The destruction which will come upon sinners will be to them a matter of fearful surprise

There are certain great principles in the Divine administration, the operation of which gives a degree of uniformity to the Divine proceedings. For instance, it is the manner of our God to visit with signal destruction those who have proudly set at naught His authority in a course of prosperous wickedness. Such was His treatment of Jerusalem. So it has been with individuals. Nebuchadnezzar, Herod, etc. Destruction came upon them, not only in a terrible form, but at an hour when they did not expect it. The same thing will hold true, in a greater or less degree, of all sinners, as it respects their final doom; while it will be especially true of those who have sinned against great light, and with a high hand. The destruction which will overtake sinners at last will be to them a matter of awful surprise. It will be at once unexpectedly dreadful, and dreadfully unexpected.

I. God’s wrath against the wicked is constantly accumulating. If the first sin you ever committed provoked God, do you think that the second provoked Him less; and that as He saw you become accustomed to sin, He came to think as little of it as yourself, and has not even charged your sin against you? Do you not remember that the Bible speaks of the sinner treasuring up wrath against the day of wrath?

II. The destruction which will come upon sinners will be to them a matter of fearful surprise, inasmuch as in the present life God’s wrath, for the most part, seems to slumber; at least they perceive no direct expression of it. It is true, indeed, that God is giving them warnings enough, both in His Word and providence; and if they did not close their ears against them, they could not fail to be alarmed; and they will never be able, in the day of their calamity, to charge God with having concealed from them their danger. Nevertheless, He treats them here as probationers for eternity; He sets life and death before them, but He does not unsheath His sword, and point it at the sinner’s heart. He does not find that the elements are armed for his destruction. The thundercloud rises, and rolls, and looks terrific, as if it were borne along by an avenging hand, but the lightning that blazes from it passes him by unhurt. In short, not one of the vials of God’s wrath can be said to be open upon him. There is nothing which he interprets as an indication of anything dreadful in the future. Now, must not all this be a preparation for a fearful surprise at last?

III. Not only have the wicked, during the present life, received no signal expressions of Divine vengeance, but they have been constantly receiving expressions of the Divine goodness; and this is another circumstance which will serve to increase the surprise that will be occasioned by their destruction. What a fearful transition will it be from this world, in which there are so many blessings, to a world in which existence itself becomes a curse! Oh, will not the sinner feel that he has “come down wonderfully”?

IV. God sometimes not only gives to the wicked a common share of temporal blessings, but distinguishes them by worldly prosperity; hence another reason of the surprise which they will experience at last. Think of the rich, and the great, and the noble of this world, who have been accustomed to receive a homage which has sometimes fallen little short of idolatry, finding themselves in the prison of despair, with no sound but the sound of their own wailing--with no society but the society of the reprobate! Have not these persons come down wonderfully?

V. The destruction which will finally overtake the wicked will be to them a matter of great surprise, inasmuch as they will, in some way or other, have made confident calculation foe escaping it. It will be found, no doubt, that many of them had flattered themselves with the hope that the doctrine of future punishment might turn out to be false; and some will have been left through their own perverseness to believe the lie, that the good and the bad will at last be equally happy. There will be others who will have wrought themselves into a conviction that destruction might be averted by some easier means than those which the Gospel prescribes, and may have chosen to trust to the orthodoxy of their creed, or the kindness of their temper, or the morality of their life. There will be others who will have intended ultimately to escape destruction by becoming true Christians, but who were looking out for some more convenient season. One thing will be certain in respect to all,--they will have intended to come out well at last. Not an individual among all the sufferers in hell but will have expected finally to be saved. Lessons.

1. How blinding is the influence of depravity.

2. It is a most awful calamity to relapse into a habit of carelessness after being awakened.

3. There is no class of men so much to be pitied as those who are perhaps most frequently the objects of envy, and none whose condition is so much to be envied as those whose circumstances are often looked upon as the most undesirable.

4. Who of you will turn a deaf ear to the warning which this subject suggests, to flee from the wrath to come?