When the Wicked Shall Have Filled Up the Measure of Their Sin, Wrath Will Come Upon Them to the Uttermost
1 Thessalonians 2:16
To fill up their sins alway; for the
wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.
Subject:
When those that continue in sin have filled up the measure of their sins, then
wrath will come upon them to the uttermost.
IN
verse 14, the apostle commends the Christian Thessalonians that they became the
followers of the churches of God in Judea, both in faith and in sufferings. In faith,
in that they received the Word, not as the word of man, but as it is in truth
the Word of God. In sufferings, in that they had suffered like things of
their own countrymen, as they had of the Jews. Upon which the apostle
sets forth the persecuting, cruel, and perverse wickedness of that people,
“who both killed the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have,” says he,
“persecuted us; and they please not God, and are contrary to all men,
forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles, that they might be saved.” Then come
in the words of the text; “To fill up their sins alway; for the wrath is come
upon them to the uttermost.”
In these words we may
observe two things:
1. To what effect was the
heinous wickedness and obstinacy of the Jews, viz. to fill up their sins.
God hath set bounds to every man’s wickedness. He suffers men to live, and to
go on in sin, till they have filled up their measure, and then cuts them off. To
this effect was the wickedness and obstinacy of the Jews. They were exceedingly
wicked, and thereby filled up the measure of their sins a great pace. And the
reason why they were permitted to be so obstinate under the preaching and
miracles of Christ, and of the apostles, and under all the means used with them,
was, that they might fill up the measure of their sins. This is agreeable to
what Christ said, Mat. 23:31, 32, “Wherefore ye be witnesses unto yourselves,
that ye are the children of them which killed the prophets. Fill ye up then the
measure of your fathers.”
2. The punishment of their
wickedness. “The wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.” There is a
connection between the measure of men’s sin, and the measure of punishment.
When they have filled up the measure of their sin, then is filled up the measure
of God’s wrath.
The degree of their
punishment, is the uttermost degree. This may respect both a national and
personal punishment. If we take it as a national punishment, a little
after the time when the epistle was written, wrath came upon the nation of the
Jews to the uttermost, in their terrible destruction by the Romans; when, as
Christ said, “was great tribulation, such as never was since the beginning of
the world to that time,” Mat. 24:21. That nation had before suffered many of
the fruits of divine wrath for their sins; but this was beyond all, this was
their highest degree of punishment as a nation. If we take it as a personal
punishment, then it respects their punishment in hell. God often punishes men
very dreadfully in this world; but in hell “wrath comes on them to the uttermost.”
— By this expression is also denoted the certainty of this punishment.
For though the punishment was then future, yet it is spoken of as present:
“The wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.” It was as certain as
if it had already taken place. God, who knows all things, speaks of things that
are not as though they were; for things present and things future are equally
certain with him. It also denotes the near approach of it. The wrath
IS come; i.e. it is just at hand; it is at the door; as it proved with
respect to that nation; their terrible destruction by the Romans was soon after
the apostle wrote this epistle.
DOCTRINE
When those that continue in
sin shall have filled up the measure of their sin, then wrath will come upon
them to the uttermost.
I. PROP. There is a certain
measure that God hath set to the sin of every wicked man. God says
concerning the sin of man, as he says to the raging waves of the sea, Hitherto
shalt thou come, and no further. The measure of some is much greater than of
others. Some reprobates commit but a little sin in comparison with others, and
so are to endure proportionably a smaller punishment. There are many vessels of
wrath; but some are smaller and others greater vessels. Some will contain
comparatively but little wrath, others a greater measure of it. Sometimes, when
we see men go to dreadful lengths, and become very heinously wicked, we are
ready to wonder that God lets them alone. He sees them go on in such audacious
wickedness, and keeps silence, nor does anything to interrupt them, but they go
smoothly on, and meet with no hurt. But sometimes the reason why God lets them
alone is because they have not filled up the measure of their sins. When they
live in dreadful wickedness, they are but filling up the measure which God hath limited
for them. This is sometimes why God suffers very wicked men to live so long;
because their iniquity is not full, Gen. 15:16, “The iniquity of the Amorites
is not yet full.” For this reason also God sometimes suffers them to live in
prosperity. Their prosperity is a snare to them, and an occasion of their
sinning a great deal more. Wherefore God suffers them to have such a snare,
because he suffers them to fill up a larger measure. So, for this cause, he
sometimes suffers them to live under great light, and great means and
advantages, at the same time to neglect and misimprove all. Everyone shall live
till he hath filled up his measure.
