Easter Message

Dr. Al Lacey Sermon

God In The Hands
of Angry Sinners
NOT LONG AGO...I was preaching at a Pastor's Conference in Chicopee, Massachusetts. The host pastor and I were discussing the history of Gospel preaching in New England. I knew we were not far from Enfield, Connecticut, where the great Jonathan Edwards had preached his powerful sermon, 'Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.'
I asked if he would drive me to the spot where it happened. While we were driving toward the place, I thought of all that I had read of the incident. Jonathan Edwards had gone to the meeting where a great multitude of people was gathered. He was looking forward to an evening of Christian fellowship and listening to some good Gospel preaching.
As the song service progressed, Mr. Edwards noticed that the speaker for the evening was not on the platform. Soon it was evident that they were now stalling for time. Suddenly one of the men in charge tapped him on the shoulder and bending over, told him that the speaker was not there, would he mind preaching for them.
Mr. Edwards replied that he had just finished preparation


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of a new sermon and had it with him. He would be glad to preach. Stepping to the pulpit, he opened his Bible and took out a complete manuscript. He offered prayer and began to read the manuscript word for word (this was the way he always preached).
Jonathan Edwards was a Spirit-filled man. He walked in the Spirit. He lived in the Spirit. Though he read every sermon word for word, he also preached in the Spirit. The fire of God fell. People were under such conviction of sin...they actually wrapped their arms around the pillars that supported the roof. They cried for him to stop preaching, lest they fall into Hell at that moment.
When the invitation was given, over five hundred people came to receive Christ. Hundreds of Christians fell on their faces, weeping under the power of the Holy Spirit. At that hour a great revival struck America. Within a few months thousands were swept into the family of God. It has been termed, 'The Great Awakening'.
As we stepped from the car, there was a large stone monument that stood on the spot. There, chiseled in stone, was the story of the 'Great Awakening' that took place on July 8, 1741, when Jonathan Edwards preached 'Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God'. Little 'heebie-jeebies' danced
up and down my spine. I thought of how the power of God fell. I thought of that great sermon. I thought of Jesus and of the suffering of Calvary that made it all possible.
Suddenly it struck me. There would have been no sermon on 'Sinners in the Hands of Angry God' if God had not first gone into the hands of angry sinners!
So I want to turn the tables. I want to alternate the picture. I am going to reverse the scene. Instead of 'Sinners in the Hands of Angry God'...I want to show you GOD IN THE HANDS OF ANGRY SINNER!
It was the night before the cross. Jesus had fallen beneath the old olive trees and prayed to His Father three times. The bloody sweat flowed from His Brow as the shadow of the cross loomed over Him. Peter, James and John carelessly


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slept a stone's throw away. Jesus walked back and stood over the sleeping disciples.
He lifted up His eyes and looked toward the city. A large band of men, carrying torches, was making its way toward the garden. He looked down at the sleeping men and said,

"Sleep on now, and take you rest; it is enough, the hour is come; behold, the Son of man is betrayed into ^^^^ the hands of sinners." (Mark 14:41) ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Then Judas stepped out of the night and planted his treacherous poison kiss on Jesus' cheek.

"And they laid their hands on him, and took ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ him." (Mark 14:46)
These sinners into whose hands He was betrayed, were angry sinners. He had blasted their religion and torn the cloak from their wickedness. He had held them up to the searchlight of God's Word and exposed them as hypocrites who tenaciously clung to their sins. Resting comfortably in their religious rites, they were asked by this Prophet from Nazareth, "How can ye escape the damnation of hell?"
(Matt. 23:33).
Seething and burning with anger...

"Then assembled together the chief priests, and the scribes, and the elders of the people, unto the palace of the high priest, who was called Caiphas, And consulted that they might take Jesus by subtilty, and kill him." (Matt. 26:3-4)
^^^^^^^^
This One who was taken by angry sinners...this One who was taken at a traitor's poisonous kiss...this One who was taken by cruel hands...Is GOD!

"Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and

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the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counseller, The mighty God, ..." (Isaiah 9:6).
"But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from old, from everlasting." (Micah 5:2)
"Behold, a virgin shall be with child, and shall bring forth a son, and they shall call his name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, God with us." (Matthew 1:23)
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God...And the Word was made flesh, ..." (John 1:1, 14).
"And without controversy great is the mystery of
godliness: God was manifest in the flesh," (I
Timothy 3:16).
"Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ." (Titus 2:13)
"I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty." (Revelation 1:8)
Yes...the One who was taken by angry sinners...this One who was taken at a traitor's poisonous kiss...this One who was taken by cruel hands...is GOD!

"They laid their hands on him, and took him." (Mark
14:46)

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God in human flesh was now in the hands of angry sinners.
What will wicked unregenerate sinners do if they can get their hands on God?

"They all condemned him to be guilty of death. And some began to spit on him, and to cover his face and to buffet [beat] him, and to say unto him, Prophesy: and the servants did strike him with the palms of their hands." (Mark 14:54-65).
If the religious crowd could get ahold of Him today, they would do the same thing! 'What?' Someone will say, 'The religious crowd? Are you saying that religious people would do a thing like this?' Look at the record.

