I'm going to ask you to take
your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Proverbs. Chapter
17, Proverbs 17. Proverbs 17, I'd like to read
verses 3 and 4. The fining pot is for silver. and furnace for gold. But the
Lord trieth the hearts. A wicked doer giveth heed to
false lips, and a liar giveth ear to a naughty tongue." When Adam, in the Garden of Eden, rebelled against God, by taking his wife's suggestion
that he eat of the fruit that God had forbidden that he eat,
something happened. Mankind died spiritually. Now, we know that's right. That's
what the Lord told Adam. Turn to Genesis 3. But not only did Adam spiritually
die, everything was corrupted. Everything. I mean, I listen to these reports
about how far certain stars are from the earth. I mean, they
talk about light years. I can't even get into the depth
of how far light years. I mean, I know what it is. It's
the distance that light travels in a year. And light travels,
they say, at 176,000 miles per second. Is that about right? In a light year? But do you know
the Scripture says when Adam rebelled and everything was corrupted,
the stars were not pure in God's sight. One sin. One sin. Corrupted everything
that God made. One sin. This earth, look in Genesis 3.17. This is what happened. Whenever
Adam sinned, when one man rebelled against God, Genesis 3, 17, and
unto Adam he said, Because thou hast hearkened unto the voice
of thy wife, and hast eaten of the tree of which I commanded
thee, saying, Thou shalt not eat of it. Cursed is the ground
for thy sake, in sorrow shalt thou eat of it all the days of
thy life. Thorns also, and thistles shall
it bring forth, or in my margin it says, cause to bud. Because
of sin, this earth corrupted by one sin, one man's rebellion. The earth now causes to bud thorns
and thistles. It shall bring forth to thee,
and thou shalt eat the herb of the field. Before man rebelled,
God Almighty said concerning the earth, everything that he
made, He said it was good. It was very good. No corruption, no decay, no sorrow,
no weeds. It was very good. But after that,
everything was impure. And nothing that God made was
unaffected. Stars, earth, man, everything
corrupted. The scripture says in Genesis
6, 5, And God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth,
and that every imagination, the whole imagination, everything
that man thinks according to God's standard is evil. Evil. The thoughts of his heart
It was only evil. There's no possibility of even
thinking a good thought. A good thought doesn't come out
of a dead heart continually, every day. Now, the truth about
man's depravity and his need of God's mercy cannot be known
except through the revelation of these scriptures. And even
nature, the scripture says, nature sets forth man's depravity and
man's need. Everything about nature, but
it's invisible to the natural man, the natural mind. He just
has no ability to see it. He just doesn't know it. I want you to look at Romans
1, 18-20. Romans 1, 18-20. This is what the Lord has to
say. Romans 1, 18-20. It says, For
the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness
and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness,
because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for
God has showed it unto them." Now, let me tell you what he
just said. You know that man, when he failed, man has a conscience. He's got a conscience. He knows
right from wrong. After Adam rebelled against God,
Adam knew he was wrong. You know how I know he knew he
was wrong? Because he tried to provide himself a covering out
of fig leaves. The Lord came in the cool of
the day and he said, Adam, where are you? Which God knew where
he was. He wanted Adam to know where Adam was. Where are you?
He said, well, I was afraid. Why? He said, because I was naked. He said, who told you that? Who told you that? Did you eat?
Well, the wife you gave me, she gave it to me. And she said,
well, the state gave it to me. He suggested it to me. Almighty God has given a man
a conscience to know right from wrong. And the scripture says
in Romans 1, 18 and 19, the wrath of God is revealed from heaven
against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. Now let me tell you exactly
so I can cut right to the chase of what is being said here. Everything
that you see that is unstable in this world, famine, Hurricanes,
tornadoes, call it what you want to. They say, well, that's the
cool and the warm and cold air and it's just convection. No,
it's not. It's God's manifestation of wrath. upon this earth, right here.
