Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God pt 2

Yep, It’s Monday again and we continue with our look at the old dead guy, Jonathan Edwards.  Today we continue in our series, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God  with part 2.

A brief review of what he has asserted thus far:

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God  pt 2

Part 1

Deuteronomy 32:35, "Their foot shall slide in due time."

In this verse is threatened the vengeance of God on the wicked unbelieving Israelites, …  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;

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,

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.  

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."  

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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.  But 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 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 xiii.  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 iii.  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 viii.  23.  "Ye are from beneath." And thither be 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 11:12.  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.