12,248 --> 00:20:16,371
the moment of my birth.
300
00:20:16,372 --> 00:20:21,781
And he has determined the moment of my death.
301
00:20:21,782 --> 00:20:29,219
And everything in between is what God has sovereignly ordained for me to live,
302
00:20:29,219 --> 00:20:34,353
and it is the perfect number of days, and it is the most wise number of days,
303
00:20:34,353 --> 00:20:37,769
that could be chosen for me.
304
00:20:37,770 --> 00:20:41,286
Job 14, verse 5
305
00:20:41,287 --> 00:20:45,094
Since his days are determined,
306
00:20:45,095 --> 00:20:49,100
the number of his months is with You, God;
307
00:20:49,101 --> 00:20:51,597
and his limits
308
00:20:51,598 --> 00:20:56,114
You have set so he cannot pass.
309
00:20:56,115 --> 00:20:58,235
You cannot pass
310
00:20:58,235 --> 00:21:05,721
the predetermined number of months and days and seconds that you have to live.
311
00:21:05,722 --> 00:21:07,615
Psalm 90, verse 12 says:
312
00:21:07,615 --> 00:21:13,479
So teach us the number of our days that we may present to You a heart of wisdom.
313
00:21:13,480 --> 00:21:21,527
God has numbered our days. We would be very wise to number our days.
314
00:21:21,528 --> 00:21:25,088
Psalm 139, verse 16
315
00:21:25,089 --> 00:21:28,614
Your eyes have seen my unformed substance
316
00:21:28,615 --> 00:21:34,477
and in Your book there were all written the days that were ordained for me
317
00:21:34,478 --> 00:21:39,509
when as yet there was not one of them.
318
00:21:41,703 --> 00:21:50,370
God has ordained the time that you have to live on this earth.
319
00:21:50,371 --> 00:21:58,061
You do not have a second to waste,
320
00:21:58,062 --> 00:22:03,918
to live with any other intention and goal
321
00:22:03,919 --> 00:22:06,341
but to glorify God
322
00:22:06,342 --> 00:22:08,284
to the max.
323
00:22:08,285 --> 00:22:11,296
Now, to take this further...
324
00:22:11,297 --> 00:22:13,809
Edwards rightly understood
325
00:22:13,810 --> 00:22:22,031
that not only had God preordained and prescribed a certain number of days,
326
00:22:22,032 --> 00:22:26,506
but that within that time allotment
327
00:22:26,507 --> 00:22:32,572
there were designated opportunities
328
00:22:32,573 --> 00:22:38,939
to do that which God has appointed me to do,
329
00:22:38,940 --> 00:22:47,319
and that I must capture the moment when those doors swing open.
330
00:22:47,320 --> 00:22:51,115
Those doors will then later be closed,
331
00:22:51,116 --> 00:22:59,004
and I must go through those doors of opportunity within time.
332
00:22:59,005 --> 00:23:02,920
Ephesians 5, verse 16, makes this very clear.
333
00:23:02,920 --> 00:23:07,146
And one of Edwards' most powerful sermons was on this text.
334
00:23:07,146 --> 00:23:11,457
If time permits I would love to share some of that with you at the end.
335
00:23:11,457 --> 00:23:19,145
But Ephesians 5:16 says that we are to be making the most
336
00:23:19,146 --> 00:23:20,593
of your time.
337
00:23:20,593 --> 00:23:22,717
The most of our time.
338
00:23:22,717 --> 00:23:26,226
This word for time is not χρόνος,
339
00:23:26,226 --> 00:23:31,648
which refers to clock time, chronology, or chronometer, as a watch.
340
00:23:31,649 --> 00:23:33,626
That's not the word that Paul is using here:
341
00:23:33,626 --> 00:23:38,258
Making the most of the time that you have.
342
00:23:38,259 --> 00:23:40,707
It is Καιρός,
343
00:23:40,707 --> 00:23:44,376
which means a season or opportunity,
344
00:23:44,376 --> 00:23:47,757
a fixed period within time
345
00:23:47,757 --> 00:23:55,693
in which you are given divine opportunities to do something for God.
346
00:23:55,694 --> 00:23:58,348
We often call them divine appointments.
347
00:23:58,348 --> 00:24:03,425
A prearranged, divinely arranged season of time.
348
00:24:03,425 --> 00:24:10,988
Windows of time that are opened by God for us to do something to glorify Him,
349
00:24:10,988 --> 00:24:15,063
and those open doors will soon shut.
350
00:24:15,064 --> 00:24:16,364
Isaiah 55:6
351
00:24:16,364 --> 00:24:20,344
Seek the Lord while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near.
352
00:24:20,344 --> 00:24:22,121
Psalm 69:13
353
00:24:22,121 --> 00:24:28,360
O Lord, my prayer to You is in an acceptable time.
354
00:24:28,361 --> 00:24:29,489
Psalm 32:6
355
00:24:29,489 --> 00:24:33,959
Let everyone who is godly pray to You in a time when You may be found.
356
00:24:33,959 --> 00:24:38,126
There are times when God may be found, there are times when God may not be found.
357
00:24:38,126 --> 00:24:41,784
There are times when God is near, there are times when God is far away.
358
00:24:41,784 --> 00:24:44,092
Luke 14, verse 13 (Luke 4:13)
359
00:24:44,092 --> 00:24:48,728
There is a time for Satan to advance against Christ to tempt him in the wilderness,
360
00:24:48,728 --> 00:24:51,174
and there are times for Satan to withdraw,
361
00:24:51,174 --> 00:24:56,952
and then come back again at a more opportune time.
362
00:24:56,953 --> 00:25:04,562
There are opportune times in your life to do certain things today, this moment,
363
00:25:04,563 --> 00:25:10,234
that you will not have at other times in your Christian life.
364
00:25:10,235 --> 00:25:12,168
Dads,
365
00:25:12,169 --> 00:25:19,053
you have opportunities with your sons and daughters today,
366
00:25:19,054 --> 00:25:22,755
that you will not have next year.
367
00:25:22,756 --> 00:25:29,514
They cannot be replicated again.
368
00:25:29,515 --> 00:25:32,790
We must seize the moment.
369
00:25:32,791 --> 00:25:35,462
Edwards understood this.
370
00:25:35,463 --> 00:25:39,444
And so therefore he was a driven man, even as a young man,
371
00:25:39,444 --> 00:25:41,144
that he must buy up the time,
372
00:25:41,144 --> 00:25:42,629
he must seize the moment,
373
00:25:42,629 --> 00:25:44,551
he must live every day
374
00:25:44,551 --> 00:25:48,034
knowing that I do not have time to waste or to squander.
