Just a young man, Brother B.B. Caldwell was an old man. I was listening to a message
by him and he began by stating that we hear very little preaching
in our day about Holy Spirit conviction. And he said some
preachers ask him, why is it that we hear so little in this
day about Holy Spirit conviction? And Caldwell answered, I reckon
it's because fellows can only preach what they've experienced. And I reckon that few people,
few people in this world know anything at all about Holy Spirit
conviction because only a remnant ever experiences it. Sooner or
later, are you listening to me? Sooner or later, God Almighty
is going to force you to know your sin. Sooner or later, God Almighty
is going to meet you in judgment. Sooner or later, he's going to
make you know that hell is what you fully, rightly deserve. And you're going to feel it in
your soul, either in judgment or in blessed Holy Spirit conviction. One of the two. One of the two. Malachi chapter three. Malachi chapter three. Behold, I will send my messenger
and he shall prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom
you seek, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Messiah, shall suddenly come
to his temple, even the messenger, the angel of the covenant, whom
you delight in. Behold, he shall come, saith
the Lord of hosts. But who may abide the day of
his coming? Who can stand when he comes? who shall stand when he appeareth,
for he is like a refiner's fire and like a fuller's soap. And he shall sit as a refiner
and a purifier of silver. And he shall purify the sons
of Levi and purge them as gold and silver. that they may offer
unto the Lord. A sacrifice, sacrifice of righteousness. Offer offer to the Lord an offering
of righteousness or in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah
and Jerusalem be pleasantness unto the Lord. As in the days
of old and as in former years. And I will come near to you to
judgment. I will come near to you to judgment. And I will be a swift witness
against everything that's in you. You read in Matthew 15, you read
in Mark chapter 7, our Lord said, this is what's in you. This is
what comes out of your heart. I'll be a swift witness against
the sorcerers. and against the adulterers, and
against the false swearers, and against those that oppress the
hireling in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, and that
turn aside the stranger from his rights. And fear not me,
saith the Lord of hosts. And the reason why I'll do this,
the reason why I'm coming near to you to judgment, The reason
why I will be a swift witness against all that's in you. The
reason why I am coming to you in covenant mercy is because
I am the Lord. I change not. Therefore, you
sons of Jacob are not consumed. Now let's focus our attention
tonight on verse three. But we must understand scripture
in its context. And this third verse cannot be
understood if you just pull it out of its context. It's talking
about the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. My subject is Christ,
the refiner and the purifier. Here, the prophet of God tells
us that when the Lord Jesus comes, look at it in verse three, he
shall sit as a refiner and a purifier of silver, and 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. The Lord Jesus is here spoken
of as the messenger of the covenant. He is that one who comes to reveal
covenant mercy to God's elect. He is that one who comes with
mercy to bestow upon God's elect. He is that one in whom all mercy
is found for God's elect. As we look at these verses we've
just read, let me give you just a brief summary of what's here
given to us. First, when the Lord Jesus comes
to a center, in the mighty saving operations of his grace, he comes
suddenly. He comes unexpectedly. Anybody
here of whom that's not true? He comes suddenly, unexpectedly. He comes when you look for him
to come to destroy, then he comes to save. When you anticipate
everlasting ruin, he comes with everlasting salvation. When you're
falling fast into hell and hell's coming up to meet you, suddenly
he appears. And he never comes at any other
time. He comes suddenly, unexpectedly. Second, when the Savior comes
to a sinner, he comes to sit. I love that. He shall sit. He comes, Rex, permanently. He sets up his throne and sits
in the throne of a man's heart, sits as Lord and King, and sits
permanently in his house as a refiner and a purifier. When he comes,
thirdly then, in the mighty operations of his
grace, our Lord Jesus comes to refine and to purify his chosen. He only comes to the sons of
Levi. He doesn't come to anybody else. We will see in just a little
bit that Isaiah describes these as a third part. It comes to
a remnant of people chosen for himself. The sons of Levi were
chosen out of all the tribes of Israel to be the priest of
God. And you who are Christ are a
royal priesthood, a holy nation, a chosen generation. chosen of
God for himself. He comes, as we have a picture
of it in Zachariah chapter 3, of Joshua the high priest standing
before the Lord, polluted, defiled, garments filthy, and the angel
of the Lord stands by and they purge Joshua and take away his
filthy garments and put on clean garments. And the Lord God says,
I'll take away the iniquity of the land in one day. And that's
how he comes forth. Refined in him, refined by him,
chosen, redeemed centers, sanctified by his grace. Only when they
had been refined by him, only when they had been purged by
him in the work of his spirit in regeneration, then they offer
Pleasant offerings in righteousness to the Lord Do you remember when you were
trying to Work a bargain with God And you were trying to lift
the heavy load of guilt from your conscience And you're scared
to death of going to hell and you'd you'd start making offerings
to God you read your Bible and you clean up your life, and you'd
say your prayers, and you'd give your money, and you'd go to church.
