Good morning. Let's open this
morning's service with hymn number 37 from the hardbacked hymnal,
number 37, How Great Thou Art. Let's all stand together. Oh. O Lord my God, when I in awesome
wonder Consider all the works Thy hands have made, I see the
stars, I hear the rolling thunder, Thy power throughout the universe
displayed. Then sings my soul, my Savior
God, to Thee, How great Thou art! How great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior
God, to Thee How great Thou art! How great Thou art! When through the woods and forest
glades I wander And hear the birds sing sweetly in the trees
When I look down from lofty mountain grandeur, And hear the brook,
and feel the gentle breeze, Then sings my soul, my Savior God,
to Thee, How great Thou art! How great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior
God, to Thee How great Thou art! How great Thou art! And when I think that God, His
Son not sparing, Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in. That on the cross, my burden
gladly bearing, He bled and died to take away my sin. Then sings my soul, my Savior
God, to Thee, How great Thou art! How great Thou art! Then sings my soul, my Savior
God, to Thee How great Thou art! How great Thou art! When Christ shall come with shout
of acclamation, And take me home, what joy shall fill my heart! Then I shall bow in humble adoration
and there proclaim, my God, how great thou art. Then sings my soul, my Savior
God, to thee. How great Thou art, how great
Thou art. Then sings my soul, my Savior
God to Thee. How great Thou art, how great
Thou art. Please be seated. who is a God like unto thee,
that pardoneth iniquity and passeth by the transgression of the remnant
of his heritage, he retaineth not his anger forever, because
he delighteth in mercy. How great a God we serve. We have No ability to comprehend
the fullness of his greatness. One day we'll see him as he is.
Or today that'll be. We were talking this morning
about. People that are all. Caught up in fear over. Over
this hurricane and I said. For those who are in Christ.
The worst case scenario will be the best day of their life.
And that's that's our hope, isn't it? That's our hope. We do have
friends in the Bahamas, and I know there's people dying down there
right now with a Cat 5 sitting over top of them. I talked to
Margaret this morning. She's got a good bit of family
down there, so. The wind listeth with us whoever
it wills. Our God is in control of it. As he is in control of
the salvation of his people for so it is with everyone that's
born of the spirit and what the Lord said to Nicodemus. So these
these storms remind us of who's in control. I remember hearing
a preacher say one time. Wasn't a gospel preachers false
prophet, but. He was talking about the devastation
of a hurricane. He said, well, God didn't have
anything to do with that. Now he's got everything to do
with it, doesn't he? Everything. Let's go before the
Lord in prayer and ask his blessings on our time together. Our merciful Heavenly Father.
What great hope and joy we have in knowing that you delight in
showing mercy. Lord, we are mercy beggars. We
have. Nothing to offer you but our
sin and. We plead Lord that. That for
Christ sake. That you would look to him and
his shed blood. And that we would know that.
When you see the blood. That you will pass over us. Lord, we. We thankful we're thankful
for the. For the revelation of. Of the
sacrifice that Christ made for us, Lord, we are not capable
of comprehending it, but we pray that your Holy Spirit would give
us faith to believe on him. And to rest our hope. In his
sufficient. Substitutionary sacrifice for
centers. Or do we? We know that you are
the one that The the winds and the storms
and the sea and. Lord, we. Pray that you would. Be merciful. And we ask Lord
you would give us. Hope and rest and faith to trust
you in whatever you see fit. For we ask it in Christ name.
