Hear this word, ye kin of Bashan, that are in the mountain of Samaria, which oppress the poor, which crush the needy, which say to their masters, Bring, and let us drink. The Lord God hath sworn by his holiness, that lo, the days that shall come upon you, that he will take you away with hooks, and your posterity with fishhooks, and ye shall go out at the breeches, every cow at that which is before her, and ye shall cast them into the palace, saith the Lord. Come to Bethel, and transgress at Gilgal, multiply transgression, and bring your sacrifices every morning, and your tithes after three years. And offer a sacrifice of thanksgiving with leaven, and proclaim and publish the free offerings. For this liketh you, O ye children of Israel, saith the Lord God. And I also have given you cleanness of teeth in all your cities, and want of bread in all your places. Yet have you not returned unto me, saith the Lord? And also have I withholden the rain from you, when there were yet three months to the harvest, and I caused it to rain upon one city, and caused it not to rain upon another city. One peace was rained upon, and the peace whereupon it rained not withered. So two or three cities wandered on to one city to drink water, but they were not satisfied. Yet have you not returned on to me, saith the Lord? I have smitten you with blasting and mildew. When your gardens and your vineyards and your fig trees and your olive trees increased, the palmerworm devoured them. Yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord? I have sent among you the pestilence after the manor of Egypt. Your young men have I slain with the sword, and have taken away your horses, and I have made the stink of your camps to come up unto your nostrils. Yet have ye not returned unto me, saith the Lord? 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? Prophet Amos was one who ministered in the days of Jeroboam. He was a king who exalted his kingdom to a place of great power. And yet he was the cause of it to fall due to idolatry and other great sin. And against that backdrop, the message of Amos is seen to be from the Lord. For oftentimes you will read throughout his book, you will find these words, thus saith the Lord. He was speaking forth the mind of God. And that wasn't always a pleasant message to listen to, especially when he exposed their stubborn impenitence. And in this chapter, with other chapters, the nation of Israel are compelled to hear this word. That's how the chapter opens. Indeed, if you look at the words of verse 1, you will have the well-to-do women of Samaria described as cows. And the reason being was that they were guilty of indulging themselves in the activities of the brute beasts. They encouraged the oppression of the poor. They encouraged the crushing of the needy by their husbands, because there was the demands for the high life. And you'll notice that strong drink is never too far away either, as it is seen at the end of verse 1. It'll be worthy of note. God holds us responsible not only for what we do, but also what we entice others to do. From verse 6 onward you will notice also how the Lord God had visited this nation with many a correction in order for their repentance. The Lord had withheld the bread and the food from them. The famine was to bite. The rain was to be withheld in one city while it was given in another city, and there was drought. Further pestilences of various kinds had been sent. There was the blight and the mildew and the locusts. Yet each time that the judgment of the Lord is spoken about, the recurring response of the people is the same. You have not returned unto me, saith the Lord. But even in wrath, God remembers mercy, for up until the point of verse 9, the damage had been without loss of human life. But that is noticeably changed thereafter. For there was the slaying of the young men in battle, and there were the more severe trials, yet they had not returned unto the Lord. And I wonder, men and women, young person, as you look back over the past months of this year, Could you liken yourself to these people in the sense that God has been gracious to you, in the sense that God has visited your heart this past year by various means, and yet his words to you are the same as what we find in this chapter? Yet ye have not returned unto me, saith the Lord. These people were no less deserving of being overthrown by the Lord, as was true of the cities of the plain. My sinner friend, I want you to understand tonight that God is a God of mercy. For in verse 11, we have not only what they deserved as a people, but also we have what they didn't deserve. Words which are the basis of my text. And ye wear as a firebrand plucked out of the burning. Saved from the burning. Let me consider with you three simple thoughts tonight, the first of which is sin. Amos, in many respects, has similarities to the Lord Jesus Christ. He was from a lowly working family. He speaks of himself in chapter 7 as a gatherer of wild figs. The Lord was to call to him in his humility as he followed a flock. He was a man who was to teach by parable, as often we find the Savior doing. But the words of verse 11 are no parable. The scene of Sodom, when it was visited with a judgment of fire and brimstone from heaven, is clearly etched in the mind. And the prophet here reminds these people of the reality of that judgment. And the wrath and judgment of God was due to their sin. We might consider from these words that sin is universal as we find it described throughout the Scriptures. Ephesians 2 and 1, and you hath he quickened