EVERY WORD OF GOD FOR DAILY LIVING
BY PASTOR PAUL RIKA:
INTERNATIONAL DIRECTOR Holiness Revival Movement Worldwide
TITLE: THE GOD OF MERCY IS ALSO THE GOD OF JUDGMENT
WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 1ST, 2021
TEXT: EXODUS 34:6-7 KJV
6) And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,
7) Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.
KEY VERSE: ISAIAH 66:24
And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.
When people say “The Lord is good ALL the time, and ALL the time the Lord is good.” They are confessing the abundance of God’s grace and His unfathomable mercy and immeasurable benevolence. The goodness of God is vast and beyond full understanding. The psalmist says in Psalm 34:8, “O taste and see that the LORD is good: blessed is the man that trusteth in him.” God’s goodness is expressed in His patience with sinful mankind and love for His enemies.
He does not want anyone to perish but wants all to come to repentance and be saved (1 Timothy 2:4). In His goodness, “He maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust (Matthew 5:45).” But God’s universal grace, love and goodness as expressed to the righteous and wicked alike is not to be mistaken for the endorsement of wickedness amongst men. Often, sinners tend to be carried away by the richness of God’s goodness and erroneously conclude that it is impossible for God to damn anybody to hell. Their ears are attentive to Satan who assures them that they will not be called to account. Will God not actually call the wicked to account? The psalmist pondered this question, “Wherefore doth the wicked contemn God? He hath said in his heart, Thou wilt not require it (Psalm 10:13).”
The judgment of God is as sure as His salvation. Heaven and hell are eternal realities. It is the height of self-delusion to imagine that hell does not exist or to think that sinners will escape God’s righteous judgment. The experience of hell is beyond human description. The fear of hell should make sinners run to God. In today’s key verse, the bible describes the terrible end of the wicked in hell “And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against Me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.”
Why should you see the other side of God? Why face his fierce judgment? Don’t you know that the gracious God is also a consuming fire? It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. Do not take the grace and benevolence of God for granted. Repent today and escape the coming wrath that will consume all those who have despised God.
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: God’s delayed judgment is to create an opportunity for repentance, not for you to continue in sin.
SONG FOR THE DAY: Have you counted the cost?
BIBLE READING FOR THE DAY: Psalm 148-150; 1 Corinthians 11:16-34