Oh Lord, Thou Pluckest Me Out

Zechariah 3:1-5; Matthew 3:10-12

“To Carthage I came burning. Oh Lord thou pluckest me out, oh Lord thou pluckest.” This is from one of the best Christian theologians St Augustine in his book The Confessions of St Augustine. He is describing his life as a youth when he goes to Carthage, a major city on the northern edge of Africa, to be educated in the arts and rhetoric. He admits in this autobiography that at this point in his life he was burning with lust and desires to fulfill every ounce of it with riotous living. It reminds us of the Prodigal Son who “looked to the far country and wasted his substance with riotous living.” (Luke 15:13) Like the prodigal son who wasted all that he had; St Augustine too had wasted all that he before he came to his senses.

Augustine’s burning is a description of sinful nature burning within us, prodding and poking at us to sin. It is a prison, a slavery to sin that one feels they need to satisfy in order to temper its fiery agitation. This hot burning fire that almost consumed Augustine was only quenched when he acknowledged his sinful desires to God and begged for His grace and mercy. His leaving Carthage was much different from when he came. God plucked him out of the fire and His Spirit began to burn within him.

What about you today? Are you burning within and if you are, is it the fire of the Holy Spirit or the fire of sin that is attempting to quench the fire of God within you? Today, there is a secret burning of sinful fires aflame within many Christians lives. They may be burning with:

Lust

Hatred

Anger

Jealousy

Envy

Greed

Pride

Bitterness

These types of fires destroy one’s relationship with God, family, church family, friends, and most of all destroys one’s witness before unbelievers. They must be put out or they will consume the one burning in this internal lake of fire.

How are we delivered from such destruction? Simply ask God to pluck you out of these fires! He did this for Joshua in our text. Not only was Joshua a firebrand plucked out, but he was also given new priestly garments and filled with the Spirit of God. John the Baptist said of Jesus that he would “Baptize with the Holy spirit and fire.” The holy fire of God will consume any other fire that burns within you and me. He will “purge the floor our hearts by burning up the chaff (waste) and gathering His wheat into the garner.”

So, pray for God to consume anything in you today that is destroying your life, your family, your friendships and most of all your testimony. Pray that He will fill you with His holy fire and consume you… “for our God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:29)

Pastor Robby