Saved from Hell

For some, this title "Saved from Hell" may be a bit much, but did you know that in the life of Christ, he spoke more on hell than He did on heaven. This is Jonathan Edwards' advice to new converts. He says:

"Do not forget the pit out of which you were drawn"

What does Edwards mean? He is simply saying that believers must recall the glory of salvation. Not only the beautiful reality that we will be with the Lord Jesus Christ and see Him face to face for all of eternity (1 John 3:3), but on the other hand, believers were saved from the terrifying wrath of God for all of eternity.

Listen to a few Scriptures that speak of hell:


Matthew 5:22 22 "But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever shall say to his brother, 'Raca,' shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever shall say, 'You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell.

Matthew 10:28 28 "And do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Mark 9:47 47 "And if your eye causes you to stumble, cast it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes, to be cast into hell,

James 3:6 6 And the tongue is a fire, the very world of iniquity; the tongue is set among our members as that which defiles the entire body, and sets on fire the course of our life, and is set on fire by hell.

2 Peter 2:4 4 For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment;

Edwards is saying to new converts here with this advice, remember the glory of salvation. Remember what you were saved from. However, it goes deeper than this.

Christians are not merely saved from hell. Believers are saved from God. In other words, in hell people perish because of their sinful deeds. That is why hell is eternal. Eternal punishment could never pay the ransom for sinning against a perfectly Holy and Righteous Judge. Furthermore, in hell, the wrath of God is poured out. People suffer justly for their sins.

Listen to how Jonathan Edwards says it in one of his most famous sermons:

The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked: his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire; he is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in his sight; you are ten thousand times more abominable in his eyes, than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours. You have offended him infinitely more than ever a stubborn rebel did his prince; and yet it is nothing but his hand that holds you from falling into the fire every moment. It is to be ascribed to nothing else, that you did not go to hell the last night; that you was suffered to awake again in this world, after you closed your eyes to sleep. And there is no other reason to be given, why you have not dropped into hell since you arose in the morning, but that God's hand has held you up. There is no other reason to be given why you have not gone to hell, since you have sat here in the house of God, provoking his pure eyes by your sinful wicked manner of attending his solemn worship. Yea, there is nothing else that is to be given as a reason why you do not this very moment drop down into hell.

He goes on by saying:

O sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are in: it is a great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath, that you are held over in the hand of that God, whose wrath is provoked and incensed as much against you, as against many of the damned in hell. You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe it, and burn it asunder; and you have no interest in any Mediator, and nothing to lay hold of to save yourself, nothing to keep off the flames of wrath, nothing of your own, nothing that you ever have done, nothing that you can do, to induce God to spare you one moment.

I beseech you, Christian, consider what you were saved FROM. Consider WHO you were saved from. Glory in the cross. Marvel at the grace and mercy of this Holy and Righteous God upon your soul.

I beseech you, the one who has not given his/her life to the Lord Jesus Christ ALONE for salvation, to consider the destiny that awaits you the moment you die. God is angry with the sinner (John 3:36). Without the blood of Christ covering your sins, you have a hopeless eternity apart from God, suffering the eternal agony of the wrath of God because of your sins. Run to Christ. Today, run to Him. Do not linger. The eternity separated from God awaits every single person who rejects the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

So I beseech you, O Christian, "Do not forget the pit out of which you were drawn."