Select Sermons
Jonathan Edwards
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
Deuteronomy 32:35 — Their foot shall slide in due time.
A Divine and Supernatural Light...
Matthew 16:17 — And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
Christ's Agony
Luke 22:44 — And being in an agony he prayed more earnestly, and his sweat was as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
God's Sovereignty in the Salvation of Men
Romans 9:18 — Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
God Glorified in Man's Dependence
1 Corinthians 1:29, 30, 31 — That no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption: that, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.
True Saints, When Absent from the Body, are Present with the Lord
2 Corinthians v. 3 — We are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.
The Importance and Advantage of a Thorough Knowledge of Divine Truth.
Hebrews 5:12 — For when, for the time, ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
The Excellency of Christ
Revelation 5:5-6 — And one of the elders saith unto me, Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book, and to loose the seven seals thereof. And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne, and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain.
Wicked Men Useful in Their Destruction Only
Ezekiel 15:2-4 — Son of man, What is the vine tree more than any tree? Or than a branch which is among the trees of the forest? Shall wood be taken thereof to do any work? Or will men take a pin of it to hang any vessel thereon? Behold, it is cast into the fire for fuel; The fire devoureth both the ends of it, and the midst of it is burnt: Is it meet for any work?
The Vain Self Flatteries of the Sinner
Psalms 36:2 — For he flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful.
The Future Punishment of the Wicked
Ezekiel 22:14 — Can thine heart endure, or can thine hands be strong in the days that I shall deal with thee? I the Lord save spoken it, and will do it.
Hypocrites Deficient in the Duty of Prayer
Job 27:10 — Will he always call upon God?
The Justice of God in the Damnation of Sinners
Romans 3:19 — That every mouth may be stopped.
Christian Knowledge
Hebrews 5:12 — For Then for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have need that one teach you again which be the first principles of the oracles of God; and are become such as have need of milk, and not of strong meat.
The Manner in Which the Salvation of the Soul is to be Sought
Genesis 6:22 — Thus did Noah; according to all that God commanded him, so did he.
Safety, Fulness, and Sweet Refreshment in Christ
Isaiah 32:2 — And a man shall be as an hiding-place from the wind, and a covert from the tempest; as rivers of water in a dry place, as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.
Pardon for the Greatest Sinners
Psalms 25:11 — For thy name's sake, O Lord, pardon my iniquity; for it is great.
Pressing Into The Kingdom of God
Luke 16:16 — The law and the prophets were until John; since that time the kingdom of God is preached, and every man presseth into it.
Many Mansions
John 14:2 — In My Father's house are many mansions.
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758)
Enfield, Connecticut July 8, 1741
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 vers 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 things,
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, Psalms 73:18. "Surely thou didst set them in slippery places; thou
castedst 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 Psalms 73:18,19. "Surely thou
didst set them in slippery places; thou castedst 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 is not come. For it is said, 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.
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
consideration.
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. But it is not so with God. There is no fortress that is
any defence 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
chaff 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 any thing hangs by: thus easy is it
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 has 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, and God's word,
and the sentence of his unchangeable law assign 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 an 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 whet, and held
over them, and the pit hath opened its mouth under them.
5. The devil stands ready to fall upon them, and seize 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 11:21. 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. 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. 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 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. 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.
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 noon-day; the sharpest sight cannot
discern them. 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, than
if means were never made use of, or at all concerned in the case.
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 liableness to early and unexpected
death: but how is it in fact? Eccles. 2:16. "How dieth the wise
man? even as the fool."
9. All 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. 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 not to fail.
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. 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 misery: we
doubtless, should hear one and another reply, "No, I never intended
to come here: I had laid out matters otherwise in my mind; I
thought I should contrive well for myself — I thought my scheme
good. I intended to take effectual care; but it came upon me
unexpected; I did not look for it at that time, and in that manner;
it came as a thief — Death outwitted me: God's wrath was too quick
for me. Oh, my cursed foolishness! I was flattering myself, and
pleasing myself with vain dreams of what I would do hereafter; and
when I was saying, Peace and safety, then sudden destruction came
upon me."
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 yea and amen. 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.
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.
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, and are already sentenced to it; and God is dreadfully provoked, his anger is as great towards them as to those that 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, 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, there are no means within reach that 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, unobliged 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 any thing to take hold of; there is nothing between you and hell but the air; it is only the power and mere pleasure of God that holds you up.
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 of your own life, and the means you use for your own preservation. 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 a 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, and your healthy constitution, and your own care and prudence, and best contrivance, and 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. 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; 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. 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. There are the 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 the chaff on the summer threshing floor.
The wrath of God is like great waters that are dammed 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. 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 mean time 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. If God should only withdraw his hand from the flood-gate, 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; 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. 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. However you may have reformed your life in many things, and may have had religious affections, and may keep up 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. 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.
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; 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. 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. 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.