America Replaced Edwards' God — E.A. Johnston

Jonathan Edwards and the Preaching of Divine Judgment

In July of 1741, in the town of Enfield, Connecticut, Jonathan Edwards preached his now-famous sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. It was said of that evening, by an eyewitness, that ye minister had to desist from preaching, because he could no longer be heard above the shrieks and cries throughout the meetinghouse.

The Rise of Universalism and Unitarianism

America, at that time, was a land of revivals, but gradually the theology of the New England churches changed into Universalism and Unitarianism, and ministers stopped preaching about hell, and told their hearers that God wasn't the angry entity that hated sin anymore, but God was a more accommodating being that would not punish sin.

Replacing the Biblical God With an Imaginary Deity

The trickle-down effect from this change into preaching is where we are today. Few ministers preach sermons against sin, or warn sinners to repent, or be sent to a burning inferno called hell. God is just a big loving being who loves everyone, and he is tolerant about sin.

That's the God we hear about today, because America has replaced the God of Edwards. And that's the title of my message this evening, friends. America replaced Edwards' God. Few wanted to believe in a God who was strict, and who was angry with the wicked every day.

Few want to believe in a God who must punish sin, and send people to a devil's hell, where his wrath is outpoured upon them for all eternity. Who wants a God like that? Most folks today don't even believe in a literal hell, because they don't believe in a God who would send people there.

They just don't believe that God is a God who must punish sin. Their God wouldn't act that way. The God of Jonathan Edwards was put out to pasture years ago, as an unpleasant entity that wasn't needed anymore.

That's when the churches changed their message to a God is love message, and stopped warning sinners to flee from the wrath to come. Therefore, hell isn't necessary either. As a nation, we decided to kill off the God of Jonathan Edwards, and replace him with a much more loving, merciful God, who's more understanding and tolerant toward modern man.

A God that we can get along with better. But the trouble is, the God of Edwards is the God of the Bible, and when we replaced the God of the Bible, we created one of our own imagination. And it is mainly an imaginary God we hear about today.

The Bloodstained Christ and the Curse of Sin

But the gospel of Jonathan Edwards proclaimed a bloodstained Christ, who had rights and claims on all followers of his. The God of Edwards saw his blessed son hanging on a cross, and he had to look away because God can't look on sin, because Christ bore the curse becoming sin for us.

Jesus cried out, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? That cross had the blood of the Son of Man running all down it. I was standing in line at the grocery store, and a homeless man was in line ahead of me.

He had all his belongings in the cart with him, as he bought a bag of ramen noodles for his dinner. He smelled so bad, it made you sick just to stand near him. He was covered in filth, but I can promise you, friends, he smelled like a rose compared to the stench at the foot of Calvary.

All the blood and pus and gore from Christ's wounds trickled down that rugged cross. It was a terrible sight to look at. The face of Jesus had been so badly beaten, it looked like a pound of raw hamburger meat.

The filthy spit and phlegm of the Roman soldiers matted his beard. The cross was a bloody scandal that smelled the smell of death. But we preachers today have gotten out our mop buckets and have cleaned up all the blood and gore of Calvary to make it more palatable to sinful man.

Preaching Justice, Repentance, and Hell

That's because the church today has changed her gods. We have replaced the God of Justice, the God of the Bible, who was Edward's God with her own modern version. So not to offend anybody, when we stand in the pulpit to preach our little anemic messages, no one is crying out in agony of sin.

No one is shrieking because they feel like they're going to drop down to hell at any moment. Our little messages don't disturb anybody. Trouble is, they don't save anybody either because we don't preach the God of Edwards.

Oh, some of us might get out our violin and pluck away on one string called election, but we're too afraid to call men and women and boys and girls to repentance and warn them that unless they repent, they will surely be cast into hell for all eternity where God's wrath will be poured out upon them like a smoking furnace.

Malachi’s Warning of the Coming Day

In Malachi 4 .1 we read, For behold, the day cometh that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud, yea, and all that do wickedly shall be stubble. And the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

Calling the Church to Conviction and Salvation

If we could only give back to preaching the God of Edwards, then maybe, just maybe, some of our unsaved teenagers at church, some of our unsaved church members in our congregations would cry out in conviction of sin and say, What must I do to be saved?

Help me, I'm going to hell. What can I do to be saved?