Now, before I go on to the main message — and this is the last message this morning that I will be giving, and this evening you will have Brother Peter Yin — I would like to take an opportunity from my part and from my own heart to thank the planning committee, all those dear brothers and sisters who work so hard for the Lord and who have been an example to us of faithful service. I hope that many others will take up the burden of this work and the privilege of this work for the next year and for the coming years. And for my part too, I would like to thank all those who serve so faithfully, also the FM brothers who work behind the scenes and who have done such an efficient and excellent job. They don't need any praises from me; after all, their glory and their reward will be from the Lord. But I do just want to express my thanks and my own appreciation, and I'm sure you want to do the same.
I think also that I would like to thank the Lord for this opportunity of fellowship with each one of you, and it's such a joy. And I wish that in the time to come, maybe in the years to come, we may have opportunity to talk with each other on a personal basis. At a conference like this, there is so little free time, and I know various people have tried to make some appointments with me, and I keep looking up and down, and I don't see where to fit it in, since we only have about two hours of free time. And the breaks of 15 minutes are obviously a little too short for purposes of discussion, apart from saying a few words of hello.
So I trust that we are not just going to get together for the purpose of one conference, but that our hearts might be truly united in the love of the Lord. And I pray that we may not only be here today in this way. Many people feel a conference is like having an injection. You have one shot in the arm and hope it lasts you until next year, or whenever the next conference is going to take place. But I hope it's not going to be a shot in the arm. I hope it's more like an ignition process, that there is a moment of ignition, as in a rocket, and then afterwards the continuing process of ascension. So I rather think of it not so much as a shot in the arm as ignition. And that's after all what we've been talking about. We've been talking about the fire.
Now, before I get to the main message, some brothers and a few people have asked me about fasting at some point, so I should mention a few points about fasting. I thank the Lord that there are some who are willing to be soldiers of Christ and to consider this whole matter of fasting. Now, the first thing I want to say very briefly about this is: don't do anything that is going to damage your health. That's not the point of fasting. To bring the body under control is not equivalent to breaking your health. Now, some people in their zeal for self-control have actually gone so far as to cripple their health. I'm glad to say that is very rare, since most people value their health far too much anyway. But it has happened.
That great servant of God, John Chrysostom, whose commentary I mentioned the other day — John Chrysostom was a man that God so greatly used back in the 4th century, this mighty man of God. And you know, the secret of his power that God gave to him was precisely in the things we were talking about yesterday. He knew how to deal with the world, with the flesh, and with sin. And even when he was at a very relatively young age, in his late teens, God's fire so burned in his heart that he disciplined himself, but with such a stern discipline that he actually broke his health, from which he never quite recovered. And so, although that did not weaken in any way his spiritual power — and I'm not sure it would have made any difference if his health were much better — this great man of God was called John Chrysostom. "Chrysostom" is the Greek word: "chrysos" for gold, and "stoma" the word for mouth. So his name was Chrysostom — the golden mouth. Because such was the anointing that was upon this man by the Holy Spirit of God, that his words went forth with such remarkable power that the people described this man as golden mouth. He spoke forth the words of gold from God.
And when he preached in Antioch, where he was a pastor, and a revival broke out there, he later became the court minister, the minister to the imperial courts in Constantinople. And there, such was his holiness and the power of his preaching that he antagonized many of those corrupt priests. And they disliked him intensely because he was talking about such unfashionable things — like I'm doing — fasting, and discipline, and the like. And the priests didn't like that. The priests were an easygoing bunch already by that time. Remember, within three centuries, corruption had crept into the church. And there was this mighty man of God of whom that generation was not worthy, that preached to them and disciplined his clergy. Since he was appointed archbishop of that place, he slung out the corrupt clergymen, he disciplined the others, and he made an awful lot of enemies, including the empress. The empress was supposed also to be a Christian of some sort, and he rebuked the empress for her sins, as John the Baptist did — a very risky thing to do. And he was rewarded by his efforts of trying to save her soul by being marched to death. The empress got a bunch of soldiers and took him out on forced marches, allegedly from one prison to another, until he was literally given no rest, marched day and night, day and night, because she didn't have the courage to execute him, but just alleged that he could not stand the arduous journey, and he died upon the road. This great man of God was then disposed of by those who hate the truth. And after all, every man of God must be prepared for that in this day.