375
00:25:48,034 --> 00:25:50,136
There was a pace about his life,
376
00:25:50,136 --> 00:25:52,331
there was a press about his life,
377
00:25:52,331 --> 00:25:55,537
that he must do the works of God while it is day,
378
00:25:55,537 --> 00:26:01,290
for, when night comes, no man can work.
379
00:26:01,291 --> 00:26:05,714
Do you feel that press of eternity upon you life?
380
00:26:05,715 --> 00:26:09,585
Do you wake up, sensing that this is a day that the Lord has made?
381
00:26:09,585 --> 00:26:11,666
I shall rejoice and be glad in it?
382
00:26:11,666 --> 00:26:15,721
That God has preordained good works for me to work in?
383
00:26:15,721 --> 00:26:20,924
That I'm living in a sense of destiny every moment of every day?
384
00:26:20,925 --> 00:26:26,813
Would you say to God: God, stamp eternity upon my eyeballs!?
385
00:26:28,316 --> 00:26:31,597
That would greatly effect
386
00:26:31,598 --> 00:26:35,007
the use of your time this afternoon.
387
00:26:35,008 --> 00:26:39,431
It would greatly effect the use of your time tonight.
388
00:26:39,432 --> 00:26:41,862
It would greatly effect
389
00:26:41,862 --> 00:26:45,618
how much television you watch,
390
00:26:45,619 --> 00:26:47,887
how much do you sleep,
391
00:26:47,888 --> 00:26:49,630
when do you go to sleep,
392
00:26:49,631 --> 00:26:52,013
when do you wake up,
393
00:26:52,014 --> 00:26:54,372
how much do you read the Bible,
394
00:26:54,373 --> 00:26:56,765
how much do you pray,
395
00:26:56,766 --> 00:26:58,853
how much do you witness.
396
00:27:00,970 --> 00:27:02,790
Are you intentional?
397
00:27:02,790 --> 00:27:05,880
Are you resolved?
398
00:27:05,881 --> 00:27:12,925
You only have so little time.
399
00:27:16,830 --> 00:27:19,773
Edwards said in this resolution
400
00:27:19,774 --> 00:27:27,140
that he wanted to improve it the most profitable way.
401
00:27:27,141 --> 00:27:30,183
He understood he had to be very strategic,
402
00:27:30,184 --> 00:27:32,840
that he had to be very thoughtful,
403
00:27:32,841 --> 00:27:37,962
that he had to be very scrutinizing
404
00:27:37,962 --> 00:27:44,725
in how he improved the use of his time.
405
00:27:44,726 --> 00:27:51,593
In Ephesians 5, verse 15 and following the Scripture reads:
406
00:27:51,594 --> 00:27:54,582
Therefore be careful how you walk,
407
00:27:54,582 --> 00:27:59,532
not as unwise men but as wise,
408
00:27:59,532 --> 00:28:05,985
making the most of your time, because the days are evil.
409
00:28:05,986 --> 00:28:09,289
That verb, making the most,
410
00:28:09,290 --> 00:28:12,682
ἐξαγοράζω
411
00:28:12,683 --> 00:28:15,212
means: to redeem...
412
00:28:15,213 --> 00:28:19,437
In the old King James it says: redeeming the time.
413
00:28:19,438 --> 00:28:21,995
It means: to buy it up.
414
00:28:21,996 --> 00:28:26,337
The imagery here is: going into the market place.
415
00:28:26,338 --> 00:28:30,745
And something is offered for sale now,
416
00:28:30,745 --> 00:28:34,365
that will not be for sale later.
417
00:28:34,366 --> 00:28:39,114
And if you are going to purchase it, you must purchase it now.
418
00:28:39,114 --> 00:28:44,625
Almost as if there is a sale and it is offered now at this price,
419
00:28:44,625 --> 00:28:48,310
and if you are to have it at this price, you must have it now
420
00:28:48,310 --> 00:28:51,238
and purchase it now. There must be an exchange.
421
00:28:51,238 --> 00:28:56,648
You cannot come back to the same place in the same market place next week
422
00:28:56,648 --> 00:29:00,078
and expect to to be able to purchase this commodity.
423
00:29:00,078 --> 00:29:02,757
If you are to have it, you must have it now.
424
00:29:02,757 --> 00:29:06,742
You cannot procrastinate, you cannot put off the time.
425
00:29:06,742 --> 00:29:14,845
The business transaction with the one who is selling, it must be secured now.
426
00:29:14,846 --> 00:29:17,658
Redeem the time, for the days are evil.
427
00:29:17,659 --> 00:29:23,780
And Edwards understood that these doors of opportunity would swing open in live,
428
00:29:23,780 --> 00:29:31,084
and when they swing open, he must move in, and he must buy up that time.
429
00:29:32,675 --> 00:29:35,113
When I went to college...
430
00:29:35,114 --> 00:29:37,759
I went to Texas Tech University.
431
00:29:37,760 --> 00:29:40,501
I grew up in Memphis, Tennessee.
432
00:29:40,502 --> 00:29:43,320
I went out on a football scholarship.
433
00:29:43,321 --> 00:29:49,244
And when I went out to college, it seemed like... I went to the moon.
434
00:29:49,245 --> 00:29:53,090
A long ways away.
435
00:29:53,091 --> 00:29:56,944
... from rivers, and lakes, and green grass, and trees.
436
00:30:00,115 --> 00:30:06,221
To the barren country of West Texas.
437
00:30:06,222 --> 00:30:08,636
It was a huge family event.
438
00:30:08,637 --> 00:30:12,897
My family had a Volkswagen bus.
439
00:30:12,898 --> 00:30:18,104
We were not hippies at that time, but we were in that Volkswagen bus.
440
00:30:18,105 --> 00:30:23,421
My father, my mother, myself, my brother, my sister.
441
00:30:23,421 --> 00:30:27,642
And we all drove. Took us a couple of days to get to Lubbock.
442
00:30:27,642 --> 00:30:30,324
I'm the oldest child.
443
00:30:30,324 --> 00:30:33,299
This was a huge step.
444
00:30:33,299 --> 00:30:38,795
And I remember... moving into the dorm.
445
00:30:38,796 --> 00:30:44,753
And my father and my mother carefully helping me gather everything up,
446
00:30:44,754 --> 00:30:46,826
putting it into the closet,
447
00:30:46,827 --> 00:30:48,808
fixing up my bed,
448
00:30:48,809 --> 00:30:51,111
puffing up the pillow,
449
00:30:51,112 --> 00:30:53,868
putting a little alarm clock out,
450
00:30:53,869 --> 00:30:58,100
everything you would do.
