Jonathan Edwards' Birthday and Most Famous Sermon

Jonathan Edwards was born on October 5, 1703.  This is the biblical text of his most famous sermon,  "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God."

Hell is a very real place.  Only by God's merciful restraint;  and acceptance of his offer -- by faith -- of eternal salvation through Jesus Christ alone are men and women kept from its eternal horrors. 

Sermon's summary:

"There is nothing that keeps wicked men at any one moment out of hell, but the mere pleasure of God."

Most of the sermon's text consists of ten "considerations":

1. God may cast wicked men into hell at any given moment.
2. The Wicked deserve to be cast into hell. Divine justice does not prevent God from destroying the Wicked at any moment.
3. The Wicked, at this moment, suffer under God's condemnation to Hell.
4. The Wicked, on earth - at this very moment - suffer a sample of the torments of Hell. The Wicked must not think, simply because they are not physically in Hell, that God (in Whose hand the Wicked now reside) is not - at this very moment - as angry with them as He is with those miserable creatures He is now tormenting in hell, and who - at this very moment - do feel and bear the fierceness of His wrath.
5. At any moment God shall permit him, Satan stands ready to fall upon the Wicked and seize them as his own.
6. If it were not for God's restraints, there are, in the souls of wicked men, hellish principles reigning which, presently, would kindle and flame out into hellfire.
7. Simply because there are not visible means of death before them at any given moment, the Wicked should not feel secure.
8. Simply because it is natural to care for oneself or to think that others may care for them, men should not think themselves safe from God's wrath.
9. All that wicked men may do to save themselves from Hell's pains shall afford them nothing if they continue to reject Christ.
10. God has never promised to save us from Hell, except for those contained in Christ through the covenant of Grace.  -- wikipedia

Yes, I am a believer and follower of the Lord Jesus Christ -- He who died for my sins according to scripture, and rose from the dead for my justification. My eternal destiny is no longer Hell, but to be with Christ in heaven.

The Devil never likes for people to know that Hell is a real place.  Edwards eventually lost his job at the church.  He went on to preach the Gospel to American Indians.  Even in injustice, Jonathan Edwards could see the providence of God.

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

Jonathan Edwards

Hymn: There is a Place of Quiet Rest

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