II. PROP. While men continue
in sin, they are filling the measure set them. This is the work in which they
spend their whole lives. They begin in their childhood; and if they live to grow
old in sin, they still go on with this work. It is the work with which every day
is filled up. They may alter their business in other respects. They may
sometimes be about one thing and sometimes about another, but they never change
from this work of filling up the measure of their sins. Whatever they put their
hands to, they are still employed in this work. This is the first thing that
they set themselves about when they awake in the morning, and the last thing
they do at night. They are all the while treasuring up wrath against the day of
wrath, and the revelation of the righteous judgment of God. It is a gross
mistake of some natural men, who think that when they read and pray they do not
add to their sins. But on the contrary, [they] think they diminish their guilt
by these exercises. They think, that instead of adding to their sins, they do
something to satisfy for their past offenses. But instead of that, they do but
add to the measure by their best prayers, and by those services with which they
themselves are most pleased.
III. PROP. When once the
measure of their sins is filled up, then wrath will come upon them to the
uttermost. God will then wait no longer upon them. Wicked men think that God is
altogether such a one as themselves, because, when they commit such wickedness,
he keeps silence. “Because judgment against an evil work is not executed
speedily, therefore the heart of the children of men is fully set in them to do
evil.” But when once they shall have filled up the measure of their sins,
judgment will be executed; God will not bear with them any longer. Now is the
day of grace, and the day of patience, which they spend in filling up their
sins. But when their sins shall be full, then will come the day of wrath, the
day of the fierce anger of God. — God often executes his wrath on ungodly men,
in a less degree, in this world. He sometimes brings afflictions upon them, and
that in wrath. Sometimes he expresses his wrath in very sore judgments.
Sometimes he appears in a terrible manner, not only outwardly, but also in the
inward expressions of it on their consciences. Some, before they died, have had
the wrath of God inflicted on their souls in degrees that have been intolerable.
But these things are only forerunners of their punishment, only slight
foretastes of wrath. God never stirs up all his wrath against wicked men while
in this world. But when once wicked men shall have filled up the measure of
their sins, then wrath will come upon them to the uttermost; and that in the
following respects:
1. Wrath will come upon them
without any restraint or moderation in the degree of it. God doth always
lay, as it were, a restraint upon himself. He doth not stir up his wrath. He
stays his rough wind in the day of his east wind. He lets not his arm light down
on wicked men with its full weight. But when sinners shall have filled up the
measure of their sins, there will be no caution, no restraint. His rough wind
will not be stayed nor moderated. The wrath of God will be poured out like fire.
He will come forth, not only in anger, but in the fierceness of his anger; he
will execute wrath with power, so as to show what his wrath is, and make his
power known. There will be nothing to alleviate his wrath. His heavy wrath will
lie on them, without anything to lighten the burden, or to keep off, in any
measure, the full weight of it from pressing the soul. — His eye will not
spare, neither will he regard the sinner’s cries and lamentations, however
loud and bitter. Then shall wicked men know that God is the Lord. They shall
know how great that majesty is which they have despised, and how dreadful that
threatened wrath is which they have so little regarded. Then shall come on
wicked men that punishment which they deserve. God will exact of them the
uttermost farthing. Their iniquities are marked before him; they are all written
in his book. And in the future world he will reckon with them, and they must pay
all the debt. Their sins are laid up in store with God. They are sealed up among
his treasures; and them he will recompense, even recompense into their bosoms.
