Title:
Through the Fire
Text:
Zechariah 13: 7-9
Date:
January 15, 2015
Place:
SGBC, New Jersey
Zechariah 13: 7: Awake, O sword, against my
shepherd, and against the man that is
my fellow, saith the LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be
scattered: and I will turn mine hand upon the little ones. 8: And it shall come
to pass, that in all the land, saith the LORD, two parts therein shall be cut
off and die; but the third shall be left therein. 9: And I will bring the third
part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and will try
them as gold is tried: they shall call on my name, and I will hear them: I will
say, It is my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.
Our
text is verse 9. We will focus our attention on the fiery trials which the Lord
brings his people through. But first let’s notice a few things in context. This
is what shall happen in this gospel day in which we live.
First,
this happens after Christ has suffered on the cross for his people.—“Awake, O
sword, against my shepherd, and against the man that is my fellow, saith the
LORD of hosts: smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.” (Zech 13:
7) It was God who awakened the sword of justice against Christ when he bore the
sin of his people. Christ is God’s Shepherd. God the Father chose his Son to be
the Shepherd of his sheep. He chose Christ to save his people from our sins by
bearing our sins in his own body on the tree. Christ is God’s fellow. He is one
with God, equal with God, God with us. His work brought eternal satisfaction to
eternal justice for each one for whom he died.
Secondly,
notice, when God smote the Shepherd, God scattered his sheep into the four-corners
of the earth, “smite the shepherd, and the sheep shall be scattered.” (Zech 13:
7) God’s sheep are not sheep because they live in America or France or Israel. God’s
sheep—true Israel—are those chosen in Christ from before the foundation of the
world. Think of the folly if I said, “God chose me and called me because I was
born in Union County, Arkansas.”
When God
calls his sheep, it is not with respect to persons—not because of the country
they live in or their race—it is because they are the elect of God by his pure
grace! (Rom 9) To say God calls a sinner because of anything in us—because we
live in Israel or England or Germany—is to make salvation to be by works, by
something in us, rather than by grace.
Now
that God has finished with political Israel, before God, there is no physical
distinction. God’s sheep are his elect scattered amongst the nations of the
world: some are in Israel, some in America, some in other places. But thank God,
by his sovereign and free grace, he shall call each one because we are the sheep
of God
Thirdly,
we see that in this gospel age, our risen Lord and Savior is gathering his
sheep out of every nation on this earth—“and I will turn mine hand upon the
little ones.” (Zech 13: 7) It is God who gathers his people from among the
inhabitants of the world, out of spiritual darkness, into his spiritual kingdom—not
we ourselves.
Fourthly,
we are told what God is doing throughout all the earth right now in this gospel
age—“And it shall come to pass, in all the land, saith the LORD, two parts
therein shall be cut off and die; but the third shall be left therein.” (Zech
13: 8) Of the greater part of men in “all the land”—in all the earth—God will cut
off 2/3rds and they shall die. It includes professing, hypocritical believers,
as well as reprobate men. But the third part shall remain. This is God’s elect
remnant. These are Christ’s redeemed. These shall be born of the Holy Spirit.
What will
become of those God gathers by his grace?
What shall God do for us in this gospel age? Believer, what is God doing
with you right now? They shall each be brought “Through the Fire.”
GOD’S PREDESTINATION
First,
God predestinated that God will bring each of his elect through the fire, “And
I will bring the third part through the fire.” (Zech 13: 9) Believers should
expect the fiery trial. Heirs of the kingdom above are heirs of tribulation
below; reigning with Christ above means suffering with Christ below; to be crowned
with glory above is to bear the cross below.
Our
flesh does not like the fire of trial. Our flesh tries to escape the fire. But
inwardly, we should rejoice in the fire. Why? The fire is of God. He said, “I
will.” “The righteous God trieth the hearts and reins.” (Ps 7: 9) “The LORD trieth
the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.”
(Ps 11: 5) The firery trial is of God whatever kind it may be.
Our conversion
is a firely trial, because Christ is a fire. He sends his preacher with the
gospel to announce his arrival then Christ comes to refine.
Malachi 3: 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.
The
only way we—as king and priests—will come to God only in Christ our Righteousness
is by Christ purging us of every vain work of dross, every vain confidence.