who were dead in trespasses and in sins. There is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that seeketh after God, Romans 3. In Adam, we all fell in his transgression. We all turned and rebelled against the Lord God, who is both our creator and our sustainer, for he upholdeth all things by the word of his power. All born of Adam's wreaths are dead spiritually unto God. There was only one whom sin did not taint and affect, and that was the sinless Lamb of God. The Scriptures remind us that He did no sin, that there was no guile found in His mouth, and I believe the Scriptures teach us that He could not sin. He was incapable of sinning, for if He was, then Christ could never have been a perfect sacrifice and a substitute for the sinner. But He who knew no sin yet became sin for us. that we, through His righteousness, or we might be made righteous through Him. This plague and disease called sin is universal. It is a description of every unborn of Adam's race, and therefore that means you tonight sitting even in that pew, and these words in our text remind us of that. There were those who'd been overthrown by God, just as it was in the cities of the plain, for sin, when it is finished, it bringeth forth death. Not all believers have a testimony that they have been saved from the And from the filth of this world, we've heard one such example of that tonight. But let me tell you this, each soul that is a testimony, every one of them are brands plucked from the burning. Whether you're on the dirty side of the broad road or whether you're on the clean side of the broad road, as sometimes it is described, Each sinner saved is a bran plucked from the burning, but consider also that we are sinners because we sin. Our sin is deserving of nothing but the wrath of a holy God. There's a word used in our text to direct our attention to what our sins deserve, and it is this, burning. Burning. You cast your mind back to Korah and to that family and his followers and they were to experience that as the earth swallowed them up alive and they went down into the pit. It is that which is spoken of in the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. They were to know the fire and the brimstone being poured out upon them. It is what the final abode of the damned and the Christ rejecter is characterized by, as it is spoken in the book of the Revelation, as the lake of fire and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. In Revelation chapter 21 and verse 8, listen to this, but the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. The destiny of the sinner without Christ is one of the eternal burnings of a Christless hell, and hence the Savior was found often to say, except ye repent, ye shall likewise perish. And my friend, it is deserving of every last one of us. There's none who can merit the favor of God, but we all deserve that eternity of being forever separated from the mercy and from the love of God. And dear friend, if that burning will not be your portion for all eternity, then it will be only because of another, that of the Lord Jesus Christ, for it was Christ who died on that cross. It was there at Calvary that He stood into the sinner's place to receive the wrath and the judgment of God that was our Jew. It was Christ upon whom was poured that fiery indignation and who was to pay in full the punishment that we each deserve in His own body on the tree. And our brother Ryan brought it out. God is love. That's why He judged sin. That's why He must judge sin. He's a holy God. He's a loving God. And yet he took our sin and he was to lay it upon Christ on that cross. And Christ was to endure that fiery indignation. Christ was not plucked from those burnings so that all that trust in him to the saving of their souls might be assured that they will never be in those burnings. He endured the cross and he despised the shame. It pleased the Lord to bruise him, and the hymn writer captures it when they said, and we sang it tonight, number 100. In the words of verse 4, Jehovah bade his sword awake. O Christ, it woke against thee. Thy blood, the flaming blade, must shake. Thy heart, its sheath, must be all for my sake. My peace to make. Now sleeps that sword for me. Praise God, payment. God will not twice demand, first at my bleeding surety's hand and then again at mine. Dear friend, do you realize what your sin deserves from a holy God? The anger of an all-holy God deserves to fall on me, the sinner. There's no righteous in me and that I have found, nor that I can plead before him. And so my only hope and my only deliverance is to be found in the one who was counted as worthy and who descended into the depths, that he might pay the full punishment of sin and he might set the captives free. Tell me, do you know from experience what it is to be saved from your sins, from the eternal burnings of a lost hell, a lost eternity. Only you can answer that before God. The person beside you, they might think that you're all right. The person in front of you, they might suspect that you're all right. Only you know before the Lord. You see, sin is dealt with in this verse. Secondly, there's salvation dealt with. But as the scene is presented before us, remember, it's the Lord that's doing the speaking. And in these words, we're being confronted with His so great salvation. And there's a sense in which we're enabled to have a greater understanding of it. And that can be noted in the price of salvation, for unlike the world's religions, God's salvation is free and freely offered unto all who will hear and