Men can call it whatever they want to, and they can predict
what they want to, and it's global warming, and El Nino, and all
this. I'm telling you that when man sinned against God, this
world was corrupted. And that which was very good
now is in chaos. And the wrath of God is revealed
from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. And
it says, who hold the truth In unrighteousness, man has a conscience
to know right from wrong. And therefore, that which man
knows in conscience, he knows it's wrong. He knows there's
wrong going on. And he sees the wrath of God
revealed daily in these plagues and weather and fire, but he
holds that Truth. Look at it again. For the wrath
of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness
of men who hold the truth. But they do it in unrighteousness. They do it wrongfully. They do
it in character and actions against God. They see it. They know it
in conscience, but they hold that truth without care. Now, I want us to look now with
that understanding at our scriptures. Knowing that everything in this
world is setting forth, man is wrong, God is just, and Almighty
God demands satisfaction. Proverbs 17. The fining pot is
for silver, and the furnace for gold. Now, we know that whenever
God made this earth, gold and silver was here. I mean, it's
in the earth. God made it. But now we see that
because of the fall of Adam, it's not pure. Gold and silver
is not pure. You know that. It's got to be
refined. There's impurities in it. They're blemished. And those
precious metals, I'm going to tell you, are pictures. Pictures
of mankind, but especially of God's elect and their need of
being purified. Now this process of refinement,
It reveals the dross and the need of the removal of the dross. You know what refining is. I
mean, we may not understand how exactly, but you know what I'm
talking about. It needs to be refined. I was watching an advertisement
the other day. It was a coin, a gold coin. I don't know the dimension, but
anyway, it's the old buffalo nickel. It's got the head of
the Indian on the outside and it's got a picture of the buffalo
on the back side. I like the old buffalo nickel.
But it's a gold coin. And they were bragging, Mitch.
They said this thing is .9999% pure. That means it's not pure. That means it's almost. That
means it's pretty close. And they were bragging on it.
And I will admit, I'm sure that that's pretty good. I'm sure
that that's not a bad thing. It made me think about that Scripture
over here in 2 Kings. I'll read this to you. It was
just almost. 2 Kings 5, verse 1. Talk about Naaman. It says, Now
Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great
man with his master, and honorable. And by him, because of him, The
Lord had given deliverance unto Syria, and he was a mighty man
in valor, but he was a leper. You know, everything is nullified
by that last statement right here. He had one problem. He
was a walking dead man. He was a leper. And this refinement
is talking about man at his best attempt, and even
refining gold can get to .9999. But when it comes to the purifying
of a heart, a corrupted heart, one that is dead in trespasses
and sins, man by nature is as thrilled with his best efforts Before God, as the refiner is,
we are being able to come up with four nines, point nine,
nine, nine, nine. Can you imagine standing before
God Almighty and being point nine, nine, nine, nine percent
pure? That which is unholy is unholy.
A little leaven leavens a whole lump. He cannot even purify gold and
thinks that he can purify his own heart before God by his act
of his will, or by walking down an aisle, or by getting in a
pool of water, or by eating the Lord's Supper, or by reading
his Bible, or by trying to pray. I'm going to tell you something,
God is a just God. The Scripture says the fining
pot is for silver, the furnace for gold, but the Lord, Trieth. The Lord proves. The Lord knows. The Lord examines. God knows
the hearts. God trieth the hearts. And He's merciful to show man
what man is. You will never find a believer
saying anything other than being honest about what he is in himself.
He'll say, as Paul the Apostle, a wretched man that I am. And
that Almighty God would show a man what He is, the Lord trieth
the hearts. Believers are not satisfied with
the best that they can do because they know that the best that
they can do falls indescribably short of the glory of God. For me to stand before God, I
must stand before God Pure! Holy! I've said before, what's it going
to take for a man to enter heaven? He's going to be as holy as God. And he will not stand in himself.
If he stands not in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, if
his blood does not cover, if his holiness, his righteousness
does not robe me, I don't want to stand before God in my righteousness. I know what I am. Malachi 3.3
says that he, the Lord, shall sit as a refiner and a purifier
of silver. He shall purify the sons of Levi
and purge them as gold and silver that they may offer unto the
Lord an offering in righteousness. I know this. Believers are still
plagued with the presence of sin. I know that. Every believer knows. Paul says,
I see in me. That is, in my flesh. There dwells
no good thing. I know that. But thanks be unto
God that Almighty God would put away the guilt of my sin by His
precious blood. That He would reveal unto me
that in the Lord Jesus Christ there is therefore now no condemnation. That Almighty God has put away
forever the sin, the rebellion against Him, the debt of it. I stand even right now and realize
if God were to judge me on this message right here, there's been
enough deviation in my mind, there's things that's crossed
my mind that you don't even know anything about. I mean, things
that I've waveringly thought. And if Almighty God would deal
with any of us this morning, the way your mind has deviated,
the way your mind has been somewhere else, where it was yesterday
or what you think you're going to do tomorrow or something like
that, oh, that the Lord would have mercy on me. God tried the
hearts. 1 Peter 1, verses 6 and 7 concerning
Oh, the blessedness of God Himself giving us faith, 1 Peter 1, 6
and 7, 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 That faith,
being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though
it be tried with fire, might be found under praise and honor
and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Our Lord, who has
put away the guilt of His people, has put away the guilt of His
people. But we are going to go through this world with the presence
of sin. the suffering of sin. The suffering
of the presence of sin. And through these blessed chastisements
that the Lord sends us to show us what we are and to cause us
to cast ourselves afresh upon Him, He has good reason for every
trial, every affliction that He sends. is proven. It's going to be proven. The Scripture sets forth, as
we just read a few moments ago, that finding pot for silver,
furnace for gold, the Lord trieth, reveals, shows, examines, proves
the heart. Faith is tried to reveal the
genuineness of it. When that silver and gold is
tried and the value of it is revealed, that dross is burnt
away to show the beauty of what's there. I'm going to tell you,
we're going to go through this world suffering. We're going
to be tried, but the Lord is faithful. God Almighty is faithful. And God's people are thankful
for it. I know no chastisement for the
moment seems to have anything but grievousness about it. We wouldn't choose it. But listen
to the words of David. Psalm 119. He said, it's good
for me that I've been afflicted, that I might learn by statutes.