So, too, God's word is a fire, “Is not my word like
as a fire, saith the Lord?” (Jer 23: 39) Every Christ’s sent preacher is full
of fire. When the gospel goes forth, the word burns up all wood, hay, and
stubble. False hopes, false zeal go up in flames. William Gatsby said, “When
God brings Christ and the sinner together, there is an alarming blaze of the
whole of the sinner's lumber.”
Therefore,
when you are converted and stand with Christ and Christ’s people—expect the fire
of persecution.
1 Peter
4: 12: Beloved, think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try
you, as though some strange thing happened unto you: 13: But rejoice, inasmuch
as ye are partakers of Christ’s sufferings; that, when his glory shall be
revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy. 14: If ye be reproached for
the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God
resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is
glorified.
Then there are all sorts of trials in God’s providential
dealings with his child.
One, God forces you to make sacrifices, to part with what
you love and value most. God called Abraham to take sides with Christ, against
Abraham’s own son, Isaac. (Gen 22:1) Through the law, God makes his true Israel
part with our vain righteousness and beg for Christ to be our Mediator. (Ex
20:20)
Also, God
leads his people in a difficult way through life, making his people live by
faith in Christ alone. Israel’s journey is the believer’s journey—
Deuteronomy 8: 2
And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these
forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to
know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his
commandments, or no. 3 And he humbled
thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest
not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth
not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the
mouth of the LORD doth man live.
Furthermore, God leaves false preachers and false
religion in this world to try his people—
Deuteronomy
13: 1: If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth
thee a sign or a wonder, 2:…saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast
not known, and let us serve them; 3: Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of
that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to
know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your
soul.
Also, God
gives us choices in life to try us, “In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in
a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee.” (1 Ki 3: 5) At the
heart of every choice in life, God is setting before us the same choice he set
before Solomon. Will you choose long life? Riches for thyself? The life of
thine enemies? Solomon asked for “understanding to discern judgment.” Will you
choose a long life of ease with your family, your grandkids, in false
religion? Or ask Christ to be your
Wisdom? Will you choose riches—promotion,
fat salary, separated from the gospel of Christ? Or ask for Christ your Wisdom? When Solomon
asked for understanding, God not only gave him wisdom, God added those lesser
things as well. “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us
all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?” (Rom 8: 32)
At
times, Christ sets the impossible before us to teach us not to lean to our
understanding but to look only to Christ, “When Jesus then lifted up his
eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall
we buy bread, that these may eat? And this he said to prove him: for he himself
knew what he would do.” (Jn 6: 5-6) Christ knows what you and I will do. Christ
knows what he himself will do. Our best answer is, “Lord thou knowest!”
Then Christ
makes us wait on him which is a fiery trial. When Mary and Martha sent word
that Lazarus was sick, the Lord abode two days where he was before going to
raise Lazarus. (Jn 11: 6) He let Hezekiah chatter until Hezekiah cried, “Lord
undertake for me!” When I was a child I was once surrounded by coyotes. It made
me run to my father. When men are not alarmed, they walk instead of run. Scripture
says, “He that believeth shall not make haste.” Christ will have us trust and wait on him so
that we walk by faith even through the fire.
Also,
Christ even puts us in the fire when we faithfully serve him. Paul was faithful.
But Christ had him cast into prison and to bear many stripes—(Acts 16:23-24) Yet,
it was God’s way of saving the Philippian jailor. We could go on and on. But whatever kind of fire we endure, God is
the first cause—“I will”—the fire is of God.
GOD’S PURPOSE
The first
purpose of the fire is to refine us, “I will…refine them as silver is refined.”
(Zech 13: 9) We each love our flesh and things of this world. But those things
are not profitable. So Christ refines his child, “I will turn my hand upon
thee, and purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin.” (Is 1: 25) In
the fire, he burns up our dross. Nothing shall remain but what comes from him,
stands in him, and leads to him.
When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
My grace all-sufficient shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design
Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.
Also, the
purpose of the fire is to try us, “I will try them as gold is tried.” (Zech 13:
9) It is to prove that our faith is the gift of God and upheld by God, so that
God receives the glory. Earthly gold will endure much fire. It is precious
metal. But gold will not endure the
“seventh fire”—the fire heated seven times will melt gold. But God knows the faith which he gives his
child is “more precious than gold.”