But anyway, the point I'm getting at is that such was the secret of his power — he disciplined himself, even in his late teens. He had an early start, didn't he? But he broke his health. And that is not the point of fasting. We are not — and I want to advise you not to do that. We want our body, as far as possible, to be a cooperative instrument, firmly under our control.
Now then, when you take a fast, if you do it, if you have the courage to do it, you might begin by skipping one meal. And I'm sure you feel you're almost about to die after skipping one meal. Because people who are not used to fasting and not used to self-discipline — not going without one meal seems to be so unbearable. Your stomach is groaning and rumbling inside of you like an earthquake, and you wonder whether you'll ever survive this frightful experience. But if you can go on with this self-discipline and actually fast for one whole day, I'm sure that at the end of that day you also think, "Now, I didn't die because of skipping one meal, and I'm sure I wouldn't be alive tomorrow morning." But don't worry, you will be alive and well the next morning.
During a fast you can take water, no harm. And do you remember the Lord Jesus fasted for 40 days? Moses also did. Elijah too. These things don't go for 40 days, of course. But what I'm saying to you is one day is not going to hurt you. And if by any stint of discipline you're able to extend — not immediately, just do one day for a start — and you're going to feel next morning your arms are weak, your legs are wobbling under you. Don't worry about it. It's not going to hurt you. Then maybe one or two weeks later you can extend that to two days. And to go without food for two days is almost unthinkable, especially for us Chinese people who rather like food. By that time you are thinking of all the dishes, and you can almost taste the food in your mouth. You're almost dreaming about food all the time. All right, that's okay. If you can keep yourself under control for those two days, you are coming on in discipline. And then maybe one of these days you'll find that you can go on without too much difficulty for 10 days or more. Now, you're going to lose a fair bit of weight, but that's not going to hurt you at all. In fact, it's exceedingly good for the heart to clear out all that cholesterol from your arteries. And I have noticed that after a certain length of time, your mind is exceedingly clear. I've had this remarkable experience that your mind seems to be exceedingly clear. Maybe it's because all the cholesterol got taken out of the brain, and all the fat that's been clogging up the brain — at least now the brain can function properly. And you'll feel very well.
But I would advise you not to go for that length of time unless you're taking some fruit juice, especially as young people. Older people can go longer times; they have much more reserves, you see. Young people don't have that many reserves in the body. They don't have such a big buildup of fat. And so after the first day, you may drink as much water as you like, but don't think it will take away your hunger for very long. In fact, your hunger will come back even more sharply after the water has been taken, within 20 minutes. But by the second day, you can go into fruit juice, but avoid the very sour fruit juices like lemon or orange. Don't take too much of that kind. Go for the less sour ones like grape juice. Grape juice is particularly good because, as you know, grape sugar goes straight into the blood. And you will find that you can do a full day's work on grape juice, and you can drink as much grape juice as you like. It's not going to take away your hunger, but you can drink as much as you like. It'll give you the energy to work and study and do anything. You can carry on a normal day's work without any kind of interruption. But again, I say to young people, it may be if you are under 25, not to exceed five days to a week. But that is going quite a long way now. I think if most young people can go for one or two days, that is exceedingly good. And the blessing that the Lord will give you as a result of this will exceed also your expectations.
You know, when I first came to the Lord, I was a very young Christian. Nobody said anything to me about this. Nobody taught me anything about fasting. But as I read the Gospels, I saw that after the Lord Jesus was baptized, he fasted for 40 days. And I thought to myself, "Well, I'm not sure I can survive 40 days, but at least I can try four days." And so I did. And you know, the Lord blessed me so much for that — really beyond all proportion, out of all proportion to those few days. And I can't say I really suffered much of anything in those four days. But how gracious the Lord is to us whenever we express our devotion to him. We are not earning anything. We don't earn any salvation or anything like that. I was already baptized. But it was simply as an act of thanks for what he did for me. And as I said, the Lord blessed me out of all proportion to that slight, that tiny offering.
