The Fire That Ever Shall Be Burning

Q: What does the Bible say about God's holiness?

God's holiness is depicted as a consuming fire that cannot tolerate sin. The Bible portrays God's holiness in a profoundly serious way, representing it as a consuming fire. Throughout Scriptures, we see that God's infinite justice burns against sin, as illustrated in scriptures like Leviticus 6:13, which states that the fire must never go out. This consuming nature reflects both His holy justice and the necessity for sin to be dealt with righteously.

Q: How do we know that Jesus' sacrifice satisfies God's justice?

Jesus' sacrifice fully satisfies God's justice, allowing for the reconciliation of sinners to God. The doctrine of reconciliation through Christ is crystal clear in Scripture. As stated in 2 Corinthians 5:18-19, God has reconciled us to Himself through Jesus Christ. The sacrifice of Christ was uniquely adequate to satisfy God's infinite justice. The burning fire upon the altar in Leviticus signifies that God's justice had its object met in Christ, as He bore our sins. Consequently, justice has been satisfied, allowing us to approach God without fear.

Q: Why is it important for Christians to understand the concept of hell?

Understanding hell underscores the seriousness of sin and the justice of God. Hell is a reality that embodies the unending nature of God's wrath against sin, as described in Mark 9:44, where the fire is not quenched. This understanding is crucial for Christians, as it reflects the severity of divine justice and the urgency of the Gospel message. Recognizing the horrors of hell is a sobering reminder that it emphasizes the necessity of faith in Christ, who is our refuge from that divine wrath, thereby motivating us to share the Gospel.

Q: What does the fire on the altar represent?

The fire on the altar symbolizes God's holy justice and the necessity of atonement for sin. The fire that is commanded to burn perpetually on the altar represents the unending holiness and justice of God. It signifies that God's wrath against sin is a serious matter, requiring a continual atonement. In Leviticus 6:8-13, we are reminded that the fire must never go out, signifying God's relentless justice; it is an emblem of the severe reality of sin's consequences and the need for a sacrifice, ultimately fulfilled in Christ. The fire consuming the offering foreshadows Christ consuming the wrath of God on our behalf.

Q: How does one be reconciled to God?

Reconciliation to God comes through faith in Jesus Christ, who has satisfied God's justice. To be reconciled to God, one must recognize their sinfulness and need for a Savior, acknowledging Christ as the only means of achieving that reconciliation. As mentioned in 2 Corinthians 5:20, it is imperative to surrender to God, laying down our rebellion against Him. Through Christ's sacrifice, God no longer counts our sins against us, and this divine transaction allows for true peace with God, enabling us to live in accordance with His will.