It is because
our faith is born of the word of God and upheld by the word of God. And the
word of God is more precious than gold. It will endure the seventh fire, “The
words of the LORD are pure words: as silver tried in a furnace of earth,
purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them
from this generation for ever.” (Ps 12: 6-7)
Therefore,
by God’s word, by God’s promise, by God keeping us, by God preserving us, our
faith will endure the fire heated seven times. So God puts his child into the
hottest fire of trial "that the trial of their faith, being much more
precious than that of gold that perisheth, though tried in the fire, may be
found to [God’s] praise and honour and glory," (1 Peter 1:7)
So the
purpose of the fire is that when God brings us through the fire we stand as
monuments of his discriminating mercy so that all praise and all glory goes only
to our faithful God before this world and to all eternity.
GOD’S PROMISE
First,
not only is the firey trial of God but God promises to bring us through it, “I
will bring the third part through the fire.” (Zech 13: 9)
Isaiah 43: 1: Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have
called thee by thy name; thou art mine. 2: When thou passest through the
waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not
overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned;
neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. 3: For I am the LORD thy God, the
Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour:
Secondly,
Christ will go with us through the fire. He said when you pass through, “I will
be with thee.” He was in the furnace
when they threw his three servants in the fire. And Christ brought them out, “whose
bodies the fire had no power, nor was an hair of their head singed, neither
were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them.” (Dan 3:
25-27)
God’s
promise is that he will accomplish his purpose in the fire. They say as soon as
a refiner can see his own image in the silver, he considers it pure. Likewise,
when God purges our dross and sees Christ image in us he delivers us from the
fire. What does that mean for God to see Christ’s image in us? It is in the
next part of God’s promise.
Thirdly,
God promises to bring his child to this point, “they shall call on my name.”
(Zech 13: 9) We truly call on God when he has brought us to call on Jehovah
Jesus. But we cannot rightly even think of prayer without the fire. Saul of
Tarsus thought he had called on the name of the LORD many times. But when God
put him in the fire, he found he had never prayed before. Then, God himself, said
to Ananias, “Behold! He prayeth.” (Acts 9: 11)
When
called to pray publicly, we do very little praying. Instead, we concentrate on saying the right
words—pretty words. But in the fire, there are no pretty words. But then the
Spirit “helpeth our infirmities, for we know not what we should pray as we ought,
but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be
uttered.” (Rom 8: 26) True prayer is when we are utterly weak. It is in our
broken, unconnected sentences, in sighs and groans from a poor soul in the fire.
“Lord, save me!”—was Peter’s finest prayer! (Mt 14: 30)
When we
were not in the fire, we become cumbered with dross: affections for this world,
wandering after every forbidden thing, but when God puts us in the fire—in the
hour of conversion, in every season of trial, in our final hour—these are times
when there no audible words; when we are too weak for pretty words; when we know
we cannot save ourselves. That is when God has brought his fiery purpose to
pass, when he brings this promise to pass—“they shall call on my name.” This is only by Christ dwelling in you—and
that is when God sees Christ’s image in his child.
Then at
last, God brings this promise to pass, “and I will hear them: I will say, It is
my people: and they shall say, The LORD is my God.” (Zech 13: 9) Our Savior knows
we can never do without him; so he makes us to know it as well. When he brings
us to call on him, he says “It is my people” and in our hearts, he makes us
hear him say it!
Romans 5: 3:…tribulation worketh patience; 4: And
patience, experience; and experience, hope: 5: And hope maketh not ashamed;
because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is
given unto us.
Then Christ
appears glorious to us poor sinners and we say, “The Lord is my God!” Here is the whole point of the trial. When God
has brought his purpose and promise to pass through the fire then we realize, God
loves us as well when he hides the light of his countenance as when he shines
upon us; when he suffers us to grope within as when he raises our hopes and expectations
to himself; when he chastens us as when he smiles upon us; when he afflicts us as
when he comforts us; when in the fire as when on the mountain.
The
reality is that it is his love that sends the fire to purge us, to bring forth
the pure gold of faith in him. It is only then that we truly behold that Christ
always hears us and is always saving us, that he is truly our God.
It is
easier to talk about God's love than always to believe it. But we can be sure, God will bring us to
believe more and more, his love for us is from everlasting to everlasting, so
that we believe and walk and pray with a pure heart, knowing, “The LORD is my
God!”
Amen!