Sandpaper Christians

SANDPAPER CHRISTIANS

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR

1. When President Cleveland's second child was born, the doctor asked Cleveland for a scale to determine the baby’s weight. Cleveland searched through the house without success.

2. Finally, he remembered that he had an old scale in the basement that he had always used on his fishing trips. He got it and brought it upstairs.

3. Carefully, the doctor placed the infant on the scale and was amazed to learn that the newborn weighed 25 pounds!

B. TEXTS

1. “No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it”(Heb. 12:11). “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything”(James 1:2-4).

2. “But who can endure the day of His coming? Who can stand when He appears? For He will be like a refiner’s fire or a launderer’s soap. And He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; He will purify the Levites and refine them as gold and silver. Then the Lord will have men who will bring Him offerings in righteousness.” Malachi 3:2-3.

C. THESIS

1. God's working in our lives is a risky business. The same forces that can shape our lives for good, if perceived wrongly, can also shape them destructively. So it is important to learn God's methods for perfecting us, the instruments he uses, the tools that can be misunderstood, and learn the perspective that can cause us to always walk in victory.

2. Title: Sandpaper Christians.

I. GOD’S PERFECTING WORK

A. AS REFINER

1. This is spoken of as one of the results of the coming of the Lord: he would test and try all things, destroy the false and the evil, and make those pure whom he permitted to remain. Wake Up! The Refiner has come! The Lord Jesus, when he came, sat as a Refiner, and tried His generation; His ministry tried their religion, their sincerity, and those who claimed to be followers of God, and He revealed the hollowness & hypocrisy of that day.

Since then, His gospel and his Spirit, his teaching, and the very fact of his existence have been a test, a trial, a standard of weights and measures among men. All things and al people are on trial.

2. If you watch the news, there always seems to be a crisis in the world somewhere. There is always a crisis because the Lord is sitting as a Refiner. All the leaders, the governments, the institutions, are being thrust into the furnace, and nothing ungodly will withstand the flame. Everything will be purified and refined; but all that is ungodly shall be dissolved away as dross.

3. When the Lord comes the second time, the trial will be still more intense. The Prophet warns, “Who shall abide the day of his coming? Who shall stand when He appears?”

4. So realize that whenever Jesus Christ draws near to You,

He comes in mercy to purify you – to drive all evil. Don’t be surprised, as Peter said, at your “fiery trials.” The greatest thing that God can do for us is to purify us into his own glorious holiness. Because Christ loved the church, “He gave himself for it, that he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing” by the washing of water through the Word. This demonstrates the perfect love of Christ: whenever He comes into a person’s life, He comes as a Refiner.

5. If you are seeking the Lord at this time, I want you to understand what it means: you are seeking a fire which will test you, and consume a lot of what has been dear to you. We shouldn’t expect Christ to come and save us in our sins, he will come and save us from our sins. Remember, the Angel said, “They shall call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins.”

6. As Hebrews said, Discipline (by parents) is often unpleasant. Solomon said, “Let not thy soul spare for his crying.” Our wise Father, when He is purifying us, must keep at it, even if it’s painful. What if the metal that is put into the furnace could talk, it might say, “Ow! Take me out; the fire is too hot; I can’t stand this! I am dissolving; I am melting; take me out.” Would the refiner pay attention to the cries of the metal? Oh, no! The refiner sits still. He knows what he is doing; He’s not hurting the silver, but doing it lasting service. He is not putting it through a needless process. He is taking the shortest way to a perfect end.