And nothing was pleasant. It was torturous. It was miserable,
because the sacrifices of the wicked are an abomination to
God. And here you sit now and listen
to me A man not so pretty to look at, got such a heavy, gruff
voice that's kind of hard to listen to, and you're anxious
to come three times a week and worship God in pleasantness. And you read the book because
you want to. And you seek the Lord because
you need him. And the whole business is pleasantness. Because now,
Bob, you're righteous. There's a new man in you. Not
just righteous judicially, but made righteous in Jesus Christ
with Christ in you. And you offer to the Lord an
offering in righteousness and in pleasantness. And fifth. Blessed be his name. The son
of God takes away the shame of his people. He saves all his chosen. because
he hateth putting away. He says, I am the Lord, I change
not. I've done this for you, and I
will do this for all the sons of Jacob, because I am the Lord,
I change not. Therefore, you sons of Jacob
are not consumed. And he shall sit as a refiner
and a purifier of silver. And 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. Now, certainly
this is spoken of as one of the results of our Lord's incarnation. And without question, without
question, Malachi is here speaking specifically, very pointedly
about the first advent of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,
God coming into this world in human flesh. He's talking about
the ministry of John the Baptist who prepares the way before the
Lord. But it is not just about our Lord's initial coming into
this world. He's talking about our Lord coming
to man. When our Lord Jesus came, he did sit as a refiner and a
purifier. And those things that could be
shaken, he shook to the ground. And only those things that could
not be shaken stood the test. He came and exposed the hypocrisy
and the filth and the ungodliness of the religion of the day, particularly
of Judaism. He came and destroyed the Jews'
religion. Destroyed it. He made their religion
to be utter darkness. And he destroyed the Jews' nation. Destroyed it. Permanently destroyed
the physical seed of Abraham as far as a nation is concerned.
So thoroughly so that no Jew in the world today knows what
tribe he came from. Not impossible. Not impossible. The nation destroyed. He exposed
the hypocrisy and the pretense of the Pharisees who thought
they were holy. And he showed that they weren't
terribly holy. He took the arrogance and pride
of the Sadducees and made it known to everybody. He took the
brilliant intellect of the scribes and showed it to be folly. But
there were some like Simeon and Anna who were waiting for the
consolation of Israel. Some who bore witness, this is
the Christ. This is he for whom we have looked. This is he of whom the prophet
spoke. This is God's salvation. We waited
for him. But this text speaks also of
our Lord Jesus coming in the saving operations of his grace. And for you and me, and for this
generation in which we live, It is proper, altogether proper,
and necessary that the text be interpreted in just this manner.
It's talking about how Christ works when it comes to a sinner. This is how God saves sinners.