"And they led Jesus away to the high priest: and with him were assembled all the chief priests and the elders and the scribes." (Mark 14:53)
High priests! Chief priest! Elders! Scribes! Here were all the
RELIGIOUS leaders of Israel!

"And straightway in the morning the chief priests held a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council and bound Jesus, and carried him away, and delivered him to Pilate." (Mark 15:1)
Religious leaders who deny His virgin birth, His deity, His
blood atonement, His vicarious death, His bodily resurrection
and His literal return to this earth, prove by their very actions
that if given the opportunity, they would repeat the wicked
actions of their predecessors.
Religious leaders who teach and preach salvation and
cleansing of sin in baptism, catechism, confirmation,
communion, confession, church membership, sacraments,
good works, "holding out faithful to the end", sincerity in


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religion, etc., etc., ... prove by their nefarious doctrines that
He would suffer physically at their wicked hands if given the
opportunity.
Mark's fifteenth chapter reveals GOD IN THE HANDS OF
ANGRY SINNERS.

"And so Pilate...delivered Jesus, when he had scourged
him, to be crucified. And the soldiers led him
away...And they clothed him with purple, and platted a
crown of thorns, and put it about his head, And began to
salute him, Hail, King of the Jews! And they smote him
on the head with a reed, and did spit upon him, and
bowing their knees worshipped him. And when they
had mocked him, they took off the purple from him, and
put his own clothes on him, and led him out to crucify
him. ...And they bring him unto the place Golgotha,
which is, being interpreted, The place of a skull. And
they gave him to drink wine mingled with myrrh: but
he received it not. And when they had crucified him,
they parted his garments, casting lots upon them, what
every man should take." (Mark 15:15-24)
With their HANDS, they scourged Him. With their
HANDS, they led Him away. With their HANDS, they
mocked Him by clothing Him in purple. With their HANDS,
they platted a crown of thorns and with their HANDS, they
jammed it mercilessly on His tender brow. With their
HANDS, they saluted Him in scorn.
With their HANDS, they beat Him on the head with a
reed. With their HANDS, they jerked the purple mockery
from Him and replaced it with His own clothes. With their
HANDS, they led Him out to the place of execution.
In the midst of all this cruelty performed by wicked
HANDS...there appeared for a brief moment, kind and tender
HANDS. Some of the women who loved Him had prepared a
cup of wine mingled with myrrh. This was an act of kindness
and love. The effect of this liquid was to dull the nerves and


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cloud the mind. It was designed to provide, at least, some
crude anesthetic against the agonies of that lingering death.

"But he received it not." (Mark 15:23)
His refusal was an act of sublimest heroism! Jesus would not
die for your sins and mine with a clouded mind or a dull
spirit. He would swing on the nails and look at death straight
on. He would face the King of Terrors without easing one
spasm of pain. He would pass through death's dark door with
His head held high, without dulling the throbbing of one
lacerated nerve. He who would die at the hands of angry sinners
would do so in full possession of His faculties.
Quickly, with their HANDS, they stripped Him naked.
With their HANDS, they flung Him to His bleeding back.
With their HANDS, they drove the jagged spikes through His
hands and feet. This is GOD IN THE HANDS OF ANGRY
SINNERS!
With their HANDS, they lifted the cross toward the sky
and carried it to the hole in the ground. With a thud, they
dropped it into the ground. Every joint in His body was
pulled from its socket. As He looked down from the cross,
dizziness overwhelmed Him. Blood was running into His eyes.
His heart pounded in His breast, till He could hear it throb
in His ears. Between the thundering throbs, He could hear the
screeching of the vultures overhead...circling the scene with the
smell of fresh blood in their nostrils. Intermingled with
screeching from overhead, He could hear the screaming of the
human vultures below.
The Romans had a cruel custom which they practiced at
every crucifixion. Two soldiers would lift a third up on their
shoulders and carry him up to the agonizing, dying victim.
The soldiers aloft would close his HANDS into fists and beat
the sufferer in the mid-section.
How utterly brutal, inhuman and revolting was the
execution of a man by crucifixion! The headsman's ax, the
hangman's rope, the guillotine, the firing squad, the gas


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chamber and the electric chair are child's play compared to
the indescribable execution by crucifixion. Soon after this
bloody carnage at Calvary, the Romans, in common pity and
respect of humanity, abolished crucifixion.
But as for Jesus..."they laid hands on him," and
'they crucified him'!
'They crucified him'. Those are the blackest words
in human history! Down through the centuries, sinful men
have been guilty of homicide, patricide, matricide...and even
suicide. At Calvary, men were guilty of deicide. This is GOD
IN THE HANDS OF ANGRY SINNERS!

Was ever love so strong
Was ever crime so wrong
When Jesus suffered long
For all my sin?
Time moved slowly. To Him that fathered eternity...to
Him that a thousand years is as a day...now every minute
seemed like a thousand years. Dizziness swept over Him in
waves. Cramps gnawed at His stomach. The burning
ligaments, all torn from their sockets, intensified His agony.
The scorching thirst became unbearable. His tongue was
swelling. The chills of traumatic fever made him quiver
against the rough wood of the cross.
As the day wore on, tetanus began enflaming every fiber of
His body. His blood vessels were on fire. The arteries in His
head were swollen with surcharged blood. His wounds were
now filling with gangrene. In addition to all this, was the
indescribable nausea.
Out in the shadows, Satan and all his demonic henchmen
of darkness, laughed and danced with glee. At the foot of the
cross, the mob continued to rail at Him, hour after agonizing
hour.

