Revelation 3:18 says, “I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire…” Gold tried in the fire is real gold. We don’t know if we have something real until it’s been tested. Literally, there’s often much that’s thought to be gold, until it’s put through the refiner’s fire and much of it turns up as dross. When it’s put through the heated fire, that which comes out, is real gold. Therefore, when He says, “Buy of me gold tried in the fire,” He’s asking us to buy something that will stand the test, something that’s real. It will come through any test with victory.
God wants to give us an experience that will take us through the trying times. If we have real gold, and it’s been tested, we don’t need to worry about fires. We’ll not lose a thing except maybe a little dross, and the gold will come out shinier than when it went in. Let’s face it, what we lost in the fire is something which we didn’t really have. I know this isn’t interesting to some. We can preach to them how God loves them, and they’ll “shout”, praise, and thank God, and everyone‘s happy. However when we dig around where we need some cultivating, things become “boring”. I just hope “the drill” stays sharp!
Christ is speaking to us, “Buy of me.” One reason so many are lacking in faith is that they’ve been buying their material at the wrong place. We must buy it from Him. We can refer to this preacher and that great writer, and thank God for those who are used to help men along the spiritual walk of life; but in the final analysis, if we’re going to get that which brings spiritual inspiration and real faith, we must get it from Jesus. When He tells us to buy of Him gold that’s been tried in the fire, He’s telling us, “Buy the real thing from Me. Get faith from Me and that’ll stand in every test and trial.”
What does He want to sell us? He only has one thing for sale: the truth. Psalm 19:8-19 says: “The statutes of the Lord are…More to be desired…than gold, yea, than much fine gold.” In 1 Peter 1:7 we read, “…the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire…” Christ wants to give us something that’s pure, with a real richness in it that can be put to the test; it will work. If we know that we have the goods, we won’t mind the tests.
There used to be some of the most harrowing automobile races run by boys sitting on a stool at the corner drug store. In their boasting, they took those Model A Fords 120 mph when they wouldn’t go over 65mph under any condition. They talked up a race, believe me, but when the discussion became heated enough that they had to take two of them out on the road, they then found out what they had. We really find out what we have when we take it out on the road.
We live in an age when the devil is in religion, and a great deal of the religion in America is a sham. People talk big about faith, but they couldn’t pray in a hamburger if they were starving to death! All the while, Jesus is saying, “Buy of me gold tried in the fire
What did Jesus mean when He said, “Buy of me”? Let’s read Isaiah 55:1: “Ho, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money; come ye, buy, and eat; yea, come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.” If we can’t buy it with money and if there’s no price, what will it cost us? Verse 8 will tell us what this fire-tested gold will cost: forsaking our ways, our thoughts, and ourselves.
The real reason some people can’t believe God is: they have some thoughts of their own, and old “Number One” is “in the way”. There’s no one in the world able to keep us from believing God, but self. This is the cost. We can get the gold if we want it. Do we realize that we’re not too good to die for God? If we think that we are, we haven’t even started on the Christian walk.
See, we’re merely trying to inspire our faith a little bit. Gold tried in the fire is something that will stand the test. It’s something that the fire won’t hurt, and the tests will not injure. We’ll come out an overcomer and be richer than when we went in. The riches that fade when the tests come, were no good from the start; we were deceived in them. If you’re a wife with six children, the devil’s going to see that you have some trials. If our salvation won’t work where we have the trials, it’s not any god in church or anywhere! Let’s not be deceived by it.
Let’s be encouraged in divine healing. Christ is telling us that the faith which we buy of Him will work even in this trial. However, this faith is only obtained at the cost of forsaking our thoughts and our ways and returning to the Lord.
He Stands at the Door Knocking
Let’s listen to more of Christ’s counsel. After telling us to buy of Him gold tried in the fire and these other attributes of an up-to-date experience with God, He said in verse 20, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him.” Jesus isn’t as far away as we think He is. The Jesus standing at the door is the Christ who saves, sanctifies, heals and supplies all our needs. He’s standing right at the door; all we must do to have Him come into our life to supply our needs, is to put works to our faith by opening the door. Christ, in all of His greatness, with all of His blessings, is standing at the door. If we’re lukewarm in our profession, He’s not a million miles from us: He’s standing at the door! In all of His greatness and power, the Amen of God, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God, is standing at our door! He put this experience within the reach of everyone. “If any man (or woman too) will open the door, I will come in to him, and sup with him, and he with me.”