The constant burden of Holy Scripture, the constant burden of God's
prophets, the constant burden of gospel preachers in this day,
is to make men and women everywhere to know who God is. That we may tremble before his
presence and seek refuge in his darling son. who alone can give
sinners acceptance, everlasting union with the righteous, holy
Lord God. Did you ever notice how that
throughout the scriptures, God's holiness, his purity, his justice
is represented to us in the most awful way. It's always represented
to us in a in a very stern, very terrifying manner, really,
if we behold it. In the garden of Eden, when the
Lord God drove Adam and Eve out of the garden after the sin and
fall of our first parents, he set cherubim with a flaming sword,
turning every way to guard the way, to keep the way of the tree
of life. When Abraham was called upon
to worship God. When the Lord God made himself
known to Abraham, he offered a sacrifice with fire. When Abraham took his son Isaac
up to the mount to offer him upon the mount as a sacrifice
to God, he took fire in his hand to the altar of God. For God
Almighty always has made himself known as that God who is a consuming
fire. whose burning brilliant holiness
consumes sin, consumes corruption, consumes iniquity, and will never
ever be satisfied until iniquity is utterly consumed. We read
about God coming down on Mount Sinai to give his holy law, that
law by which sinners are today made to acknowledge, as it is
written and inscribed upon our hearts by creation, the guilt
of our sin. We may not acknowledge it with
our lips, but in our consciences, all men acknowledge it. And before
the throne of God Almighty one day, every tongue shall acknowledge
the guilt of sin and the wrath that it deserves. All know themselves
to be sinners because the fire and the smoke and the quaking
and the thunder and the thick darkness that sounded at Sinai
sounds in the hearts of all men when the law of God echoes in
their souls. On Mount Carmel, Elijah stood
before the prophets of Baal. and mocked their puny gods. He
said, I'm laughing at your gods. Your gods aren't worth the dirt
under my feet. I'm laughing at them. Let's see
what your gods can do. And when he cried out to God
for his name's sake, to make himself known that he alone is
God, fire came down from heaven before them all. and licked up
the water and consumed those prophets of deceit. Throughout
the scripture, fire represents God's holiness, his justice,
and his truth. Throughout the scripture, fire
represents this fact. Our God is a consuming fire. It is a fearful thing to fall
into the hands of the living God. We read in the scripture
of hell's eternal fire, a place of fire and brimstone, a place
where the worm dies not and the fire is not quenched. The Lord God says, my word is
like a fire. Oh God, make it to be so this
hour. Our Lord Jesus will come with
flaming fire, taking vengeance upon them that know not God.
The scriptures speak of a judgment of fire by whichever man's work
shall be proved. Now turn with me if you will
to Leviticus chapter 6. In the camp of Israel, upon the
altar of God, fire was burned continually. In verse 13 of Leviticus
6, we read, the fire shall ever be burning upon the altar. It
shall never go out. I want you to hold your Bibles
open with your hands here at Leviticus 6, verses 8 through
13. Don't ever imagine that there
are redundancies in the Word of God. Sometimes when we read
the Scriptures and we run across a passage that is very, very
much like another passage, or we read something that's stated,
and then it's stated again. We have a tendency, because of
our fleshly hearts, because of Satan's desire to rob us of the
blessedness of the word, to say, well, there's no need to read
that again. That's redundant. Don't ever imagine so. Every
word in the book of God is given by divine inspiration, according
to divine purpose, for our learning, for our instruction in the gospel
of Christ. In the first five chapters of
Leviticus, the Lord God gave Moses specific instructions about
how men and women were to worship him when they would bring before
him their burnt offering, their meat offering, their peace offering,
their sin offering, and their trespass offering. Now in chapters
six and seven, he repeats those instructions, but not quite.
Not quite. He gives instructions again in
these two chapters about these same offerings. But in the first
five chapters his instructions were given to the people who
came and brought their offerings to him to worship him. In these
chapters, the Lord's instructions are given specifically to Adam
and to his sons, the priests who brought the offering unto
the Lord. And they're given to teach us
specific things concerning our Lord Jesus Christ and his great
atonement for sin. The burning fire upon the altar
is the first thing we see as the Lord instructs Aaron and
his sons concerning the burnt offering and the sacrifice to
be made by fire unto the Lord. It is a picture of God's holy
justice and the justice of God that must be satisfied if atonement
is to be made. Our message from this text is
clearly given to us by the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians 5. Just
listen to it. All things are of God, who hath
reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ. This is what happened
at Calvary. God reconciled his people to
himself in point of law. Insofar as the law and justice
