1
00:00:02,950 --> 00:00:08,190
In July of 1741, in the town of

2
00:00:08,190 --> 00:00:13,670
Enfield, Connecticut, Jonathan Edwards preached his now-famous

3
00:00:13,670 --> 00:00:17,650
sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry

4
00:00:17,650 --> 00:00:18,330
God.

5
00:00:18,690 --> 00:00:21,450
It was said of that evening, by an

6
00:00:21,450 --> 00:00:26,170
eyewitness, that ye minister had to desist from

7
00:00:26,170 --> 00:00:30,390
preaching, because he could no longer be heard

8
00:00:30,390 --> 00:00:34,530
above the shrieks and cries throughout the meeting

9
00:00:34,530 --> 00:00:35,150
house.

10
00:00:35,970 --> 00:00:39,830
America, at that time, was a land of

11
00:00:39,830 --> 00:00:40,630
revivals.

12
00:00:41,310 --> 00:00:45,270
But gradually, the theology of the New England

13
00:00:45,270 --> 00:00:52,250
churches changed into Universalism and Unitarianism, and ministers

14
00:00:52,250 --> 00:00:56,410
stopped preaching about hell, and told their hearers

15
00:00:56,410 --> 00:01:01,090
that God wasn't the angry entity that hated

16
00:01:01,090 --> 00:01:05,630
sin anymore, but God was a more accommodating

17
00:01:05,630 --> 00:01:08,270
being that would not punish sin.

18
00:01:08,870 --> 00:01:12,170
The trickle-down effect from this change into

19
00:01:12,170 --> 00:01:14,830
preaching is where we are today.

20
00:01:15,450 --> 00:01:20,130
Few ministers preach sermons against sin, or warn

21
00:01:20,130 --> 00:01:22,990
sinners to repent or be sent to a

22
00:01:22,990 --> 00:01:24,990
burning inferno called hell.

23
00:01:25,610 --> 00:01:29,330
God is just a big loving being who

24
00:01:29,330 --> 00:01:33,010
loves everyone, and he is tolerant about sin.

25
00:01:33,470 --> 00:01:37,350
That's the God we hear about today, because

26
00:01:37,350 --> 00:01:40,650
America has replaced the God of Edwards.

27
00:01:40,650 --> 00:01:43,530
And that's the title of my message this

28
00:01:43,530 --> 00:01:44,690
evening, friends.

29
00:01:45,070 --> 00:01:51,150
America Replaced Edwards' God A few wanted to

30
00:01:51,150 --> 00:01:53,810
believe in a God who was strict, and

31
00:01:53,810 --> 00:01:56,830
who was angry with the wicked every day.

32
00:01:57,310 --> 00:01:59,450
Few want to believe in a God who

33
00:01:59,450 --> 00:02:04,030
must punish sin, and send people to devil's

34
00:02:04,030 --> 00:02:07,669
hell, where his wrath is outpoured upon them

35
00:02:07,669 --> 00:02:09,270
for all eternity.

36
00:02:09,889 --> 00:02:11,850
Who wants a God like that?

37
00:02:12,230 --> 00:02:15,630
Most folks today don't even believe in a

38
00:02:15,630 --> 00:02:18,770
literal hell, because they don't believe in a

39
00:02:18,770 --> 00:02:21,370
God who would send people there.

40
00:02:21,630 --> 00:02:24,190
They just don't believe that God is a

41
00:02:24,190 --> 00:02:26,670
God who must punish sin.

42
00:02:27,150 --> 00:02:29,150
Their God wouldn't act that way.

43
00:02:29,550 --> 00:02:32,830
The God of Jonathan Edwards was put out

44
00:02:32,830 --> 00:02:37,010
to pasture years ago as an unpleasant entity

45
00:02:37,010 --> 00:02:39,370
that wasn't needed anymore.