What an opportunity! He’s standing there knocking, pleading with us, “Let’s open the door.” How do we open the door? Simply turn from ourselves to Him. The reason too many don’t get help from Christ is that they’re too busy, and they look to every other avenue but to Him.
Preachers Are Sent
As preachers, we have a big work on our hands. The Lord has stirred our heart concerning the responsibility of the ministry. We’re living in an age when too many people are faithless. The preachers blame it on the people, and the people blame it on the preachers. Well, who’s to blame? They both are. First of all, we as ministers need to be moved by the Holy Ghost. When we preach any part of God’s eternal Word that we’ve not been definitely anointed and led to preach, we’re only bringing confusion. We may try to tell people, “Now, the Bible says this”; but if the Holy Ghost has not anointed and His presence is not there to bless the message, it will not be fulfilled. We can’t heal anyone, and we can’t save anyone; it takes the Holy Ghost!
Preachers need to be more certain that they’re led to preach when they preach. Let’s read what real preaching is in 2 Timothy and in 2 Peter: “Holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost”. (2 Peter 1:21) In 1 Peter 1:12 the Apostle said that the Gospel was preached unto you with the Holy Ghost sent down from Heaven. God inspires certain portions of His Word, and the preacher needs to know that God is leading in that direction. Then, when he delivers the message and people respond, the power of the Spirit will be there to bring them that which they need.
Romans 10:14 says: “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach, except they be sent…? Now, I’m just foolish enough to believe that God must send me with a message for that particular time or I can’t preach. I’ve no business getting up on my own and telling people that God will save them and that He will heal them. Many have drifted so far from Holy Ghost leadership that there are many failures. If God sends us to tell someone that He will heal them, He will heal them…if they meet the conditions.
A good question for every preacher to ask himself is, “How can I preach?” Some time back, I turned down two requests for evangelistic meetings. After prayer and consideration for several days, God said to cancel them. When they wondered why, I said, “How can I preach?”
They said, “Well, we want you with us.”
I asked, “What good can I be to you if God doesn’t send me?” There’s too much running around nonchalantly. We need to get back to where the Holy Ghost is the Overseer of the Church. He’s the only One who knows our true condition. He knows just when the heart is ready. Paul illustrates this by saying, “How can they preach except they be sent?”
We continue to read in verse 15, “As it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things!” When God sends a preacher, he brings good tidings of good things. He brings good news of good things that we can obtain.
Verses 16-17 say: “But they have not all obeyed the gospel. For Esaias saith, Lord who hath believed our report? So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” Notice this: “faith cometh… It’s not something that we can work up; it simply comes. How does it come? By hearing the Word. How do we hear the Word? By a preacher that is sent. We can escape some of this faithless preaching if we get back to the old landmarks and let the Holy Ghost do the moving and directing.
God’s Promises Are Yea and Amen
Look again at the Laodicean letter. It reads, “Unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen.” Christ addressed Himself as the Amen for a reason. If we look closely at the symbols in the Revelation, we’ll find that they’re answered in the rest of the Bible. This method of interpretation will keep us from going astray; but if we jump out of the Book, we can tell any tale that we please from the Revelation. The Revelation covers the whole Bible. Therefore, if we say that we’ve preached the whole Revelation, then we’re saying that we’ve preached the whole Bible.
We can learn by the Scriptures why Jesus addressed Himself to the church as the Amen. May God take these Scriptures, drive away our doubts and fears, and give us the confidence to put our trust in Him. “But as God is true, our word toward you was not yea and nay” (2 Corinthians 1:18). One reason more people don’t have faith is due to the ministry. There’s too much “yea and nay” preaching. The Bible speaks plainly enough, but the preacher annexes a “maybe,” and “it could be,” or an “it’s possible.” Paul said, “When we preached, our message was not yea and nay.”