of God is concerned, when Christ was punished for our sins, God
Almighty has no calls for wrath against his people. Justice has
been satisfied. That's what it is to be reconciled
to God. And now he hath given to us the
ministry of reconciliation. Here I have a blessed task. It
is my privilege and my responsibility to proclaim to sinners everywhere
reconciliation done by God Almighty through the blood of his darling
son, and call on you. now to be reconciled to God.
That's what the apostle says, to wit, that God was in Christ
reconciling the world, that is the world of his elect, unto
himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and hath committed
to us the word of reconciliation, now then, now then. We are ambassadors
for Christ. Oh, what a high honor. We pray
you in Christ's name as though God did beseech you by us. We
pray you in Christ's name. We beseech you. Be ye reconciled
to God. You see, that's what's required. If you go to hell, it will be
because you go to hell with your fist shoved in God's face. Faith in Christ is neither more
nor less than the rebel laying down his arms and surrendering
to him. Be reconciled to God. Quit fighting
God. Quit kicking against him. Quit your warfare against him
and be reconciled. For he hath made him to be sin
for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness
of God in him. All right, now let's look at
our text, Leviticus chapter six, verses eight through 13. I want
to call your attention to five things revealed in these verses.
Number one, the fire upon the altar. And the Lord spoke unto
Moses, saying, Command Aaron and his son, saying, This is
the law of the burnt offering. It is the burnt offering because
of the burning upon the altar all night unto the morning, and
the fire of the altar shall be burning in it. Now here the holy
one of Israel speaks out of the holy place, revealing the horror
of his wrath against sin. the perfection of his infinite
justice and the fact that his infinite justice demands the
punishment of sin. God's infinite holy justice burning
against sin is displayed in the fire burning upon the altar all
through the night throughout the days of the camp of the children
of Israel. This fire was never to be extinguished. In these five verses The Lord
tells us three times, the fire must never be put out, and the
fire must never be allowed to burn out. The fire must be kept
burning perpetually. Why is that? Because all of his
righteous judgments endure forever, the psalmist says. The fire burned
all through the night as an emblem of the sleeplessness of hell
and the burning of God's wrath against all iniquity forever
and forever. It burned all night as an emblem
of the holy flaming fire eyes of divine justice watching over
men with his eyelids trying the sons of men all the days of our
lives throughout all history. In the pit of the damned, they
have no rest, no relief from the wrath of God. And the holy
eyes of the Lord God are never blinded, never shut, never closed,
but rather his flaming eyes behold and his eyelids try the children
of men. In the book of God, we read of
the damned that the smoke of their torments ascends up forever
and forever. Oh, whatever hell is, it is a place
described with fire and brimstone, producing a smoke that ascends
up before the throne of God, and of the holy angels, and of
the saints in glory, and of the Lamb who sits on the throne. We're told this in Revelation
chapter 14, the smoke of their torment ascends up forever and
ever, and they have no rest. Will you hear me? Will you hear
me? There is no rest in hell. There is no respite from the
wrath of God. There is no quenching of that
fire. Someone asked you, believe in
literal fire in hell? I don't know, but I'm telling
you it's a whole lot worse than anything you ever imagined literal
fire to be. The fire of God's wrath burns
in a man's soul. The fire of God's wrath burns
forever. The fire of God's wrath will
never be quenched. The fire of God's wrath will
torment the day and night forever and forever. All through the night, the fire
burned in the camp of Israel. When I read these things, I try
to picture what must have gone on in Israel, at least with those
who knew God worshipped him. I can picture a wise, believing
father, not every night, but on occasion, perhaps every night. After supper, before his family
is put to bed, he takes his children out to the tent's door and he
points to the glowing, burning fire off in the distance on the
altar of God at the door of the tabernacle. And he says, now
son, my darling daughter, so shall the fire of God's wrath
burn against your soul forever. Inhale. Unless you find refuge
from the fire of God's wrath in that lamb represented on that
altar who's burned in the place of sinners. But blessed be God The fire represented
something far greater than God's holy just wrath. It represented
the way to escape. For the fire consumed the victim
upon the altar. Do you see the victim on the
altar? Burned, consumed by the fire
that fell upon the altar? The fire that was burning constantly
before the children of Israel? Constantly before God? That victim
is the Lord Jesus Christ. It pictures his suffering and
death, that upon which the father has his holy eye from eternity. It is here held forth in the
camp of Israel on the perpetually burning fire upon the altar. Here love and justice met together. Mercy and truth have kissed each
