Is This All?

The Supremacy of Christ Sermon Jam

What is Preaching?

Conclusion: The Purpose the Refiner's in the Crucified Life

Then Nebuchadnezzar was full of fury, and the expression on his face changed toward Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. He spoke and commanded that they heat the furnace seven times more than it was usually heated. And he commanded certain mighty men of valor who were in his army to bind Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, and cast them into the burning fiery furnace. Then these men were bound in their coats, their trousers, their turbans, and their other garments, and were cast into the midst of the burning fiery furnace. Therefore, because the king’s command was urgent, and the furnace exceedingly hot, the flame of the fire killed those men who took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego. And these three men, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-Nego, fell down bound into the midst of the burning fiery furnace.

Then King Nebuchadnezzar was astonished; and he rose in haste and spoke, saying to his counselors, “Did we not cast three men bound into the midst of the fire?” They answered and said to the king, “True, O king.” “Look!” he answered, “I see four men loose, walking in the midst of the fire; and they are not hurt, and the form of the fourth is like the Son of God.”

Daniel 3:19-25 (NKJV)

The Joy of God's Presence

The fire in the furnace reveals Christ in the midst of His people, sharing their fellowship.  The flame of Nebuchadnezzar's furnace did not overcome the fragrance of God's presence.  Imagine the joy of those men in the flames.  There is no joy comparable to that joy of being in a place where God joins you in sweet fellowship.  Never in the marketplace.  Never on the mountaintop.  Remember Peter on the Mount of Transfiguration.  He wanted to set up a couple of tents, forget the rest of the world and enjoy fellowship with God.  But the value of the mountaintop experience is revealed in the valley below in which we must tread.

The revelation of God is the fruit of the flame.  How many times have we missed the fragrance of God's presence because we resist the furnace and the tribulation and the suffering before us?  We have it all worked out.  We read a couple verses of Scripture and say, "I believe."  That settles it.  We think we can then go on our merry way to heaven, whistling "When the Saints Come Marching In."  We want to be coddled on our way to heaven and have an easy life.  We want to make sure that we are going to go to heaven when we die, but in the meantime we want to enjoy the pleasures of the world.

There is no revelation of God in following that path.  There is no experiencing the fragrance of God's presence.  There is no burning of the bonds that the world has imposed upon us, setting us free to follow our Lord.  Yes, we walk by faith.  But occasionally there are some glorious moments in which God reveals Himself to us.  I tell you, this is holy ground.  This is an area of sacredness incomparable to anything else this side of glory.

Keep in mind that God has a vision for us beyond the furnace.  The fires serves its purpose, burning away the bonds of the world and purifying our relationship with God, and then we move on.  Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego walked out of that furnace.  Imagine the testimony they would have the rest of their lives.  They certainly were creatures out of the fire.  They were men who had met God in the wondrous, glorious fashion incomparable to anything else in their lives.  They were counted worthy to suffer for Christ.

If we are ever going to see God in the fullness of His manifestation, we must be like these men.  We must obey Him implicitly and surrender in such a way that He can place us where He wants to place us in order to show us what He wants to show us.  And what He does to us He will also do through us to confound the wisdom of the world, who cannot figure out what we are.

God's most delicate tools are reserved for His special children.  For the Christian on the path of the crucified life, God will bring into his pathway the fiery furnace, the Refiner's Fire, and show that Christian how much He really loves him.

[excerpt from A.W. Tozer's The Crucified Life]

When a Lover of Good Thinks About Evil

A Passion to Pray

The Moon, Self-Distrust, and Trust in God

Study theology and learn about how God is the source and fountain of all things.  Learn about the attributes of God and see if yet in your heart you still believe that God is less than He is and you are more than you are.  Think of the moon.  If the moon could talk like a man and have a personality, it could say within itself, I shine on the earth and every time I'm around, the earth becomes beautiful.  If someone could respond to the moon, they would say, "Listen, you don't do that by yourself.  Don't you know that you have been discovered and found out?  You don't shine at all.  You are simply reflecting the sun's light, so it's really the sun that shines."

Then self comes to the rescue of the moon.  "You're letting your light shine and you're doing a good job," it says.  "When you're not up, one whole side of the earth lies in darkness.  But when you come up, a side lights up and I can begin to see rows of houses.  You're doing a fine job."  The moon would not say, "The glory belongs to God, because it is only by the grace of God that I'm like this."  All the time the moon is thinking that he is shining.

When the moon is shining, it is only a reflection light from the sun.  And if the moon really understood, he could boldly shine and talk about it, because he would know that he was not shining at all.  Similarly, Paul knew that he did not have a thing of himself that was fit for heaven.  He had only the grace of God in him.  It was God and not him.  He completely and radically distrusted himself.  No man can really know himself; he is not capable of knowing how he feels.

It is important that we understand how dangerous it is to trust our good habits and virtues.  Only God can bring us to the point of understanding that our strength is indeed our weakness.  Anything that we rely on or trust can be our undoing.  We do not realize how weak we are until the Holy Spirit begins exposing these things to us.

How does God deal with self-trust?

1.  A flash of holy inspiration in your soul

2.  God-imposed physical discipline

3.  Extreme trials and temptations

You want the Lord to do something for you, don't you?  You want Him to come down on you with a wave of grace.  We want the Holy Spirit to come on us and demonstrate His power.  We want to see all of that, but we need to be careful that we're not trying to work it up on our own.

I do not intend to try to work up anything.  You cannot climb Jacob's ladder without sweat, perspiration and hard work.  The work of God is not dependent on any man's schedule.  I rarely know where I am going in my life's journey, but after I have been there a year, I can look back and see that my path has been relatively straight.  I go to God, write out my prayers, wait on Him and remind Him, but nothing seems to happen.  I seem to be getting nowhere, and then suddenly things break around me.  I look back and see that God has been leading my every step, and I did not even know it. 

I did not know where I was going, but looking back, I can see where I have been.  I do not think we should always look back, but at least we should be able to look back and see the terrain where God has led us -- the valleys and plateaus He has brought us through because He loves us in spite of ourselves.

The more my trust rests in God, the less I trust myself.  If we truly desire to live the crucified life, we must get rid of self-trust and trust only in God.

  

[excerpts from A.W. Tozer's The Crucified Life]