Whenever the Lord Jesus comes, he comes in utmost mercy to our
souls to make us clean, to deliver his people from their sins. His
purpose in coming here is because he loved his church and gave
himself for it, that he might present it to himself a glorious
church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing. And he performs
this great work of refining and purifying his church, of refining
and purifying our souls by these three marvelous works of grace. And all three are necessary. All three are essential to salvation. One is not superior to and one
is not less than the other. They're all three vital. He purges
and refines his people by blood atonement. With his own blood,
he entered in once into the holy place. Having obtained eternal
redemption for us, he put away sin by the sacrifice of himself. He will at last refine and purge
his people. You and I, whom he has saved by his marvelous
grace, soon will lay down this body of flesh. And as Brother
David read back in the office, thy dead men shall rise with
my dead body. We shall appear like Christ when
we appear with Christ in glory. These bodies must be changed,
changed at last in the resurrection. And we're raised up in the likeness
of our Redeemer. But between redemption and resurrection,
there's a very personal, intimate work requiring almighty, omnipotent,
irresistible grace. called regeneration, the new
birth, wherein the Lord Jesus comes and refines chosen sinners
and purifies chosen sinners by the operations of his grace in
you. By the operations of his grace
in you. Malachi 3 3 then specifically
speaks of our Lord's work of grace in Regeneration and conversion. Let me show you hold your hands
here Malachi and turn to Titus chapter 3 Titus chapter 3. Oh Brother Donnie, you don't
want to talk about anything inward Let me tell you something If
God doesn't do something in you He hasn't done anything for you
and won't do anything for you. If God doesn't work in you, he
hasn't redeemed you and won't save you. Salvation in the experience
of it, this blessed thing called regeneration and conversion is
as vital as blood atonement, as vital as the very deity of
Christ. Titus chapter three, verse three. For we ourselves also were sometimes
foolish. I take that to imply that we're
not foolish anymore. We were sometimes foolish. Oh,
but the old man is, yeah, but that's not me. That's not me. Paul says, no more I, but sin
that dwells in me. We were sometimes foolish, disobedient,
deceived, serving divers lust and pleasures. That's how we
all lived, to the lust of our flesh. Living in malice and envy. Oh no. That's how everybody in
this world lives. That's the reason we're in the
mess we're in. Malice. What a hard word. People, politically
correct, call it love. Malice. Malice. Malice. Envy. in there. What's this? Hateful? Oh, he's a hateful boy. Yeah,
yours is too. And you are too. Hateful. Hateful. That's called living
for yourself and hating one another. That's what hateful people do.
But after that, the kindness and
love of God, our savior toward man appeared. Not by works of
righteousness, which we have done. It wasn't because we cleaned
ourselves up. Oh, no. But according to his
mercy, he saved us. What does it say there? By the
washing of regeneration. That's cleansing. By the washing
of regeneration. and the renewing of the Holy
Ghost which is shed on us abundantly. That is this Spirit of God, God's
covenant promise to Abraham given to the Gentiles since Christ
died for us being made a curse for us and removed the curse
from us. Now the blessing of Abraham,
God the Holy Spirit comes on us abundantly. Shed on us abundantly
through Jesus Christ our Savior. That being justified by his grace
being justified by his grace, we now, we who are washed in
regeneration, we who are made clean by the grace of God should
be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life. Whenever
the Lord Jesus comes to the sinner, he's redeemed with his blood.
He comes as a refiner. and purifier of gold to take
away the tin and the dross from his silver and to make his gold
pure. He comes as a consuming fire
to burn up much. Much that we naturally love and
delight in, to burn up our high opinion of ourselves, to burn
up our religious traditions, to burn up our notions of self-righteousness,
to consume the fire does. And it comes as a purifier to
cleanse our souls. But how is the work done? Let
me show you two or three things by which this work is done. First,
it is done the Word of God. Turn to Jeremiah 23. Jeremiah
23. Verse 29. Now, what you're holding right there
in your hand, I just saw you pick it up, that's the Word of
God. Preached to you by the gospel.
First Peter 1 25. Jeremiah 23 verse 29 is not my
word. Like as a fire sayeth the Lord. Like as a fire. Fire. You know what you can do
with fire? Not much except watch it. And you would have thought I
was a pyromaniac. When I was a kid, I used to love
to set fires. I remember one time behind Red Shield Boys Club,
I was five or six years old, out playing with matches, and
man, I set a whole field on fire. Just set the whole field on fire.