other. Righteousness and peace have
forever embraced each other. Look, sir! Behold the fire consuming
the lamb! That's our hope, Christ Jesus
the Lord. He has died under the wrath of
God. He has been consumed by the fire
of God's wrath in our womb instead. All right, now secondly, look
at verse 10. Here the Holy Spirit directs
our attention to the priest linen garment. And the priest shall put on his
linen garment, and his linen britches shall he put upon his
flesh, and take up the ashes which the fire hath consumed
with the burnt offering on the altar, and he shall put them
beside the altar. The priest linen garment with
his linen britches portrayed purity. Now I'm not guessing
about that. Turn to Revelation 19. I want
you to see this. Hold your hands here and I'll text. Turn to Revelation
19. Specifically, it represents the
purity of our Lord Jesus Christ. It is an emblem of his purity. Yes, his purity both divine and
human. His purity as both God and man
were necessitated. But specifically, this represents
the purity of his holy humanity as our representative. The purity
of his spotless righteousness which he brought in by which
our nakedness is clothed and by which we are declared righteous
before God. That righteousness and purity
which he has earned for us is represented here specifically.
These are linen britches, a linen garment, not a garment of wool. You remember in the scriptures
it was forbidden in the law that a man should wear a garment of
linen and of wool. That is a garment partially of
man's works and partially of God's provision. This garment
is a garment of linen. A linen spun fine by the hands
of a man. It is the garment of Christ's
perfect righteousness. Look in Revelation 19, 8. And
to her, the bride of Christ, the church of God, was granted
that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white. Look at it now. For the fine
linen is the righteousness of saints. Our righteousness, Rex,
ours. Ours. We did it. We perfectly
obeyed God. We perfectly did all the will
of God. We perfectly lived in holiness. We perfectly did all that God
Almighty required and all that God Almighty could receive. For
we did it in a representative man who is Christ Jesus the Lord. And his righteousness is here
declared to be our righteousness in this suit of purity. The priest
was a type, an emblem of our Lord Jesus Christ, our great
redeemer, coming to perform his work of atonement as our substitute.
He could not come to the altar He could not come to make sacrifice. He could not make atonement for
sin, except he make atonement upon the ground of his own obedience,
by which he now would satisfy all the demands of God for his
people. In his suit of pure white linen,
the priest was to take the ashes of the burnt sacrifice off the
altar and lay them down beside the altar for a while, so that
all Israel might see the flame of justice spared nothing. The sacrifice has been burned
to ashes. There are the ashes. Those ashes beside the altar
declared plainly justice has found its object. The lightning
bolt of God's wrath has struck the lightning rod, and it will
not strike again. All right, look at verse 11.
Here's the third thing. The priest's other garment. And he shall put
off his garments, and put on other garments, and carry forth
the ashes without the camp unto a clean place. Now we won't look
at it this morning, but in Jeremiah 31 in verse 40, We read about
the Valley of Ashes, which was specifically used for this purpose
as a clean place where the ashes of the sacrifice were to be brought.
It is thought by most to be the very place where the Lord Jesus
Christ died as our substitute at Calvary. Coming out of the
sanctuary, the priest puts aside his linen garments And he's wearing
another garment. Look at verse 11. He shall put
off his garments and put on other garments and carry forth the
ashes without the camp unto a clean place. He takes off that garment
that had been ceremonially defiled and polluted with sin. Takes
it off and puts on another. What a blessed picture. Our Lord Jesus Christ, in his
holy humanity, in his holy humanity, as God incarnate, goes up to
Mount Calvary, he set his face like a plant, determined to go
to Jerusalem, there to suffer the wrath of God in our stead.
And while our sins were imputed to him by the hand of divine
justice, the Lord Jesus reaches as it were with his own hand and lays our sins upon himself. And he bear our iniquity. He bear our sins. He bear our transgressions in
his body on the tree. And that holy thing, Lindsay,
was made to be sin. And he carried our sins. And that body in which he bare
our sins before God, that body which was made to be sinned before
God is laid in the tomb. But there he is in another garment.
Same one, but it's another one. He's now spotless and pure and
holy again, a man sitting in heaven in a glorified body. The Lord Jesus has put away our
sins, and he has carried his blood into the clean place, having
by the merit of his blood obtained eternal redemption for us. All
right, now look at verse 12. Here the Lord gives specific
instructions concerning the fuel for the fire. And the fire upon
the altar shall be burning in it. It shall not be put out. And the priests shall burn wood
on it every morning. And lay the burnt offering in
order upon it. And he shall burn thereon the
fat of the peace offerings. And we've already seen the fire
was never to be allowed to go out. If that were to be done,