Listen to Jeremiah 10.24. O Lord, correct me, but with
judgment, not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing."
What a blessing that God's people are afflicted and caused to cast
themselves upon the mercy of God Almighty again and again. Worldly idols are displaced. Our old stubborn will is made
to suffer. God's magnified. It's just like
purifying silver and gold. You know the only thing that's
lost is the dross. It's the only bad stuff. It's
good. When we go through these trials
and tribulations, it's good. No human refiner ever looked
after the purifying of that silver and gold like the Lord looks
after the purifying of His people. I was thinking when Brother Pat
read Zechariah, I'm going to read. There was a passage of
Scripture that I had written down. I thought the blessedness
of the Lord to direct his heart to that passage. But it's Zechariah 13. I'm going
to just read verses 8 and 9. The Scripture says it shall come
to pass. that in all the land, saith the
Lord, two parts therein shall be cut off and die, but the third
part shall be left therein." God's got a remnant. God's got
a people. And I will bring the third part
through the fire, and I will refine them as silver is refined,
I will try them as gold is tried, and they shall call on my name,
and I will hear them. I will say, this is my people.
And they shall say, the Lord is my God." It's good when we
try. I know it's hard on the flesh. I know that. But I'm telling
you, Almighty God is going to refine His people until that
day when He takes them out of this world and there will be
no more sin, no more disrespectful thoughts, no more tears, and
pure. No spot, no blemish. I was going
over my notes this morning and I was thinking about that. I
was trying to ask the Lord's blessing on the service today.
Trying. Trying to ask. Lord, would You
bless the service today? Lord, would You comfort Your
people? Lord, would You call out Your elect Have mercy. Lord, you said we have not because
we ask not. I know you're going to do that,
but you're right. And even while trying to ask,
it all of a sudden realized my mind would wander. And I think,
oh, God, have mercy on me. Lord, help me to believe this.
Help me to see this is true. Verse 4, in closing, said, a
wicked doer giveth heed to false lips, And a liar giveth ear to
a naughty tongue, that wicked, that hearer of the naughty tongue,
the wicked. One left to himself that carnal
mind, that carnal heart that gives heed to false lips, to
a lying preacher. I've told you before. There is
nothing that is more hideous, more damning to men's souls than
a man that will stand in a pulpit and lie to you. Scripture says
they make merchandise of men's souls. A wicked doer giveth heed to
false lips, and a liar, the one that is speaking, Give ear to
a naughty tongue. That mouth that longs for ruin. But you leave a man in the hands
of Almighty God. And God Almighty who reveals
to a man that all most pure is impure. and gives that man a heart to
cast himself upon the mercy of God, and to cry out for God for
mercy, that man has already been given life. Because had he not
been given life, he wouldn't have called. If God Almighty
has given you a heart to cry out for mercy, grace to Him,
to trust Him, To cast yourself upon the mercy of God. To reveal
that the best that you've ever done is nothing. Paul said in Philippians, it's
done. Best that a man's ever done.
Gave all of his credentials. And when he got through, he said,
I count all these but loss for the excellency of the knowledge
of Christ. If the Lord has given you a heart to trust Him, confess
Him. Confess Him in baptism. Say before
this world, I trust Him. And I have no confidence in myself.
For Christ's sake, Amen.