101: Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, Pt. 2 (Things Mormons Hate Series)

You're entering outer brightness. Alright, so that brings us to Jonathan Edwards' sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. What did you think of Jonathan Edwards' sermon? Does he take the fire and brimstone approach too far, do you think, in this example of his preaching?

I don't think so. If you take that sermon out of context of the rest of his works, with any pastor, or even any text or scripture, you could take it out of context and say, oh, James is teaching a gospel of faith plus works, and he's countering Paul's gospel so they're at odds with each other. But if you take it in context, I think his purpose was to demonstrate man's depravity, man's corruption, in the very heart, in the very core of what we are, is corrupted. And what we do, our sins, are just an outpouring. It's just a fulfilling of that inner desire to sin.

I think he did an amazing job, of course. It's a very sentimental sermon that he gave. But I don't think he went too far, just because I think the purpose that he wants to do is, his purpose is not just to make people feel bad. The purpose is he wants people to understand that there's real consequences to their condition. And I think it was early on in the sermon where he talks about there may be people among his congregation that don't know the Lord and that are under this threat of eternal wrath. And so I think he reaches out to them because he wants them to accept Christ and cling to Christ. And so, you know, I know a lot of people who say that their upbringing as Christians was kind of traumatic. You know, they're constantly afraid that God's going to punish them or they're going to hell and stuff like that. But it's like, you know, I mean, if it's true, then I don't think we should shy away from sharing that. You know, it's like, imagine if it were something else like, you know, what if my dad was constantly telling me that smoking cigarettes is going to give me lung cancer and it traumatized me and made me feel bad. And every time I smoked a cigarette, I just felt terrible.

And, you know, and so I got over that by convincing myself that it's not so bad and it's OK. Does that remove the threat of lung cancer? No, the threat is still there. So, I mean, is it wrong to for Jonathan Edwards or for any pastor to focus or to preach about God's wrath on sinners? And I think that's no. Frequently, my pastors, they don't make an entire sermon on, you know, on eternal torment. They will if it comes up in a passage, you know, like the parable of Lazarus, the rich man in Lazarus.

When that came up, you know, they talked about that. But it's not like they make other than that. They don't typically make entire sermons about it. But they do when they present the gospel. They say, if you don't know Christ, you're still in your sins. And so they appeal.

They appeal to them to come to Christ for salvation. So I think it. Yeah. TlDR. No, I don't think it's too far.

But what about you? No, I don't think I don't think so at all. It's definitely a sermon that as a progressive Latter-day Saint in the last five or so years of my time within the LDS Church, I heard quite a bit about. Because progressive Latter-day Saints, they do really want to focus on the love of God. And that, you know, there's that there is salvation in Jesus because they're they're kind of kicking against that. That weight that they felt as a Latter-day Saint in never being able to measure up to the requirement to be perfect. The way the Latter-day Saints view Christ's injunction in the in the Sermon on the Mount.

And so I heard a lot about this sermon. But if Jonathan Edwards took it too far, then then so did the Apostle Paul. And when he wrote chapter one of the beginning, what would become later chapter one of Romans. Right.

When chapters were added. So, you know, Paul, Paul does some of the same kind of setup or similar setup in Romans to what Jonathan Edwards does in his sermon. And Jonathan, Jonathan Edwards, of course, does end with hope for the sinner. So just as just as Paul does, which is, in fact, the gospel. So, yeah, I think it's a good sermon. And that's what stood out to me that that night so many years ago, driving pizza as I listened to the Christian radio station here read through the sermon is that there is hope for the sinner. And it's just another one of those means of grace that God used in my life, little by little, to draw me to a son.

Amen. Yeah, it's I guess some people might say, well, do you think the ends really justify that the ends justify the means just because you came to faith in Christ? Does that justify putting the what is it, the threat of the wrath of God in your mind? Like, you know, why can't we just talk about God's love?

And so how would you kind of respond to someone who would say that? If you only talk about God's love, then your hearers will never understand. They'll never understand God's love truly, because it's not like like you were talking about earlier with the Latter-day Saint view, where it's like your father is mad at you because you've done something wrong.

Right. What we have in the gospel is we have a perfectly holy God who has, by his own free will, decided to create. And then we have humans rebelling against God. And so we place ourselves in open rebellion. The Book of Mormon would say, right, that you are an enemy to God as a natural man, you're an enemy to God and will be forever.

So if you just focus on the love of God, then you don't have the gospel because you're not teaching people that they are saved from anything. Right. So that's I guess that's how I would respond to it. And I would say that, like we said before, you have to have both attributes of God, love and justice.

And let's, you know, let's let's blow that out a little bit. Right. The Book of Revelation talks a lot about heaven and what that will be like for the saints of God. And one of the one of the pictures that it gives us an understanding what heaven will be is that God will wipe away every tear. Right.