The consummate degree of punishment will not be executed till the day of
judgment. But the wicked are sealed over to this consummate punishment
immediately after death; they are cast into hell, and there bound in chains of
darkness to the judgment of the great day; and they know that the highest degree
of punishment is coming upon them. Final wrath will be executed without any
mixture. All mercy [and] all enjoyments will be taken away. God sometimes
expresses his wrath in this world. But here good things and evil are mixed
together. In the future there will be only evil things.
2. Wrath will then be
executed without any merciful circumstances. The judgments which God
executes on ungodly men in this world are attended with many merciful
circumstances. There is much patience and long-suffering, together with
judgment. Judgments are joined with continuance of opportunity to seek mercy.
But in hell there will be no more exercises of divine patience. The judgments
which God exercises on ungodly men in this world are warnings to them to avoid
greater punishments. But the wrath which will come upon them, when they shall
have filled up the measure of their sin, will not be of the nature of warnings.
Indeed they will be effectually awakened, and made thoroughly sensible, by what
they shall suffer. Yet their being awakened and made sensible will do them no
good. Many a wicked man hath suffered very awful things from God in this world,
which have been a means of saving good. But that wrath which sinners shall
suffer after death will be no way for their good. God will have no merciful
design in it. Neither will it be possible that they should get any good by that
or by anything else.
3. Wrath will be so
executed, as to perfect the work to which wrath tends, viz. utterly to undo
the subject of it. Wrath is often so executed in this life, as greatly to
distress persons, and bring them into great calamity. Yet not so as to complete
the ruin of those who suffer it. But in another world, it will be so executed,
as to finish their destruction, and render them utterly and perfectly undone. It
will take away all comfort, all hope, and all support. The soul will be, as it
were, utterly crushed; the wrath will be wholly intolerable. It must sink, and
will utterly sink, and will have no more strength to keep itself from sinking
than a worm would have to keep itself from being crushed under the weight of a
mountain. The wrath will be so great, so mighty and powerful, as wholly to
abolish all manner of welfare, Mat. 21:44, “But on whomsoever it shall fall,
it will grind him to powder.”
4. When persons shall have
filled up the measure of their sin, that wrath will come upon them which is eternal.
Though men may suffer very terrible and awful judgments in this world, yet those
judgments have an end. They may be long continued, yet they commonly admit of
relief. Temporal distresses and sorrows have intermissions and respite, and
commonly by degrees abate and wear off. But the wrath that shall be executed,
when the measure of sin shall have been filled up, will have no end. Thus it
will be to the uttermost as to its duration. It will be of so long continuance,
that it will be impossible it should be longer. Nothing can be longer than
eternity.
5. When persons shall have
filled up the measure of their sin, then wrath will come upon them to the
uttermost of what is threatened. Sin is an infinite evil; and the
punishment which God hath threatened against it is very dreadful. The
threatenings of God against the workers of iniquity are very awful; but these
threatenings are never fully accomplished in this world. However dreadful things
some men may suffer in this life, yet God never fully executes his threatenings
for so much as one sin, till they have filled up the whole measure. The
threatenings of the law are never answered by anything that any man suffers
here. The most awful judgment in this life doth not answer God’s threatenings,
either in degree, or in circumstances, or in duration. If the greatest
sufferings that ever are endured in this life should be eternal, it would not
answer the threatening. Indeed temporal judgments belong to the
threatenings of the law; but these are not answered by them; they are but
foretastes of the punishment. “The wages of sin is death.” No expression of
wrath that are suffered before men have filled up the measure of their sin are
its full wages. But then, God will reckon with them, and will recompense
into their bosoms the full deserved sum.
APPLICATION
The use I would make of this
doctrine is, of warning to natural men, to rest no longer in sin, and to make
haste to flee from it. The things which have been said, under this doctrine, may
well be awakening, awful considerations to you. It is awful to consider whose
wrath it is that abides upon you, and of what wrath you are in danger. It is
impossible to express the misery of a natural condition. It is like being in
Sodom, with a dreadful storm of fire and brimstone hanging over it, just ready
to break forth, and to be poured down upon it. The clouds of divine vengeance
are full, and just ready to burst. Here let those who yet continue in sin, in
this town, consider particularly,
1. Under what great means
and advantages you continue in sin. God is now favoring us with very great and
extraordinary means and advantages, in that we have such extraordinary tokens of
the presence of God among us. His Spirit is so remarkably poured out, and
multitudes of all ages, and all sorts, are converted and brought home to Christ.
