Falling into the Hands of the Living God!
Part 10
Matthew Mead, 1629-1699
"It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God!" Hebrews 10:31
That subject which I am on now is giving you the reasons of this truth, why it is such a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
I.
With respect to those attributes of God which make it so.II.
Because all the proceedings of God in that day shall be suited to the ministry of a man's own conscience.III.
Because all who fall into his hands have to deal with God, in a covenant where the great design of God is to glorify his justice.IV.
It is a fearful thing, because of the impartiality of that sentence that shall then be past, which appears in three things:1. There shall be no distinction of persons.
2. The sentence shall be suited to the nature of the cause, and,
3. No sin shall escape the sentence.
V.
There is no way of being delivered out of his hands.VI.
Because it is the last of God's dispensations to man. The glorifying believers, and the destruction of lost sinners, are the last of God's works in this world.There are yet two reasons more to insist on now; and therefore,
VII. It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God, because we shall then have to deal with God immediately.
The phrase of the text in ordinary speech imports this. To fall into a man's hands is to have to deal with him, not by proxy, but by himself. And reason and justice requires that the punishment of lost sinners in that day should be immediate, that God should punish them with his own hands. For,1.
How else can the punishment carry in it any tolerable satisfaction to justice? Justice requires an exact proportion, as far as the case can admit, between the demerit of the sin, and the punishment of it, as far as the subject is capable of. Now the punishment can never carry a due proportion to the sin, unless it is from God's immediate hand. For let the demerit of sin be considered, and in which it chiefly consists, but in this: that it is immediately against God.It is true that the nature of sin is an inordinate lusting after undue objects, and seeking satisfaction in creatures. Yet the great foundational evil of sin, lies in the turning away from God, for in this there is an immediate slight put on God. It is a contempt cast on the goodness and blessedness which is to be had in him.
If it could be supposed that sin was nothing else, but the gross and sensual part that lies in the enjoyment of creatures—then a punishment by creatures might have suited it. But it being an immediate reflection on God himself, as all sin is, none can fill up a proportion of a full and necessary punishment of such an evil, but God himself. Though all sin is not done immediately against God—yet all sin is an immediate despising of God. It casts a contempt on his sovereignty and holiness, and it is highly reasonable that such an indignity should be vindicated by God himself.
Let me allude to Eli's statement, "If one man sins against another, the judge shall judge him; but if a man sins against the Lord, who shall entreat for him?" (1 Samuel 2:25). And by the same reason, I infer, if one creature robs another, a creature of the same kind can recompense it. If a man sheds the blood of a man, as far as it is a wrong merely to the creature—then man may recompense it, "by man shall his blood be shed." But if a man sins against God—then who shall recompense it but God in that day, in which he will be glorified? Therefore, it is but just and righteous, that the punishment of lost sinners in that day should be from the immediate hand of God.
It is according to the equity and justice, that those who have been the chief in sinning—should be the chief in suffering. This is a rule among men, and it is according to the justice of God: that the principal in sinning, shall be the principal in suffering.
2.
Now, the principal in sinning, is known to be the soul of man—for that is the forge where all sin is first formed. The body but serves the designs of the soul in sinning, therefore the members are called instruments of unrighteousness. It is the soul which plots and contrives sin—then the body acts it. The soul is chief in sin, and therefore should be the chief in suffering.Now the soul cannot suffer, unless it is immediately from God. This is plain from that saying of our Lord, "Do not fear those who can kill the body, but cannot kill the soul." Who or what can reach the soul, but God himself? It is out of the reach of all creatures. Neither angels, nor devils, are able to terrify the conscience—until it has first been made tender and raw by God. God alone, can fill it with wrath.
It is a great mistake among divines to say, the devils are the great tormentors of man in Hell. I would like to know who it is that torments the devils themselves, certainly none but God? And the same God with whom those fallen spirits have to deal, will have to deal with the soul of man.
3.
It is highly reasonable that the punishment of lost sinners, in that day should be immediate—otherwise the soul would be out of the reach of suffering itself, for all mediate punishments executed by creatures are short and deficient—too weak to reach the soul and conscience. Therefore if justice will have its perfect work, it is requisite that God himself put his own hand to the execution, for it may be said of all punishments, what the Apostle said of those legal ordinances, that they could not make the service perfect, as, "pertaining to the conscience." So all outward torments, take them without God's wrath mixed with them—cannot make a perfect or complete punishment, as pertaining to the conscience.4.
