Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God - Classic Sermon by Jonathan Edwards

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God - Classic Sermon by Jonathan Edwards

Jonathan Edwards playlist: http://www.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=C71D542019FB8E60

Text of sermon: http://www.ccel.org/ccel/edwards/sermons.sinners.html

Jonathan Edwards - (1703-1758), American puritan theologian and philosopher

Edwards was born in East Windsor, Connecticut, to Timothy Edwards, pastor of East Windsor, and Esther Edwards. The only son in a family of eleven children, he entered Yale in September, 1716 when he was not yet thirteen and graduated four years later (1720) as valedictorian. He received his Masters three years later.

As a youth, Edwards was unable to accept the Calvinist sovereignty of God. He once wrote, "From my childhood up my mind had been full of objections against the doctrine of God's sovereignty It used to appear like a horrible doctrine to me." However, in 1721 he came to the conviction, one he called a "delightful conviction." He was meditating on 1 Timothy 1:17, and later remarked, "As I read the words, there came into my soul, and was as it were diffused through it, a sense of the glory of the Divine Being; a new sense, quite different from any thing I ever experienced before I thought with myself, how excellent a Being that was, and how happy I should be, if I might enjoy that God, and be rapt up to him in heaven; and be as it were swallowed up in him for ever!" From that point on, Edwards delighted in the sovereignty of God. Edwards later recognized this as his conversion to Christ.

In 1727 he was ordained minister at Northampton and assistant to his maternal grandfather, Solomon Stoddard. He was a student minister, not a visiting pastor, his rule being thirteen hours of study a day. In the same year, he married Sarah Pierpont, then age seventeen, daughter of James Pierpont (1659-1714), a founder of Yale, originally called the Collegiate School. In total, Jonathan and Sarah had eleven children.

Solomon Stoddard died on February 11th, 1729, leaving to his grandson the difficult task of the sole ministerial charge of one of the largest and wealthiest congregations in the colony. Throughout his time in Northampton his preaching brought remarkable religious revivals. Jonathan Edwards was a key figure in what has come to be called the First Great Awakening of the 1730s and 1740s.

Yet, tensions flamed as Edwards would not continue his grandfather's practice of open communion. Stoddard, his grandfather, believed that communion was a "converting ordinance." Surrounding congregations had been convinced of this, and as Edwards became more convinced that this was harmful, his public disagreement with the idea caused his dismissal in 1750.

Edwards then moved to Stockbridge, Massachusetts, then a frontier settlement, where he ministered to a small congregation and served as missionary to the Housatonic Indians. There, having more time for study and writing, he completed his celebrated work, The Freedom of the Will (1754).

Edwards was elected president of the College of New Jersey (later Princeton University) in early 1758. He was a popular choice, for he had been a friend of the College since its inception and was the most eminent American philosopher-theologian of his time. On March 22, 1758, he died of fever at the age of fifty-four following experimental inoculation for smallpox and was buried in the President's Lot in the Princeton cemetery beside his son-in-law, Aaron Burr.

Deuteronomy 32:35 (King James Version)

35To me belongeth vengeance and recompence; their foot shall slide in due time: for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste.

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[prittydeb]

God hates sin and he will never except it Matthew 5:48 Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.BUT he will forgive us if we repent and ask God for forgiveness

Luke 10:25

what shall I do to inherit eternal life?

Luke 10:27

And he answering said, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and with all thy mind; and thy neighbour as thyself.

John 14:15

If ye love me, keep my commandments.

[stack45ny]

@prittydeb Let's not forget believing. There can be no repentance without faith.

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

[AncientHistoryBuff]

@stack45ny, actually, the text says, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that WHOSOEVER BELIEVETH in Him, should not perish, but have everlasting life." (emphasis mine on the words whosoever and believeth)

[stack45ny]

@AncientHistoryBuff Actually, it depends on what Bible version one is quoting. I quoted the NKJV, while you quoted the KJV.

[mishaelf]

How does one's understanding of the Bible end up being so wrong?

[stack45ny]

@mishaelf I cannot know exactly why your understanding of the Bible has ended up being so wrong, for I do not know you. With that said, I do have a suggestion...remove the video of the girl dancing erotically from your "Favorites" list, and repent of your sin. Living in sin can and will cloud one's understanding of Scripture. May God grant you the grace of repentance and knowledge of His Word.

[MustardSeedish]

Listened to the whole thing. I would love if my pastor got up on the pulpit and just read this sermon just to see everyone's faces. Very sobering.

[jeanlenor]

This a terrifying message....Oh, we serve a loving but who has created a place called "hell" as punishment. Demons are everywhere and are many...Seducing spirits everywhere.......Oh what if Christ didn't come to die for poor sinners. I know men are wicked..flames of wickedness flow out of men's heart..Oh I know my heart and I've worked with natural men and teens who are just wicked-lie, noisy, hatred for their co-workers...Oh ye we deserve hell fire..Holy angels holy God won't all the time......

[JesusFreakPanhead14]

I'm required to read this sermon for my AP Composition class... As I was listening to it, I was thinking about how much I hated it. But then I realized that pastors preaching about hell are a rare breed nowadays, and realized what a great sermon this really is. It's good to get away from the fluffy "Oh, God loves you, he loves me, he loves everybody, yay!" aspect of Christianity and be reminded of the consequences of NOT following God...

However, this sermon kind of paints a rather negative pic

[prittydeb]

@stack45ny Yes faith is the foundation of a christian's life. You can't live a christian's life without faith

[prittydeb]

@stack45ny Yes faith is the foundation of a christian's life. You can't live a christian's life without faith 

[xxBananaXIceXCreamxx]

I am right now working towards getting a theological education and becoming a pastor.... I want so badly to preach truth like Edwards did, but it is a truly scary prospect. Nevertheless, I know Christ will provide and will walk me through the difficulties that come with preaching the truth..... Thank you for posting this.

[cblackwood1]

Unfortunately modern day Christianity only preach the love love love love of God. But many of these wicked ministers, pastors, priest, ect have fan the modern Christains to sleep in their a lukewarm godless/lawless state. They don't understand the LOVE of the Most High is equal to his WRATH. We all need to speedily repent, fast, pray and trust in the Most High son Yashuyah (Christ).