there must be a constant supply of fuel for it. Wood was constantly,
constantly kept on the altar. And the fat, now look at it,
the fat of the peace offering. It specifically says, the fat
of the peace offerings with the wood kept the fire burning continually. Justice fell on Christ. our peace offering. He bare the heat of God's holy,
fierce wrath in our state. He endured the fire of hell as
our substitute. By his death, under the vengeance
of God's holy wrath, he obtained our peace. And now the day of the vengeance
of our God has Vengeance fell on the peace offering. And vengeance is no more against
us. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them that are in Christ Jesus. Now look at verse 13. And behold the perpetuity of
the fire. The fire shall ever be burning
upon the altar. It shall never go out. Throughout this instructive passage,
we're constantly reminded that the fire of God's wrath has no
end. Three times in these five verses
we're told the fire shall not go out. Three times our Lord
Jesus said in Mark chapter 9, I'm certain he is referring to
this specific passage. Three times he speaks of hell
as a place where the worm dies not and the fire is not quenched. The fire never goes out. The
eternal justice of God will never cease to find fuel for its fire. The fire of his holy wrath in
hell, for it is written, the wrath of God abide. I try to bite my tongue because
I realize people speak from folly, ignorance. The other day I was
sitting on a plane, sitting beside a doctor. We got chatting a little
bit. He asked me what I did and I had to tell him. After a little
bit he said, you're one of those fire and brimstone preachers. Let me tell you something. If you understood what hell is,
you'd tremble to think about it. Much less poke fun at it. I hear others, I get letters,
folks ask me, they won't want to hear sermons on hell, fire,
damnation. I think what kind of warped fellow
wants to listen to that stuff? I have a responsibility to preach
it, but there's no delight in it. I have a responsibility to
declare to you the fact of God's wrath. Oh, my soul. I tremble for your soul as I
do. The wrath of God is infinite. Hell is forever. Hell is forever. But I can't send you home with
that. Let me close this message by
reminding you that for some, are you listening? The fire has
been put out forever. There's one sacrifice. As there
was only one sacrifice that could take away sin, so there was the
one sacrifice consumed by the fire of God's holy wrath that
could and did consume the fire. The fire of God's wrath fell
on his darling son, and fell on his people in his son. And
when his son cried, it is finished. The fire of God's wrath was put
out. And yet, the perpetuity of it
is represented here. This is what Isaiah saw. He said, I saw the Lord sitting
on his throne in heaven and I saw before that mercy seat an altar
with burning coals, fire that would never go out. Justice perpetually
satisfied by the God-man, my Savior. And one of God's preachers
came and brought the word of the gospel. And the Holy Spirit
laid it right on my lips. And said, your iniquity is purged. Your sin is taken away. Turn with me to Hebrews chapter
13, I'll wrap this up. The holy Lord God shall never
cease to find complete satisfaction for his holy justice in the perpetual,
never ceasing merit of the sacrifice of his darling son. Now, look
at verse 10, Hebrews 13 10. We have an altar. Oh yeah, you
can't worship God without an altar. You've got to have an
altar. Oh, not a material altar, not a physical altar. If you
worship him at a material, physical altar, you will never worship
him. We have an altar, Christ the Lord, look at it. Whereof
they have no right, no power, no authority to eat, which serve
the tabernacle. Those who still worship at a
physical altar, they can't worship here. They can't. Those who eat
the sacrifices of a physical altar cannot eat this sacrifice. For the bodies of those beasts
whose blood is brought into the sanctuary by the high priest
for sin are burned without the camp. Wherefore? Jesus also,
our altar, our sacrifice, that he might sanctify, that he might
make holy the people with his own blood, suffered without the
gate. Look at verse 20. Now, the God
of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that
great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting
covenant, Make you perfect. God, make you perfect by the
blood. God, make you perfect by the
blood. In every good work to do his
will. Working in you, that which is
well pleasing in his sight. Through Jesus Christ. By whose
blood the fire of God's wrath is satisfied. To whom be glory forever and
ever. Amen.

The Fire That Ever Shall Be Burning

What does the Bible say about God's holiness?

How do we know that Jesus' sacrifice satisfies God's justice?

Why is it important for Christians to understand the concept of hell?

What does the fire on the altar represent?

How does one be reconciled to God?

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The Fire That Ever Shall Be Burning

What does the Bible say about God's holiness?

How do we know that Jesus' sacrifice satisfies God's justice?

Why is it important for Christians to understand the concept of hell?

What does the fire on the altar represent?

How does one be reconciled to God?

Sermon Transcript

About Don Fortner

Comments

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