46
00:02:39,810 --> 00:02:43,330
That's when the churches changed their message to

47
00:02:43,330 --> 00:02:46,530
a God is love message, and stopped warning

48
00:02:46,530 --> 00:02:50,570
sinners to flee from the wrath to come.

49
00:02:51,290 --> 00:02:54,610
Therefore, hell isn't necessary either.

50
00:02:54,950 --> 00:02:58,430
As a nation, we decided to kill off

51
00:02:58,430 --> 00:03:01,870
the God of Jonathan Edwards, and replace him

52
00:03:01,870 --> 00:03:06,670
with a much more loving, merciful God, who's

53
00:03:06,670 --> 00:03:10,950
more understanding and tolerant toward modern man.

54
00:03:11,310 --> 00:03:13,910
A God that we can get along with

55
00:03:13,910 --> 00:03:14,370
better.

56
00:03:14,810 --> 00:03:17,950
But the trouble is, the God of Edwards

57
00:03:17,950 --> 00:03:19,950
is the God of the Bible.

58
00:03:20,490 --> 00:03:22,550
And when we replaced the God of the

59
00:03:22,550 --> 00:03:26,510
Bible, we created one of our own imagination.

60
00:03:27,590 --> 00:03:31,410
And it is mainly an imaginary God we

61
00:03:31,410 --> 00:03:33,090
hear about today.

62
00:03:33,690 --> 00:03:36,670
But the gospel of Jonathan Edwards proclaimed a

63
00:03:36,670 --> 00:03:40,430
bloodstained Christ, who had rights and claims on

64
00:03:40,430 --> 00:03:42,450
all followers of his.

65
00:03:42,450 --> 00:03:46,030
The God of Edwards saw his blessed son

66
00:03:46,030 --> 00:03:48,930
hanging on a cross, and he had to

67
00:03:48,930 --> 00:03:52,410
look away because God can't look on sin,

68
00:03:52,670 --> 00:03:55,910
because Christ bore the curse becoming sin for

69
00:03:55,910 --> 00:03:56,410
us.

70
00:03:56,830 --> 00:04:01,310
Jesus cried out, My God, my God, why

71
00:04:01,310 --> 00:04:03,750
have you forsaken me?

72
00:04:04,230 --> 00:04:07,290
That cross had the blood of the son

73
00:04:07,290 --> 00:04:09,290
of man running all down it.

74
00:04:09,670 --> 00:04:12,570
I was standing in line at the grocery

75
00:04:12,570 --> 00:04:15,649
store, and a homeless man was in line

76
00:04:15,649 --> 00:04:16,470
ahead of me.

77
00:04:16,850 --> 00:04:19,769
He had all his belongings in the cart

78
00:04:19,769 --> 00:04:22,810
with him, as he bought a bag of

79
00:04:22,810 --> 00:04:24,750
ramen noodles for his dinner.

80
00:04:25,770 --> 00:04:28,970
He smelled so bad, it made you sick

81
00:04:28,970 --> 00:04:30,970
just to stand near him.

82
00:04:31,270 --> 00:04:33,770
He was covered in filth, but I can

83
00:04:33,770 --> 00:04:36,990
promise you, friends, he smelled like a rose

84
00:04:36,990 --> 00:04:39,870
compared to the stench at the foot of

85
00:04:39,870 --> 00:04:40,610
Calvary.

86
00:04:41,090 --> 00:04:44,530
All the blood and pus and gore from

87
00:04:44,530 --> 00:04:48,890
Christ's wounds trickled down that rugged cross.

88
00:04:49,150 --> 00:04:51,950
It was a terrible sight to look at.

89
00:04:52,090 --> 00:04:55,370
The face of Jesus had been so badly

90
00:04:55,370 --> 00:04:58,470
beaten, it looked like a pound of raw

91
00:04:58,470 --> 00:04:59,670
hamburger meat.