Now, when you are fasting, and one final word on this point: whatever you do, don't go around looking miserable. If you are going to look miserable and long-faced, forget the fast. But be joyful. You are making a joyful offering to the Lord and at the same time bringing yourself under control. So, when you are taking a fast, read Matthew chapter 6, verses 16 to 18. The Lord Jesus says, "When you are fasting, don't look dismal like the hypocrites do. Wash your face, anoint your head" — that is, comb your hair, in modern terms you might say — "and go forth in joy." The Lord loves a cheerful giver. If you can't give anything cheerfully, then forget it. He doesn't want it from you. But the Lord Jesus says, if you can do it in this way, then you will find that the Lord will bless you. Of course, these words might as well not be in the Sermon on the Mount, as far as modern Christians are concerned, since nobody ever practices it anyway. Presumably, the Sermon on the Mount was not for Christians. I don't know who it's for. But as far as the Lord's teaching is concerned, he has something to say about fasting right there, right in the middle of the Sermon on the Mount.
Now, let us turn to today's message, the Lord willing that he may speak to us through it. And that is in Mark chapter 9 and verse 49. Mark chapter 9 and verse 49. That is the main verse, but I shall go back a little and read with you this whole passage. Now, in Mark chapter 9, this conversation in which the Lord Jesus is speaking to his disciples began about an argument — the usual argument that these disciples, and it just shows you how carnal they were, as to who was the greatest among them.
And you remember the conversation began in Mark chapter 9 and verse 33 with the question. The Lord Jesus knew what they were discussing on the road, and he asked them in verse 33, "What were you discussing on the way?" And verse 34 says, "But they were silent." Funny, we are willing to do things with one another that we wouldn't like to do in the Lord's presence. But these disciples, when Jesus didn't seem to be within hearing range of their conversation, were saying, "I wonder which of us is going to be the greatest in the kingdom of God. Will it be you? Will it be me?" And each was saying, "I think it's going to be me, you know. I think the Lord rather likes me more than you." But Jesus was not out of hearing range. He said, "What were you discussing along the way?" And notice their embarrassment. When Jesus is there, they don't like to pursue the same conversation anymore. They were silent, it says in verse 34, for on the way they had discussed with one another who was the greatest. Every one of them liked to be Muhammad Ali, each one the greatest in the world. "I am the greatest." Oh, isn't it a bit tiring to listen to this? This chest-beating, this gorilla performance after who is the greatest.
Verse 35 says, "And he sat down," and then he takes a little child and says, "Now I'll tell you who represents me. Not the greatest among you is going to represent me, but this little child is going to be my representative. And anyone," verse 37, "who receives one such child in my name will have received me." And then John tries, verse 38, to switch the conversation. He finds this conversation rather unpleasant. We're pretty good at changing the subject, aren't we? He says, "Teacher, we saw a man casting out demons." Well, that's got absolutely nothing to do with the conversation. "Should we forbid him or not?" But for all John's attempts at diversion, the Lord comes back to the subject again, to the little ones in verse 42. You are not going to sidetrack Jesus for long when he deals with your life. Even if you say, "Lord, I was thinking about something else," the Lord says, "No, no, let's get back to what I was talking about in the first place." And verse 42 comes back. So, whoever causes one of these little ones — it's so beautiful when you study the Gospel, isn't it? How real to life you see the character of these disciples and how beautifully the Lord deals with them. And he says, "Now, I was talking about this little child who comes in mind, who is received in my name." Verse 42: "And he goes on to say, whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were dropped into the depths of the sea." Because when God has finished with him, the better place for him to be will be at the depth of the sea.