451
00:30:58,101 --> 00:31:03,615
And then, my father, at the very end, he gave me his speech.
452
00:31:06,251 --> 00:31:10,326
And I remember, he reached into his pocket
453
00:31:10,327 --> 00:31:14,514
and he pulled out a dollar bill.
454
00:31:14,515 --> 00:31:18,097
And he said: Steven,
455
00:31:18,098 --> 00:31:22,661
your allowance for the semester.
456
00:31:22,662 --> 00:31:25,471
I was waiting for the answer for this.
457
00:31:25,471 --> 00:31:27,904
My mom was standing right behind him.
458
00:31:27,904 --> 00:31:32,229
I remember "your allowence", and he gave me the amount.
459
00:31:32,229 --> 00:31:36,161
It was an extraordinarily small amount.
460
00:31:38,195 --> 00:31:41,422
And I was doing the math in my head while he was talking,
461
00:31:41,422 --> 00:31:47,739
breaking this down by month, by week, by day, by meal...
462
00:31:47,740 --> 00:31:50,885
... this money.
463
00:31:50,886 --> 00:31:53,361
And he pulled out this dollar bill
464
00:31:53,361 --> 00:31:57,389
and he began to pull it in opposite corners.
465
00:31:57,390 --> 00:32:00,737
No one could work a dollar bill like my father.
466
00:32:00,737 --> 00:32:05,969
The most frugal man who has ever walked planet earth.
467
00:32:05,970 --> 00:32:10,535
To this day I still have never had a large Coke.
468
00:32:14,070 --> 00:32:19,899
It's always the small Coke and get the refill.
469
00:32:19,900 --> 00:32:22,897
I used to take his ballpoint pen and I would click it.
470
00:32:22,897 --> 00:32:27,620
And he would take it back from me and say: That's one less time it will work, son.
471
00:32:29,780 --> 00:32:31,876
(I suppose you're right.)
472
00:32:34,262 --> 00:32:36,290
So, he said to me,
473
00:32:39,633 --> 00:32:43,287
what this amount was.
474
00:32:43,288 --> 00:32:47,821
He said, this is all... that there will be.
475
00:32:47,822 --> 00:32:53,461
Now, it's gonna have to last during the entire semester.
476
00:32:53,462 --> 00:33:00,627
And he said: Every time, you put your hand into your pocket
477
00:33:00,628 --> 00:33:03,570
and you pull out a dollar bill,
478
00:33:03,570 --> 00:33:05,690
I want you to remember me,
479
00:33:05,690 --> 00:33:09,302
standing here with this dollar bill.
480
00:33:09,303 --> 00:33:16,221
And I want you to spend every dollar bill wisely.
481
00:33:18,861 --> 00:33:22,393
Because when you run out,
482
00:33:22,394 --> 00:33:25,868
there will be no more.
483
00:33:25,869 --> 00:33:30,122
I knew my dad was serious as a heart attack.
484
00:33:32,125 --> 00:33:35,676
And I knew that my mother would give me more.
485
00:33:43,074 --> 00:33:49,892
And she was smiling behind my dad as he is giving this speech.
486
00:33:49,893 --> 00:33:52,166
She is winking at me.
487
00:33:55,748 --> 00:34:00,253
But I have never forgotten that little speech.
488
00:34:00,254 --> 00:34:08,710
And that's the way I must be with the time allotment in my life.
489
00:34:08,710 --> 00:34:10,917
I don't have a day to waste.
490
00:34:10,917 --> 00:34:13,371
You don't have a day to waste.
491
00:34:13,371 --> 00:34:15,527
I don't have a morning to waste.
492
00:34:15,527 --> 00:34:19,510
I don't have an afternoon to waste.
493
00:34:19,511 --> 00:34:23,398
I remember one man coming by my office while I'm early in my pastorate
494
00:34:23,398 --> 00:34:27,107
and he came by, and he wanted to visit, and he came...
495
00:34:27,107 --> 00:34:29,150
He came into my office, sat down.
496
00:34:29,150 --> 00:34:32,161
I said: How can I help you? And he said:
497
00:34:32,161 --> 00:34:35,755
Nothing really. I just wanted to kill some time.
498
00:34:38,438 --> 00:34:41,829
I think there are a lot of people who go through life that way.
499
00:34:41,829 --> 00:34:44,607
They're just time killers.
500
00:34:44,608 --> 00:34:48,900
And it would be nice if they would just kill their own time.
501
00:34:48,902 --> 00:34:52,088
But they want to kill other people's time.
502
00:34:52,089 --> 00:34:55,228
And you are taking away from other people
503
00:34:55,228 --> 00:34:58,638
their maximum opportunity to glorify God,
504
00:34:58,638 --> 00:35:06,195
to be productive in the pursuit of what God has laid out in his will.
505
00:35:06,196 --> 00:35:08,600
This is not to say, there is not a place for recreation.
506
00:35:08,600 --> 00:35:12,195
There is the Sabbath principle talked throughout Scripture.
507
00:35:12,196 --> 00:35:17,456
We must rest. There is the need for the re-creation of recreation.
508
00:35:17,456 --> 00:35:21,198
We cannot live full tilt every moment of every second of every life.
509
00:35:21,198 --> 00:35:23,778
It's like highlighting in yellow every word on a page.
510
00:35:23,778 --> 00:35:26,709
Then nothing really necessarily stands out.
511
00:35:26,709 --> 00:35:28,615
There is an ebb and a flow of life.
512
00:35:28,615 --> 00:35:29,918
But I want to tell you this:
513
00:35:29,918 --> 00:35:32,437
You only have so much time on this planet
514
00:35:32,437 --> 00:35:34,026
to breathe God's air
515
00:35:34,026 --> 00:35:35,404
and to drink God's water
516
00:35:35,404 --> 00:35:36,696
and to do God's will
517
00:35:36,696 --> 00:35:41,859
and for God's sake, you better get on what He's called you to do!
518
00:35:41,860 --> 00:35:45,233
If He's called you to the ministry then get after it!
519
00:35:45,234 --> 00:35:50,534
If this is the time to step forward and to go in a certain direction
520
00:35:50,534 --> 00:35:54,792
then pursue the will of God in your life!
521
00:35:54,793 --> 00:36:01,429
There is only so much time to do it.
