A Plea From The Pit Series

It distresses me to preach messages that expose sin within the society in which we live. I could wish that I were permitted to speak only pleasant things, to declare a message that was always positive, to affirm our culture as righteous. However, I am compelled to give an answer to the One Who appointed me to this sacred office, and therefore I can speak only what He has commanded me to say, and He has appointed me to warn of the consequences that follow defying His holiness.

It is terrifying for us to read the warning that was drafted by writers of Holy Writ for those who had professed faith in the Son of God. The Lord God warned His people, “If we go on sinning deliberately after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice for sins, but a fearful expectation of judgment, and a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without mercy on the evidence of two or three witnesses. How much worse punishment, do you think, will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God, and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has outraged the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, ‘Vengeance is mine; I will repay.’ And again, ‘The Lord will judge his people.’ It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God” [HEBREWS 10:26-31]. [1]

It is those final stern warnings that should give each follower of Christ pause: “Vengeance is mine; I will repay,” which is immediately joined to the reminder that warns, “The Lord will judge his people.” Sobering as those statements may be, it is that final summation which I find positively chilling. The divine writer adds the sobering warning, “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Indeed, even to contemplate God’s wrath poured out on those who once walked with Him is a fearful thing. And that is what had befallen the people of God, eliciting the plaintive lament written by God’s Weeping Prophet.

GOD’S MERCY [vv. 31-36] —

“The Lord will not

cast off forever,

but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion

according to the abundance of his steadfast love;

for he does not afflict from his heart

or grieve the children of men.”

[LAMENTATIONS 3:31-33]

Even when judging the wicked, the Lord does not cease being merciful. And this truth becomes especially evident when He disciplines those who belong to Him. You, when you are disciplined, because you are born from above, can know that you are not cast aside—if you were not His child, the Lord would never discipline you.

Let me begin the message by speaking to the people of our nation. Don’t imagine that because you are Canadian you are accepted by the Lord God of Heaven and earth. Though God has blessed Canada, you need to understand that He can withdraw those blessings just as He first delivered the blessings we enjoy. The danger of receiving the blessings of the Lord is that we tend to assume that they are deserved. However, we forget there is a dark side to God’s love, for to turn from obedience to Him is to invite His wrath. Receiving His mercy does not imply that God is in our debt.

You may recall how the Lord promised Israel, “If you faithfully obey the voice of the LORD your God, being careful to do all his commandments that I command you today, the LORD your God will set you high above all the nations of the earth. And all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you, if you obey the voice of the LORD your God” [DEUTERONOMY 28:1-2]. The passage continues by speaking of the breadth of blessing promised when the nation obeyed the LORD.

Set against this promise was the dark side of the LORD when the nation chose to treat God with disdain, exalting their own opinions as though they were greater than God. The LORD warned, “But if you will not obey the voice of the LORD your God or be careful to do all his commandments and his statutes that I command you today, then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you. Cursed shall you be in the city, and cursed shall you be in the field. Cursed shall be your basket and your kneading bowl. Cursed shall be the fruit of your womb and the fruit of your ground, the increase of your herds and the young of your flock. Cursed shall you be when you come in, and cursed shall you be when you go out.