There is so much about — notice the severity of God, which is motivated by his love. We have been speaking about fire, and we have seen that fire has two aspects, depending on how you stand to it. It is either coming to you as grace and love, or it will come and affect you as judgment. And here we find that precisely because God loves his little ones — now, the "little ones" do not here in this passage refer to children in particular or only, but it refers to his disciples, those who love him — and I have no time to expound this to you from all the other passages of Scripture, since I have to concentrate in the limited time that we have on one verse. And then he goes on to say in this passage, you need to hate sin so much that if your hand offends against you, then cut it off. If your foot offends against you, then cut it off. Because it is better to go into heaven with one hand or one foot or one eye than to go into hell with both your hands, with both your feet, with both your eyes. The Lord Jesus is showing them the seriousness, the fearfulness of sin. Because when the fire of God's judgment comes, it's going to search out the persons who hide in sin, and it's going to deal with them ruthlessly and severely. We have to choose which aspect of the divine fire is going to meet us. Either it's going to meet us in grace or it's going to meet us in judgment.
Now, it comes here to this verse, verse 49. It says, "For everyone will be salted with fire." What does that mean? Everyone will be salted with fire. Now, here we come to a verse that some commentators describe as the most difficult in the Bible, and certainly in the New Testament. But is it that difficult? What is the message in this verse? And so I will do briefly two things. I will begin to show you again how we come to an understanding of the meaning of this verse, and secondly, what is the application of this verse.
Now, firstly, let us consider again these words: "For everyone will be salted with fire." There are only eight words, and that will be the whole text of our exposition. Now, first notice that the words relate to everyone. Everyone. Not just some people, but every single person will be salted with fire. Everyone means you and me. It means every person walking out there on the street. Every person living in Toronto and Montreal. Every single person on the earth. Yesterday we saw the Lord Jesus says, "I came to cast fire upon the earth." And now we see today in these words of the Lord Jesus that everyone is going to be salted by fire. Nobody will escape the fire. And so we can see that when we have been talking about fire, we are talking about something that is going to affect every one of us.
Secondly, how are we going to understand this still further? We notice that there is a conjunction of fire and salt. How do we understand that? Fire and salt. Now once you are familiar with the Bible, you know that this conjunction takes place at only one place in the Scriptures. I wonder if anybody knows where. Only one place where fire and salt come together. And that is in the sacrifice. Only one place fire and salt come together, and that is at the sacrifice on the altar. You see, Leviticus chapter 2, verse 13, and other places in the Bible show to us that no sacrifice in the Old Testament could ever be offered to God without salt. Salt must go into every sacrifice. That is where salt and fire come together. Without fire, there would be no sacrifice. Without salt, no sacrifice will be acceptable. So fire and salt are the main elements that combine together in any sacrifice that is going to be made.
Now, this takes us then further on the road. Now we realize what Jesus is saying. Every person will be salted by fire. The Lord Jesus is saying, every person is going to be a sacrifice. Every person is going to be a sacrifice. Also in the Talmud, the Jewish writings, we read there that no sacrifice is ever to be made without salt. The priest would rub the salt on the sacrificial victim before it was offered on the fire.
Now thirdly, we notice another thing: that the fire will substitute the salt. "Everyone will be salted" — that's a verb — "with fire." That's a noun. The fire will take the place of the salt in us. Now salt, of course, indicates a purifying thing. Salt is one element that was regarded by the Jews as incorruptible. In a world of corruption, one thing does not get corrupted: that is salt. And salt — fire will purify us in the sacrifice. So every person is going to be a sacrifice because everybody is going to be purified by fire. Now we are advancing along the meaning of this passage.
Fourthly, I would like you to notice that these words are addressed to the disciples. Jesus is speaking exclusively to the disciples. There are no other crowds around. He is speaking to you and to me if we are his disciples. He is saying everyone — not just the unbeliever will be salted with fire. He has just spoken about hell fire in the previous verse, but every person will be salted by fire.
And then fifthly, we notice that there is a connection between verses 49 and 50. Because verse 50 goes on to say, "Salt is good, but if salt has lost its saltiness, how will you season it? Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another."
# The Fire of Sacrifice (Continued)
Now, what do we notice here? We notice here, too, a conjunction again, a reference to salt, verse 50. And when, as you study the Bible, you compare the parallel passages, you know that salt refers to disciples. "You," the Lord Jesus says in Matthew chapter 5, for example, verses 11-12, "are the salt of the earth. But if salt has lost its flavor, what are you going to do with it?" If a disciple ceases to function as a disciple, what can you do with it? Well, the answer is in Matthew 5: the salt has to be thrown out. It is trampled underfoot by men. It is useful for nothing. All these parallel passages tell us precisely the same thing.