Amen. Let's open our Bibles together
to Zachariah chapter 13, Zachariah chapter 13. I've titled this
message two fires, two fires. Every single person born in this
world will experience one of two fires. One fire will be a fire to go
through. The other fire will be one to
remain in. One fire is designed to purify. The other fire will destroy. One fire is temporal. It's brief. The other fire is
eternal, no end. One fire won't hurt you. It won't hurt you. The other
fire will bring agony beyond imagination. One fire is a controlled
burn for good. The other fire is a raging forest
fire that will consume everything. Those who are found in Christ
need not fear the latter fire, the second death, the lake of
fire, burning with fire and brimstone for all eternity. But those that
are found in Christ do have a fire to go through. They do have a
fire to go through. the fiery trials that the Lord's
ordained for them in this world, not as proof of their salvation. Proof of our salvation is in
Christ and through faith in Christ. Don't think that these fiery
trials are designed to to give you assurance. Well, I got through
that trial, that trouble, that fire, and I'm still believing
God, so therefore I must be a believer. And you look to that experience
as the hope of your salvation, no. No, that's not the design
of these fires that the child of God goes through in this world.
The design of these fires is to purify, to purify. make us more like the Lord Jesus
Christ and to make us more dependent upon him. Zechariah chapter 13 beginning at verse 8, and it
shall come to pass that in all the land, that's all the people, Two parts therein shall be cut
off and die. But the third part, the third
part shall be left therein. And I will bring the third part
through the fire and will refine them as silver is refined and
will try them as gold is tried. They shall call on my name. and I will hear them. I will
say, it is my people. And they shall say, the Lord
is my God. We have a savior who is described
in the scriptures as having feet of fine brass as were burned
in a fire. The fiery wrath that's going
to consume the two-thirds spoken of, and this is a distinguishing
grace that God has given to man. Two-thirds gonna be consumed
by a fire, gonna be cut off. One-third is going to be tried
with a fire. That's the church, that's his
people. And the reason why we're not
going to be cut off is because the Lord Jesus Christ has quenched,
has quenched the fire of God's holy wrath for us. That fire's been put out. We're
not, I don't want to bring this message in a way as to cause people to fear hell and
just look for some escape from that. That fire's been put out. Most people in the world are
like Esau, who for one morsel of meat sold his birthright.
They will avoid the fiery trials of faith in this life and sell
their souls, not knowing that the fire that's coming is much,
much worse. Oh, well, it cannot be compared.
Cannot be compared. Brethren, we have a deliverance,
a deliverer from that fire. And Scripture makes it clear that
our God is a consuming fire and that it is a fearful thing to
fall into the hands of an angry God. We don't want any part of
that. That's why the Lord Jesus Christ is referred to as our
propitiation. The wrath of God has been put
away. The fire has been put out. But there is a fire. There is
a fire that every child of God will go through. But here's the
good news. It won't hurt you. You remember
the Hebrew children, Daniel chapter 3, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego?
And they had built a a golden statue of Nebuchadnezzar, and
Nebuchadnezzar required everyone at the sound of the music to
bow and worship that golden statue, and Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
refused. They refused. And the governors,
who were jealous of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, went and
told Nebuchadnezzar, there's some men over here, the Jews,
they're not going to bow down and worship, and Nebuchadnezzar
brought them in. Is it true? Is it true? If at the sound of
the music you bow down and worship me and the gods of Babylon, I'll
let you go. But if you don't, I'm gonna put
you into the fiery furnace. And what did Shadrach, Meshach
and Abednego say to Nebuchadnezzar? Nebuchadnezzar, Nebuchadnezzar,
we're not gonna bow to your God. and we know that our god is able
to deliver us from that fire and we are sure that he's going
to deliver us from you either way either way he's going to
deliver us from you and nebuchadnezzar the scripture says was was infuriated
over their over their rebellion and so he ordered that the furnace
be heated seven times seven times i i Several years ago, we lived
in a small town in Alabama, and there was a steam plant in that
town, a power plant that produced electricity by burning coal. And I don't know the details.