And there will be no more tears. Well, what you have in the Book of Revelation, in addition to that view of heaven, is you have presented the tribulation and the difficulties that the saints of God will face prior to their ultimate salvation in heaven. Right. And some of that tribulation and difficulty and persecution that the saints of God experience in this life is a result of human sin. Right. We bear the results of human sin.

Creation is groaning, as Romans chapter eight says. So if there is no justice and justice comes from the fact that God is just and punishes sin and makes things right, then how could God wipe away all tears if there's no ultimate justice? And like you said, that's only for the saints. Right. Because for those who are outside of Christ, they will still have tears, unfortunately. Yes, for sure.

But do you get my point? Right. How could there be how could there be no more tears if there is no justice for the wrongs that were committed against the saints?

Right. And it also talks in Revelation about the blood of the martyrs that cries up to God to avenge them for being killed. And without God's justice, their deaths won't be avenged. So I was thinking so earlier I was thinking about a passage in Galatians and it kind of ties into what you were talking about. You know, we have to understand that God that we are under the curse of our disobedience, our personal disobedience, but also because of Adam's disobedience and because that we're all under this curse of God's wrath unless we are redeemed in Christ. And so Paul in Galatians is talking about, you know, those who are trying to be justified by their their efforts, you know, following God's law. And in Chapter three, starting with verse 10, running from the English Standard Version, LDS can follow along in their King James if they want.

You know, it says essentially the same thing, but it's just easier to listen to in the SVU. So starting with verse 10, it says, For all who rely on the works of the law are under a curse. For it is written, quote, Curse be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the book of the law and do them, close quote. Now it is evident, excuse me, now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for the righteous shall live by faith. But the law is not of faith. Rather, the one who does them shall live by it. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us.

For it is written, Cursed is everyone who is hanged on the tree so that in Christ Jesus, the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles so that we might receive the promised spirit through him. And so I think that passage beautifully describes the problem, which is being under the curse of the law. It provides a solution, which is, you know, being in Christ, being blessed in Christ and how he accomplishes that.

The method of accomplishing that is Christ. He becomes a curse for us. So he takes the curse that we normally would receive for our sins and he takes it upon him. And so if we trust in him, then the curse is no longer on us. And so then and then throughout the entire book, Paul kind of chastises these people that are trying to live by faith or trying to live by works.

Let's see. I think it was chapter four, chapter five. Yeah. Chapter five. He says, For freedom, Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to yoke of slavery. So he's he's basically saying you're free. You know, you're the punishment of the law is no longer on you.

So why are you trying to go back to the law to find righteousness? You know, it's like it's like being freed from your chains and then say, well, you know, I got to I got to strap these things back on. And I feel like that's kind of the LDS church in a nutshell. You know, it's kind of like you talk about being freed in Christ. It's about grace. Then it's like, oh, yeah, by the way, if you're not doing this good enough, then you know, then you're going you're not going to receive exaltation. You're not going to have your family in heaven. They kind of hold everything hostage from if you're not a good enough Mormon.

So it's yeah, it's like they undercut their own message constantly. But thankfully, we have a savior that actually saves and doesn't just make salvation possible through your efforts. Amen.

Amen. So thanks, Matthew. That that'll bring us to we'll go on and let the listeners hear Jonathan Edwards sermon. As you listen, I want you to kind of pay attention to a couple of phrases that you'll hear Jonathan Edwards use.

Natural man is one. And of course, that's a reference to First Corinthians two. But it's a phrase that, as I pointed out earlier, shows up in the Book of Mormon in in particular, in Mosiah three nineteen. And so also pay attention to his use of the phrase great change of heart, which is similar to the mighty change of heart that's referenced in Alma five within the Book of Mormon. Just a couple of things that stand out to me in the context of this being a first great awakening sermon that predates the publication of the Book of Mormon by about 90 years or so. And, you know, these are these are the waters that Joseph Smith was swimming in and language he would have heard as he was attending church services during the second great awakening. And so just pay attention to that, but also pay attention to the fact that although Jonathan Edwards does take his listeners down into the depths of hell, he raises them up with the hope of Christ.

And that's what makes the sermon so great, even if Mormons hate it. That'd be interesting to know, actually, if our listeners would tell us if they if after listening to it, what they thought of it. So, you know, you can join our Facebook group. Let us know. Tell us what you think of it. Yeah, absolutely.

We'll put a post out there for them to do that. All right. You're listening to Outer Brightness, a podcast for post Mormons who are drawn by God to walk with Jesus rather than turn away. Outer Brightness, Outer Brightness, Outer Brightness.

There's no weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth here. We were all born and raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, more commonly referred to as the Mormon faith. All of us have left that religion and have been drawn to faith in Jesus Christ based on biblical teachings. The name of our podcast, Outer Brightness, reflects John 1 9, which calls Jesus the true light, which gives light to everyone. We have found life beyond Mormonism to be brighter than we were told it would be. And the light we have is not our own. It comes to us from without.