So what we see here is the conjunction — this takes me to my sixth point — of fire and salt, this time in the disciples. I have just mentioned Matthew chapter 5. And in that passage, do you notice the conjunction? "You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world." Light we saw as fire. There is no light without fire. All light in those days was burned from oil lamps. Now, notice this: there we see a conjunction of salt and fire, right there in the Sermon on the Mount. "You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world." Now, we notice this conjunction, but where do we see this conjunction? Remember our second point? Only in the sacrifice. He is speaking to his disciples, and he shows that each one of them has to be a sacrifice. Each one of us has to be a sacrifice. There is also an interesting thing that I read in the Mishnah, in the Talmud, in the Jewish writings, that the Jews used to put some salt in the oil lamp to make it burn more brightly. That is also very interesting. Many Christians burn so dimly precisely because there is not the salt of the sacrifice.
Now, this salt then — and we are not going to speculate on the meaning of salt in abstract — has to do with the sacrifice. It is sacrificial salt we are talking about. And the Lord Jesus says, "Have this sacrificial salt in yourselves." But if you have lost the spirit of sacrifice, what makes a disciple a disciple? If you have lost the spirit of sacrifice, how will you live for one another? Because that is the essence of sacrifice. But if you have the spirit of sacrifice in you, then you will be at peace with one another, of course. Nobody will be arguing who is the greatest. It is our privilege to serve, as Brother Peter Yin was saying yesterday. And when we have the spirit of service, the spirit of sacrifice, who is the greatest is not a question we want to discuss, neither among us, even less in the Lord's presence.
Now, how then do we go on from this? It says every person will be salted. That is not only the disciples, but also the disciples, and not least the disciples, but not only the disciples. But if every person is going to be salted by fire, that includes also the non-Christians. How will they be salted by fire? Very easy. Fire represents — by now I think you are familiar with this truth — both the grace of God, as well as the judgment of God. We are either going to be salted by the fire of God's Spirit, or we are going to be salted by the fire of God's judgment.
Now here we see the perfect beauty of John the Baptist's teaching. He was indeed a prophet. Whether he fully understood what he said is another matter. Not all prophets understand fully what they have said. When Isaiah prophesied about the coming of the Lord, we don't know whether he fully understood such remarkable statements when he says that the one who is coming, that child who will be born, will be the mighty God, the Prince of Peace, the Everlasting Father. Did Isaiah understand fully what he said? I don't know. I don't know whether John the Baptist understood fully what he said, but how beautifully he stated it: "He who comes after me, that is Jesus, when he comes, he will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." Even the order is important. You are either baptized with the Holy Spirit now, or you are going to be baptized with fire after. In that order. "He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and with fire." Not "or" with fire, because the Holy Spirit is also fire. If he used the word "or," "baptize you with the Holy Spirit or with fire," it would signify that the Holy Spirit himself was not fire. But because the Holy Spirit is the fire of God — God himself being a consuming fire — the Holy Spirit comes as God's life-giving blessing to us. So he doesn't say "or," but "and." You take your choice. You are going to be baptized with one of these two. I think now this verse, which was alleged to be that difficult, is beginning to be much less difficult for us to understand, when we have analyzed it in the light of Scripture in this way. The meaning is beginning to come forth.
And I press forward now towards the application of it. What is the application of this? First, I see the amazing and wonderful purpose of God for man that is revealed here. What was God's purpose in creating man in the first place? What was the meaning of our being created? Why are we here in the world today? Why are you here? Why am I here? Where are we going? What is the direction of our life? You want to know guidance? Then know first the will of God for you. What's the use of talking about guidance when you don't even know the general direction in which you are going? You know what is the purpose of God for your life and mine? It is that each one of us will be a sacrifice. Did you know that? That was God's purpose.
