By Evan D. Burns
Andrew Fuller was a man who loved to think of heaven and future glory awaiting all who love the Lord. His sermon entitled, “Degrees in Glory Proportioned to Works of Piety, Consistent with Salvation by Grace Alone,”[1] is medicine for the soul. In relation to the degrees of glory enjoyed in heaven based upon piety and obedience in this life, the fragrance of Jonathan Edwards emanates from Fuller’s pen. Here is a brief outline of Fuller’s sermon:
First, Heavenly bliss will greatly consist in our being approved of God.
Secondly, Heavenly bliss will consist in the exercise of love, supreme love to God.
Thirdly, Heavenly bliss will consist in ascribing glory to God and the Lamb.
Fourthly, Heavenly bliss will consist in exploring the wonders of the love of God.
And then Fuller goes on to elaborate how heavenly rewards should motivate our piety in this life:
In the first place, Rewards contain nothing inconsistent with the doctrine of grace, because those very works which it pleased God to honour are the effects of his own operation.
Secondly, All rewards to a guilty creature have respect to the mediation of Christ.
Thirdly, God’s graciously connecting blessings with the obedience of his people serves to show, not only his love to Christ, and to them, but his regard to righteousness.
[1]Andrew Gunton Fuller, The Complete Works of Andrew Fuller, Volume 3: Expositions—Miscellaneous, ed. Joseph Belcher (Harrisonburg, VA: Sprinkle Publications, 1988), 741-43.
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Evan D. Burns (Ph.D. Candidate, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary) is on faculty at Asia Biblical Theological Seminary, and he lives in Southeast Asia with his wife and twin sons. They are missionaries with Training Leaders International.