Thus, Outer Brightness. Our purpose is to share our journeys of faith and what God has done in drawing us to his son. We have conversations about all aspects of that transition, the fears, challenges, joys, and everything in between.

We're glad you found us and we hope you'll stick around. Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. A sermon by Jonathan Edwards.

Their foot shall slide in due time. Deuteronomy 32 35. In this verse is threatened the vengeance of God on the wicked unbelieving Israelites, who were God's visible people and who lived under the means of grace, but who, notwithstanding all God's wonderful works towards them, remained, as per verse 28, void of counsel, having no understanding in them. Under all the cultivations of heaven, they brought forth bitter and poisonous fruit, as in the two verses next preceding the text. The expression I have chosen for my text, their foot shall slide in due time, seems to imply the following doings relating to the punishment and destruction to which these wicked Israelites were exposed.

1. That they were always exposed to destruction, as one that stands or walks in slippery places is always exposed to fall. This is implied in the manner of their destruction coming upon them, being represented by their foot sliding. The same is expressed, Psalm 73 18, Surely thou didst set them in slippery places, thou castest them down into destruction.

2. It implies that they were always exposed to sudden unexpected destruction, as he that walks in slippery places is every moment liable to fall. He cannot foresee one moment whether he shall stand or fall the next, and when he does fall, he falls at once without warning, which is also expressed in Psalm 73 18 and 19. Surely thou didst set them in slippery places, thou castest them down into destruction.

How are they brought into desolation as in a moment? 3. Another thing implied is, that they are liable to fall of themselves, without being thrown down by the hand of another, as he that stands or walks on slippery ground needs nothing but his own weight to throw him down.

4. That the reason why they are not fallen already and do not fall now is only that God's appointed time has not come, that when that due time or appointed time comes, their foot shall slide, then they shall be left to fall, as they are inclined by their own weight. God will not hold them up in these slippery places any longer, but will let them go, and then at that very instant they shall fall into destruction. As he that stands on such slippery declining ground, on the edge of a pit, he cannot stand alone.

When he is let go, he immediately falls and is lost. 5. The observation from the words that I would now insist upon is this. There is nothing that keeps wicked men, at any one moment, out of hell, but the mere pleasure of God. By the mere pleasure of God I mean his sovereign pleasure, his arbitrary will, restrained by no obligation, hindered by no manner of difficulty, any more than if nothing else but God's mere will, had in the least degree, or in any respect whatsoever, any hand in the preservation of wicked men one moment. The truth of this observation may appear by the following considerations.

1. There is no want of power in God to cast wicked men into hell at any moment. Men's hands cannot be strong when God rises up. The strongest have no power to resist him, nor can any deliver out of his hands. He is not only able to cast wicked men into hell, but he can most easily do it. Sometimes an earthly prince meets with a great deal of difficulty to subdue a rebel who has found means to fortify himself and has made himself strong by the numbers of his followers.

2. It is not so with God. There is no fortress that is any defense from the power of God. Though hand join in hand and vast multitudes of God's enemies combine and associate themselves, they are easily broken in pieces. They are as great heaps of light chaffed before the whirlwind, or large quantities of dry stubble before devouring flames.

We find it easy to tread on and crush a worm that we see crawling on the earth, so it is easy for us to cut or singe a slender thread that anything hangs by. Thus easy it is for God when he pleases to cast his enemies down to hell. What are we that we should think to stand before him at whose rebuke the earth trembles and before whom the rocks are thrown down?

2. They deserve to be cast into hell, so that divine justice never stands in the way. It makes no objection against God's using his power at any moment to destroy them. Yea, on the contrary, justice calls aloud for an infinite punishment of their sins. Divine justice says of the tree that brings forth such grapes of Sodom, cut it down, why cumbereth it the ground? Luke 13 7. The sword of divine justice is every moment brandished over their heads, and it is nothing but the hand of arbitrary mercy and God's mere will that holds it back.

3. They are already under a sentence of condemnation to hell. They do not only justly deserve to be cast down thither, but the sentence of the law of God, that eternal and immutable rule of righteousness, that God is fixed between him and mankind, is gone out against them, and stands against them, so that they are bound over already to hell. John 3 18.

He that believeth not is condemned already, so that every unconverted man properly belongs to hell. That is his place. From thence he is. John 8 23. Ye are from beneath, and thither he is bound. It is the place that justice in God's word and the sentence of his unchangeable law assigned to him.

4. They are now the objects of that very same anger and wrath of God that is expressed in the torments of hell, and the reason why they do not go down to hell at each moment is not because God in whose power they are, is not then very angry with them, as he is with many miserable creatures now tormented in hell, who there feel and bear the fierceness of his wrath. Yea, God is a great deal more angry with great numbers that are now on earth, yea doubtless with many that are now in this congregation, who it may be are at ease, than he is with many of those who are now in the flames of hell, so that it is not because God is unmindful of their wickedness, and does not resent it, that he does not let loose his hand and cut them off. God is not altogether such in one as themselves, though they may imagine him to be so. The wrath of God burns against them, their damnation does not slumber, the pit is prepared, the fire is made ready, the furnace is now hot, ready to receive them, the flames do now rage and glow, the glittering sword is wet and held over them, and the pit hath opened its mouth under them.