Do you think he created us just so that we can do our own thing, that we can float around enjoying ourselves with no purpose and no direction? He made us in his image. Do you know what his image is like? You want to know his image? His image is revealed in his Son. You want to know Jesus' image? Before the foundation of the world, Jesus was slain in the purposes of God. You know that Calvary was not an afterthought of God. It was something that God purposed from all eternity, before the foundation of the world. We want to know how God looks? The Lord Jesus said to Philip, "He who has seen me has seen the Father." You want to know what God's character is like? You look at Jesus. You want to know what Jesus' character is like? He said, "I came into the world not to be served, but to serve." That is the whole tenor, the whole nature of his character — to be a sacrifice, to give his life a ransom for many. That was God's plan for his Son. Do you think his plan for us is something different? God's whole nature, whole character is a self-giving God. That's what love is all about. It gives itself all the time. And if we are made in his image, we are to be like this.
The whole purpose of God for us today, the apostle Paul said, is to be conformed to the image of his Son, to become like Jesus. How do you become like Jesus? By having his same attitude, by having the mind of Christ in you. And what was the mind of Christ? The mind of Christ was to be a ransom for others, to give his life a ransom for many. All his ministry, he was trying to teach his disciples this very thing. The main theme of this conference, I say again, was involvement, commitment, dedication. Can you think of one word that will sum up all these three things? Sure, there is one word: sacrifice. Sacrifice. Without sacrifice, where do you have dedication? Dedication is to offer something up to God. That's sacrifice. Involvement — to be involved in that, that is sacrifice. It is costly to be involved. Commitment — that is sacrifice. We are called to sacrifice. We are called to live this kind of a life. That is a high calling. Many times I ask the Christian, "Paul said that we have a high calling. Can you tell me what it is?" They scratch their heads and they wonder what that high calling is. It's a very high calling to be a sacrifice. You can't go higher than that.
Now, God's purpose then for us has been revealed. That this is what he made us for: that we may learn to live as a sacrifice, to live in the sacrificial spirit. And that is so wonderful. Now, many people, when they think of sacrifice, they think of something sad, something bad, something hard. Sacrifice — oh no, sacrifice is something wonderful. If you can catch the spirit and the fire of sacrifice, your whole life will be changed into a new tenor, into a higher key, into a glory that you didn't know was even possible.
I was speaking at a wedding on another occasion and I was speaking about the fact that if we could learn the meaning of God's purpose for us in his love, we would know that God's purpose for us in this life is that each lives for the other. That is the sacrificial spirit. Think just of our conference here. If our attitude could so change that instead of each one of us living just for ourselves, from this moment we truly live for the other person — think of what kind of a society you would have. A society in which every person burns with the spirit of self-sacrifice. Can you catch the vision?
I said also at that wedding, I was saying, if you are husband and wife and each one lives for themselves, what's the point of getting married, really? But if you learn to live for the other person, then that gives marriage meaning. If you want to get married, what do you do? You have two attitudes about marriage. You can say, "I get married so that I can possess a wife, which is my property." That is to say, "I have a car, I have a house, and I have a wife." Well, at any rate, if you can't afford a car and a house, you can at least afford a wife. You have at least one piece of property if you don't have some other property. And many wives think of their husbands as their private piece of property. Now, if you go into marriage in that kind of spirit, your marriage is not going to survive all that long, at least not in a very happy way. But when we think of marriage in the sense in which one person gives themselves to the other — he gives himself or she gives herself to the other — can you see the difference of attitude in that marriage? In which I do not think of my wife as a piece of property that I possess, but as somebody whom I love and whom I live for. I do not try to begrudge what I can give. All my property is hers. She can draw from my bank account. She can take what is mine, assuming there is something to draw there. That's why I've said before, I find it very difficult to understand those marriages in which the husband has his own account and the wife has her own account. Is this marriage a business arrangement? Or what is this thing? If you don't wish to trust each other and you're afraid your wife will run off with your money, then why marry her in the first place? What's the idea? Marriage is each giving himself or herself to the other person. "I commit myself unreservedly to you." That is love. That is marriage.
