"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...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 fire every moment."
- Edwards: Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
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Those are heavy words, but incredibly liberating. I often overlook sin in my life. Not just things I do or say, but my very diseased nature. I even go through lengths of thought to convince myself I'm doing pretty well based on my lifestyle. These words by Edwards put the deserved weight on my sin and the just consequences. God's wrath is real, and fair. His love is just as real, and gracious. They met at the cross. God gave us a means of salvation through his Son due to his grace. It is all of grace.
I think when ppl look at this sermon all they see is the tyrannical puritan fire and brimstone stuff, but the real punchline isn't to point out God's judgment and thus motivate us to believe out of fear, it is to magnify the unrivaled grace of God, that out of His good pleasure, he would rescue a hell deserving race. We should be amazed at this overwhelming favor, and thus repent and believe in the Gospel.
ReplyDeleteabsolutely.
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