5. The devil stands ready to fall upon them, and sees them as his own, at what moment God shall permit him. They belong to him, he has their souls in his possession, and under his dominion, the scripture represents them as his goods.

Luke 11 12 12. The devils watch them, they are ever by them at their right hand. They stand waiting for them, like greedy, hungry lions, that see their prey and expect to have it, but are for the present kept back. If God should withdraw his hand, by which they are restrained, they would in one moment fly upon their poor souls. The old serpent is gaping for them, hell opens its mouth wide to receive them, and if God should permit it, they would be hastily swallowed up and lost.

6. There are in the souls of wicked men those hellish principles reigning, that would presently kindle and flame out into hell-fire, if it were not for God's restraints. There is laid in the very nature of carnal men a foundation for the torments of hell. There are those corrupt principles, in reigning power in them, and in full possession of them, that are seeds of hell-fire.

7. These principles are active and powerful, exceeding violent in their nature, and if it were not for the restraining hand of God upon them, they would soon break out. They would flame out after the same manner as the same corruptions, the same enmity does in the hearts of damned souls, and would beget the same torments as they do in them.

8. The souls of the wicked are in scripture compared to the troubled sea, Isaiah 57 20. For the present God restrains their wickedness by His mighty power, as He does the raging waves of the troubled sea, saying, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further. But if God should withdraw that restraining power, it would soon carry all before it. Sin is the ruin and misery of the soul. It is destructive in its nature, and if God should leave it without restraint, there would need nothing else to make the soul perfectly miserable. The corruption of the heart of man is immoderate and boundless in its fury, and while wicked men live here, it is like fire pent up by God's restraints.

Whereas, if it were let loose, it would set on fire the course of nature, and as the heart is now a sink of sin, so if sin was not restrained, it would immediately turn the soul into a fiery oven, or a furnace of fire and brimstone. 7. It is no security to wicked men, for one moment, that there are no visible means of death at hand. It is no security to a natural man, that he is now in health, and that he does not see which way he should now immediately go out of the world by any accident, and that there is no visible danger in any respect in his circumstances. 8. The manifold and continual experience of the world in all ages shows this is no evidence, that a man is not on the very brink of eternity, and that the next step will not be into another world.

The unseen, unthought-of ways and means of persons going suddenly out of the world are innumerable and inconceivable. 9. Unconverted men walk over the pit of hell on a rotten covering, and there are innumerable places in this covering so weak that they will not bear their weight, and these places are not seen. The arrows of death fly unseen at noonday. The sharpest sight cannot discern them.

10. God has so many different unsearchable ways of taking wicked men out of the world and sending them to hell that there is nothing to make it appear that God had need to be at the expense of a miracle or go out of the ordinary course of his providence to destroy any wicked man at any moment. All the means that there are of sinners going out of the world are so in God's hands and so universally and absolutely subject to his power and determination that it does not depend at all the less on the mere will of God whether sinners shall at any moment go to hell. 8. Natural men's prudence and care to preserve their own lives, or the care of others to preserve them, do not secure them a moment. To this, divine providence and universal experience do also bear testimony. There is this clear evidence that men's own wisdom is no security to them from death, that if it were otherwise, we should see some difference between the wise and politic men of the world and others with regard to their liabilities to early and unexpected death.

9. And wicked men's pains and contrivance which they use to escape hell, while they continue to reject Christ, and so remain wicked men, do not secure them from hell one moment. Almost every natural man that hears of hell flatters himself that he shall escape it. He depends upon himself for his own security. He flatters himself in what he has done, in what he is now doing, or what he intends to do.

10. Every one lays out matters in his own mind, how he shall avoid damnation, and flatters himself that he contrives well for himself, and that his schemes will not fail. They hear indeed that there are but few saved, and that the greater part of men that have died heretofore are gone to hell. But each one imagines that he lays out matters better for his own escape than others have done. He does not intend to come to that place of torment. He says within himself that he intends to take effectual care, and to order matters so for himself as to not fail.

11. But the foolish children of men miserably delude themselves in their own schemes and in confidence in their own strength and wisdom. They trust to nothing but a shadow. The greater part of those who heretofore have lived under the same means of grace and are now dead are undoubtedly gone to hell. And it was not because they were not as wise as those who are now alive.

It was not because they did not lay out matters as well for themselves to secure their own escape. 12. If we could speak with them and inquire of them one by one, whether they expected when alive and when they used to hear about hell ever to be the subjects of that misery, we doubtless should hear one and another reply, 10. God has laid himself under no obligation by any promise to keep any natural man out of hell one moment. God certainly has made no promises either of eternal life or of any deliverance or preservation from eternal death, but what are contained in the covenant of grace, the promises that are given in Christ in whom all the promises are. 11.