receive it. The words of Romans 3 and verse 24 says this, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption. that is in Christ Jesus. In the words of the prophet Isaiah, it's without money and it's without price, yet salvation in and of itself was purchased at the highest cost. The greatest price had to be paid in the giving of God's only begotten Son, and in the giving of Christ was the plan of God's salvation to be fulfilled in the laying down of his life on that cruel cross of Calvary. For it was upon that tree that Christ was to enter into the depths, and he was to shed his own precious blood for the law of God to create it. And it was upon that cross that Christ, as a substitute for his own people, was to endure the burnings of a lost eternity. You remember how we often consider the saints of the cross, and one of those seven saints was I Thirst. The exact same words of the rich man in hell in Luke 16, who cried that a drop of water might be placed on his tongue. It's not merely a physical thirst that Christ was enduring, but rather there on the cross, He was paying the penalty of our sin as it was laid on Him. God's justice was meted out upon His own Son. And if we do not accept the payment that Christ made on that cross, then one day we will have to endure the punishment ourselves in the burnings of a lost eternity. The price of God's salvation, it meant the giving of Christ to the cross and the penalty that we should have received and deserve being laid upon him. No wonder then that the hymn writer could write. Oh, make me understand it. Help me to take it in, what it meant to thee, the Holy One, to bear away my sin. Have you ever considered the great price to redeem a lost sinner back to God? Yet have you not returned unto me, saith the Lord of hosts? A further understanding of God's salvation is in the power of it. For when we think of a firebrand plucked from the burning, we're thinking of something that is well now impossible. A firebrand was fitted for the fire, yet God in his mercy was to deliver such. We've been reminded about Sodom in these verses. I'm reminded of 2 Peter 2 and 9 states that the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation. When it seemed impossible for Lot, that righteous soul, to be spared and delivered from the fire and from the brimstone that was coming upon that city, God was to bring him out. When it seemed impossible that the apostle Peter would be spared and delivered from the prison cell, God sent his angel in Acts chapter 12, and he was delivered. He brought him out. When it seems impossible for sinful and lost mankind to be saved and delivered from the judgment and the overthrow of this world, the Lord has devised a plan, and that plan is powerful enough to deliver all who will come and seek salvation through the person and the work of the Lord Jesus. The gospel is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that believeth. It's a message that is powerful enough to pardon and cleanse the vilest sinner, the power of God's salvation enough to be able to declare the guilty sinner as just, for God is just, and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. When all hope of man being saved was gone, the message of Calvary is powerful enough in effect to reach and to save the vilest offender who truly believes. The power of God's salvation not only means being delivered from the flames of hell, but its power means that we're lifted from the dunghill and we are placed and numbered amongst the family of God. And we would do well to consider the words of Hannah in her song, for they're words that describe what God does for us in salvation. 1 Samuel 2, in verse 8 said, He raiseth up the poor out of the dust. He lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill to set them among princes and to make them inherit the throne of glory for the pillars of the earth are the Lord's and he has set the world upon them. Is that your experience tonight? Have you known the power of God this year? Have you considered the power of God's salvation for a sinner like you and what it can accomplish that you nor any other man could ever do of lifting you up from the mire of your sin and setting your feet on the rock, Christ Jesus, and the power in the Savior's blood is able to wash you clean? Yet, have you not returned unto me saith the Lord God." The price, the power. But you'll notice the perfection of God's salvation in looking at our text as well. It's a firebrand plucked out of the burning. And the sense of the word is it's rescued. It's completely snatched away and out of that fire. And so it is with God's salvation. It's purchased by a perfect savior, one who was sinless, one whom God described as his perfect servant. And the salvation that Christ purchased is perfect in itself. It does not half deliver a sinner. It does not nearly bring a sinner to the glories of heaven. It is a complete salvation. It is a full deliverance from the fall and from the curse of sin. And it is a complete rescue from the fires of lost eternity. This book does not give a message that will take you two-thirds or three-quarters or nine-tenths of the way to heaven. It is a message of a full deliverance. You can't add to the work of the cross. You can't take away from it. You can't make it any better. It's a perfect work. My dear friend, it is a complete work. That's the message that this book preaches. Hebrews 7, he is able also to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him. It is eternal life that Christ has purchased through his death, for eternal life is