Jonathan Edwards and the Christian's Safety

As I prepare to preach this coming Sunday on the fear of the Lord, I found a sermon by Jonathan Edwards on Proverbs 29:25 called “Christian Safety". He describes what we must have in order to have a right trust in God.

1. There must be a lively sense of our need of him, and the sufficiency of all other confidences.

2. There must be a firm belief in his all-sufficiency.

3. There must be a firm belief of God’s merciful nature, and that he is willing to help us and do for us: a trusting in God is a trusting in his mercy and goodness.

4. A firm belief of God’s truth and faithfulness to his promises: there is no trusting in God without a firm belief of the Word of God, and the revelation he has made concerning himself, especially his gracious promises.

5. A love to God: there is no such thing as trusting in God, as long as we are enemies to him and hate him; it is not possible we should come to God, and sweetly repose our souls upon him, as long as we have an aversion and antipathy to him, as we all naturally do.

6. A hope in him that he will bestow his mercy on us: neither can we be said to trust in God, except we hope that he will bestow upon us what we trust in him for.

7. A rest and satisfaction in the soul, arising from such a belief of, love to, and hope in God.

A Christian is safe insofar as he leans upon the Lord’s goodness to him. We may search for safety outside of God, but the further in we go, the safer we are.