522
00:36:01,430 --> 00:36:04,075
Now I want to give you another resolution.
523
00:36:09,503 --> 00:36:13,397
(I only know what time it is. When do I finish?)
524
00:36:17,510 --> 00:36:21,499
(O.k., alright.)
525
00:36:21,500 --> 00:36:23,990
(I'll make anything work.)
526
00:36:27,711 --> 00:36:35,610
(Whitefield's last sermon was two hours, as I told you, up at Exeter, New Hampshire.)
527
00:36:35,611 --> 00:36:37,586
Resolution number seven.
528
00:36:41,966 --> 00:36:43,199
Resolved,
529
00:36:45,269 --> 00:36:48,875
Never to do anything
530
00:36:48,876 --> 00:36:52,278
that I should be afraid to do
531
00:36:52,279 --> 00:36:58,138
if it were the last hour of my life.
532
00:36:58,139 --> 00:37:02,636
Edwards purposed to live his life, as Baxter said, we should preach:
533
00:37:02,636 --> 00:37:07,776
as a dying man to dying men, as never to preach again.
534
00:37:07,777 --> 00:37:13,322
Edwards purposed that he would focus upon the end of his life
535
00:37:13,322 --> 00:37:15,632
and then work back,
536
00:37:15,632 --> 00:37:21,013
and that he never wanted to be found doing anything that he would not do
537
00:37:21,013 --> 00:37:24,082
if it were the last hour of his life.
538
00:37:24,082 --> 00:37:26,082
And as he studied the gospels, he understood
539
00:37:26,082 --> 00:37:30,407
that Christ was consciously aware of that last hour of his life.
540
00:37:30,407 --> 00:37:33,391
John 2:4 My hour has not yet come.
541
00:37:33,391 --> 00:37:35,184
Referring to that last hour
542
00:37:35,184 --> 00:37:36,954
and it was the finished line
543
00:37:36,954 --> 00:37:42,091
it was the conclusion of the will of God, that the Father had charted for Him,
544
00:37:42,091 --> 00:37:45,267
and He was pressing towards that finished line
545
00:37:45,267 --> 00:37:50,195
and He always kept His eye upon that last hour of His life.
546
00:37:50,195 --> 00:37:54,161
John 7:6 My hour is not yet here.
547
00:37:54,161 --> 00:37:57,688
John 7:30 His hour had not yet come.
548
00:37:57,688 --> 00:38:04,752
John 12:27 Father, save me from this hour, but for this purpose I came to this world.
549
00:38:04,752 --> 00:38:11,489
John 17:1 Father, the hour has come. Glorify your son that the son may glorify you.
550
00:38:11,489 --> 00:38:15,868
John 19:30 It is finished.
551
00:38:15,869 --> 00:38:19,443
There was no rambling in his life.
552
00:38:19,444 --> 00:38:22,513
There was no weaving all over the highway.
553
00:38:22,514 --> 00:38:27,520
There was no dabbling over here and let me try something else over here.
554
00:38:27,521 --> 00:38:34,466
There was a very mature press about his life as he was pointed to the finished line,
555
00:38:34,466 --> 00:38:37,341
and he would not look to the right, he would not look to the left,
556
00:38:37,341 --> 00:38:40,864
he would not look at the others who were running around him in the race of life.
557
00:38:40,864 --> 00:38:47,590
His gaze was upon the finished line, the last hour of his life.
558
00:38:47,591 --> 00:38:53,781
He prepared all of his life for the last hour of his life.
559
00:38:53,782 --> 00:38:56,826
That he would die well.
560
00:38:56,827 --> 00:38:59,603
That he would die without regret.
561
00:38:59,604 --> 00:39:04,327
That he would die without saying, as so many that he had heard:
562
00:39:04,327 --> 00:39:07,168
Oh, if I had only done this.
563
00:39:07,168 --> 00:39:13,103
Oh if I had only made these choices and pursued these endeavors.
564
00:39:13,103 --> 00:39:19,985
No, when I come to the end of my life, I want to say: It is finished.
565
00:39:19,986 --> 00:39:22,585
And to die like his master.
566
00:39:22,586 --> 00:39:29,244
In the very epicenter of the will of God for his life.
567
00:39:29,245 --> 00:39:34,749
Resolved, Never to do anything that I should be afraid to do
568
00:39:34,749 --> 00:39:40,022
if it were the last hour of my life.
569
00:39:40,023 --> 00:39:43,550
Can you envision the last hour of your life?
570
00:39:43,551 --> 00:39:45,917
Whether it's this afternoon,
571
00:39:45,918 --> 00:39:48,430
whether it is in a month,
572
00:39:48,431 --> 00:39:49,739
whether it's in a year,
573
00:39:49,739 --> 00:39:51,251
or a decade,
574
00:39:51,251 --> 00:39:53,910
or whenever it is.
575
00:39:53,911 --> 00:39:56,156
Who knows, what the circumstances will be?
576
00:39:56,156 --> 00:40:01,870
Who knows, where that will be, when that will be, with whom it will be?
577
00:40:01,871 --> 00:40:11,222
But unless the Lord returns before then, that day is fixed on God's calendar for your life.
578
00:40:11,223 --> 00:40:19,996
You need to stay focused and riveted upon the last hour of your life.
579
00:40:19,997 --> 00:40:22,920
So that you will die
580
00:40:22,920 --> 00:40:25,520
without regret.
581
00:40:25,521 --> 00:40:31,330
That you make choices and decisions in your life today
582
00:40:31,331 --> 00:40:34,808
that will effect the path that you take
583
00:40:34,809 --> 00:40:36,665
when you arrive
584
00:40:36,666 --> 00:40:40,676
on that last day.
585
00:40:40,677 --> 00:40:42,758
Resolution number ten.
586
00:40:46,337 --> 00:40:50,151
This is a resolution that will grow you up.
587
00:40:50,152 --> 00:40:55,835
This is a resolution that will make an 18 year old young boy
588
00:40:55,836 --> 00:40:58,060
appear to be 68,
589
00:40:58,061 --> 00:41:00,669
appear to be 78.
590
00:41:00,670 --> 00:41:07,955
This will give you wisdom beyond your years.
591
00:41:07,956 --> 00:41:11,223
Resolved,
592
00:41:11,224 --> 00:41:15,049
When I feel pain
593
00:41:15,050 --> 00:41:20,973
to think of the pains of martyrdom
594
00:41:20,974 --> 00:41:22,834
and hell.
