Jonathan Edwards, in his most famous sermon, did not hold back from telling folks about the danger they are in. It is not like they are merely in danger of the devil coming to get them. No, they are in danger of the fierce wrath of God against them. People today are in the exact same danger, and need straight-forward words to wake them up. Like these:

Consider these words carefully. If you are present in this place, and yet you remain in an unregenerate state, then God will execute the fierceness of his anger on you. He will inflict his wrath upon you without any pity.

God will observe how ineffably extreme your situation. He will see that your torments are vastly greater than your strength is able to bear. He will see how your poor soul is crushed, and how it sinks down into an infinite gloom. But he will not have compassion on you, nor will he hold back his wrathful executions.

He will not lighten his hand of wrath, not even a little. There will be no moderation or mercy for you. At that time, God will not at all prevent his rough wind from blowing and he will have no concern for your welfare. His concern will not be that you suffer too much, except that you not suffer beyond the requirements of strict justice. No infliction will be withheld because it is beyond what you are capable to bear. Consider Ezekiel 8:18, “Therefore I will act in wrath. My eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. And though they cry in my ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them.”

But here in the present, God stands ready to pity you! Today is a day of mercy. Right now, you can cry out for mercy, and receive some encouragement that you might obtain it.

But once the day of mercy has past, even your most miserable and lamentable cries and shrieks will be useless. You will be totally lost and cast away from God, as far as your welfare is concerned. God will have no other use for you, except that you suffer misery. This will be the only goal of your continued existence. You will be a vessel of wrath fit for destruction, good for nothing but to be filled up full of wrath. When you cry to God he will be so far from showing you pity that the Bible says he will only “laugh” and “mock” (see Proverbs 1:25-26 and following).

How awful are the words of the great God we read in Isaiah 63:3, “I trod them in my anger and trampled them in my wrath; their lifeblood spattered on my garments, and stained all my apparel.”

These words manifest three things: contempt, hatred, and fierceness of indignation. It is perhaps impossible to think of other words that might convey these three things in a greater way. When you are facing his wrath, and cry out to God for pity, rather than show you pity, he will give you no regard or favor at all. Quite the opposite, instead of pity, God will only tread you beneath his feet. And yes, he will be totally aware that you cannot bear the weight of omnipotence walking on you, but he will not be concerned with that. In fact, he will crush you beneath his feet without mercy. He will crush you until your blood flies out to sprinkle and stain his garments. He will not only hate you, but his contempt for you will be at the highest level. There will be no place fit for you except under his feet where you will be flattened like mud in the streets.

Read the entire sermon, updated in modern English: Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.