But if we can extend the vision beyond the family of two people, or even three or four, to the church, which is a family, in which each person will truly learn to live for the other — and I said, that is what the Lord taught in the Sermon on the Mount. But you say, "It's impractical." I said it's very practical. You see, if you care only for yourself, then you have only one person caring for you, namely yourself. If you forget yourself and you care for everybody else, you have so many people to care for you, and each person cares for the other. And if we have 430 people here, you have 430 people caring for you. Oh, that's marvelous. Before you had only one person caring for you, now you've got 430 people to care for you whenever you're in difficulty and trouble. If you can extend the vision wider, you can see that there is a society — and that is the whole kingdom of God — a society in which the spirit of sacrifice is the determining spirit of the whole kingdom, the whole church, in which each lives for the other and all live for each. Everybody lives for the one, and one lives for everybody. That is workable. It is marvelous. It is only not workable if we allow selfishness to be the dominating philosophy of our thinking.
So, can you now begin to see that sacrifice — if I say, "I don't worry about myself, I'll worry about you. I will think about your needs, your difficulties, your problems. I'll stop thinking about my worries, my problems" — you know, so many Christians have so much trouble because they spend all their time worrying about themselves. If you could for once forget yourself, absorb yourself in the problems of others, you'll wonder what happened to your own problems. They seem to have disappeared somehow along the way because you're so preoccupied with other people's problems. You try that. Those people who forever have problems — forget your problems and worry about somebody else's problems, and then you wonder what happened to yours. They just disappeared. Sacrifice, then, is not a long-faced, sad business. It is a glorious spirit, the spirit of Christ, the spirit that comes from God. It is the very character of God in which each person lives for the other and all live for each. I hope you can catch the vision when we speak about this fire, the fire of sacrifice, the fire of God burning in our soul.
But secondly, as I look at this passage, and I have to hurry here, I see the wisdom of God. I see first the love of God and the spirit of sacrifice. I see secondly the wisdom of God. The wisdom of God is seen in this way: God's purpose for man cannot be defeated. Not even by sin can it be defeated. Nothing can defeat it, because every person is going to be a sacrifice. That was God's intention in the first place, and it's going to be so to the last place. It is going to endure to the end. Everyone is going to be a sacrifice of one kind or another. The choice today is not whether you are going to be a sacrifice or not. The choice is what kind of sacrifice you are going to be. That's the only choice you've got. Because God's purposes for man shall not be defeated.
Which takes me to the third point, and that is God's plan for you. You see, you have only two choices before you. You've got the broad road or the narrow way. You've got no more than those two choices. In Matthew 7, verses 13 and 14, the Lord Jesus says, "I tell you, take the narrow way." In life, there are only two ways before you. There is the broad road that leads to destruction. There is the narrow road that leads to life. You haven't got a third road to choose. You're going to take one or the other of these. That's where your free will is going to be exercised, in the choice of one of these two alternatives. But between these two alternatives, either road you go down, you are going to be a sacrifice. That's the point, the powerful point of the Lord's words in this verse. So, and I repeat it again, the question is not whether you are going to be a sacrifice. The only question is what kind of sacrifice you are going to be. That's where your choice is going to be.
And this is the choice: either right now you are going to be purified by the divine fire of God's love burning into your heart, burning away the dross, as Charles Wesley put it, burning away the sin and the impurities right here and now in this world, in this life. Or else you are going to be purified in another way. You are either going to be purified by the fire of his divine love, or you are going to be purified by the fire of his wrath in judgment. That means you are going to be a sacrifice in fire too. You know, either way, God is glorified. Did you know that? God is either glorified in his love, or he is glorified in his judgment against evil. Those who will be consumed as a sacrifice in hell glorify God whether they like it or not, because God's justice and holiness is going to be vindicated. A world in which there is no justice is not a world that God has made. A world in which there is going to be no judgment against evil will not be a world that is to God's glory. If men like Hitler who can put six million Jews to the gas chamber can get away without being in the flames of hell, then I don't know what kind of a world we live in. If gangsters in this world, wherever they be, in Chicago or New York or wherever, can put innocent people to death, extort and murder and do whatever they like and live in comfort and ease, and at their burial you have lots of people coming to pay them homage and give them flowers — if you can live a life of crime and get away with it in this world, then God is not on the throne. But Jesus says, "Don't be deceived. God is not mocked. What you sow you will reap." Every person is going to be salted by fire, and these guys are not going to get away with it. Hitler is not going to get away with it. The gangsters are not going to get away with it, even if they never sit in jail in this world for one day. But I know before my God, who is the God of holiness and justice, that every evildoer is going to have to pay up on his accounts. Every person will be salted by fire — either the fire of the love of God, or the fire of God's judgment.