But surely they have no interest in the promises of the covenant of grace, who are not the children of the covenant, who do not believe in any of the promises, and have no interest in the mediator of the covenant. 12. So that, whatever some have imagined and pretended about promises made to natural men's earnest seeking and knocking, it is plain and manifest that whatever pains a natural man takes in religion, whatever prayers he makes till he believes in Christ, God is under no manner of obligation to keep him a moment from eternal destruction. 13.

So that, thus it is that natural men are held in the hand of God over the pit of hell, they have deserved the fiery pit, they are already sentenced to it, and God is dreadfully provoked, his anger is as great towards them as to those who are actually suffering the executions of the fierceness of his wrath in hell, and they have done nothing in the least to appease or abate that anger. 14. Neither is God in the least bound by any promise to hold them up one moment. The devil is waiting for them, hell is gaping for them, the flames gather and flash about them, and would fain lay hold on them and swallow them up, the fire pent up in their own hearts is struggling to break out, and they have no interest in any mediator.

15. There are no means within reach that they can be any security to them. In short, they have no refuge, nothing to take hold of.

All that preserves them every moment is the mere arbitrary will and uncovenanted, unablaged forbearance of an incensed God. Application The use of this awful subject may be for awakening unconverted persons in this congregation. This that you have heard is the case of every one of you that are out of Christ. That world of misery, that lake of burning brimstone, is extended abroad under you. There is the dreadful pit of the glowing flames of the wrath of God. There is hell's wide gaping mouth open, and you have nothing to stand upon, nor anything to take hold of. There is nothing between you and hell but the air.

It is only the power and the mere pleasure of God that holds you up. 16. You probably are not sensible of this. You find you are kept out of hell, but do not see the hand of God in it. But look at other things, as the good state of your bodily constitution, your care for your own life, and the means you use for your own preservation.

17. But indeed these things are nothing. If God should withdraw his hand, they would avail no more to keep you from falling, than the thin air to hold up the person that is suspended in it. Your wickedness makes you, as it were, heavy as lead, and to tend downwards with great weight and pressure towards hell. And if God should let you go, you would immediately sink and swiftly descend and plunge into the bottomless gulf. 18. And your healthy constitution and your own care and prudence and best contrivance in all your righteousness would have no more influence to uphold you and keep you out of hell than a spider's web would have to stop a falling rock.

19. Were it not for the sovereign pleasure of God, the earth would not bear you one moment, for you are a burden to it. The creation groans with you. The creature is made subject to the bondage of your corruption, not willingly. The sun does not willingly shine upon you to give you light to serve sin and Satan.

20. The earth does not willingly yield her increase to satisfy your lusts, nor is it willingly a stage for your wickedness to be acted upon. The air does not willingly serve you for breath to maintain the flame of life in your vitals, while you spend your life in the service of God's enemies.

21. God's creatures are good, and were made for men to serve God with, and do not willingly subserve to any other purpose, and groan when they are abused to purposes so directly contrary to their nature and end. And the world would spew you out were it not for the sovereign hand of Him who hath subjected it in hope.

22. There are black clouds of God's wrath now hanging directly over your heads, full of the dreadful storm, and big with thunder. And were it not for the restraining hand of God, it would immediately burst forth upon you. The sovereign pleasure of God, for the present, stays His rough wind. Otherwise it would come with fury, and your destruction would come like a whirlwind, and you would be like chaff of the summer threshing floor.

23. The wrath of God is like great waters that are damned for the present. They increase more and more, and rise higher and higher, till an outlet is given. And the longer the stream is stopped, the more rapid and mighty is its course, when once it is let loose.

24. It is true that judgment against your evil works has not been executed hitherto. The floods of God's vengeance have been withheld, but your guilt in the meantime is constantly increasing, and you are every day treasuring up more wrath. The waters are constantly rising and waxing more and more mighty, and there is nothing but the mere pleasure of God that holds the waters back that are unwilling to be stopped, and press hard to go forward. 25.

If God should only withdraw His hand from the floodgate, it would immediately fly open, and the fiery floods of the fierceness and wrath of God would rush forth with inconceivable fury, and would come upon you with omnipotent power. 26. And if your strength were ten thousand times greater than it is, yea, ten thousand times greater than the strength of the stoutest, sturdiest devil in hell, it would be nothing to withstand or endure it.