Maybe somebody knows more about steam plants. But I remember
there were three men, three men that opened a furnace when it
wasn't supposed to be opened. And the fire came out and killed
all three of them in that small town. It consumed all three of
them. And I thought about that. That's what happened here. Nebuchadnezzar
took his strongest men and said, bind them and throw them into
the furnace and eat the furnace. And when they opened the door
to the furnace to put them in, the fire consumed the men that put
them in the furnace. And then Nebuchadnezzar looked
from wherever he was down into the furnace. And he said, did
we not throw three men into the furnace? I see four. And the
fourth is like unto the son of God. And then he called out to
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. He told them to come out. And
they came out. Not a hair on their head was
singed. And the smell of smoke did not pass to their clothes.
And the ropes that bound them were loosed. We're loosed. That's our hope. The Lord Jesus
Christ is that fourth one. He's not only gone through the
fiery furnace for us, But he goes through every fire that
he kindles for us now. He said, look, I will bring the
third part through the fire and refine them as silver is refined,
and I will try them as gold is tried. My brethren, whatever
trials, whatever troubles God has ordained for you to pass
through, just like with the Hebrew children, he's in that furnace
with you. He said, I'll never leave you
nor forsake you. Turn to me to 1 Peter 1. 1 Peter
1. And what is the purpose of these
trials? These fiery trials that the Lord
has, he's kindled these fires. He passes us through them. Now, as I said, all men will
experience one of two fires. I don't want anything to do with
the second one. And here's our Lord encouraging his people to
say, the one third that I'm taking through the fire, I'm doing it
to refine them. And they shall They shall cry
out to me and I will hear them and I will be their God and they
shall be my people. I'm going to accomplish my purpose
through the trials that I have ordained for them. First Peter chapter one. Verse
3, blessed be the God and father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which
according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a
lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead.
We have a lively hope. Oh, these trials, these fires
that the Lord passes us through, they're not going to hurt us. Why? Because by the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus Christ, by the consumption of the fire that
he accomplished on Calvary's cross, we don't have to fear
the wrath and judgment of God. That's why the scripture says
the spirit of fear is not of God, but of love, of love and
of a sound mind, a saved mind. to an inheritance incorruptible
and undefiled that fadeth not away reserved in heaven for you. It's reserved. You have a reservation. If you're in Christ, you have
a reservation. Your name's already in the book. And the Lord is
there with his angels to welcome everyone who has a reservation
reserved in heaven. The Lord Jesus Christ said, you believe in God, believe also
in me. In my father's house, there are
many mansions. I go and prepare a place for
you. He starts out with, let not your heart be troubled. Let
not your heart be troubled. What are we troubled with? We're
troubled with these trials, these fiery trials, these experiences
in this life. Let not your heart be troubled.
I go and prepare a place for you. And when the Lord Jesus
Christ took his rightful place at the right hand of the majesty
on high and sat down, proving that the work was finished, everything
necessary, for those reservations to be fulfilled were accomplished. In the meantime, you will be
kept by the power of God. You will be kept. John said they
went out from us because they were never of us. You belong
to God, he's gonna keep you. through whatever trials, whatever
troubles, you are kept by the power of God, not by your determination,
not by your commitment, not even by the power of God, by the power
of God, through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last
time, wherein you greatly rejoice. We rejoice in the midst of the
trials, though now for a season, if need be. And God knows when
the need be's are. He knows exactly when the need
be's are. In Hebrews chapter 12 it compares
God's correction of His children from our correction of our children
and how we correct our children as best we can and we often make
mistakes. We either correct them too much
or not enough or not at the right time. That's never the case with
our Heavenly Father. He knows exactly what we need,
exactly when, exactly how much, and though no trial is pleasant
for the season, in due time, it produces the peaceable fruit
of righteousness. The peaceable fruit of righteousness.
