God's Wrath Cannot Be Quenched But by Christ's Blood — E.A. Johnston

Jonathan Edwards and the Preaching of Divine Wrath

I have traveled to the location in Anfield, Connecticut, where Jonathan Edwards preached his famous sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. It is now an empty field which sits across the street from a Presbyterian church, and in the middle of that field is a stone marker which states that on July 8, 1741, Jonathan Edwards preached in the Meeting House, which stood on this ground from the text Deuteronomy 32, 35, their foot shows slight in due time.

And as I walked the length and breadth of that sacred plot of land where God under Edwards preaching manifested his awful presence to such a degree that the people felt the soles of their feet being warmed from the flames of hell below, and strong men in the congregation grabbed hold of the pillars in the church lest they dropped into hell and its raging flames, the people were bowed down with an awful conviction of their sin and their great danger.

I have an actual account, friends, from that meeting as it occurred that remarkable evening of July 8, 1741, from the pen of a minister who was in that very Meeting House as Edwards preached. The eyewitness account is by a man named Stephen Williams, who recorded the events of that evening in his diary.

Here now is his vivid description of what transpired that evening while Jonathan Edwards preached. We went over to Enfield where we met dear Mr. Edwards of Northampton, who preached a most awakening sermon from these words, Deuteronomy 32, 35, and before sermon was done there was a great moaning and crying out through ye whole house, what shall I do to be saved?

Oh, I'm going to hell. Oh, what shall I do for Christ? So ye minister was obliged to desist for ye shrieks and cries were piercing and amazing, amazing and astonishing power of God was seen. Listen friends, Jonathan Edwards was not afraid to preach up the wrath of God to awaken the lost, but today the doctrine of the wrath of God is a neglected doctrine in our churches.

The Modern Neglect of God's Wrath

It's not politically correct, so it's avoided like the plague because we don't want to offend anybody. Why if we preach an uncomfortable message like that, that got under somebody's skin, they may get mad and get up and leave and take their tithe with them and we just can't have that.

And if we start preaching the full counsel of God and being honest with folks, why we might upset the chairman of the deacons and we can't have that either. So we preach nice little sermons about the love of God and how God loves the sinner but hates the sin and we make it sound like God has become just a love God who wouldn't send anybody to hell these days because he's a chilled out God who's more tolerant of sin than our Bibles declare of him.

So you'd be hard pressed, friends, to walk into a church in this country and stumble upon a sermon being preached on the wrath of a holy God against sinners. And so to make up for the lack, I'm going to preach today on the doctrine of the wrath of God because God is a God who must punish sin.

My King James Bible doesn't say God loves the sinner, rather it declares God is angry with the wicked every day. If he turned not, he will wet his sword. He hath bent his bow and made it ready. But all we tell folks today, friends, is John 3 16 and we fail to warn them with John 3 36, which speaks of God's wrath.

And that's what I'm going to preach on right now. And the title of my message is God's wrath cannot be avenged but by Christ's blood. And I'm going to bring you a biblical message based on a truth that the church of this hour refuses to preach upon, and that is the wrath of God.

Four Biblical Texts on God's Wrath

I don't want you to get out a pen and paper or your iPads or whatever you use these days and jot down the following four Bible verses and keep them in the margin of your Bibles. It would be good to memorize them for use in evangelism.

I will first list them for you and I will then read them in order. Here is the list. Psalm 2 12, John 3 36, Romans 1 18 and Ephesians 5 6. And please, friends, pray that preachers in this country will be bold enough to start preaching the hard doctrines of the Bible once again and not be so afraid of losing their congregations and reputations for doing so if the full counsel of God is not once again preached in its purity and proper order.

Oh, we are sunk as a nation because the one stringed instrument of God loves you is making false converts and sending folks to hell. And after I do that, I'll bring out some important aspects of this doctrine on the wrath of God.

I will read you these verses in the order I gave them to you. Some of you may not even know these verses are in your Bibles. Here now is the word of God. May the spirit of God attend the reading of his preached word.

Kiss the son lest he be angry and ye perish from the way when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him. He that believeth on the son hath everlasting life and he that believeth not the son shall not see life but the wrath of God abideth on him.

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness who hold the truth in unrighteousness. Let no man deceive you with vain words for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.

The Wrath of God Awakens Sinners

Now the first aspect I want to bring forth from this doctrine is this. The doctrine of the wrath of God is a means which the Holy Spirit can use to bring conviction to a sinner and awaken him to his lost condition apart from Christ.

You see friends we hinder the work of the Holy Spirit in your day and mine because we don't preach the gospel of the Bible anymore. We have watered it down so much through the years and diluted it to make it more palatable to sinful man that it has no saving power.

But the apostle Paul was not ashamed of the gospel and his gospel had power. He declared in Romans 1 16 for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth.

But we are ashamed of it today friends. We made a big mistake when the church in America decided to get on a building program and expand its campus to such a degree that we cannot maintain its large operating cost without adding more bodies to our sanctuaries.

So we tell folks about the love of God and soft soak the gospel to get people to walk and join our church and pay our bills and go to hell because nobody's getting saved under this diluted message because we're not giving the Holy Spirit room to operate conviction on a poor sinner's heart.