92
00:04:59,990 --> 00:05:03,850
The filthy spit and phlegm of the Roman

93
00:05:03,850 --> 00:05:06,530
soldiers matted his beard.

94
00:05:07,210 --> 00:05:10,310
The cross was a bloody scandal that smelled

95
00:05:10,310 --> 00:05:11,870
the smell of death.

96
00:05:12,370 --> 00:05:15,830
But we preachers today have gotten out our

97
00:05:15,830 --> 00:05:18,810
mop buckets and have cleaned up all the

98
00:05:18,810 --> 00:05:21,710
blood and gore of Calvary to make it

99
00:05:21,710 --> 00:05:24,590
more palatable to sinful man.

100
00:05:25,170 --> 00:05:28,650
That's because the Church today has changed her

101
00:05:28,650 --> 00:05:29,330
gods.

102
00:05:29,850 --> 00:05:33,050
We have replaced the God of Justice, the

103
00:05:33,050 --> 00:05:36,150
God of the Bible, who was Edward's God,

104
00:05:36,430 --> 00:05:38,070
with her own modern version.

105
00:05:38,870 --> 00:05:42,910
So not to offend anybody, when we stand

106
00:05:42,910 --> 00:05:46,210
in the pulpit to preach our little anemic

107
00:05:46,210 --> 00:05:50,290
messages, no one is crying out in agony

108
00:05:50,290 --> 00:05:50,990
of sin.

109
00:05:51,370 --> 00:05:54,510
No one is shrieking because they feel like

110
00:05:54,510 --> 00:05:56,770
they're going to drop down to hell at

111
00:05:56,770 --> 00:05:57,710
any moment.

112
00:05:58,290 --> 00:06:01,110
Our little messages don't disturb anybody.

113
00:06:01,690 --> 00:06:05,750
Trouble is, they don't save anybody either, because

114
00:06:05,750 --> 00:06:07,870
we don't preach the God of Edwards.

115
00:06:08,690 --> 00:06:11,070
Oh, some of us might get out our

116
00:06:11,070 --> 00:06:15,670
violin and pluck away on one string called

117
00:06:15,670 --> 00:06:18,930
election, but we're too afraid to call men

118
00:06:18,930 --> 00:06:21,990
and women and boys and girls to repentance

119
00:06:21,990 --> 00:06:26,250
and warn them that unless they repent, they

120
00:06:26,250 --> 00:06:29,670
will surely be cast into hell for all

121
00:06:29,670 --> 00:06:33,070
eternity, where God's wrath will be poured out

122
00:06:33,070 --> 00:06:37,530
upon them like a smoking furnace in Malachi

123
00:06:37,530 --> 00:06:39,350
4.1 we read.

124
00:06:39,990 --> 00:06:44,790
For behold, the day cometh that shall burn

125
00:06:44,790 --> 00:06:48,210
as an oven, and all the proud, yea,

126
00:06:48,690 --> 00:06:52,390
and all that do wickedly shall be stubble.

127
00:06:52,810 --> 00:06:55,910
And the day that cometh shall burn them

128
00:06:55,910 --> 00:06:59,570
up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it

129
00:06:59,570 --> 00:07:02,890
shall leave them neither root nor branch.

130
00:07:03,610 --> 00:07:06,790
If we could only give back to preaching

131
00:07:06,790 --> 00:07:11,450
the God of Edwards, then maybe, just maybe,

132
00:07:11,930 --> 00:07:16,310
some of our unsaved teenagers at church, some

133
00:07:16,310 --> 00:07:20,610
of our unsaved church members in our congregations

134
00:07:20,610 --> 00:07:24,070
would cry out in conviction of sin and

135
00:07:24,070 --> 00:07:28,410
say, what must I do to be saved?

136
00:07:28,730 --> 00:07:29,710
Help me.

137
00:07:29,990 --> 00:07:31,350
I'm going to hell.

138
00:07:31,350 --> 00:07:34,250
What can I do to be saved?