needed for eternity. Tell me, do you have this perfect salvation? And if you have, are you seeking to have a greater understanding of what God has done for you in his mercy? And ye wear as a firebrand plucked out of the burning. The third thought that I leave with you in closing tonight is the Savior's love. Romans 5 and 8 reminds us of that, but God commended his love toward us in that while we're yet sinners, Christ died for us. It taps into the great depths of the love of God towards sinners. God in his great love was to reach down by the giving of Christ to redeem lost souls unto himself. And are not the depths of his love not conveyed in this verse? We read of being plucked from the burning. out of the masses. God chose a people unto himself. He plucked them out of the fire. In the context, it's Israel, as opposed to the countless other nations that he could have chosen, not for any merit in themselves. For as sinful sons of Adam, they had no merit or favor before God. And so it is in God's salvation. By His great love and mercy, He reached down and He chose a people in Christ. And it was the love of God in Christ that meant that He was obedient to the cross, a truth that is revealed to our hearts even in the upper room in John 13 and 1. Now before the feast of the Passover, when Jesus knew that His hour was come, that He should depart out of this world unto the Father, having loved His own which were in the world, He loved them unto the end. greater love hath no man than this. For we were his enemies. We're loved with a neverlasting love that meant Christ taking our place and dying for us. When the sinner laid by God's Spirit, convicted of their sin, calls upon the Lord in love and in mercy to save them, the Lord saves and He plucks them as a firebrand out of the fire. And what depths the love of Christ has to reach when He reaches down so low to lift up so little! But I tell you that having loved us and having plucked us, and we're safe from the grasp of the devil, and Satan knows it, For the Lord God was to rebuke him, as you'll find in Zechariah chapter 3 in verse 2. The Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuketh thee, O Satan, even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuketh thee. Is not this a firebrand plucked out of the fire? Then the Savior's love is seen to be personal. Notice the words of our text. and ye were as a firebrand plucked out of the burning. God's salvation is personal. The heart of Christ throbbed with love for his people while he hung and suffered on that tree. The Savior died for individuals. Ye were as a firebrand. And just as the Lord met with and dealt with individual persons during his earthly ministry, the woman at the well, or that religious Pharisee of Nicodemus, so it is to this night. The depths of His love reaches to individual souls. And if there was no one but you, listen to this sinner, no one but you for whom Christ died, then He still would have went to the cross. He still would have endured the same sufferings. He still would have endured the same despisings and shame. He still would have shed His own precious blood. And that can only speak to me of the depths of His great love wherewith He loved us. I wonder, have you considered the love of God in Christ to your soul? Are you resting in His love this evening? For herein is love, not that we love God, but that God loved us and sent forth His Son to be a propitiation for our sins. There is the definition of God's love. You have heard that. and it has been brought before you in 2014, and you've seen it in others. Yet, you have not returned unto me, saith the Lord of hosts. If you're not saved tonight, the final Sabbath evening of an old year, I would that you would come now. I would that you would know that redeeming love of Christ that can save you from the burning words which are graphically depicted in the family home of the Westlies by the means of a painting. It shows the family home engulfed in a great fire. It shows a mother in the courtyard below kneeling down in the posture of prayer with seven of her children around her there in Epworth. It shows at that burning house, a ladder leaned against the wall to one of the windows. And thereupon was Samuel, the Reverend Samuel Wesley, the father of the home, who feared for the last of his children, who had already knelt down and committed his soul unto the Lord because that child slept and he'd wake late when the others had fled and been rescued out of that fire. He was still in that bedroom. yet the ladder reaches up, and just at the very moment that the rescuer gets that little child into his arms, the whole roof collapses on itself. And that child was John Wesley. My dear friend, is it any wonder that his father knelt down with the neighbors to give thanks unto God for sparing his eight children, and years later, reflecting upon that night, John Wesley wrote, he was a bran plucked out of the burning. He was so in the literal, physical sense. He was also so in the spiritual sense. He was to have the testimony of one saved from the burning. I wonder, could that be said of you tonight? As I give my final invitation in the Gospel of this year, if you know no such testimony, Oh, you come to the free church, you have a respectability, and you've been brought up in the gospel, but you're not saved. I witted you'd come now. And ere you leave this house, you can go home with a testimony as one, as a firebrand plucked out of the burning. May God bless His Word to our hearts and to the salvation of your soul. For His own name's sake. Amen.