That's the purpose of it. I'm gonna take you through, I'm
gonna try you like silver and like gold, and you're gonna call
out to me. in the midst of your trials,
and I'm going to hear you. And I'm going to be your God,
and you're going to call me your God, and I'm going to call you
my people. Wherein you greatly rejoice,
though now for a season, if need be, you are in heaviness through
manifold temptations. that the trial of your faith,
being much more precious than gold that perisheth, though it
be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honor and
glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. There's the hope. There's the hope. The Lord's
preparing us, preparing us. And Paul said, I reckon that
the sufferings of this world cannot be compared to the glory
that shall be revealed in us. Now the world, like I said, they're
going to be like Esau for one morsel of bread. I'm not going
to go through those troubles in this, the troubles of faith,
the troubles of no. And, and they. They sacrifice their soul to
that eternal fire in order to escape the temporal trials of
faith. Whom having not seen you love,
in whom though now you see him not, yet believing, you rejoice
with joy unspeakable, full of glory. That's why James says,
count it all joy, my brethren, when you fall into divers temptations,
knowing that the trying of your faith worketh patience. And patience, when it is complete,
will make you perfect and entire, lacking nothing. Nothing. There's the purpose of it. Turn to me to that were right
there. First Peter turned back just a couple of pages to James
Chapter 1. James verse one, a servant of
God and of the Lord Jesus Christ. To the 12 tribes which are scattered
abroad. That's the 1 third that we just
read of and Zachariah Chapter 13. the 12 tribes that are scattered
abroad. Now this prophecy in Zechariah
13 was fulfilled literally in 70 AD. The Roman-Jewish war of
70 AD, when the Romans came in, they slaughtered two-thirds of
all the Jews, and a third of them scattered. But that's a
spiritual picture, because we're the scattered Jews. We're the
true Jew that's been circumcised in the heart by the Spirit and
the true children of Abraham who believe what Abraham believed.
And so he says, he addresses himself, James, I'm a servant
of God. James was the half-brother of
the Lord Jesus Christ. You know, I think that if I was
James, I would have wanted people to know that. I grew up with him. No, Holy Spirit wouldn't allow
James to do that. He said, I'm a bond servant. My brethren, my brethren, all
the one third scattered abroad, all those whom God is passing
through the temporal fire of trials in order to perfect their
faith, My brethren counted all joy when you fall into divers
temptations, different and different. Well, Scott Richardson once said,
he said, uh, he said, every child of God's either in trouble, going
into trouble or coming out of trouble. And in that the way
to troubles and troubles change, don't they? Lord gets us through
one fire and, and then he takes us through another and then another,
and then another. And we falsely believe somehow,
you know, there's going to come a day when all these trials are
going to be over and I'm going to be able to live my life out
with lack of conflict. It's not going to happen. Not
going to happen. That's what the Lord's saying
to us. So he said, there's going to be trials. And when this one
passes, there'll be another one. And, and it'll be, Paul called
them necessities. Necessities. If need be, that
what Peter said, if need be. They're all necessary. Knowing
this, and you know this, that the trying of your faith worketh
patience, but let patience have her perfect work, that you may
be perfect and entire, wanting nothing. that you might be brought to
that place to say, the Lord is my shepherd. I shall not be in
want of anything else. He's all I need. He's all I need. To quote Scott Richardson again,
someone asked him one time, he said, he said, is Jesus all you
need? He said, if he's all you've got,
he's all you need. If he's all you've got. And that's the reason the Lord
is showing us how temporal and how meaningless this world is
and that we cast all our care upon him who cares for us. You say, well, I don't understand.
I lack wisdom. Well, if any man lack wisdom,
let him ask it of God, who give it to all men liberally and upbraideth
it not. But let him ask in faith, nothing
wavering, not like the waves of the sea tossed here and fro.
What is it to be double-minded? And he goes on to say, for a
double-minded man is unstable in all of his ways. I feel double-minded
most of the time. But that's not what he's talking
about. Being double-minded is thinking
that I can do something to make God be merciful to me. In other words, it's having a,
it's having a grace works mentality. It's mixing grace with works.