No creature can convey the whole of God's wrath into a lost soul, nor discover it in the full power of it. Who knows the power of God's anger? And yet, if God but gives us up into the hands of a mere creature to torment us, these very creatures assisted by the common concurrence of God's power are very dreadful. Suppose a man was thrown into a furnace of fire, and this fire always burning, and his body held continually in the torment without being consumed—it would be very terrible. But suppose that God should not only use the ministry of creatures against a man, but should arm them with his wrath, so that they should deal with the sinner above their own strength, so as it should appear that the hand of God was in it—it would be still more terrible than the former.But alas! What is this compared to God's immediate wrath, as it is inflicted from his own hand! Whatever it is that comes most immediately from God, is most affecting, whether in a way of mercy or judgment. The love of God conveyed in ordinances is a sweet enjoyment, but it is a far lower dispensation than immediate communications from himself in Heaven. So wrath expressed by a creature, is not like wrath inflicted by the hand of God. This fills the soul full to the brim of terror and cuts off the soul, "Your fierce wrath goes over me, your terrors cut me off," Heman said. The strokes of God were so heavy and sharp, that they did not only cut into his soul, but penetrated so as to cut it off. They are not the strokes of a creature that feel, or anger expressed by creatures, but such as those who are in Hell do feel, that are cut off by your hand.
God's power, though ever so great, yet, in working by instruments—is abated and lessened in working. The weight of God's little finger is heavier than the loins of God's whole creation!
All other dealings and ministry of God have been slighted by lost sinners in this world—therefore God in the great day will deal out punishments to them with his own hand. Favor and methods of mercy will not do. "Let favor be shown to the wicked yet will he not learn righteousness," (Isaiah 26:10). "Woe to them, because they have strayed from me! Destruction to them, because they have rebelled against me!" (Hosea 7:13).
The great design of the patience and goodness of God is, to lead men to repentance, and to forewarn them to flee from the wrath to come—but such is the wickedness of their hearts, that they by it, treasure up to themselves wrath, against the day of wrath.
Do we not sometimes see a man cast on a bed of sickness brought to the very brink of death and Hell, and by God's wonderful patience snatched like a brand out of the fire—and yet they return again to sin more than ever? Instead of performing their sick-bed promises, and making good their sham resolutions of a new life, by which in their sickness they flattered God, and deceived themselves—they break forth into more vileness than ever, as if they would fetch back the lost time in sinning!
We see that methods of mercy in this world will not do, because judgment is not speedily executed, therefore their heart is fully set in them to do evil. Nor will judgments do, either in the threatening or execution, "Lord when your hand is lifted up, they will not see," (Isaiah 26:11). No, let judgment be executed on them and the decree bring forth—yet will it make no lasting impression on them to cure them of their lusts.
It is said of Israel in Psalm 78:31, "The wrath of God came upon them—yet they sinned still." It is the nature of clay to grow harder by the fire. Metal melted in the furnace, will when taken out, return to its original solidity. When Pharaoh saw that the plagues were gone—he sinned yet more, and hardened his heart.
How many judgments does God successively send on Israel, one on top of the other, and what is their effect? "Yet have they not returned unto me! says the Lord," (Amos 4:8). "I brought hunger to every city and famine to every town. But still you would not return to me! says the LORD. (Amos 4:6). Then in the seventh verse, "I also withheld rain from you when the harvest was still three months away. I sent rain on one town, but withheld it from another. One field had rain; another had none and dried up. People staggered from town to town for water but did not get enough to drink, yet you have not returned to me," declares the LORD. "Many times I struck your gardens and vineyards, I struck them with blight and mildew. Locusts devoured your fig and olive trees, yet you have not returned to me," declares the LORD. "I sent plagues among you as I did to Egypt. I killed your young men with the sword, along with your captured horses. I filled your nostrils with the stench of your camps, yet you have not returned to me," declares the LORD. "I overthrew some of you as I overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah. You were like a burning stick snatched from the fire, yet you have not returned to me!" declares the LORD."