That's why I said every person is going to end up as a sacrifice to God's glory. But the only question you have to decide now is which kind of sacrifice you propose to be. You know, when Jesus came into the world to die for us, to be a sacrifice for us, do you think that God purposed that Jesus could die for us so that we can do our own thing, so that we can live in selfishness and greed, criticizing one another and backbiting one another and not loving one another? We can go on in selfishness all our lives and then we'll get to heaven as well at the end of it? You think that's God's purpose? Read your Bible and then tell me whether that's God's purpose. No, no. God's purpose for every person, I say again, is that you will be a sacrifice one way or the other. And you have to choose.
You're going to choose whether you're going to be a living sacrifice on earth, which we were reading in Romans 12 — you're either going to be a living sacrifice on earth here and now, or you're going to be a dying sacrifice in hell. Which do you prefer? A living sacrifice or a dying sacrifice? And when I say dying sacrifice, I'm thinking of course of the words of our Lord Jesus in Matthew chapter 10, where the Lord Jesus says, "Do not fear those who destroy the body, but fear God who can destroy both body and soul in hell." A perishing sacrifice. A dying sacrifice. A sacrifice being destroyed in hell. Which do you choose?
You know, I hope that every one of you as you go out from this conference will ponder these words in Mark chapter 9, verse 49, and know what your choices are before you clearly. You haven't got more than two choices before you. I have the choice before me, and I take the choice to be a living sacrifice, to live in the fullness of God's purpose, to fulfill his glory in my life. I want to be a living sacrifice and enjoy in that living sacrifice the fellowship with my God.
You know, many people say, "I don't seem to find Jesus very close to me." You will never find Jesus close to you until you learn to become a sacrifice. You'll never experience Jesus close to you. It is in the fellowship of sacrifice that you have the fellowship with Christ. Always remember that. Jesus is not going to be close to you just so that you can feel superior to other people, so that you can feel good. It is in the path of sacrifice. Be yoked with him. "Take my yoke upon you and learn of me." What happens when you take a yoke on? There are two animals yoked to each other. That's a yoke. If I am yoked to Christ, bearing the same cross, bearing the cross with him, in that fellowship I am bound with him. And what happens when you are yoked to each other, as in a marriage, then you have fellowship. Then you are close, side by side. But you are pulling the same burden. Have you ever noticed that a yoke, when you look at it from above, is in fact in the form of a cross? "Take my yoke upon you." There is one bar that goes from neck to neck of the animal. There is the other bar that goes right down to the ground that cuts into the soil. The yoke comes in the form of a cross. "Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart, and you shall find rest." Rest to your souls. How — rest? So many Christians are exhausted, tired, because they don't understand how to take the cross upon themselves. They think that sacrifice is something fearful, something to run away from. Let God change your whole thinking concerning the whole idea of sacrifice. Sacrifice is something wonderful. It is something joyful. It is something happy. It is the place of fellowship with God. It is the place of power. Learn these things. Change your whole idea of sacrifice, and then you will know what is joy, what is true peace, what it is to be rested in your heart, not forever struggling and fumbling on.
Well, there is so much riches, but our time is gone. And I pray that God will help you to see these things and that you may take your choice clearly, to become this living sacrifice rather than the dying one that is to be in the future. So now I pray as we conclude this time together that God may truly help you so to be transformed and renewed in the thinking of your minds when you understand these words. And I hope the words of the Lord Jesus will burn deep into your heart: "Everyone — everyone — will be salted with fire." Let us pray.