And what are the purpose of the trials to show us that it's all
of grace and all of Christ. No works. No works. Lord, you're going to have to
do it. Told somebody recently, pray like this. Just tell Lord,
if you don't save me, I won't be saved. If you don't save me, I will
not be saved. You're going to have to do it. Turn to me to second Corinthians
chapter 12. I'm going to bring them through the fire. But the fire will not hurt them. The smell of smoke will not be
on their clothing. I'm going to walk through the
fire with them. I'm going to loose their bonds in the fire. See, we're bound. What binds
us is a works mentality, isn't it? He's thinking that, you know,
I can do something to make God bless me, or I can, you know,
I can force the hand of God, I can bargain with God somehow. And how binding that is. Never
knowing if you've done enough, or how much you need to do, or
when to do it, or how well you've done it. 2 Corinthians chapter 12. Look at verse 7, and least I
should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the
revelations that were given to me. Paul's saying I've been given
an abundance of, Paul was caught up into the third heaven. He
saw things that were unspeakable. He couldn't describe what he
saw. And the Lord had given him a
revelation of himself and of the gospel beyond measure. And
Paul said, lest I should become proud that this revelation that
God has given me somehow makes me better than anybody else,
or somehow I earned it or deserved it, lest I should think that
way, God gave me a thorn in my flesh. Satan has buffeted me. Now there's been a lot of speculation
among men as to what Paul's thorn in the flesh was. And the Spirit
of God doesn't tell us. And I think I know why. I think
I know why. Because I've got a thorn in my
flesh. And it is my flesh. It's my flesh. He's given me, verse 7, a thorn
in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me lest I should
be exalted above measure. You see, brethren, every one
of us have got a thorn in the flesh, lest we should become
exalted above measure. These are the fiery trials. These
are the troubles that we have. What did Rebecca say when Esau
and Jacob were fighting in her womb? She said, Lord, why am
I thus? Why am I thus? Why is this conflict
going on within me? And what the Lord said, because
there are two nations in you. You're two nations in you. And
the older will serve the younger. and the spirit wars against the
flesh and the flesh against the spirit. What's the Lord doing? When silver and gold is tried
by fire, it's put into a little bowl, a little crucible, and
heated just to the right temperature so that the dross separates from
the metal. The man that's doing it or the
woman that's doing it, what are they doing? They're patiently
taking, the dross comes to the surface and they're patiently
skimming it off. And how do they know when the
process is finished? When there's no more dross. When
the dross isn't the surface of the metal, it distorts any image. When it's pure silver and pure
gold, the person can look down there and see reflection of themselves
without any distortion. That's what the Lord's doing
one day. One day. You see, there's going to be
dross in our gold and our silver as long as we're in this flesh. That's our thorn in the flesh.
And one day the Lord's going to Gonna see a perfect image
of himself. We're gonna see a perfect image
of him. And we're gonna be made like him. See him as he is, the
fullness of his glory. That's what the Lord's encouraging
his people. He's just saying to them, you
know, one third, one third, my people, two thirds are gonna
be cut off. And they're gonna suffer a fire
that's eternal. And one third, I'm gonna show
them my mercy. And they're going to pass through
a fire. And I'm going to try them like silver and try them
like gold, but they're not going to be consumed by it. They're
going to be purified by it. And it'll be good for them. It'll be good for them. They
won't, you know, in another place, the Lord said that wood, hay,
and stubble gets consumed by fire, but precious metal doesn't
get consumed by fire. It gets purified. So Paul says, there's a thorn
in my flesh. And verse eight, for this thing
I besought the Lord thrice, that it might depart from me. Lord,
take this away from me. How many times we've prayed that.
There's a good little article in your bulletin, I think by
Philpott this morning. Lord, take it away. Take it away. And he said unto me, my grace
is sufficient for thee, for my strength is made perfect in weakness. What's the purpose of the fire?