Here is judgment on judgment, stroke on stroke—and yet no returning to the Lord. No judgments will do on an impenitent people. Therefore, it is just with God to take wicked men into his own hand, when all other means and ministry are slighted, and made of no effect. It is a righteous thing for God to interpose then, in a more immediate way, and magnify the glory of his own power in the just destruction of incorrigible sinners.
VIII. It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God, because God in the next world shall be all in all.
(1 Corinthians 15:28). "That God may be all in all." But you may say the same of Christ. (Colossians 3:11). "That Christ is all in all," there is no contradiction in the words, nor disagreement, for the one is spoken in the present tense, the other in the future tense. Christ is all in all, that is now. God shall be all in all, that is hereafter. So that these two expressions are to be understood of the difference of time; in the time of this world, Christ is all in all. In eternity, God is all in all. Christ is all in all in the present state, but God shall be all in all in a future state of glory. Christ is all in all in point of administration, all in a way of fullness, all in a way of merit and purchase, all in a way of conveyance—for all the good we enjoy in this world is through Christ.Christ is all in point of light and life. "In him was life, and the life was the light of men." He is all in all duties, all in all privileges, all in all the providences and ordinances. His righteousness is all in the business of justification. His death is all in the benefit of atonement for sin. His spirit is all in point of sanctification. His intercession is all in the matter of our acceptance. His peace is all in the benefit of our consolation. In this way Christ is all in this world in point of administration.
But God shall be all in all in the next world, in respect of immediate dispensation. Christ is all in all, in the designation of the mediatorial kingdom by the Father to the Son. God shall be all in all, in the resignation of the same kingdom from the Son to the Father. "Christ shall deliver up the kingdom to God the Father, and then shall the Son himself be subject to him that put all things under him, that God may be all in all," (1 Corinthians 15:28).
Now in what sense is God said to be all in all in the eternal world?
1.
Not in opposition to Christ, as if Christ were of no use in the eternal world. Though the mediatorial office of Christ shall cease as to administration—yet he shall be forever head of that spiritual union. We are members of Christ's body when we are in Heaven, and as grace here is derived from Christ our head to us, so hereafter we shall enjoy God in Christ to eternity.2.
God's being all in all in that day is not to be understood in respect of essence and being. As if, at last all things should be resolved to God, as some have dreamed. God is, "above all, and in all, and through all," as it is said in Ephesians 4:6—so he shall be all in all. But it is nowhere said, that God is all things, or that all things are God himself, or that all things shall at last be resolved into God. This is blasphemous nonsense. Creatures in the eternal world shall be creatures still. They shall abide as creatures then. The angels shall be angels forever. The saints shall be saints forever. Though their natures are glorified—yet they shall not be deified.How then must this be understood, that God is all in all in the next world? Why so? Both as it refers to saints in a state of glory—and lost sinners in the state of misery. God shall be all in all in Heaven, in a way of blessedness—and he shall be all in all in Hell, in a way of vengeance. In that state as he shall be all in all to saints—so he shall be as really terrifyingly so, to all lost sinners.
Now because the one will greatly illustrate the other, therefore I shall speak to it in both senses, that by the sweetness of his being all in all to saints, in a way of reward—you may have a fuller view of his being all in all to lost sinners, in a way of punishment. Therefore,
In the state of GLORY
, he shall be all in all:(1). In opposition to all creatures.
(2). In the room of all ordinances.
(3). In distinction to those graces which are necessary for our enjoyment of him in this state.
(1). God shall be all in all, in opposition to all the CREATURES
. God is all in all to us in the creatures, but then he shall be all in all to us without them. Whatever good we enjoy in the creature, it is from God. What is that which is the true comfort of every enjoyment—but only that of God which is enjoyed in it? The good of personal comforts, as life, estate, health, gifts, abilities—is all from God. The good of relative comforts, father, mother, brother, sister, yoke-fellows, or friends—all is from God in them. There is no sweetness, nor pleasure, nor true comfort, in any or all of them—but what God puts into them. You call them your blessings, but it is not from the nature of the things themselves, but from that of God which is enjoyed in them.Before time was, when there was nothing but God—then all good was in him alone. As the creature's essence and existence is from God alone—so must all its goodness be. As he gave being to the creatures for man's sake—so he puts goodness into them for man's use and comfort. Therefore, all that is sweet, or any way refreshing in the creature, is from God. All is nothing—if God is left out.