595
00:41:25,715 --> 00:41:28,493
If you're going to live with an eternal perspective
596
00:41:30,685 --> 00:41:33,687
and when you face disappointment,
597
00:41:33,688 --> 00:41:36,455
when you face trials,
598
00:41:36,456 --> 00:41:39,136
when you face problems,
599
00:41:39,137 --> 00:41:41,570
when you face difficulty,
600
00:41:41,571 --> 00:41:43,539
and adversity,
601
00:41:43,540 --> 00:41:46,671
and tribulation,
602
00:41:46,672 --> 00:41:50,461
you need to keep that in proper perspective.
603
00:41:50,462 --> 00:41:52,570
We have a tendency
604
00:41:52,571 --> 00:41:54,798
to become preoccupied
605
00:41:54,799 --> 00:41:57,516
on our troubles.
606
00:41:57,517 --> 00:41:58,994
And they grow,
607
00:41:58,995 --> 00:42:00,528
and they grow,
608
00:42:00,529 --> 00:42:02,196
and they grow,
609
00:42:02,197 --> 00:42:04,603
and they escalate,
610
00:42:04,604 --> 00:42:06,389
and they dwarf us,
611
00:42:06,390 --> 00:42:08,217
and they intimidate us,
612
00:42:08,218 --> 00:42:11,804
and they paralyze us.
613
00:42:11,805 --> 00:42:15,134
And they cause us to be self centered,
614
00:42:15,135 --> 00:42:17,707
and they defeat us,
615
00:42:17,708 --> 00:42:20,606
and they cause self pity
616
00:42:20,607 --> 00:42:24,786
to arise out of our hearts.
617
00:42:24,787 --> 00:42:30,678
And Edwards said: So that I can keep everything in rightful perspective,
618
00:42:33,099 --> 00:42:36,933
I want to be constantly thinking
619
00:42:36,934 --> 00:42:40,201
about martyrs
620
00:42:40,202 --> 00:42:42,684
and souls in hell.
621
00:42:45,937 --> 00:42:50,062
To think about those in Foxe's Book of Martyrs
622
00:42:50,063 --> 00:42:52,602
who where strapped to the stake
623
00:42:52,603 --> 00:42:56,935
and gave a witness for their faith and the Lord Jesus Christ.
624
00:42:56,936 --> 00:43:04,033
Who were literally burned at the stake for their gospel testimony.
625
00:43:04,034 --> 00:43:06,835
And in comparison
626
00:43:08,096 --> 00:43:10,187
we virtually
627
00:43:10,188 --> 00:43:13,225
have never had a bad day
628
00:43:13,226 --> 00:43:15,165
here upon the earth.
629
00:43:19,061 --> 00:43:21,608
Seven years ago
630
00:43:21,609 --> 00:43:27,613
I was forced out of a pastorate of a church that I pastored.
631
00:43:27,614 --> 00:43:31,336
It was a very painful experience.
632
00:43:33,889 --> 00:43:39,862
It's a publicly humiliating experience:
633
00:43:39,863 --> 00:43:41,040
family,
634
00:43:41,041 --> 00:43:42,618
friends,
635
00:43:42,619 --> 00:43:44,331
enemies,
636
00:43:44,332 --> 00:43:46,264
foes,
637
00:43:46,265 --> 00:43:47,617
newspaper,
638
00:43:47,618 --> 00:43:48,944
television.
639
00:43:51,845 --> 00:43:54,824
It's a very painful thing to go through:
640
00:43:56,855 --> 00:43:58,845
to step into a pulpit
641
00:43:58,846 --> 00:44:01,227
to preach your last sermon,
642
00:44:01,228 --> 00:44:05,621
to give your resignation,
643
00:44:05,622 --> 00:44:08,600
and then to just walk out of the building.
644
00:44:10,932 --> 00:44:16,912
You know, what kept everything in perspective... for me?
645
00:44:16,913 --> 00:44:23,634
Is reading about the Marian Martyrs in the English reformation.
646
00:44:23,635 --> 00:44:29,779
Reading about those men who preached what I preach,
647
00:44:29,780 --> 00:44:36,022
but yet they were strapped to a stake and were burned to a crisp.
648
00:44:38,212 --> 00:44:40,310
I walked away.
649
00:44:40,311 --> 00:44:42,618
I walked out.
650
00:44:42,619 --> 00:44:45,086
I got in a suburban.
651
00:44:47,295 --> 00:44:50,545
My son drove the getaway car.
652
00:44:54,131 --> 00:45:01,382
I was able to stop and get out of the car and shake the dust off my feet.
653
00:45:01,383 --> 00:45:04,113
I was driven home.
654
00:45:04,114 --> 00:45:06,521
I had a meal.
655
00:45:06,522 --> 00:45:11,164
Next day I played golf with my boys.
656
00:45:11,165 --> 00:45:13,282
I've never had a bad day.
657
00:45:15,413 --> 00:45:18,238
In my preaching Bible
658
00:45:18,239 --> 00:45:22,652
I have a picture of John Rogers.
659
00:45:22,653 --> 00:45:26,367
He was burned at the stake in 1555.
660
00:45:26,368 --> 00:45:29,717
He was the first Marian martyr.
661
00:45:29,718 --> 00:45:34,242
He was the first to be torched by Bloody Mary
662
00:45:34,243 --> 00:45:37,627
for his evangelical beliefs.
663
00:45:37,628 --> 00:45:44,251
In the back of my Bible I have the wood carving of John Rogers,
664
00:45:44,252 --> 00:45:50,187
being strapped to the stake in London, and being burned to death
665
00:45:50,188 --> 00:45:53,049
in front of his church building,
666
00:45:53,049 --> 00:45:55,909
in front of his congregation,
667
00:45:55,909 --> 00:46:01,174
in order to try to attempt to intimidate them all.
668
00:46:01,175 --> 00:46:04,150
They would burn the shepherd.
669
00:46:04,151 --> 00:46:08,775
Their intend was for the sheep to scatter.
670
00:46:08,776 --> 00:46:15,387
When I read this resolution of Edwards, I thought, there is much wisdom in this.
671
00:46:15,388 --> 00:46:21,364
For all of us to think constantly of martyrdom and hell.
672
00:46:21,364 --> 00:46:28,186
Not that we have some morbid spirit or martyr's complex,
673
00:46:28,186 --> 00:46:30,287
that's not it.
674
00:46:30,288 --> 00:46:36,624
But the things that upset us, and the things that stress us out,
675
00:46:36,625 --> 00:46:37,832
quite frankly,
676
00:46:37,832 --> 00:46:43,144
do not even begin to compare with what the martyrs experienced.