Sin, Judgment, and the Necessity of Christ's Blood

Number two a lost man stands under the wrath of a holy God who hates sin and God's wrath cannot be quenched but by Christ's blood. My Bible declares the soul that sinneth it shall die. If a man dies in his sins he will surely go to hell.

My Bible says as a tree falls so it shall lie. He that is unjust let him be unjust still and he which is filthy let him be filthy still. Listen friends God is a God who must punish sin. It's a theme which runs throughout our Bibles.

Look at the world in Noah's day and the wicked people whose thoughts were evil continually and who were drowning in their sins. God sent a flood to drown them in their sins and cast them into hell because God is a God who must punish sin.

Look at the wicked inhabitants of Sodom and see the wrath of God rain down and fire upon those wicked cities of the plain. The smoke rising up from them was like the smoke of a great furnace because God is a God who must punish sin all sin every sin big or little.

God must have satisfaction for sin. God's wrath cannot be quenched but by Christ's blood friends. Listen to the true story which illustrates his point of the utter necessity of having our sins washed in Christ's blood.

During a cruel and bloody war a commander took an oath in the presence of his troops that he would slaughter the entire population of a certain town and in due course the blood hounds of war were let loose on the defenseless people.

Now it so happened that a fugitive seeking shelter spied a number of soldiers as they broke into a house the inmates of which they put to the sword on leaving it one of them dipped a cloth into a pool of blood and splashed it on the door as a token to any who might follow of what had taken place inside.

Quick as his feet could carry him the poor fugitives fed away to a large house in the center of the town where a number of his friends were concealed and he breathlessly told them what he had just seen at once it flashed upon them what to do a goat was in the yard immediately it was killed and its blood splashed on the door scarcely had they closed the door when a band of soldiers rushed into their street but when they came to the blood marked door they made no attempt to enter the sword so they thought had already entered there in and performed its work thus while the many around them were slain all within the blood marked door were saved.

The Passover as a Picture of Salvation

I like that story friends because it reminds me of the account of the first Passover as given by Moses in Exodus 12 which relates a story of how God instructed Moses to speak to all the congregation of Israel to take a lamb without blemish and to kill it in the evening and to take a bunch of hyssop and dip it in the blood that is in the basin and strike the lentil and the two side posts with the blood and God told them not to go outside until the morning and the text reads for the Lord will pass through to smite the Egyptians and when he seeth the blood the Lord will pass over the door and will not suffer the destroyer to come in onto your house to smite you.

You see friends the children of Israel were under the shelter of the blood and they were in perfect safety from being destroyed. And you friend who perhaps joined the church by a decision but you've never experienced transformation of the new birth through an act of regeneration and you sit upon a false bottom of carnal security.

If you die you die in your sins for the soul that sinneth it shall die. Let me ask you friend are you under the blood. Are your sins washed in the blood of the lamb of Jesus Christ. And are you born from above.

If not you are in grave danger for God is a God who must punish sin. For the sentence of the law must be carried out. And you're a guilty rebel who's broken the strict and severe law of God. And one day you'll be held up against the strictness of God's law.

And listen friend God requires perfection to get to his heaven and you are not perfect. You will fail that test if you stand there in your own merits as a lawbreaker. Listen friend I know I'm a sinner and I need a remedy for sin in the person of Jesus Christ.

Repentance and Faith in Jesus Christ

And so do you friend so do you. Why. Because God's wrath cannot be quenched but by Christ's blood. There's power in the blood friend a wonder working power. And nothing but the blood can wash my sins away.

And nothing but the blood can wash your sins away. Friend get under the blood. Escape from God's wrath upon you. I'll flee to your only refuge the Lord Jesus Christ. Exercise repentance toward God and faith in Jesus Christ.

Be for it's too late. And lastly the doctrine of the wrath of God must be preached in this land once more if we ever hope to see another revival. I've been studying revival for several decades. I have written several books on revival.

Revival Through the Fear of God

I've preached myself blue in the face on the subject of revival. I've prayed for revival for decades and I still pray for it to come to this country and to our churches every single day of my life that God would once again pour out his effusions of grace upon this sin-soaked land and unrepentant church.

But until we preachers start being honest with folks and warn them of their great danger of dying in their sins and being cast into a hell of misery. And we once again preach up the wrath of a holy God who hates all sin.

Then we'll keep going as we have been since 1858 in this country which was the last time this nation saw a national spiritual awakening. It's been that long friends that revival was birthed by prayer by praying men and women who still had a fear of God and who knew full well the wrath of God against sinful man.

When they prayed they addressed the almighty who was a God who must punish sin. But today we address God like he's our golf buddy. We put him on our level and shrunken him down to our size. So how can we fear a God who's on our level.

But listen to me dear friend God's wrath cannot be quenched but by Christ's blood. Perhaps some young preacher boy will come along and pick up his bible and actually believe it and begin to preach its straight doctrines once again.

And just maybe the tops of the mulberry trees will be stirred and a mighty revival will sweep this land from coast to coast. Oh pray that it will friends. Listen dear friend. If you have not trusted the blessed savior who is the Lord Jesus Christ receive him now before it's too late.

Soon he will come in judgment on this world when his anger shall burn as an oven and then you shall meet him as your judge. I repeat friend God's wrath cannot be quenched but by Christ's blood. I get under the blood.