You and I live in a fallen creation. Sin and death have entered the world. Everyone is born with a rebellious sin nature. No one can see God face-to-face as Adam and Eve did and live. Sometimes the storms of life seem overwhelming. We ask ‘where is Jesus’?  Does He really know and care about our hurts? In this study we will examine what the Bible says Jesus is doing, even when life hurts.

Next we will examine Jesus Christ refining you

10) Refining you to increase your value and make you more like Jesus Christ

Jesus’ fire is purposeful according to Job 23

¹⁰ But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.

More from 1 Peter 1:

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,

⁴ To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,

⁵ Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.

⁶ Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:

⁷ That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:

⁸ Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:

⁹ Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.

The Refiner’s fire is uniquely yours according to Proverbs 17:

³ The fining pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD trieth the hearts

How Jesus Christ refines you will not necessarily be the method He uses to refine me. You are unique! You have unique perspectives. You have unique experiences and unique reactions and learnings from those experiences.

The refiner’s fire differs for the unsaved according to Malachi 2:

¹⁷ Ye have wearied the LORD with your words. Yet ye say, Wherein have we wearied him? When ye say, Every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the LORD, and he delighteth in them; or, Where is the God of judgment?

Malachi 3 extols the difference in the Refiner’s fire for the saved and the unsaved

¹ Behold, I will send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me: and the Lord, whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he shall come, saith the LORD of hosts.

² But who may abide the day of his coming? and who shall stand when he appeareth? for he is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap:

³ And he shall sit as a refiner and 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.

⁴ Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the LORD, as in the days of old, and as in former years.

⁵ And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against 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 right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts.

⁶ For I am the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.

refining is for the saved,

consuming is for the unsaved

The refiner’s fire:

melts down and purifies,

separates the impurities that ruin value

burns hot -refiner must place the metal where the fire is the hottest

is controlled – forest fires destroy indiscriminately

The incinerator consumes completely

Christianity is not a play thing/never play with fire

rebellion and unbelief belong to your sin nature not to your new nature in Jesus Christ

The choice to allow Him to work or resist Him is yours (free will)
Refining silver requires holding the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames are hottest as to burn away all the impurities. The silversmith has to sit holding the silver,  keeping his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver is left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.

How does the silver smith know when the silver is fully refined? When he see his image in it.

1) What does Matthew 5: mean to you? When will you see God?

⁸ Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

2) How do you focus on the Refiner not the fire?

3) How do you see this refining fire affecting you?

4) How do you see this refining fire preparing you?

5) What matters to you about the refining fire you are in right now?

6) How does this refining fire play out in your behavior?

 Rejoice in the Lord by Ron Hamilton

God never moves without purpose or plan When trying His servant and molding a man.
Give thanks to the LORD though your testing seems long; In darkness He giveth a song.

I could not see through the shadows ahead; So I looked at the cross of my Savior instead.
I bowed to the will of the Master that day; Then peace came and tears fled away.
Now I can see testing comes from above; God strengthens His children and purges in love.
My Father knows best, and I trust in His care; Through purging more fruit I will bear.

chorus

O Rejoice in the LORD-He makes no mistake,
He knoweth the end of each path that I take,
For when I am tried and purified, I shall come forth as gold.

God’s Refining Fire by Mac Lynch

O Lord, we pray “Thy will be done” or “Master, here am I.”
We pray You’d do a mighty work That to the flesh we’d die.
And when the answer comes to us In form of trial and test,
We fail to see Your loving hand, Refining fire is best.

God’s refining fire, God’s refining fire,
May it purge me now and  make of me what You require.
O Lord, feed the fire, Your refining fire. Now as gold and silver must be tried,
Lord, may my heart be purified. Lord, send Your great refining fire.

Hebrews 12:

¹ Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us,

² Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.

Dearly Beloved,

Run with your eyes on Jesus alone!

Run in faith that Jesus loves you, has uniquely designed and created only one you, has a good plan for your life, runs with you and will accomplish His purposes for you and through you!

Run in His strength alone!

Run with your eyes on the prize!

Run with your focus on His mission: to conform you to the image of Jesus Christ!

Run with the desire to finish strong!

Run with the desire to finish with your lamp burning!

Run with the expectation of being in His physical presence when you cross your finish line!

Run to His glory alone!

Run and keep on running!

Coach Patti