677
00:46:43,144 --> 00:46:46,798
And then, he says, "and of hell".
678
00:46:46,799 --> 00:46:50,557
Now let me remind all of us,
679
00:46:50,558 --> 00:46:55,502
if everyone of us in this room received what we deserved,
680
00:46:55,503 --> 00:47:00,221
we would all be in hell right now.
681
00:47:00,222 --> 00:47:06,714
We would have been in hell from the moment we were conceived.
682
00:47:06,715 --> 00:47:11,467
And the day that you sin you shall surely die.
683
00:47:11,468 --> 00:47:16,279
The fact, that we are not in hell right now suffering the torment of the damned,
684
00:47:16,279 --> 00:47:21,658
is far better treatment than anyone of us deserve.
685
00:47:21,659 --> 00:47:26,001
That is a theological truth.
686
00:47:26,002 --> 00:47:30,998
And that helps put everything in right perspective for my Christian life.
687
00:47:30,999 --> 00:47:34,716
I have pressures in my life right now, that are squeezing me
688
00:47:34,716 --> 00:47:39,875
and cause my mind at times to be anchored into those things.
689
00:47:39,875 --> 00:47:45,002
And it's not spiritually healthy for me to become concentrated upon those things.
690
00:47:45,002 --> 00:47:48,979
I need to set my mind on things above and not on things of the earth,
691
00:47:48,979 --> 00:47:52,263
but I also need to set my mind on things below,
692
00:47:52,263 --> 00:47:55,725
souls being tormented in hell right now.
693
00:47:55,725 --> 00:48:01,330
And realize that that mercy that has been shown to me
694
00:48:01,330 --> 00:48:04,956
is so astonishing and amazing
695
00:48:04,956 --> 00:48:09,162
that by comparison of souls in hell right now
696
00:48:09,162 --> 00:48:14,054
I have... I have no problems. I have nothing, for which I can complain.
697
00:48:14,054 --> 00:48:16,909
There is no reason for me to have a pity party.
698
00:48:16,909 --> 00:48:18,760
There is no reason for me to whine.
699
00:48:18,760 --> 00:48:23,492
There is no reason for me to be the focus of every conversation that I am in,
700
00:48:23,492 --> 00:48:27,983
to draw the people into my problems.
701
00:48:27,984 --> 00:48:30,349
I'm not in hell.
702
00:48:32,138 --> 00:48:36,400
Jonathan Edwards, as an 18 year old young man,
703
00:48:36,401 --> 00:48:38,355
he purposed,
704
00:48:38,356 --> 00:48:44,250
that I will think about hell and I will think about martyrdom,
705
00:48:44,251 --> 00:48:49,049
so that everything in my life will be kept in proper perspective.
706
00:48:49,050 --> 00:48:53,462
When I went to London a few years ago,
707
00:48:53,463 --> 00:48:56,723
I landed at the airport, got on the train, took the subway...
708
00:48:56,723 --> 00:48:59,475
I wanted to go first to Bunhill Fields.
709
00:48:59,475 --> 00:49:01,847
I wanted to see where the Puritans are buried.
710
00:49:01,847 --> 00:49:05,753
At that time it was outside the city limits.
711
00:49:05,754 --> 00:49:09,757
They would not allow John Owen to be buried inside the city limits.
712
00:49:09,757 --> 00:49:13,479
They would not let John Bunyan be buried inside the city limits.
713
00:49:13,479 --> 00:49:17,980
Isaac Watts, you are on the outside, looking in.
714
00:49:17,981 --> 00:49:21,695
I wanted to go to Bunhill Fields and just stand with those men
715
00:49:21,695 --> 00:49:26,225
who have been rejected, and many, who have died ignominious deaths.
716
00:49:26,225 --> 00:49:29,774
And from there I went to Saint Bartholomew's Hospital.
717
00:49:29,774 --> 00:49:33,976
Interestingly enough, that is exactly were Martyn Lloyd-Jones practiced medicine
718
00:49:33,976 --> 00:49:38,062
before he was called on the Gospel ministry. And on the back side of the hospital
719
00:49:38,062 --> 00:49:41,382
is a little brass plaque, that no one would ever see,
720
00:49:41,382 --> 00:49:45,420
unless you are intentionally going there and looking for it,
721
00:49:45,420 --> 00:49:47,487
and on this brass plaque it says:
722
00:49:47,487 --> 00:49:53,203
Here is were John Rogers was burned at the stake for his evangelical faith
723
00:49:53,203 --> 00:49:57,997
in the word of God and the Gospel of Christ.
724
00:49:57,998 --> 00:50:03,648
Just to have it edged into my mind again,
725
00:50:03,649 --> 00:50:07,372
that these men payed a valiant price,
726
00:50:07,373 --> 00:50:09,790
a great price
727
00:50:09,791 --> 00:50:11,990
for their Christian faith.
728
00:50:11,991 --> 00:50:14,943
And as I live my spiritual life,
729
00:50:14,944 --> 00:50:18,977
resolved, when I feel pain, when I feel disappointment,
730
00:50:18,977 --> 00:50:20,826
when I feel discouragement,
731
00:50:20,826 --> 00:50:24,269
to think of the pains of martyrdom
732
00:50:24,270 --> 00:50:26,170
and of hell.
733
00:50:28,754 --> 00:50:32,697
Let me give you one more, and then we are finished.
734
00:50:32,698 --> 00:50:34,566
Resolution number fifty.
735
00:50:36,837 --> 00:50:39,762
Resolved,
736
00:50:39,763 --> 00:50:44,483
I will act so as I think I should judge
737
00:50:44,484 --> 00:50:47,616
would have been best,
738
00:50:47,617 --> 00:50:51,156
and most prudent,
739
00:50:51,157 --> 00:50:57,290
when I come into the future world.
740
00:50:57,291 --> 00:51:00,472
Edwards wanted his present life to be shaped
741
00:51:00,472 --> 00:51:06,119
by whatever would be most important upon entering heaven.
742
00:51:06,119 --> 00:51:08,774
Whatever is important there
743
00:51:08,774 --> 00:51:12,692
must dominate the landscape of my life now.
744
00:51:12,692 --> 00:51:18,202
Whatever is of priority in heaven there, when I enter into heaven,
745
00:51:18,202 --> 00:51:20,879
that must be moved up the list
746
00:51:20,879 --> 00:51:25,802
and must be at the top of what is most important in my life today.
