Consuming
Fire
4-11-10
When Satan tried to get Jesus to bow down and
worship him, Jesus said Away with you, Satan! For it is written, you shall worship
the LORD your God, and Him only you shall serve.
Certainly it’s not all worship or all service, but
effective service flowing out of our worship relationship with God.
Certainly our most effective service to God is
operating in His power and not our own.
Acts 1:8
But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has
come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in
Jesus had left instruction and said but tarry in the
city of
Not just something to be enjoyed but for our service
to be more effective.
John the Baptist has prophesied the baptism of the
Holy Spirit.
Luke 3:16
John answered, saying to all, "I indeed baptize
you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not
worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.(NKJV)
Some say that this verse means the Holy Spirit for
the believers and the fire (hell) for the unbeliever.---not necessarily
true
The fire of God consumes anything that
is not Christ-like.
The bible says that God is a consuming fire in
Hebrews 12:29
Acts 2:3 says Then there appeared to them divided
tongues, as of fire, and one sat upon each of them.(NKJV)
When Jesus received His baptism the
Spirit came as a dove upon Him.
Fire was not mentioned-----There was nothing in Him
to purify.
He comes to us as fire because we need
purification.
Isaiah 6:1
In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord
sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the
temple.(NKJV)
The seraphim cried to another and said: "Holy,
holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!
Upon the revelation of God’s glory and holiness
Isaiah says I am a man of unclean lips
Isaiah 6:6-7
Then one of the seraphim flew to me, having in his
hand a live coal which he had taken with the tongs from the altar. And he
touched my mouth with it, and said: "Behold, this has touched your lips;
Your iniquity is taken away, And your sin purged."(NKJV)
We don’t see blood used here but a live coal
The coals were on the altar of burnt offering
---which is a type of Christ and His sacrifice
The live coal can be compared to the word of God.
Jeremiah 23:29 says Is not my word like a fire.
Ephesians 5:26 says He sanctifies and cleanses by
the washing of water by the word.
We are to be constant recipients of
His purifying influence.
Why? - At salvation we are not completely
purified and need sanctification for our souls.
The fire of God purifies--- Malichi 3:2 says He is
like a refiner’s fire
Purifying the sons of Levi.
There are two extremes to walk in
Dead formality
The false fire of fanaticism
Both are Satan’s counterfeits.
Remember that Satan has counterfeits for the things
of God.
Let me help some that think the fire of God is
extreme and excess.
True fire has its seat in the heart of the believer.
The true fire of God melts the affections and
desires and conforms into the likeness of Christ.
False fire runs up
into the head and magnifies non-essentials and minimizes the
essentials
False fire puts a combativeness in the
spirit.
False fire puts a severity in the
voice and a critical cutting look in the eye.
The true fire of God’s presence in the soul is ever
bent on saving souls and leading believers into the fullness of Christ.
We can make a parallel between physical and
spiritual fire.
The process in a natural fire is called oxidation
Human life is sustained by cellular oxidation
of sugars ----a fire inside each living cell of the person converting them into
energy
We use the term to burn calories or
fat.
Our soulish passions are also compared to fire.
1 Corinthians 7:8-9
But I say to the unmarried and to the widows: It is
good for them if they remain even as I am; but if they cannot exercise
self-control, let them marry. For it is better to marry than to burn with
passion.(NKJV)
This word burn in the Greek means fiery--burn
with fire--to be on fire
Let’s look at an Old Testament
application
Exodus 35:3
You shall kindle no fire throughout your dwellings
on the Sabbath day."(NKJV)
WHY?
God instituted the Sabbath day rest as a
foreshadowing of our complete rest in Christ.
We enter that Sabbath rest relying on the righteousness
of Christ and never on our own works.
When we become Christians the word tells us that we
come a new creation old things are passed away.
As the physical body would be dead without cellular
oxidation –a fire inside each living cell---so do we never want to
kindle a fire but be subject to His fire and refining influence.
Crucified with Christ, living yet not us but Christ
living in us
We are dead and our life is hid with Christ in God.
The old man, carnal nature will try to rise and
kindle its own fire.
Leviticus 10:1-2
Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took
his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire
before the LORD, which He had not commanded them. So fire went out from the
LORD and devoured them, and they died before the LORD.(NKJV)
Why was this so bad?
Leviticus 9:24 says that the fire came out from thee
LORD and consumed the burnt offering and the fat on the altar.
They offered their own fire---not fire of a divine
origin
I believe the counterfeit fire in energized in the lives of people that to
some degree still operate in the carnal nature.
A counterfeit fire energized by Satan
himself.
In our Sabbath rest, Jesus Christ we choose to kindle no fire
since we have entered into His rest.
Allowing God to be a consuming fire in us.
A baptism of the Holy Spirit and fire.
Heat or energy is generated in burning the
sugar molecule sustaining life in the descendants of the first Adam
The last Adam became a life giving spirit.
When God gives us newness of life we are not to
kindle fire but be subject to His fire.
His fire can’t
be experienced by just thinking about it, but by being subject to Him and
experiencing Him.
Revelation 4:5 talks about seven lamps of
fire were burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God.(NKJV)
How do we receive His fire? -----By willingly getting into His presence
and asking for it.
The brazen altar in the tabernacle of Moses
is where the sacrifices where made and burned
The blood was drained off and the sacrifices
consumed by fire.
In New Testament we enter His gates with thanksgiving
and into His courts with praise.
Hebrews 13:15
Therefore by Him let us continually offer the
sacrifice of praise to God, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to
His name.(NKJV)
As we offer the sacrifice of praise God consumes us
with His fire.
We should also desire this life changing fire of
God.
The bible talks about vessels of honor and dishonor
2 Timothy 2:20-21
But in a great house there are not only vessels of
gold and silver, but also of wood and clay, some for honor and some for
dishonor. Therefore if anyone cleanses himself from the latter, he will be a
vessel for honor, sanctified and useful for the Master, prepared for every good
work.(NKJV)
The great house referring to the body of Christ.
Gold and silver referring to vessels of
honor---gold and silver cannot be burned.
The willingness to be subject to cleansing and
sanctification enables us to be useful to the Lord prepared for every good work
Zechariah 13:9
I will bring the one-third through the fire, Will
refine them as silver is refined, And test them as gold is tested. They will
call on My name, And I will answer them. I will say, 'This is My people'; And
each one will say, 'The LORD is my God."'(NKJV)
When gold and silver go through the fire all of the
impurities come to the top and are taken off.
Why go through this refining process. We don’t want the impurities!
We want to be fit and useful for His
purposes.
I asked this question a few months ago.
How many have known that God has a great purpose for
your life—something great that you would be involved in?
Then please be open to the process that God wants to
take us through.
A refining process made possible by the Spirit of
God.
God wants to change us and be willing to subject
ourselves to His fire to get us into a position to serve Him more effectively.