The Refiner’s Fire

If you are experiencing trials and trouble right now, then you are likely under God’s refining fire. Maybe God has turned His face from you because of your sin. If you are living in known sin, then He will turn away from you in order to allow you to realize that you cannot survive apart from Him. If you try to live without the Lord in your life, then your own sins will cause you great difficulty.

Time of Reflection

We just read in Revelation 3:19 where the Lord said, “As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten,” but that is only the first part of the verse. The remaining portion says, “Therefore, be zealous and repent.” If you are being chastened then it could be because you are living in sin. The chastening will not cease until you turn away from your sin, and look upon the face of God once again. Repentance is simply turning away from sin, doing a “180,” and spiritually walking in the other direction. If you decide to turn from your sin, then God will rescue you from the fire. I would like to conclude our message this evening by reading a short poem:

He sat by a furnace of seven-fold heat,

As He watched by the precious ore;

And closer He bent, with a searching gaze,

As He heated it more and more.

He knew He had ore that could stand the test;

And He wanted the finest of gold –

To mold as a crown for the King to wear;

Set with gems of a price untold.

So He laid our gold in the burning fire,

Though we fain would have said Him nay;

And He watched the dross that we had not seen,

As it melted and passed away.

And the gold grew brighter, and yet more bright;

But our eyes were so dim with tears,

We saw but the fire – not the Master’s hand –

And questioned with anxious fears.

Yet our gold shone out with a richer glow,

As it mirrored a form above

That bent o’er the fire – though unseen by us –

With looks of ineffable love.

Can we think it pleases His loving heart

To cause us a moment’s pain?

Ah! No, but He saw through the present loss

The bliss of eternal gain.

So He waited there with a watchful eye,

With a love that is strong and sure;

And His gold did not suffer a whit more heat,

Than was needed to make it pure.(4)

This evening, if you are a Christian, you are destined to be a part of the metal in the crown of our Lord Jesus Christ; and because of this great privilege you will often be tested and tried by the refiner’s fire, so that you will be purified and worthy to be placed upon His holy brow. James admonished, “My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing” (James 1:2-4).

I also wish to extend an opportunity for you to know Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, if you don’t already know Him; for He is the one who can rescue you from the heat and flames of hell. Romans 10:9-10 says, “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”