The bow of God's wrath is bent, and the arrow made ready on the string, and justice bends the arrow at your heart, and strains the bow, and it is nothing but the mere pleasure of God, and that of an angry God, without any promise or obligation at all, that keeps the arrow one moment from being made drunk with your blood. 27. Thus all you that never passed under a great change of heart by the mighty power of the Spirit of God upon your souls, all you that were never born again, and made new creatures, and raised from being dead in sin to a state of new, and before altogether unexperienced light and life, are in the hands of an angry God. 28. However you may have reformed your life in many things, and may have had religious affections, and may have kept a form of religion in your families and closets, and in the house of God, it is nothing but His mere pleasure that keeps you from being this moment swallowed up in everlasting destruction.

29. However unconvinced you may now be of the truth of what you hear, by and by you will be fully convinced of it. Those that are gone from being in the like circumstances with you, see that it was so with them, for destruction came suddenly upon most of them, when they expected nothing of it.

And while they were saying, peace and safety, now they see, that those things on which they depended for peace and safety were nothing but thin air and empty shadows. 30. The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked. His wrath towards you burns like fire. He looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire.

31. He is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in His sight. You are ten thousand times more abominable in His eyes than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours.

You have offended Him infinitely more than ever a stubborn rebel did His prince, and yet it is nothing but His hand that holds you from falling into the fire every moment. 32. It is to be ascribed to nothing else, that you did not go to hell the last night, that you was suffered to awake again in this world, after you closed your eyes to sleep. And there is no other reason to be given why you have not dropped into hell, since you arose in the morning, but that God's hand has held you up. 33. There is no other reason to be given why you have not gone to hell, since you have sat here in the house of God, provoking His pure eyes by your sinful, wicked manner of attending His solemn worship.

Yea, there is nothing else that is to be given as a reason why you do not, this very moment, drop down into hell. 34. O sinner, consider the fearful danger you are in.

It is a great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath, that you are held over in the hand of that God, whose wrath is provoked and incensed as much against you as against many of the damned to hell. 35. You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe it, and burn it asunder, and you have no interest in any mediator, and nothing to lay hold of to save yourself, nothing to keep off the flames of wrath, nothing of your own, nothing that you ever have done, nothing that you can do to induce God to spare you one moment.

36. And consider here more particularly, 1. Whose wrath it is. It is the wrath of the infinite God. If it were only the wrath of man, though it were the most potent prince, it would be comparatively little to be regarded.

37. The wrath of kings is very much dreaded, especially of absolute monarchs, who have the possessions and lives of their subjects wholly in their power, to be disposed of at their mere will. Proverbs 22. The fear of a king, as is the roaring lion, whoso provoketh him to anger, sinneth against his own soul.

38. The subject that very much enrages an arbitrary prince, is liable to suffer the most extreme torments that human art can invent, or human power can inflict. But the greatest earthly potentates, in their greatest majesty and strength, and when clothed in their greatest terrors, are but feeble, despicable worms of the dust, in comparison of the great and almighty Creator and King of heaven and earth. It is but little that they can do, when most enraged, when they have exerted the utmost of their fury. All the kings of the earth before God are as grasshoppers.

They are nothing, and less than nothing. Both their love and their hatred is to be despised. The wrath of the great King of kings is as much more terrible than theirs, as His majesty is greater.

12. And I say unto you, my friends, be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. But I will forewarn you, whom you shall fear, fear him which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell. Yea, I say unto you, fear him.

22. It is the fierceness of his wrath that you are exposed to. We often read of the fury of God, as in Isaiah 59 18. According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay fury to his adversaries. So Isaiah 66 15. For behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with his chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebuke with flames of fire, and in many other places.

So, Revelation 19 15. We read of the winepress of the fierceness and the wrath of the Almighty God. The words are exceeding terrible. If it had only been said, The wrath of God, the words would have implied that which is infinitely dreadful. But it is the fierceness and wrath of God, the fury of God, the fierceness of Jehovah.

Oh, how dreadful must that be! Who can utter or conceive what such expressions carry in them? But it is also the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God, as though there would be a very great manifestation of his almighty power in what the fierceness of his wrath should inflict, as though omnipotence should be as it were enraged and exerted, as men are wont to exert their strength in the fierceness of their wrath. Oh, then, what will be the consequence, what will become of the poor worms that shall suffer it, whose hands can be strong, and whose heart can endure?

To what a dreadful, inexpressible, inconceivable depth of misery must the poor creature be sunk, who shall be the subject of this? Consider this, you that are here present, that yet remain in an unregenerate state, that God will execute the fierceness of his anger implies that he will inflict wrath without any pity. When God beholds the ineffable extremity of your case, and sees your torment to be so vastly disproportionate to your strength, and sees how your poor soul is crushed and sinks down, as it were, into an infinite gloom, he will have no compassion upon you, he will not forbear the executions of his wrath, or in the least lighten his hand. There shall be no moderation or mercy, nor will God then at all stay his rough wind.