Ran like a scared rabbit, because I couldn't get it put out. Just
started out just a little bit, suddenly the whole field's on
fire. When I got grow, I hadn't been pasturing any time, but
I look out West Virginia, I was over there in the study, had
on a three-piece suit and went out to Burned some stuff in a
barrel. You know, I'm a city boy. I wasn't raised in the country.
And it's in the fall of the year. And I put some stuff in a barrel
and burned it and went inside. It wasn't much, but it was in
just a few minutes. The whole woods were on fire.
I'm out there trying to put the fire out and got no water, just
stuff to shake at it and beat on it. You can't do much with
it. God's word comes. And when God calls his word to
come to you as a fire, All you can do is wait and see what God
does with the fire, like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces. The fire, when applied to the
heart by God, the Holy Spirit, the Word of God is a fire in
your soul to burn up the dross, the filth, the death, that which
is worthless and meaningless. Turn with me again to Psalm 107. The Word of God doesn't work
alone or independently. The Word of God works in conjunction
with all God's wondrous works. The Word of God is the power
of God and the salvation to everyone that believe it. But the Word
of God uses much by which God ministers to the needs of his
people. I urge you, children of God, often read the 107th
Psalm. and remind yourselves and ask God the Holy Spirit to
remind you that God in his providence all the days of your life was
preparing you with every step ordered by him preparing you
for the appointed day called the time of love when he would
come to you in his grace. Providence alone doesn't accomplish
anything. Our forefathers, I'm sorry to
bust people's bubble, but our deistic forefathers worshiped
providence as though providence were God, and they would speak
often of the divine providence. Now, some believing men speak
of God's divine providence, as I often do and you do, and we
recognize and understand we're talking about God's work. They,
sadly, most of them, as far as I can tell, spoke of God's providence
as though God's providence were God. Providence is nothing without
the working of the word with providence. But don't ever imagine
that providence is nothing. Oh, no. God and his providence molds your thinking. your mind and your heart with
all the circumstances of your life, working to bring you down
to the depths of utter despair, that he may bring you up to heavenly
glory. Psalm 107, Oh, give thanks unto
the Lord for he is good. For his mercy endureth forever. Let the redeemed of the Lord
say so. That is, all of you who are redeemed, say with me, his
mercy endureth forever. Say it. His mercy endureth forever. Whom he hath redeemed, delivered
by blood and by power from the hand of the enemy. and gathered
them out of the lands from the east and from the west, from the north and from the south.
I'd love to go out to San Leandro, California and preach for Brother
Jesse Gustand. It's the most cosmopolitan congregation
I've ever preached to, perhaps one other down in Australia years
ago. But folks there from all kinds of nationalities, and black,
and white, and red, and in between, and Asians, and Europeans, and
Americans, and Germans, and Cimbalians. There's all kinds of folks out
there, called from north, and south, and east, and west, gathered
out of all lands, just as the prophet says here. Read on. They
wandered. That's what sheep do. They wandered
in the wilderness in a solitary way. They found no city to dwell
in. hungry and thirsty, their soul
fated in them. Then, and I'll tell you when
you will cry to the Lord. When you're hungry and thirsty
and your soul fates in you. Not until then. You'll Until
then, you'll go to a evangelistic crusade and somebody will persuade
you to walk down to the front and you'll walk down giggling
or talking about football, smacking your gum. And you'll say, where
do I sign the decision cards? I believe in Jesus. And you'll
go about your life. Nothing changed. Nothing happened.
And you know it. Everybody else knows it, but
nobody will acknowledge it. Presuming that since you said,
I believe in Jesus, everything's all right. No, but when you're
hungry. and you're thirsty. We keep praying,
rightly so. You just did. God, be merciful
to our sons and daughters. I want God to save that boy.
I want God to save that boy. But I tell you what I'm praying
for when I ask that. God, make him hungry and thirsty. Make his soul faint within him. And whatever it takes, that's
what I want. Whatever it takes. Oh, I'm not
prepared to do that? Well, hold on to them if you
can and take them to hell with you. It's just that option, no other.
