I have overthrown some of you, as God overthrew Sodom
and Gomorrah, and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning: yet
have ye not returned unto me, saith the LORD. Therefore thus will I do
unto thee, O Israel: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet
thy God, O Israel.
(Amos 4:11-12)
There is nothing more bent on final destruction than a
man with an unregenerate, unbelieving heart. Almighty God in His sovereign
mercy could pluck a child of promise as a firebrand out of the burning
while He destroys another hell-bound sinner, and that plucked firebrand
will, of his own accord, never see God's mercy or return to Him. The only
returning by a sinner to Almighty God is by the power of God's Spirit blessing
the message of Christ, the Hope of Glory. A man must be made ready to meet
God in mercy. He must have a substitute to bear his guilt and a fit righteousness.
The Law must be obeyed and justice must be satisfied. All this is fulfilled
in Christ.
10/15/95