And we're going through now to show us our weakness. And Paul said, when I'm weak,
then I'm strong. His strength is made perfect
in my weakness. I would depend upon my strength
if it wasn't for these fire trials. Most gladly, therefore, will
I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may
rest upon me. Therefore, I take pleasure in
infirmities and reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions
and distresses for Christ's sake, for when I am weak, then I am
strong. That's what the world doesn't
know anything about. They see. They see arrogance control. As strength. You know my intimidation
is strength. What's the Lord say? No strength
is found in your weakness. When you when you brought by
these trials to bow. In submission to me, then you're
going to discover my strength. Paul said, I'm a glory in my
infirmities. If that'd be the case. Uh, let's go, let's go
in closing to Romans chapter eight, Romans chapter eight. They're going to call me their
God. What's our text say? They will
cry out to me. I'm going to put just enough
heat on them to make them cry out. And when they cry out, they
will cry out. I'm going to make them cry out
and I will hear them and I shall be their God. And they will be my people. Romans
chapter eight, verse 28. And we know, we know. We do know that all things work
together for good. For them that love God, not going
to be good for everybody. No, they've got a fire to go
through. Well, they're not going to go through it. They're going
to remain in it and be cast into it. Never to be delivered. That fiery wrath and judgment
of God is eternal. But you know, for you that love
God, you who are the called according to his purpose, all things for
you are going to work together for good. For whom he did foreknew, he also did predestinate to be
conformed to the image of his son. That's the purpose of it
all. The purpose of it all is to be
conformed to the image of his son. That he might be the firstborn
among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate,
them he also called, and whom he called, them he also justified,
and whom he justified, them he also glorified. You see, in eternity, we're already conformed
to the image of His Son. As He is, so are we. And right
now, the Lord, we're already glorified. Already glorified. When we step into glory, draw
our last breath in this world, we're gonna discover we've always
been there. For what shall we then say to
these things? What are we going to say to these
things? Here's what we say. If God be for us, who can be
against us? Who can be against us? He that
spared not his own son, but delivered him up for us all. Notice the
personal pronouns here, not for them all, but for us all. The two thirds are cut off. God
makes a distinction between us and them. And he says, he delivered
him up for us all. How shall he not with him also
give us all things? Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth. Who is he that condemneth? It
is Christ that died. Yea, rather that is risen again,
who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession
for us. I prepared a place for you. Who shall separate us from the
love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress,
or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril of the sort?
Shall any of these things separate us from the love of Christ? As
it is written, for thy sake we are killed all the day long. Now that's what the world doesn't
want anything to do with. That's what they don't want that.
They will choose the eternal fire of hell rather than being
killed every day. And the child of God knows what
I'm talking about. God has to put you to death every day, doesn't
he? How's he do it through trying you as with silver and as with
gold. Showing you your weakness, causing
you to cry out to Him to be your God. Dying to yourself every
day. That's what the world doesn't
want anything to do with. Dying to your righteousness.
Dying to any hope of salvation outside of what God has done
in justifying you through the death of the Lord Jesus Christ.
That's what the world doesn't want anything to do with. And
they will choose an eternal fire of judgment rather than go through
that fire. Nay, in all these things, Now,
what did he say? The last part of that last verse
was we're like sheep to the slaughter. That's what the world doesn't
want anything to do with it. A sheep? A dumb sheep? I'm not a sheep. I'm a bull. Well, you go ahead
and be a bull. Because the bulls of Bashan are
going to end up in the pit of fire. I'll be a sheep. A dumb sheep, dependent upon
my shepherd. Through all these things we are
more than conquerors through him who loved us for I am persuaded. Can you say this? I'm persuaded. And God has persuaded me through
the fiery trials that he's taken me through. And he's proven himself
to be faithful through every one of those. And I've cried
out to him and he's answered me. And I've called him my God
and he's called me my people. He's been faithful and merciful
to me. And therefore I am persuaded
that neither death nor life, nor angels, nor principalities,
nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us
from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, which
is in Christ Jesus. Two fires, there are two fires. All men will experience one or
the other. I choose the former, don't you?
I don't want anything to do with that latter fire. Oh, Lord, have
mercy upon me. All right, let's take a break.