"And they that passed by railed on him, wagging their
heads, and saying, Ah, thou that destroyest the temple,

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and buildest it in three days, save thyself, and come down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priests mocking said among themselves with the scribes, He saved others; himself he cannot save. Let Christ the King of Israel descend now from the cross, that we may see and believe. And they that were crucified with him reviled him." (Mark 15:29-23)
Jesus did not have to allow His betrayal into the hands of sinners. He could have dropped Judas into Hell with his boots on when the traitor left the upper room. He did not have to stay in the hands of ^^^^ sinners.

"Thinkest thou that I cannot now pray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve legions of angels?" (Matt. 26:53)
Jesus was delivered into the hands of angry sinners by "the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God!" (Acts 2:23) It was all in God's Plan. The vicious mob cried, "Come down from the cross, and we will believe!" (Matt. 27:42) I declare that if Jesus had come down from the cross, THERE WOULD BE NOTHING TO BELIEVE! Jesus could have come down from the cross. He is the Creator of the metal from which the nails were formed. He planted the tree from which the cross was built. But...He could not have descended from the ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ cross and still save us from Hell! ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ In essence this is what every person who believes (wrongly) in salvation by baptism, church membership, catechism, confirmation, communion, good works, holding out faithful, keeping the commandments and all the other man-made ways, is saying, 'Come down from the cross! We don't need You on that cross. We have our own way!' ^^^^^^^^^^^ If you could save yourself...Jesus would not have gone to the cross in her first place. There is only ONE way.


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"As many as received him, to them gave he power to become the ^^^^^^^^ sons of God," (John 1:12). "Except ye repent [turn from your sins], ye shall all likewise ^^^^^^ perish." (Luke 13:3) "Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." ^^^^ (Romans 10:13) Jesus remained in the hands of angry sinners so you and I could escape the hands of an angry God. The hours seemed like eternities. At noon a mysterious, unexplainable darkness enveloped the earth. The darkness prevailed for three long hours. During the period of darkness, came the REAL suffering. The mortal mind cannot begin to comprehend this suffering. ^^^^ Human language bows in defeat to describe it. We can only let the Word of God comment on it. "He [the father] hath made him [Jesus] to be sin!" ^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^ (II Corinthians 5:21) "That he...should taste death for every man." (Hebrews 2:9) ^^^^^^^^^^^ "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree," ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ (I Peter 2:24). "It pleased the LORD to bruise him; he hath put him to grief: ^^^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ when thou shalt make his soul an offering for sin," ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ (Isaiah 53:10). "My God, My God, why hast thou forsaken me?" (Mark 15:34) ^^^^^^^^^^^

No mortal tongue can describe what took place in the heart and soul of the Son of God when the sewer pipes of


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human wickedness pumped their filth and vermin into His holy being. Only Jesus Himself ^^^^^^^^^^^^^ understands what it is to be totally forsaken of God. Only He will ^^ ever know what it is to suffer all the unleashed, vented out wrath of ^^^ God concentrated in one human soul. My Saviour is the one and only ^^^ ^^^^^^^^^^^^ Person who has ever suffered an eternity of Hell compressed into three ^^^^^^ black hours. The REAL SUFFERING of Calvary will never be known. When the REAL SUFFERING was finished and the sun once again shone in his strength, they dry an swollen tongue of God's Son uttered, "I thirst." (John 19:28) With wicked HANDS, the ribald Roman soldiers filled a sponge full of bitter vinegar, put it on a stick and pressed it to His burning lips. The end, now, is approaching. Death rides the air. Ah, but SO DOES VICTORY! The prince of this world is about to be cast out. Satan's doom is nearly sealed. Our salvation is about to be secured. Heaven's gates are swinging wide. The blood has been shed. The Father is satisfied. A triumphant cry reverberates across the Judean hills, echoing to the halls of Heaven and the pits of Hell... IT IS FINISHED! Yes, Lord Jesus, it is finished! Never again, sweet Saviour, will ^^ You suffer the wicked atrocities of human depravity. Never again will putrid spittle drip from YOUR precious face. Never again will YOU stand in mockery of a bloodthirsty mob. Never again are You going to suffer at the HANDS OF ANGRY SINNERS! For over twelve hours he had been in the HANDS OF ANGRY SINNERS. Now listen... "Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said ^^^^^^^^^ thus, He gave up the ghost." (Luke 23:46)


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That cross upon which Jesus died is the focal point of human history. It is the dividing line of two worlds. It is the pivot point of ages. Upon that cross He suffered, bled and died in the HANDS OF ANGRY SINNERS...that YOU might not fall into the hands of an angry God. Oh, precious unsaved reader...COME TO HIM NOW! "It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God!" (Hebrew 10:31)