He will have no regard to your welfare, nor be at all careful lest you should suffer too much in any other sense, then only that you shall not suffer beyond what strict justice requires. Nothing shall be withheld, because it is so hard for you to bear. Ezekiel 8 18 Therefore will I also deal in fury, mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity, and though they cry in mine ears with a loud voice, yet I will not hear them. Now God stands ready to pity you. This is a day of mercy. You may cry now with some encouragement of obtaining mercy. But when once the day of mercy has passed, your most lamentable and dolorous cries and shrieks will be in vain. You will be wholly lost and thrown away of God as to any regard to your welfare. God will have no other use to put you to, but to suffer misery. You shall be continued in being to no other end, for you will be a vessel of wrath fitted to destruction, and there will be no other use of this vessel, but to be filled full of wrath. God will be so far from pitying you, when you cry to Him, that it is said He will only laugh and mock.

Proverbs 1 25 and 26, etc. How awful are those words! Isaiah 63 3, which are the words of the great God, I will tread them in mine anger, I will trample them in my fury, and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment.

It is perhaps impossible to conceive of words that carry in them greater manifestations of these three things, namely contempt and hatred and fierceness of indignation. If you cry to God to pity you, He will be so far from pitying you in your doleful case, or showing you the least regard or favor, that instead of that He will only tread you underfoot. And though He will know that you cannot bear the weight of omnipotence treading upon you, yet He will not regard that, but He will crush you under His feet without mercy. He will crush out your blood and make it fly, and it shall be sprinkled on His garments, so as to stain all His raiment. He will not only hate you, but He will have you in the utmost contempt. No place shall be thought fit for you, but under His feet to be trodden down as the mire of the streets.

3. The misery you are exposed to is that which God will inflict to that end, that He might show what that wrath of Jehovah is. God hath had it on His heart to show to angels and men both how excellent His love is and also how terrible His wrath is. Sometimes earthly kings have a mind to show how terrible their wrath is by the extreme punishments they would execute on those that would provoke them. Nebuchadnezzar, that mighty and haughty monarch of the Chaldean Empire, was willing to show his wrath when enraged with Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and accordingly gave orders that the burning fiery furnace should be heated seven times hotter than it was before.

Doubtless it was raised to the utmost degree of fierceness that human art could raise it. But the great God is also willing to show His wrath and magnify His awful majesty and mighty power in the extreme sufferings of His enemies. Romans 9.22, What if God, willing to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction? And seeing this as His design, and what He has determined even to show how terrible the unrestrained wrath and fury and fierceness of Jehovah is, He will do it to effect. There will be something accomplished and brought to pass that will be dreadful with a witness. When the great and angry God hath risen up and executed His awful vengeance on the poor sinner and the wretches actually suffering the infinite weight and power of His indignation, then will God call upon the whole universe to behold that awful majesty and mighty power that is to be seen in it.

Isaiah 33, 12-14, And the people shall be as the burnings of lime, as thorns cut up shall they be burnt in the fire. Hear ye that are afar off, what I have done, and ye that are near, acknowledge my might. The sinners in Zion are afraid, fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites, and etc.

Thus it will be with you that are in an unconverted state. If you continue in it, the infinite might and majesty and terribleness of the omnipotent God shall be magnified upon you in the ineffable strength of your torments. You shall be tormented in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb, and when you shall be in this state of suffering, the glorious inhabitants of heaven shall go forth and look on the awful spectacle, that they may see what the wrath and fierceness of the Almighty is, and when they have seen it, they will fall down and adore that great power and majesty.

Isaiah 66, 23, 24, And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord. And they shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me. For their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched, and they shall be in abhorring unto all flesh. For it is everlasting wrath. It would be dreadful to suffer this fierceness and wrath of Almighty God one moment, but you must suffer it to all eternity. There will be no end to this exquisite horrible misery. When you look forward you shall see a long forever, a boundless duration before you, which will swallow up your thoughts and amaze your soul, and you will be absolutely in despair of ever having any deliverance, any end, any mitigation, any rest at all.

You will know certainly that you must wear out long ages, millions and millions of ages, in wrestling and conflicting with this almighty merciless vengeance. And then, when you have done so, when so many ages have actually been spent by you in this manner, you will know that all is but a point to what remains, so that your punishment will indeed be infinite. Oh, who can express what the state of a soul in such circumstances is?

All that we can possibly say about it gives but a very feeble, faint representation of it. It is inexpressible and inconceivable, for who knows the power of God's anger? How dreadful is the state of those that are daily and hourly in the danger of this great wrath and infinite misery! But this is the dismal case of every soul in this congregation that has not been born again, however moral and strict, sober and religious they may otherwise be.

Oh, that you would consider it, whether you be young or old. There is reason to think that there are many in this congregation now hearing this discourse that will actually be the subjects of this very misery to all eternity. We know not who they are, or in what seats they sit, or what thoughts they now have.

It may be they are now at ease and hear all these things without much disturbance, and are now flattering themselves that they are not the persons promising themselves that they shall escape. If we knew that there was one person, and but one in the whole congregation, that was to be the subject of this misery, what an awful thing would it be to think of? If we knew who it was, what an awful sight would it be to see such a person?

