92SermonsofJonathanEdwards (continued)
the world was created, chose them in Christ, who then set His love on them, and gave them salvation.
If they ask, why God set His love on them, and chose them rather than others, if they think they can see any reason apart from God's mere sovereign pleasure, then they are badly mistaken. They should exalt God the Son, who bore their names on His heart, when He came into the world, and hung on the cross, and in whom alone they have righteousness and strength. They should exalt God the Holy Spirit, who of sovereign grace has called them out of darkness into marvelous light; who has by His own immediate and free operation, led them into an understanding of the evil and danger of sin, and stripped them of their own righteousness, and opened their eyes to discover the glory of God, and the wonderful riches of God in Jesus Christ, and has sanctified them, and made them new creatures. When they hear of the wickedness of others, or look upon depraved persons, they should remember how wicked they once were, and how much they provoked God, and how they deserved to be left forever to perish in their sin, and that it is only sovereign grace which has made the difference. In 1 Corinthians 6:9, Paul the Apostle spells out many different kinds of sinners, the sexually immoral, idolaters, adulterers, male prostitutes, and homosexuals. And then in the eleventh verse, the apostle tells them, "And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God." The people of God have a greater reason to be thankful, and more reason to love God, who has bestowed such great and unspeakable mercy on them, strictly out of His mere sovereign pleasure.
4. We learn why we must admire the grace of God, that He would condescend to become bound to us by covenant;
That He, who is naturally supreme in His dominion over us, who is our absolute master, and can do with us as He pleases, and is under no obligation to us; that this same God should, as it were, relinquish His absolute freedom, and should cease to be sovereign in His dispensations towards believers, when once they have believed in Christ, and would, for their consolation, become bound. So that they can challenge salvation of this Sovereign; they can demand it through Christ, as a debt. And it would be dishonoring to the glory of God's attributes, to deny it to them; it would be contrary to His justice and faithfulness. What wonderful condescension is it in such a Being, to become bound to us, worms of the dust, for our consolation! He bound Himself by His word, His promise.
But He was not satisfied with that; but that we might have stronger consolation still, He Has bound Himself by His oath. The writer of Hebrews says, "When God made His promise to Abraham, since there was no one greater for Him to swear by, He swore by Himself, saying, 'I will surely bless you and give you many descendants.' And so after waiting patiently, Abraham received what was promised. Men swear by someone greater than themselves, and the oath confirms what is said and puts an end to all argument. Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of His purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised, He confirmed it with an oath. God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered to us may be greatly encouraged. We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure. It enters the inner sanctuary behind the curtain, where Jesus, who went before us, has entered on our behalf. He has become a high priest forever, in the order of Melchizedek" (Hebrews 6:13-20).
Let us, therefore, labor to submit to the sovereignty of God. God insists, that His sovereignty be acknowledged by us, and especially His sovereignty over our own eternal salvation, a matter which so nearly and infinitely concerns us. This is the stumbling-block on which thousands fall and perish; and if we go on challenging God about His sovereignty, it will be our eternal ruin. It is absolutely essential that we submit to God, as our absolute sovereign, and the sovereign over our souls; as one who "has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy, and hardens whom He wants to harden." .