Verse 19 says, “For the Son of God, Jesus Christ, who was preached among you by us, even by me and Silvanus and Timotheus, was not yea and nay, but in him was yea.” When they came preaching the Gospel, they didn’t give anyone anything to be “neither, nor” about; they laid it down, and it was yea! When someone asked Paul, “Will God save me?” the answer was yea! When Paul taught divine healing and they asked, “Will God heal us?” the answer was yea! He didn’t say, “Yes and nay and maybe.”
2 Corinthians 1:20 states, “For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen…” Why did Christ call Himself the Amen of God in His letter to the Laodiceans? Why did He address Himself to the church today, in the midst of this faithless age, as the Amen of God? Because all the promises of God in Him are yea. Here’s the faithfulness of His Word. When God inspires the man of God through the Holy Spirit to speak along some lines to inspire our faith, we should do what the Thessalonians did. Receive it not as the word of men, but as the Word of God; then act on it, put works to that faith, and God will do what He said.
Paul said that in Him all the promises of God are yea and amen. “Yea” signifies the faithfulness of God’s Word. “Amen” supplies the immutable verification of it. When we say amen in the services of God, we’re sanctioning the song, the testimony, or the message. Likewise, Paul put a double surety on the promises to drive away the last suggestion of a doubt that might hang around. Yea is His Word; Amen is His oath.
Three Immutable Things
Hebrews 6:16 says, “For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife.” If we find someone with a great reputation in whom we have utmost confidence to swear that something is so, the confusion and strife are gone; it’s settled as far as we’re concerned. Hebrews 6:17-20 reads: “Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil; Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus…”
What are the two immutable things? First, it’s impossible for God to lie. I’m still speaking of how all the promises of God are yea and amen in Christ. The second immutable thing is this: Jesus died on Calvary’s Cross, signed every promise with His blood, went into the grave, arose from the dead, and is sitting at the Father’s right hand at this very moment as a High Priest to carry out the Word of God and to see that it’s fulfilled just as the Father wrote it. We have a double surety.
If I had no other Scripture to support me, I would know by this passage that Jesus and the Father are not the same person. If they are, then we don’t have two immutable things, but only one. We have a strong consolation by two, yea by three immutable things. Second Corinthians 1:20-22 says: “For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us. Now He which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God; Who hath also sealed us, and given us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts.” These are the three immutable things: first, God cannot lie; second, Christ has taken the position as High Priest; third, He has established us, anointed us, sealed us, and given us the earnest of the Spirit.
If we look closely at those three immutable things, we have the Trinity of the Godhead: first, the veracity of God---He cannot lie; second, the mediation of Christ, our High Priest at the Father’s right hand; third, the operation of the Holy Spirit. All three of them work together that the promise may be sure and that all the accomplishments of the promises may be to the glory of God. We need to note the sureness of the promise; then we need to see that He has made us sure.
Here’s where much trouble may arise. When writing to the Church at Corinth, the Apostle Paul said that God established us. The Church is established. God spoke the promise, and Jesus signed it with His own blood. In the Old Testament, when God sent Moses to deliver the children of Israel out of Egypt, Moses asked, “Who will I tell them sent me?” God said, “Thus shalt thou say unto the children of Israel, I AM hath sent me unto you” (Exodus 3:14). That was God speaking. To far too many today, He’s not “I AM” but “I WAS”.
If we study the seven names of Jehovah in the Old Testament, we’ll receive much truth about God. He said, “I am the Lord that healeth thee (Exodus 15:26). God is our Sword, our Shield, our Deliverer, and our salvation. In those ancient days, God said, “I AM”. Through His prophets, He spoke many things which were to come to pass in this day in which we live.
After the close of that dispensation and Christ came into the world, His words were, “I will”. We’ve moved one step higher: from “I AM” we come to “I will”. Not only is God able, He’s now willing. He showed His willingness to save, sanctify, and heal us when He let His Son be crucified on Calvary’s Cross. He commended His love to us.
The “Earnest of the Spirit”
Not only is the promise surely fixed, but the Spirit of God will operate on us if we’ll let Him. He said, “Now he which stablisheth us with you…is God” (2 Corinthians 1:21). Stablish means to fix firmly. There’ll not be any “”neither, nor” business when God stablishes us. If the Spirit of God has His way in our heart and life, He’ll bring us to a firm position. After He established us, He anointed us; then He gave us the earnest of the Spirit (the “earnest” is the down payment). We now have a new Spirit, and that Spirit is the down payment on the new body which we’ll receive when Jesus comes again; then our redemption will be full.