You won't cry to him till your soul faints within you. Then
they cried unto the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them
out of their distresses. And he led them forth by the
right way, that they might go on to a city of habitation. Now
watch verse eight. Three times we have these words
in this psalm. Oh, that men would praise the
Lord for his goodness. What goodness? The goodness that
made them hungry and thirsty, made them wander in the wilderness,
made the soul faint within them. The goodness and mercy that put
them in distress and forced them to cry unto the Lord. The goodness and mercy which
caused Him to turn to them when they cried to Him. And for His
wonderful works to the children of men, for he satisfieth the
hungry soul or the longing soul and filleth the hungry soul with
goodness. Verse 10 such as sit in darkness in the shadow of death, being
bound in affliction and iron because that is, this is, this
is the reason they got in this kind of mess. They rebelled against
the words of God. Wouldn't pay any attention. And
contend, that is despised, hated the counsel of the Most High.
Therefore, he brought down their heart with labor. They fell down
and there was none to help. Then, when you fall down, when
God brings down your heart with labor, When you find yourself
sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death, then they cried
unto the Lord in their trouble, and he saved them out of their
distresses. He brought them also out of the
darkness and the shadow of death and break their bands in sunder.
Oh, that men would praise the Lord for his goodness. For the
darkness, the shadow of death, the judgment. Oh God, thank you for what forces
me to seek your mercy. Thank you for what forces me
to trust my Redeemer. Verse 18, verse 16, for he hath
broken the gates of brass and cut the bars of iron in sunder. Verse 17, fools, Because of their
transgressions, because of their iniquities, are afflicted. Act like a fool, you're going
to suffer for it. That's all there is to it. Fools, because
of their transgressions, because of their iniquities, are afflicted.
Their soul abhorreth all manner of meat. They draw near to the
gates of death. When you can't find anything
to satisfy your soul, when you would like the particle fill
your belly with the husk that the swine eat and find nobody
even gives you the husk to eat, when there's nothing for you
and you draw near to death, then they cry unto the Lord in their
trouble and he saveth them out of their distresses. He sent
his word and healed them and delivered them from their destructions. Oh, that men would praise the
Lord for his goodness and for his wonderful works to the children
of men. And let them sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving
and declare his works with rejoicing. Verse 23. They that go down to
the sea in ships. That do business in great waters. They see the works of the Lord.
and his wonders in the deep. For he commandeth and raiseth
the stormy wind, which lifteth up the waves thereof. They mount
up to heaven. They go down again to the depths
of their souls, melted in them because of trouble. They reel
to and fro and stagger like a drunken man and are at their wit's end. all thy waves and billows roll
over me. Then, they cry unto the Lord
in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
He maketh the storm a calm. He makes the storm a calm. Look
back at all that. Man trouble. Trouble. I lived in trouble all my life and created nothing but trouble
all my life. And the older I got, the heavier
the trouble. Till at last, if it weren't for just the sheer
fear of hell, I'm certain I'd have committed suicide as a young
man. Nothing kept me from it except
just the terror of hell. And now, well, that's just calm
as it can be. That's just calm as it can be.
No trouble. This is God's work. This is God's
way of bringing me to my wits end. Forcing me to call on him
for mercy. Then they're glad because they
be quiet. So he bringeth them to their
desired haven. Look at verse 42 now. The righteous shall see it. and
rejoice, and all iniquity shall stop her mouth. Whoso is wise
will observe these things. Even they shall understand the
loving kindness of the Lord. William Cowper understood something
about this. He wrote a hymn. It's not in our hymn book. It's
a great hymn. God moves in a mysterious way,
his wonders to perform. He plants his footsteps in the
sea and rides upon the storm, deep in unfathomable minds of
never failing skill. He treasures up his bright designs
and works his sovereign will. Ye fearful saints, fresh courage
take the clouds your so much dread are big with mercy and
shall break with blessing on your head. His purposes will
ripen fast, unfolding every hour. The bud may have a bitter taste,
but sweet will be the flower. Blind unbelief is sure to err
and scan his work in vain, but God is his own interpreter. and
he will make it plain. God, by his word and by his providence
and by his spirit, our Lord Jesus sits as a refiner in his house
and a purifier. The spirit of God is the great
fire in Zion to refine and purge God's elect. He is the fire by
which the Lord Jesus makes his word of the gospel and his works
of providence effectual. This operation of grace, I repeat,
is necessary. It's necessary. The spirit of
God must come in you and work in you to will and do of his
good pleasure, creating faith in you, giving repentance in
you. Knitting your heart to Christ
Jesus in the blessed work called regeneration the new birth Now
watch this He shall sit All the time he's performing
this great work Refining and purging All the time he is consuming
the dross and burning up the tin and melting the heart, the
roaring fire, he sits. He sits calmly. He sits permanently. He sits as the sovereign. having absolute control so that
he sets by the fire and the enemy cannot blow the wind and cause
the fire not to burn even one thousandth of a degree hotter
than he has purposed. He sits patiently. He knows what he's doing. When
we get impatient, we start pacing. Because we don't have any idea
what we're doing. And we know we can't do anything.