God appears among us in the most extraordinary manner, perhaps, that ever he did
in New England. The children of Israel saw many mighty works of God, when he
brought them out of Egypt. But we at this day see works more mighty, and of a
more glorious nature.
We who live under such
light, have had loud calls; but now above all. Now is a day of salvation. The
fountain hath been set open among us in an extraordinary manner, and hath stood
open for a considerable time. Yet you continue in sin, and the calls that you
have hitherto had have not brought you to be washed in it. What extraordinary
advantages have you lately enjoyed to stir you up! How hath everything in the
town, of late, been of tendency! Those things which used to be the greatest
hindrances have been removed. You have not the ill examples of immoral persons
to be a temptation to you. There is not now that vain worldly talk, and ill
company, to divert you, and to be a hindrance to you, which there used to be.
Now you have multitudes of good examples set before you. There are many now all
around you, who, instead of diverting and hindering you, are earnestly desirous
of your salvation, and willing to do all that they can to move you to flee to
Christ. They have a thirsting desire for it. The chief talk in the town has of
late been about the things of religion, and has been such as hath tended to
promote, and not to hinder, your souls’ good. Everything all around you hath
tended to stir you up; and will you yet continue in sin?
Some of you have continued
in sin till you are far advanced in life. You were warned when you were
children; and some of you had awakenings then. However, the time went away. You
became men and women; and then you stirred up again, you had the strivings of
God’s Spirit. And some of you have fixed the times when you would make
thorough work of seeking salvation. Some of you perhaps determined to do it when
you should be married and settled in the world; others when you should have
finished such a business, and when your circumstances should be so and so
altered. Now these times have come, and are past; yet you continue in sin.
Many of you have had
remarkable warnings of providence. Some of you have been warned by the deaths of
near relations. You have stood by, and seen others die and go into
eternity; yet this hath not been effectual. Some of you have been near death yourselves,
have been brought nigh the grave in sore sickness, and were full of your
promises how you would behave yourselves, if it should please God to spare your
lives. Some of you have very narrowly escaped death by dangerous accidents; but
God was pleased to spare you, to give you a further space to repent; yet you
continue in sin.
Some of you have seen times
of remarkable outpourings of the Spirit of God, in this town, in times past; but
it had no good effect on you. You had the strivings of the Spirit of God
too, as well as others. God did not so pass by your door, but that he came and
knocked; yet you stood it out. Now God hath come again in a more remarkable
manner than ever before, and hath been pouring out his Spirit for some months,
in its most gracious influence; yet you remain in sin until now. In the
beginning of this awakening, you were warned to flee from wrath and to forsake
your sins. You were told what a wide door there was open, what an accepted time
it was, and were urged to press into the kingdom of God. And many did press in;
they forsook their sins, and believed in Christ. But you, when you had seen
it, repented not, that you might believe him.
Then you were warned again,
and still others have been pressing and thronging into the kingdom of God. Many
have fled for refuge, and have laid hold on Christ; yet you continue in sin and
unbelief. You have seen multitudes of all sorts, of all ages, young and old,
flocking to Christ, and many of about your age and your circumstances. But you
still are in the same miserable condition in which you used to be. You have seen
persons daily flocking to Christ, as doves to their windows. God hath not only
poured out his Spirit on this town, but also on other towns around us, and they
are flocking in there, as well as here. This blessing spreads further and
further; many, far and near, seem to be setting their faces Zionward. Yet you
who live here, where this work first began, continue behind still; you have no
lot or portion in this matter.