747
00:51:25,802 --> 00:51:30,356
Whatever matters to God and Christ in eternity, in heaven,
748
00:51:30,356 --> 00:51:33,894
around throne of God, for ever, and ever, and ever,
749
00:51:33,894 --> 00:51:37,710
what is ever of highest value in that day,
750
00:51:37,710 --> 00:51:42,613
must be as gold and silver in my life today.
751
00:51:44,730 --> 00:51:49,051
That is what Edwards is saying.
752
00:51:49,052 --> 00:51:54,178
He cites 2 Corinthians 4:18 While we look not at the things that are seen
753
00:51:54,178 --> 00:51:56,535
but at the things which are not seen,
754
00:51:56,535 --> 00:51:58,411
for the things which are see are temporal,
755
00:51:58,411 --> 00:52:05,060
but the things which are not seen are eternal.
756
00:52:05,061 --> 00:52:09,547
Edwards chose to live his life in such a way,
757
00:52:09,548 --> 00:52:14,520
that he was not preoccupied with the visible, but with the invisible,
758
00:52:14,520 --> 00:52:17,484
not with the temporal, but with the eternal,
759
00:52:17,484 --> 00:52:21,920
not with the earthly, but with the heavenly.
760
00:52:21,921 --> 00:52:29,249
He wanted his life to count to the maximum for God.
761
00:52:29,250 --> 00:52:33,787
So, fast forward, if you would, to the end of his life.
762
00:52:33,788 --> 00:52:37,311
So, how did Edwards die?
763
00:52:37,312 --> 00:52:41,962
What did it look like on the last day of his life?
764
00:52:41,963 --> 00:52:44,834
Well, it is by no coincidence
765
00:52:44,835 --> 00:52:52,121
that after age 18 and 19 Jonathan Edwards did become
766
00:52:52,122 --> 00:52:53,249
the greatest preacher,
767
00:52:53,249 --> 00:52:54,422
the greatest pastor,
768
00:52:54,422 --> 00:52:57,818
the greatest theologian,
769
00:52:57,819 --> 00:53:00,279
the greatest author,
770
00:53:00,280 --> 00:53:03,769
to preach the greatest sermon.
771
00:53:03,770 --> 00:53:08,612
It wasn't because he had time to kill and he was just shuffling free life,
772
00:53:08,613 --> 00:53:11,593
looking for something to do.
773
00:53:11,594 --> 00:53:14,204
He had purpose, he had intention,
774
00:53:14,205 --> 00:53:17,890
and he was resolved.
775
00:53:17,891 --> 00:53:24,748
He became the third president of Princeton, following his own son in law.
776
00:53:24,749 --> 00:53:27,034
And Edwards, you know the story, the end of his life,
777
00:53:27,034 --> 00:53:33,045
as soon as he was inaugurated and became president of Princeton,
778
00:53:33,046 --> 00:53:36,429
he was resolved to write the history of the work of redemption.
779
00:53:36,429 --> 00:53:38,861
It would be his Magnum Opus.
780
00:53:38,861 --> 00:53:44,239
It would be in the league of Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion.
781
00:53:44,239 --> 00:53:48,445
It would be up there with Luther's The Bondage of the Will.
782
00:53:48,446 --> 00:53:53,309
One month into his presidency on February, 13th, 1759,
783
00:53:53,309 --> 00:53:57,912
Edwards was inaugurated for Smallpox.
784
00:53:57,912 --> 00:54:01,060
He was the president, set the example for the student body.
785
00:54:01,060 --> 00:54:03,956
Everyone needs to be inaugurated for Smallpox.
786
00:54:03,956 --> 00:54:08,802
I the president will be inaugurated to show you that it will not harm you.
787
00:54:08,802 --> 00:54:13,452
He took the Smallpox vaccination.
788
00:54:13,453 --> 00:54:18,092
And tragically it had a very opposite effect on him.
789
00:54:18,093 --> 00:54:25,167
His throat began to swell to the point that he could not breathe.
790
00:54:25,168 --> 00:54:28,795
His wife, Sarah, was back in Upstate New York,
791
00:54:28,795 --> 00:54:35,443
there, were he administered to the Indians on a fifth-grade level.
792
00:54:35,444 --> 00:54:39,438
He has now come to Princeton, New Jersey, to assume this presidency.
793
00:54:39,438 --> 00:54:46,179
He is there by himself with only his daughter Lucy at his bedside.
794
00:54:46,180 --> 00:54:50,597
I recently was in Princeton and went to this very house,
795
00:54:50,597 --> 00:54:54,952
and went to the very room in which Edwards died.
796
00:54:57,013 --> 00:55:00,126
Dear Lucy,
797
00:55:00,127 --> 00:55:03,961
it seems to me to be the will of God
798
00:55:03,962 --> 00:55:07,628
that I must shortly leave you.
799
00:55:07,629 --> 00:55:12,090
Therefore give my kindest love to my dear wife,
800
00:55:12,091 --> 00:55:15,782
and tell her, that the uncommon union,
801
00:55:15,783 --> 00:55:19,554
which has so long subsisted between us,
802
00:55:19,555 --> 00:55:26,846
has been of such a nature as I trust is spiritual and therefore will continue forever:
803
00:55:26,847 --> 00:55:29,525
and I hope she will be supported under so great a trial,
804
00:55:29,525 --> 00:55:32,924
and submit cheerfully to the will of God.
805
00:55:32,925 --> 00:55:37,914
And as to my children you are now to be left fatherless
806
00:55:37,915 --> 00:55:42,062
which I hope will be an inducement to you all
807
00:55:42,063 --> 00:55:48,055
to seek a father who will never fail you.
808
00:55:48,056 --> 00:55:53,593
Jonathan Edwards had prepared his entire adult life for this moment.
809
00:55:56,013 --> 00:56:01,974
As he came to the end of his life he was not a man cursing and shrieking,
810
00:56:01,975 --> 00:56:07,045
and pulling back from the horrors of his appointed time.
811
00:56:07,046 --> 00:56:10,861
He was a man who would had given himself for the last years
812
00:56:10,861 --> 00:56:15,413
since age 18 to the pursuit of this day.
813
00:56:15,414 --> 00:56:18,986
He died as he had lived:
814
00:56:18,987 --> 00:56:23,119
glorifying God.
815
00:56:23,120 --> 00:56:29,299
He died suddenly on March, 22nd, 1759, at age 55.
816
00:56:29,299 --> 00:56:32,909
Only two short months after becoming president
817
00:56:32,909 --> 00:56:38,652
of the college of New Jersey which would become Princeton.