God put a double surety on the promise. Hebrews 7:22 says, “By so much was Jesus made a surety of a better testament.” God was the first surety; Jesus was the second. We want to get to the place that by the help of God we can believe God’s Word means just what it says.
If we will allow the Spirit of God to work in our heart and life, He’ll establish, anoint, and settle us. God will give us the earnest of the Spirit. In plain language, He’ll put the Believer right in us. We can’t be filled with the Holy Spirit and still have unbelief working in us. It’s an impossibility. We don’t want to be any stronger in our statements than the Scripture is. One of the first fruits of the Spirit is faith according to Galatians 5:22. Let’s be honest…we make room for too many things other than Christ in our hearts and lives.
Repeating again, the Holy Spirit will strengthen and anoint us if we’ll let Him lead and direct us. First John 2:27 speaks of this anointing, “But the anointing which ye have receive of him abideth in you, and ye need not that any man teach you: but as the same anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie, and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him.” The Holy Spirit will not teach us anything contrary to the Word; and as He has taught us, so we will abide. If we don’t walk in what the Spirit of God has taught us we don’t abide in Him.
See, we need to stretch up a little. God is requiring more of us because He wants to manifest Himself in a greater way. Remember the Scripture we read? “For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us”. (2 Corinthians 1:20) We rob God of His glory when we’re unable to put the Word to the test and prove it true. Again, we’re left here to prove the Bible is true. The Scripture says that we’re left here that men may see our good works and glorify our Father which is in heaven (Matthew 5:16). The world can’t see our faith, so they must see our good works.
We Must Open the Door
This message would be hard were it not for this verse: “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock”. (Revelation 3:20). This is the answer to all of our failures. This is the answer to all of the times that we’ve come short of the glory of God. Christ is close, and He wants to change the situation. (We hear His Voice when the Word of God is preached.) We’re putting works to our faith when we open the door to Jesus Christ. There’s nothing between us and real vistory but a door. There’s no question about His willingness to enter, for He’s knocking for entrance. He’s knocking through this message, letting us know that He wants to help us.
Notice the sequence of this text: “Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door…” It will take some faith to turn from ourselves, our own ideas, and the crutches on which we’ve been leaning and open the door to Christ. God has promised salvation and healing. Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of God’s promises, and He’s at our door. We’re obeying when we open the door; then He’ll supply whatever need we may have. John 14:23 says the same thing, “If a man love me, he will keep my words: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him.” How can we open the door? By keeping His words.
When Christ stirs the church today, He doesn’t leave her in the condition in which He finds her. We shouldn’t fret about Him stirring us a little now and then and showing us our true condition, since He’s willing to stand at the door with His arms loaded full of the blessings which we need. He’s just waiting for us to hear His voice and open the door by obeying His voice. He’s right there knocking at our heart’s door; we can open the door by repenting, confessing, and forsaking our sins. If we’ll open the door, Christ will come into our heart and life.
God directs His ministers as He sees fit to tell us that He wants to heal our body and that divine physical healing is just as much in the atonement as salvation. The same Body which hung on the Cross, which had the spear thrust in the side, which had the nails in the hands and feet, and which was whipped until the blood ran, will heal us. God said that he would heal us; Jesus signed that Word with His blood. If we’ll let the Spirit of God, He will muster enough faith within us to grasp God’s Word; and by so doing, we can open the door. When we open the door, Jesus will enter; and when He enters. Sin, affliction, and sickness will go out.
Our preaching was not yea and nay, but simply yea, “for all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him Amen, unto the glory of God by us”. (2 Corinthians 1:120) Isn’t that little phrase, “by us” wonderful? God spoke it, Jesus signed it with His blood, and the Holy Ghost came as the Third Person of the Godhead to direct the church and move on individual hearts. We can open the door by obeying the Word, and then Christ will come in. Whatever our needs are, if the Holy Spirit has talked to us in an individual manner while we ponder these thoughts, then needless to say, God is speaking to us. It’s not man’s doing but God’s. The Creator of the Universe, the Faithful and True Witness is standing and knocking for admittance. There’s nothing but a door that needs to be opened between us and real victory. [The End]