I remember a saying of some of the Rabbis of the names in the Hebrew for husband and wife, that the name of God is contained in them, as a symbol of God's gracious presence. This is only so if they live according to God's commands, but if they depart from him, and God departs from them, taking away the word signifying God—there remains a word that signifies fire, to intimate that there is nothing but fire and wrath where God is left out.
I wish you did well consider this, and believe it. It would make us more thankful in the enjoyment of mercies and outward comforts, and content in the lack of them. No creature has any real sweetness in it—any further than we enjoy God in it. If God is left out, they are but a line of ciphers without a figure.
But though God is all in all now in all the creatures—yet in the eternal world, God shall be all without them. God will in that day, wholly stop and dry up the current of all creature channels, and will of himself immediately supply the need of all second causes whatever. This is plainly proved by that saying of Christ to the captious Pharisees. "The children of this world marry and are given in marriage, but they which shall be accounted worthy to obtain that world, and the resurrection of the dead, neither marry, nor are given in marriage," (Luke 20:34). This intimates that the creatures shall no more hanker after any finite thing—but shall be possessed by God.
The soul now is much solaced with earthly enjoyments, but then it shall be filled with God wholly, and wrapped up in God, and satisfied with God everlastingly. The creature is now most in the affections of most saints—but then it shall be nothing in any, for God shall be all in all.
(2). As God will be all in all in opposition to the creature, so he will be all in all in the room of all ORDINANCES.
It is a great privilege here to have the ordinances of God now, because God is enjoyed in them—but it will be a greater privilege then, not to have the ordinances, because God is enjoyed without them. While you are here, your Father knows you have need of these things—you have need of the Word to instruct you, and the sacraments to nourish you—but these can be of no such use in Heaven.The use of means, necessarily implies the absence of the end. When we get to the haven, we leave the ship, and are done with sailing. We are done with the way, when we are at the journey's end. All motion naturally terminates at the center, and all means cease when we have the end.
Therefore, the Apostle says, "Tongues shall cease," prayers shall cease—then the believer, shall never pray anymore, for where God is all, the soul can need nothing; and where there is nothing needed, there is nothing to be asked. When we are done with sinning—we are done with sorrowing. The gospel ministry shall then cease, for there can be no need of laborers, when God has gathered his harvest in. Ministers are called stars—we now walk by starlight, but where there is no night, there the brightest star is useless. The Word of God shall then be out of date, for there can be no need of the guidance of the Word of God, when we shall be swallowed up in the life of God. The glass through which we now behold this glory shall be broken, for the shadows shall flee away in that day of brightness.
(3.) God shall be all then, in distinction to those graces, which are necessary for our enjoyment of him in this state.
Our highest communion with God in this state is carried on by believing, but in the eternal world, God shall be all, and faith shall be nothing—not so much as an instrument or condition of enjoying God. "Faith (as the Apostle defines it) is the evidence of things not seen," but it can be no evidence of things not seen there. "For there we shall see him as he is!"Heaven will be full of believers when the body of Christ is complete, and yet there shall not be one believer there, for then all good is in present fruition. As the sinner lives by sense here, so the glorified saint shall live by sense hereafter. Here, in this world the worst state cannot set us below believing, because some good may be enjoyed; and the best state cannot set us above believing, because some good is still to be received. But where all good is enjoyed—there faith ends, and that is in Heaven.
I might instance in other graces, as hope, desire, and the like, but I come to the point, and that is this: As God is all in all to saints in Heaven—so he is all in all to the lost sinners in Hell. As he shall be all in all to the saints, to make their happiness perfect—so he shall be all in all to lost sinners, to make their misery complete.
(1). God shall be all in all to lost sinners, in opposition to all they have made their all in this world.
