Grace & The God-ness of God

Jonathan Edwards on grace,

There is no gift or benefit that is so much in God, that is so much of himself, of his nature, that is so much a communication of the Deity, as grace is.

There is no gift or benefit that is so much in God, that is so much of himself, of his nature, that is so much a communication of the Deity, as grace is; ’tis as much a communication of the Deity, as light [is] a communication of the sun…

As this may show us, why God will bestow this good more immediately and directly; so also, why he will especially exercise and manifest his sovereignty and free pleasure in bestowing of this gift. God’s grace is eminently his own. God’s creatures, the sun, moon and stars, etc., are his own to dispose of as he pleases; but with more eminent reason, that which is so nearly pertaining to the very nature of God, as his grace, the actings and influences of his own Spirit, the communications of his own beauty and his own happiness. God will therefore make his sovereign right here more eminently to appear, in the bestowment of this. [Miscellanies, #537. Accessed online: http://edwards.yale.edu/]

Read it again. Much to chew on here. And glory in. 

Grace is the Everest of God’s glory. Never stop climbing its heights.

Waiting to Feel Better: The Greatest Snare in the Christian Life

Martyn Lloyd-Jones, in his typical hyperbolic preaching style, explains how important it is for Christians to know who they are:

“The whole matter of putting on the new man is in essence the application of truth to ourselves. It is the most important thing that one can ever discover in the Christian life. The real secret of Christian living is to discover the art of talking to yourself. We must talk to ourselves, we must preach to ourselves, and we must take truth and apply it to ourselves, and keep on doing so. That is the putting on of the new man. We have to hammer away at ourselves until we have really convinced ourselves. In other words, this is not something that you wait for passively. If you wait until you feel like the new man it will probably never happen. We must be active in this. There is no greater snare in the Christian life than to entertain the idea of waiting until we feel better, and of then putting on the new man. On the contrary, we have got to go on telling ourselves the new man is already in us. In his Epistle to the Romans the Apostle Paul says, ‘Reckon yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, and alive unto God’ (6:11).” Darkness and Light, An Exposition of Ephesians 4:17-5:17, 191-192

How to Come to Jesus

Jonathan Edwards answers,

“If ever you truly come to Christ, you must see that there is enough in him for your pardon, though you be no better than you are. If you see not the sufficiency of Christ to pardon you, without any righteousness of your own to recommend you, you never will come so as to be accepted of him. The way to be accepted is to come–not on any such encouragement, that now you have made yourselves better, and more worthy, or not so unworthy, but–on the mere encouragement of Christ’s worthiness, and God’s mercy…You must come as a patient comes to his physician, with his diseases or wounds to be cured. Spread all your wickedness before him, and do not plead your goodness; but plead your badness, and your necessity on that account: and say, as the psalmist in the text, not Pardon mine iniquity, for it is not so great as it was, but, ‘Pardon my iniquity, for it is great.'” [“Great Guilt No Obstacle to the pardon of the Returning Sinner” in Hendrickson’s *The Works of Jonathan Edwards*, Vol. 2, 113]

Come to Jesus not when you get better, but as you are right now no matter how you are right now. Spread your sin before him, and let him spread his massive grace over you.