How might all the rest of the congregation lift up a lamentable and bitter cry over him? But alas, instead of one, how many is it likely will remember this discourse in hell? And it would be a wonder if some that are now present should not be in hell in a very short time, even before this year is out. And it would be no wonder if some persons that now sit here in some seats of this meeting house in health, quiet, and security should be there before tomorrow morning. Those of you that finally continue in a natural condition that keep out of hell longest will be there in a little time.

Your damnation does not slumber. It will come swiftly and in all probability very suddenly upon many of you. You have reason to wonder that you are not already in hell. It is doubtless the case of some whom you have seen and known that never deserved hell more than you and that heretofore appeared as likely to have been now alive as you.

Their case is past all hope. They are crying in extreme misery and perfect despair, but here you are in the land of the living and in the house of God and have an opportunity to obtain salvation. What would not those poor damned hopeless souls give for one day's opportunity such as you now enjoy? And now you have an extraordinary opportunity, a day wherein Christ has thrown the door of mercy wide open and stands in calling and crying with a loud voice to poor sinners. A day wherein many are flocking to Him and pressing into the kingdom of God.

Many are daily coming from the east, west, north, and south. Many that were very lately in the same miserable condition that you are in are now in a happy state with their hearts filled with love to Him who has loved them and washed them from their sins in His own blood and in rejoicing in hope of the glory of God. How awful it is to be left behind to such a day, to see so many others feasting while you are pining and perishing, to see so many rejoicing and singing for joy of heart while you have cause to mourn for sorrow of heart and howl for vexation of spirit.

How can you rest one moment in such a condition? Are not your souls as precious as the souls of the people at Suffield where they are flocking from day to day to Christ? Are there not many here who have lived long in the world and are not to this day born again and are so aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and have done nothing ever since they have lived but treasure up wrath against the day of wrath? Oh sirs, your case is in a special manner, is extremely dangerous, your guilt and hardness of heart is extremely great. Will you see how generally persons of your years are passed over and left in the present remarkable and wonderful dispensation of God's mercy?

You had need to consider yourselves and awake thoroughly out of sleep. You cannot bear the fierceness and wrath of the infinite God. And you young men and young women, will you neglect this precious season which you now enjoy when so many others of your age are renouncing all youthful vanities and flocking to Christ?

You especially have now an extraordinary opportunity, but if you neglect it, it will soon be with you as with those persons who spent all the precious days of youth and sin and are now come to such a dreadful pass in blindness and hardness. And you children who are unconverted, do you not know that you are going down to hell to bear the dreadful wrath of that God who is now angry with you every day and every night? Will you be content to be the children of the devil when so many other children in the land are converted and are become the holy and happy children of the King of Kings? And let everyone that is yet out of Christ and hanging over the pit of hell, whether they be old men and women or middle-aged or young people or little children, now hearken to the loud calls of God's word in providence. This acceptable year of the Lord, a day of such great favors to some, will doubtless be a day of as remarkable vengeance to others.

Men's hearts harden, and their guilt increases apace at such a day as this, if they neglect their souls. And never was there so great danger of such persons being given up to hardness of heart and blindness of mind. God seems now to be hastily gathering in His elect in all parts of the land, and probably the greater part of adult persons that ever shall be saved, will be brought in now in a little time, and that it will be as it was on the great outpouring of the Spirit upon the Jews in the apostles' days.

The election will obtain, and the rest will be blinded. If this should be the case with you, you will eternally curse this day, and will curse the day that ever you was born to see such a season of the pouring out of God's Spirit, and will wish that you had died and gone to hell before you had seen it. Now undoubtedly, it is as it was in the days of John the Baptist, the axes in an extraordinary manner laid at the root of the trees, that every tree which brings forth not good fruit may be hewn down and cast into the fire. Therefore, let everyone that is out of Christ now awake and fly from the wrath to come. The wrath of Almighty God is now undoubtedly hanging over a great part of this congregation. Let everyone fly out of Sodom, haste and escape for your lives.

Look not behind you, escape to the mountain, lest you be consumed. He lived the law, perfectly like no one can. Devoid of sin, he had become sinful man for us. For our sake, he emptied himself for us. As our substitute died for me and you in our place. Death upon the cross to save all the lost by his grace.

In our place, no one is good, no one is righteous. The wrath of God will be revealed because God is just, and just for our sake, he gave his only son. As our substitute died for me and you in our place. Death upon the cross to save all the lost by his grace. He has perfected for all time those who are now be saved divine by his single offering, offering, offering. He was numbered with the accused, intercession for me and you. We're declared righteous by his grace. He paid the debt in our place, died for me and you in our place. Death upon the cross to save all the lost by his grace. As our substitute died for me and you in our place. Death upon the cross to save all the lost by his grace. Thank you for watching!