OUR GOD IS A CONSUMING FIRE

 

OUR GOD IS A CONSUMING FIRE

 

     I believe a wonderful fire is about to fall on us all and on the church. It will be a fire that will burn with such an intensity that everything that is not of God will be consumed! The God you and I serve is a consuming fire. Paul told the Hebrews:  Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear: for our God is a consuming fire. Hebrews 12:28-29

     The only way for you and I to be prepared for this fire that is coming is to receive a new vision of God as a consuming fire and walk in the fear of God as never before! The only way we will be able to serve God effectively is by living our daily lives in the fear of a holy and righteous God. Yet the holy, reverential fear of God is missing within the lives of many Christians today. It has been replaced by an unhealthy and unscriptural concept that refuses to accept the fact that God is a holy, righteous God, a God of judgment, as well as a God of love and of mercy.

     There are many Christians today who have been deceived into thinking that they can live ungodly lives like compromising with the world and fulfilling the lusts of their flesh or living their lives according to their own will and walking in disobedience to God and His Word or simply leaving God out of their lives and that somehow, He will overlook their sin and they will be accepted by Christ when He returns.

     There are those who are willing to accept God as a loving, merciful, forgiving father, but they refuse to recognize and accept Him as a righteous God of judgment who hates sin. They perceive God as being a loving father who winks at or turns His head and overlooks sin. Many use the grace of God for a covering for their sin. They think that since we are no longer living under the law, but under God’s covenant of grace, they are free to live the way they please, compromising with the world, living according to their flesh, and that they are still justified in God’s sight. When they hear someone take a strong stand against sin, like this message for instance, they accuse them of being legalistic or preaching condemnation on them. They reject the truth and they do not want anyone to preach against or expose the sin in their lives.

     We must have a new vision of God as a consuming fire. One of the reasons we find churches in a spiritually anemic condition where compromise and sin have spread throughout the entire church, is because the fear of God is missing. The church has tried to bring God down to its level instead of seeking after His righteousness and walking holy before Him. If we were walking in the fear of God today there would not be a lukewarm Christian to be found.

     Knowing that God’s judgments are coming upon this earth, we would not be able to sit on our comfortable pews and carry-on business as usual but take every possible opportunity to warn others. There would be a burning fire within us compelling us to pray, to warn and to win the lost while there is still time.

     If we were walking in the fear of God today, there would be no compromising Christians who are seeking after worldly pleasures or fulfilling the lusts of their flesh. There would not be those living their lives to please self instead of seeking after their God and following in obedience. If we were walking in the fear of God there would be no ungodliness, adultery and fornication among those claiming to be born again Christians. There would be no hypocrisy, greed or covetousness. Instead of sweeping it under the carpet, we would be exposing it and calling for true repentance.

     Yes, we are living in a day of grace where God’s grace love and mercy and forgiveness have been freely given to us, but those Christians who continually reject that grace and fail to repent and be cleansed will feel the fires of His judgment. There are those who have been deceived into thinking somehow because God has not yet brought judgment upon them, they have gotten away with the sin in their lives and that God is not going to bring judgment upon them. Be not deceived, God will not be mocked. “For whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall reap of the flesh corruption” Galatians 6:7-8;

     For us to be prepared for the fire that is coming to the church we must walk in the fear of God because our God is a consuming fire. Throughout the Word, God manifested Himself through fire to accomplish His purposes which are, to reveal Himself to His people as the all-powerful Holy God. To test and try His people. To separate, cleanse and purify His people and to bring judgment.

     As we ponder these ways God has manifested Himself through fire, we will gain a new vision of the awesome holiness of God. When God entered into a covenant with Abraham, He manifested His presence in fire as a smoking oven and a flaming torch.  When the sun had set and the darkness fallen a smoking firepot with a blazing torch appeared and passed between the pieces. On that day the Lord made a covenant with Abram and said, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river Euphrates.” Genesis 15:17-18

     He appeared to Moses as the burning bush that was not consumed: “Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law the priest of Midian; and he led the flock to the back or the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb or Sinai, the mountain of God. The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush; and he looked and behold the bush burned with fire yet was not consumed. And Moses said, I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush is not burned, and when the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the midst of the bush and said, Moses! Moses! And he said, here am I. God said, do not come near; put your shoes off your feet, for the place on which you stand is holy ground. Also, He said, I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, Isaac and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.” (Exodus 3:1-6).

     God chose to make Himself known to Moses as the God of Abraham Isaac and Jacob by fire. The fire represented His holiness, His glory and His awesome power. God revealed Himself to His people by fire. What an awesome sight. So, knowing that God is a consuming fire, knowing that Christ is coming with flaming fire to pour out wrath upon the wicked, knowing these fiery judgments are coming, knowing we are living in the final moments of time before Christ’s return, we must live our lives in the holy fear of the Lord.

We cannot afford to be lax in our dedication and commitment to God. Neither must we allow ourselves to become complacent or so caught up with the cares of this world that we fail to prepare ourselves for that awesome day when we will stand before Him. We cannot afford to let up in our stand against sin and begin to compromise with the world’s standards.

     This world is going to go through a Baptism of fire and this fire is not a figment of someone’s imagination either. It is real and we will have no excuse because we have been forewarned. God has revealed it to us in His Word. Knowing this fire is coming soon upon this world to purge it and make ready those who would see Christ, we should ask ourselves, “Am I living my life in the fear of the Lord?” Peter said, “Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness” 2 Peter 3:11;

     It’s time to strip ourselves of spiritual pride and complacency and take an honest look at how we are living our lives. Do our thoughts motives and actions line up with the Word of God? Are we living our lives to please ourselves or to please God? Peter told believers, “Wherefore beloved, seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of Him in peace, without spot and blameless” 2 Peter 3:14; To walk in the fear of God you must be diligent. You must Spiritually strive. Jesus said; “Strive to enter in at the straight gate.” Luke 13:24;

     To walk in the fear of God you must follow after “holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord: Looking diligently lest any man fail of the grace of God” Hebrews 12:14-15;

     This means we are to seek after holiness and to continually come before the Lord and allow Him to reveal the sin and impurities in our lives. Then we must draw upon the Holy Spirit to continually bring our bodies into submission to Him and His Word. Peter told them to beware. . . to be on guard. He said,” Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also being led away with the error of the wicked fall from your own steadfastness” 2 Peter 3:17;

     It is time for us to take spiritual inventory of our lives. Are we living our lives every day as if the trumpet of God would sound and we would stand before Him. If you stood before Him today and looked into His flaming eyes of fire, what would He reveal? Would you be able to stand before Him? To walk in the fear of God you must constantly be on guard, set a watch. against anyone who would try to lead you stray and who would try to convince you that you can live with one foot in the world.

     Do not be deceived, God is a holy God, He is a consuming fire and if we fail to repent and do not yield to His Spirit and allow Him to purge us now, we will face the fires of judgment. How shall we escape, if we neglect so great a salvation; Hebrews 2:2-3;

     Do not listen to Satan’s lies that God will overlook sin, do not allow him to convince you that you will not face God for unrepented sin because you will. Repent now and clear your heart. Get to the altar of forgiveness and spend some time with the one who died for you to set you free.

     Maybe you remember this old chorus. If you do, why not make it a prayer today. Set my Spirit free that I might worship thee, Set my spirit free that I might praise thy name, Let all bondage go, and let deliverance flow, Set my spirit free to worship thee.

Amen.