For what has been the sinner's all in this world? Not God, for they say to God, "Depart from us!" Not Christ, no, for they make light of him, "We will not have this man to rule over us." They say to Christ, as the devils did, "What have we to do with you?" God is nothing to lost sinners in this world—and Christ is nothing in their esteem. He signifies nothing to them. His ways, his love, his blood, his grace—are esteemed as nothing.The sinner's all, is in the creatures, in the things of this world, the, "lust of the flesh, the lust of the eye, and the pride of life." There lies the sinner's all, and where it is so, there God is nothing. The creature is his chief good, and that which is his chief good is his god, and that which is his god, is his all. Where a man's god is, there his heart and love, there his pleasure and comfort is, there his whole business is, there his desire and delight is. The Apostle speaks of some, "whose god is their belly. They mind earthly things," (Philippians 3:19). They savor and relish nothing but what suits their sensual lusts and earthly affections.
Now a time will come, when all the creatures shall cease, and be no more. That man, whose god is his belly—his god must perish, and then there will be nothing left but God himself. In the eternal world, the sinner still has to deal with God alone. So it was with the rich man. "You, in your life time, receive your good things—but now you are tormented." He was stripped of his good things—and now there was nothing left but wrath in their room. How dreadful must it be for a man to be stripped of his portion, and all the comforts of his life, and have nothing to possess but the wrath of God in the place of them! The sinner must have to deal with that God in that eternal state—whom he would neither love, fear, seek, or serve on earth. What a terrifying thing will it be to have to deal with such a God!
(2). God shall be all in that world, in the accomplishment of all the threatenings of his Word.
How many are the threatenings of this word of God, and how dreadful are they against impenitent sinners! These threatenings respect the power of God, some the justice of God, some the holiness of God, and some the sovereignty of God, and all of them are filled up with the wrath of God. Therefore, it must necessarily be a miserable state which lays a man under God's threatenings.God has spread out the expanse of his Word over the rational world, and he rules all by it, and will judge all according to it. It is the decree of God, that he will judge all by his Word—and the decree shall bring forth either in mercy or in wrath. The promises shall deliver all the blessings that are in them—and so shall the threatenings shall deliver all the plagues that are in them. Therefore, it is a dreadful thing for a man to lie under the threatening of God.
But yet lost sinners are so hardened in sin, that they slight the threatening of God, make a mock of it like those in Isaiah 5:19, "Let him make speed and hasten his work, that we may see it, and let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near, that we may know it." Like that in Jeremiah 17:15, "Behold, they say, where is the word of the Lord, let it come now." This is as if they should say, let God do the worst he has threatened to do.
But what does the prophet Amos say to this? "Woe to you who long for the day of the LORD! Why do you long for the day of the LORD? That day will be darkness, not light. It will be as though a man fled from a lion only to meet a bear, as though he entered his house and rested his hand on the wall only to have a snake bite him. Will not the day of the LORD be darkness, not light— pitch-dark, without a ray of brightness?" (Amos 5:18-20).
It is a day when all the threatenings of God shall be executed on lost sinners—and that is wrath to the utmost. It is a day in which all the attributes of God shall set themselves in array against them, and that will make them miserable indeed. As it is the fulfilling of the promises which perfects the believer's blessedness, "He has given us exceedingly great and precious promises"—yet all the blessed promises of this book of God can never make a man completely happy, though he believes them, and rests on them, and rejoices in the hopes of the fulfilling of them. It is the accomplishment of the promises which makes the soul completely happy. For when the promise is fulfilled, then the creature is put into the fruition of the chief good. When God shall fulfill all the promises—then the believer's happiness is perfect.
In the same way, the threatenings of God can never make a sinner completely miserable, though they are full of wrath and vengeance—without the fulfilling of them. But when God shall be all to the sinner that the threatening mentions, when he shall be all in a way of wrath and vengeance—then how miserable must the soul be!
As all that is in the promises of God is in a way of grace and love—so all that is in the threatenings of God, is in a way of wrath and judgment. It is the wrath of God that is the sinner's Hell—that is the darkness, the fire, which shall torment the sinner forever.