2. How dreadful the
wrath of God is, when it is executed to the uttermost. To make you in some
measure sensible of that, I desire you to consider whose wrath it is. The wrath
of a king is the roaring of a lion; but this is the wrath of Jehovah, the Lord
God Omnipotent. Let us consider, what can we rationally think of it? How
dreadful must be the wrath of such a Being, when it comes upon a person to the
uttermost, without any pity, or moderation, or merciful circumstances! What must
be the uttermost of his wrath, who made heaven and earth by the word of his
power; who spake, and it was done, who commanded, and it stood fast! What must
his wrath be, who commandeth the sun, and it rises not, and sealeth up the
stars! What must his wrath be, who shaketh the earth out of its place, and
causeth the pillars of heaven to tremble! What must his wrath be, who rebuketh
the sea, and maketh it dry, who removeth the mountains out of their places, and
overturneth them in his anger! What must his wrath be, whose majesty is so
awful, that no man could live in the sight of it! What must the wrath of such a
Being be, when it comes to the uttermost, when he makes his majesty appear and
shine bright in the misery of wicked men! And what is a worm of the dust before
the fury and under the weight of this wrath, which the stoutest devils cannot
bear, but utterly sink, and are crushed under it. — Consider how dreadful the
wrath of God is sometimes in this world, only in a little taste or view of it.
Sometimes, when God only enlightens conscience, to have some sense of his wrath,
it causes the stout-hearted to cry out. Nature is ready to sink under it, when
indeed it is but a little glimpse of divine wrath that is seen. This hath been
observed in many cases. But if a slight taste and apprehension of wrath be so
dreadful and intolerable, what must it be, when it comes upon persons to the
uttermost! When a few drops or little sprinkling of wrath is so distressing and
overbearing to the soul, how must it be when God opens the flood-gates, and lets
the mighty deluge of his wrath come pouring down upon men’s guilty heads, and
brings in all his waves and billows upon their souls! How little of God’s
wrath will sink them! Psa. 2:12, “When his wrath is kindled but a little,
blessed are all they that put their trust in him.”
3. Consider, you know not
what wrath God may be about to execute upon wicked men in this world.
Wrath may, in some sense, be coming upon them, in the present life, to the
uttermost, for ought we know. When it is said of the Jews, “The wrath is come
upon them to the uttermost,” respect is had, not only to the execution of
divine wrath on that people in hell, but that terrible destruction of Judea and
Jerusalem, which was then near approaching, by the Romans. We know not but the
wrath is now coming, in some peculiarly awful manner, on the wicked world. God
seems, by the things which he is doing among us, to be coming forth for some
great thing. The work which hath been lately wrought among us is no ordinary
thing. He doth not work in his usual way, but in a way very extraordinary; and
it is probable, that it is a forerunner of some very great revolution. We must
not pretend to say what is in the womb of providence, or what is in the book of
God’s secret decrees; yet we may and ought to discern the signs of these
times.
Though God be now about to do glorious things for his church and people, yet it is probable that they will be accompanied with dreadful things to his enemies. It is the manner of God, when he brings about any glorious revolution for his people, at the same time to execute very awful judgments on his enemies, Deu. 32:43, “Rejoice, O ye nations, with his people: for he will avenge the blood of his servants, and will render vengeance to his adversaries, and will be merciful unto his land, and to his people.” Isa. 3:10, 11, “Say ye to the righteous, It shall be well with him: for they shall eat the fruit of their doings. Woe unto the wicked, it shall be ill with him: for the reward of his hands shall be given him.” Isa. 65:13, 14, “Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, my servants shall eat, but ye shall be hungry: behold, my servants shall drink, but ye shall be thirsty: behold, my servants shall rejoice, but ye shall be ashamed: behold, my servants shall sing for joy of heart, but ye shall cry for sorrow of heart, and shall howl for vexation of spirit.” We find in Scripture, that where glorious times are prophesied to God’s people, there are at the same time awful judgments foretold to his enemies. What God is now about to do, we know not. But this we may know, that there will be no safety to any but those who are in the ark. — Therefore it behooves all to haste and flee for their lives, to get into a safe condition, to get into Christ. Then they need not fear, though the earth be removed, and the mountains carried into the midst of the sea; though the waters thereof roar and be troubled; though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof: for God will be their refuge and strength; they need not be afraid of evil tidings; their hearts may be fixed, trusting in the Lord.