So we pace. He sits. In patience he sits. Sits as one who has perfect wisdom
and knowledge. God's furnace doth in Zion stand,
but Zion's God sits by as the refiner views his gold with his
observant eye. Turn to Zechariah chapter 13.
I want you to see that what I'm saying here about Malachi's
prophecy is exactly accurate. Both Malachi and Zechariah are
prophets during this time when Jerusalem is set free from the
Babylonian captivity. And both of them speak concerning
the Lord Jesus coming and both of them speak both of his first
advent and of his coming in grace Here in Malachi and here in Zechariah
chapter 13 Zechariah speaks as Malachi does in chapter 3 of
Malachi's prophecy about Christ coming in the day of his mighty
grace when he grants life and faith to chosen sinners Zechariah
13 verse 7 Awake, O sword against my shepherd smite against the
man that is my fellow saith the Lord of hosts smite the shepherd
and the sheep shall be scattered and I will turn mine hand upon
the little ones and it shall come to pass when I turn my hand
upon these little sheep who are scattered that in all the land
saith the Lord two parts their edge shall be cut off and die
but the third 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. It is written, we must through
much Tribulation. Enter into the kingdom of God.
There's no other way. Both Zachariah and Malachi are
describing God's mercy, not his wrath, his grace, not his terror. Turn to Isaiah 48. Isaiah 48. This is what God does for chosen
sinners when he comes to save. Verse 9. For my name's sake will
I defer mine anger. And for my praise will I refrain
for thee, that I cut thee not off. Behold, I have refined thee,
but not with silver. I have chosen thee in the furnace
of affliction. For mine own sake, even for mine
own sake will I do it. For how should my name be polluted?
And I will not give my glory unto another. If you want to
find God's children, I'll tell you where to look for them. Look
for them in the fire. Look for them in the fire. Don't
get in too big a hurry to pull them out of the fire. You can't. God will. at his appointed time. Look for them in the fire, for
the fighting pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, but
the Lord trieth the hearts. Wherever there's a sacrifice
offered to God, in all the law, there was fire. And when God comes to cause you,
to bring an offering to him in righteousness and in pleasantness,
to present your body a living sacrifice to him. He'll bring
you through the fire. But that's not all. He will sit
as a refiner permanently. As long as we are in this world
and have need of dross being consumed and tin being burned
away and chaff being consumed and hard hearts need melting. He will keep you in the fire. He'll keep you in the fire. But
I'll tell you something you'll find in fire. brilliant light. And the things you see in the
fire, you can't see anywhere else. You can't see any other
way. And he who puts you in the fire
is with you in the fire. And he'll bring you through the
fire. And when you come out on the other side, he says, you
won't even have the smell of smoke on when Daniel's friend Shadrach,
Meshach, and Abednego were cast into the burning and fiery furnace.
They were cast into that furnace, heated seven times hotter. So the fellows who threw them
in were consumed by the fire. But those three men only lost
one thing in the fire, the cords that bound them. That's
all. That's all they lost. And Merle,
all we lose by his chastisement is the evil that binds us to
this earth. That's all. That's all. Nothing else. Just the evil. Thank you, blessed Savior. for the refining fire the purging of your grace Amen