I know it has been greatly agitated among the schoolmen, whether the fire of Hell, which God has prepared to torment the devil and wicked men, is material fire, or metaphorical fire. Some would have it to be material fire, because it shall torment the bodies of men. Others deny it to be so, because it cannot then work on spirits, as the devils, and as the souls of men are. Therefore, some have invented a way that the power of God can elevate and make use of corporeal agents to work on spiritual substances. These are but niceties, and inventions of men ignorant of the Scriptures, and of the terrors of God.
Let me tell you, as there is no tormentor there, but God's power—so neither is there any fire there but God's wrath.
It is commonly preached, but I think unwarily, that the devils shall be the only tormentors of the soul in that day. But where have they learned this? Or how is it possible that it should be so? If you consider that no creature whatever can be an instrument of God's wrath—the soul of man is such a kind of a vessel as will hold more than all the creatures in the world can put into it—it is capable of more torment than all the creatures in Heaven and earth can inflict. Therefore when God pours out his wrath at the last, he does it by no creature. No, he does it immediately.
The greatest acts of God are those which are done by himself, without means or instruments. As when God lets out his love into the soul in lesser measures—then he uses the ministry of the creatures, he does it by the word and ordinances. But when God pours out his love into the soul to the utmost—then no creature can convey all the love of God to the soul, but he himself does it by himself immediately. Therefore, the blessedness of the soul in the eternal world is made to lie in the immediate enjoyment of God.
In the same way, now in lesser judgments, and lower dispensations of wrath—God does it by the creatures. Yes, but when he comes to pour out his wrath on lost sinners to the utmost, no creature can be employed in that. God does it immediately by himself, therefore he does not work by devils.
How can the devils be the tormentors of others, who shall be deepest in the torments themselves? They have been the first and greatest in sinning—and therefore shall be the deepest in suffering, for Hell is chiefly prepared for the devil and his angels. Now I ask: Who shall torment the devils—who can have power over them, but God himself? It is done immediately by God's own hand—they fall into the hands of the living God. Therefore it was that they dreaded Christ when he was in the flesh, "Have you come to torment us before the time?"
Lost sinners are appointed to partake with the devils in the same torments, and therefore the God who torments the damned spirits—that God will be the tormentor of every sinner, for they are in the same "fire which is prepared for the devil and his angels." It is the same fire, and torment, and wrath—which they all lie under.
Therefore look, whatever that is which torments the devil in that state—that must be the torment of those who, in a way of sinning, have given themselves up to the devil. As they have been companions in sinning—so they shall be in suffering. So, all the miseries and sufferings of Hell are from one and the same hand—God's. For as the Eternal Spirit shall in Heaven, be a Spirit of adoption, and glory to the saints forever—so in Hell he shall be a Spirit of bondage and wrath to wicked men forever. And this is the breath of the Lord, that kindles the fire that torments them.
There is not (that I know,) one word in all the Scriptures that gives countenance to this doctrine of making the devils the ministers of God's vengeance in Hell. God does not think it unworthy of his greatness, to be the executioner of his own vengeance. Therefore it is said, "Vengeance is mine, and I will repay says the Lord!"
"This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power!" 2 Thessalonians 1:7-9
There shall be as real a presence of God in Hell, as in Heaven! Satan has no such office as to be God's executioner in the eternal world. Indeed now he is in office, and acts as a tempter to draw us to sin. Therefore he is called "Abaddon"—a destroyer, a murderer. And in the day of judgment, he shall act as an accuser, but he shall not be the executioner of God's eternal vengeance. Satan's power and kingdom and dominion shall end in this present world.
The devil's ministry cannot be said to last longer than the ministry of good angels, and that is but during this life. They come to gather the elect to the last judgment, and at that judgment their ministry ends, and saints and angels shall then go to Heaven together, and enjoy God together.
So shall the devil and lost sinners go to Hell, and lie under the weight of God's wrath forever. The good angels shall be principalities and powers no more, and Satan shall be prince of this world no more. For all rule and authority shall be put down, whether good or evil. For the Scripture tells us, "Christ must reign until he has put down all rule and authority," therefore, whatever the power is that Satan has over wicked men in this world—yet he shall have none in the next world. This is the same as the good angels shall minister no more in love to the elect. So the devils shall ministry no more in wrath to the reprobate. But God shall be all in all in the eternal world.