818
00:56:38,653 --> 00:56:44,077
Upon learning of Jonathan's death, Sarah, still in Stockbridge,
819
00:56:44,077 --> 00:56:51,608
packing their belongings, wrote this note to their daughter Esther:
820
00:56:51,609 --> 00:56:54,989
What shall I say:
821
00:56:54,990 --> 00:57:04,917
A holy and good God has covered us with a dark cloud.
822
00:57:04,918 --> 00:57:12,839
O that we may kiss the rod, and lay our hands on our mouths!
823
00:57:12,840 --> 00:57:16,111
The Lord has done it.
824
00:57:16,112 --> 00:57:23,660
He has made me adore his goodness that we had him so long.
825
00:57:23,661 --> 00:57:28,802
But my God lives; and he has my heart.
826
00:57:28,803 --> 00:57:34,389
O what a legacy my husband, and your father, has left to us!
827
00:57:34,390 --> 00:57:40,193
We are all given to God; and there I am and love to be.
828
00:57:40,193 --> 00:57:47,530
Your affectionate mother, Sarah Edwards
829
00:57:47,531 --> 00:57:53,970
Upon her arrival in Princeton with their family belongings
830
00:57:53,971 --> 00:57:59,776
she then immediately died herself.
831
00:57:59,777 --> 00:58:02,515
And then Lucy died.
832
00:58:02,516 --> 00:58:05,683
All in a matter of months.
833
00:58:05,684 --> 00:58:09,569
And when you go to Princeton now, to the cemetery,
834
00:58:09,570 --> 00:58:18,537
there is Jonathan Edwards, and lying next to him, Sarah Edwards.
835
00:58:18,538 --> 00:58:21,793
They both had lived
836
00:58:21,794 --> 00:58:25,996
charting a course for the day of their death.
837
00:58:25,997 --> 00:58:31,336
That they would maximize the time that had been given to them
838
00:58:31,337 --> 00:58:39,176
to live every moment of every day in the pursuit of the glory of God.
839
00:58:39,177 --> 00:58:42,010
How are you investing your life?
840
00:58:42,010 --> 00:58:45,987
I wonder how much time you have left upon this earth.
841
00:58:45,987 --> 00:58:48,783
How uncertain it is...
842
00:58:48,784 --> 00:58:52,580
Only God knows.
843
00:58:52,581 --> 00:58:55,019
How wise of a steward are you?
844
00:58:55,019 --> 00:58:59,079
With the opportunities that are around you today?
845
00:58:59,080 --> 00:59:08,931
May everyone of us number our days and present to God a heart of wisdom.
846
00:59:08,932 --> 00:59:10,402
Let us pray.
847
00:59:15,725 --> 00:59:17,507
Our father,
848
00:59:19,674 --> 00:59:22,033
You have sovereignly ordained
849
00:59:22,033 --> 00:59:27,798
that we would be birthed into the 20th century,
850
00:59:27,798 --> 00:59:33,276
and that we would be alive in the 21st century.
851
00:59:33,276 --> 00:59:38,023
You have appointed who our parents would be.
852
00:59:38,024 --> 00:59:40,978
What our personality would be.
853
00:59:40,979 --> 00:59:44,089
What our gender would be.
854
00:59:44,090 --> 00:59:47,775
What our complexion,
855
00:59:47,776 --> 00:59:50,278
what our physical body would be,
856
00:59:50,278 --> 00:59:52,155
what our gifts,
857
00:59:52,156 --> 00:59:55,175
what our abilities.
858
00:59:55,176 --> 00:59:59,328
You've appointed the day of our conversion.
859
00:59:59,329 --> 01:00:01,867
You have appointed those people who would be around us
860
01:00:01,867 --> 01:00:06,999
whose influences would be brought to bear upon our lives.
861
01:00:07,000 --> 01:00:14,715
Even those that have been of evil influence, You have meant for good.
862
01:00:14,716 --> 01:00:21,799
And over it all You have caused all things to work together for our good.
863
01:00:21,800 --> 01:00:28,788
And you have already prescripted the end of our lives.
864
01:00:28,789 --> 01:00:34,101
Except Christ's return before then, everyone of us in this room will die.
865
01:00:36,799 --> 01:00:42,098
And we must prepare for that day... now.
866
01:00:42,099 --> 01:00:46,478
May you lead us to put one foot in front of the other
867
01:00:46,478 --> 01:00:48,518
on the narrow path
868
01:00:48,518 --> 01:00:53,526
as we would continue our course in this world.
869
01:00:53,527 --> 01:00:57,595
I pray there would be a sense of urgency about our lives,
870
01:00:57,595 --> 01:01:00,366
a sense of picking up the pace,
871
01:01:00,366 --> 01:01:04,768
and pressing on to the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.
872
01:01:04,769 --> 01:01:08,460
Let us run the race that is set before us.
873
01:01:08,461 --> 01:01:10,963
Let us not beat the air.
874
01:01:10,963 --> 01:01:13,993
Let us buffet our bodies,
875
01:01:13,993 --> 01:01:16,398
lest we be disqualified.
876
01:01:16,399 --> 01:01:21,080
Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.
877
01:01:21,081 --> 01:01:26,356
Let us not become entangled with sin.
878
01:01:26,357 --> 01:01:35,190
Let us be fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of faith.
879
01:01:35,191 --> 01:01:38,532
Father, would you bless these men.
880
01:01:38,533 --> 01:01:42,691
And as the dusk clears from this conference,
881
01:01:42,692 --> 01:01:52,966
I pray that there would be a certainty and a centrality about these truths
882
01:01:52,967 --> 01:02:01,522
that would be secured and anchored into their hearts.
883
01:02:01,523 --> 01:02:05,550
May we live as mighty men of old.
884
01:02:05,550 --> 01:02:11,411
May we be as those who turned the world upside down.
885
01:02:11,412 --> 01:02:15,810
Father, I pray that You would bless these men,
886
01:02:15,810 --> 01:02:20,881
that they might be a blessing to countless others.
887
01:02:20,882 --> 01:02:25,641
And that the eternal destinies of others would be altered
888
01:02:25,642 --> 01:02:31,321
for the pursuit of your will by these men here today.
889
01:02:31,322 --> 01:02:33,884
I commend them to your grace
890
01:02:33,884 --> 01:02:38,940
and to your word which is able to sanctify them and make them strong.
891
01:02:38,941 --> 01:02:44,679
I pray this in the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and our savior.
892
01:02:44,679 --> 01:02:46,534
Amen.