And what is said of the tormentors in Hell, the same may be said of the torments themselves. The darkness, the flame, the devouring fire, the everlasting burning—these are nothing else but the immediate infinite wrath of "God, who is a consuming fire," (Hebrews 12:29). God is all in all to lost sinners in a way of wrath and misery.
The punishment both of loss and sense lies in this: The punishment of LOSS, is in losing the favor and comforting presence of God. The punishment of SENSE is in lying under the immediate wrath and vengeance of God, and that is another sort of misery, than to be left to be tormented by devils or any creatures. What is the wrath of all men and devils, compared to one frown of God?
If God is all in all in point of comfort, and blessedness to saints in Heaven—then he is all in all in point of vengeance, to lost sinners in Hell. In Heaven there is no need of any ministry of creatures, to convey the love of God to the soul. There, all those means are cut off, they are only for our present state of distance—but there God is all. So in Hell, God has no more need of ministry of creatures there to convey his wrath, than he has of the ministry of angels in Heaven to express his love. This then is the reason, why it is so dreadful a thing to fall into the hands of the living God—because you will fall into the hands of God immediately, and will have to deal with the wrath of God indeed!
By way of USE, then, from so solemn a truth, so tremendous a doctrine as this is—shall I ask you one question? Have you secured this God to be your all in the next world, in a way of grace and love? I pray that you will answer it. I tell you, and I am sure you will say so too—that it is a thing of the greatest importance under God's heavens—the securing a saving interest in God to be our all in a way of grace, for let me tell you:
1. God will be our all in that world, whether you have secured him or not. Christ gives up the kingdom, and God takes the management of all, and all the administration is then in the hand of God. God will be your all in that world, whether you have secured him or not. If he is not so in a way of mercy—then he will be so in a way of wrath.
2. If anything short of God is your all now—then he will bring that all to nothing. God never engages against what a man loves—until a man loves something besides God, for then he makes that to be his god, and degrades the true God. Whatever a man loves most, either it is god, or something set in the place of God—and that is his idol. God has said that he will destroy our idols. He will not bear that we make anything to be our idol, for he is a jealous God, and will not give his glory to idols.
There is a day coming when you will need God. Do you not believe this? Now you think you do not need him. You have the creatures, and pleasures, and pastimes, and comforts, and enjoyments, and trades, and relations—to please you. And you think that you can do without God, as many do, and place other objects in God's stead. But there is a time coming when all the rivers of creature enjoyments shall be dried up. The creature shall be no more—and then how dreadful will it be to have our affections—and have nothing to place them on. This is one of the miseries of Hell. If you have no portion in God—then you are undone forever!
Is God now your portion? Have you chosen God? Have you taken him for your chief good? I tell you, then he will be so forever, for every man is eternally happy, or miserable by his own choice. Every man shall have that in the next world, which he chooses in this world—either happiness or misery. If we have chosen God, he will be our God forever. But if in this world, God is nothing to you in a way of faith, and love, and duty, and service, and obedience, and holiness—then he will be nothing to you in the next world in a way of grace. He will be all to you, in a way of wrath and torment. Therefore, how does it concern us whether we have secured God to be our all in the next world, and this you may know if you consider:
(1.)
Have you taken Christ for your all? Do you have a sense of your lost estate by nature, and your undone condition by the fall? Have you sought after Christ, and closed with him as your all here? Do you see all in him? Do you fetch all from him? Is he all to you in point of righteousness, all in regard of interest and reliance? If in this way you have made Christ your all here—then you have secured God to be your God forever.(2.)
Have you made God your chief good, your highest Lord, and your last end? If so, you have secured him to be your God forever. This one thing will infallibly determine the case of your soul, for if God is your chief good—then you will love him above all. If he is your highest Lord—then you will serve him before all. If he is your last end—then you will make him the center of all your duties, and make every duty to observe this end.But what will be the case of lost sinners, who have set light by Christ here, that have neglected God, broken his commands, slighted his call, refused his counsel, and turned their backs on all the offers of grace? What shall become of them? God will be all in all to them in the next world, not in a way of mercy and grace—but in a way of wrath and vengeance. He is the living God that you have slighted! Know "that it is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God!"