TOPIC: CLEANSED FOR SERVICE

TEXT: Deuteronomy 4:14-20
14. And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and judgments, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go over to possess it.

15. Take ye therefore good heed unto yourselves; for ye saw no manner of similitude on the day that the LORD spake unto you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire;

16. Lest ye corrupt yourselves, and make you a graven image, the similitude of any figure, the likeness of male or female,

17. The likeness of any beast that is on the earth, the likeness of any winged fowl that flieth in the air,

18. The likeness of any thing that creepeth on the ground, the likeness of any fish that is in the waters beneath the earth;

19. And lest thou lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them, and serve them, which the LORD thy God hath divided unto all nations under the whole heaven.

20. But the LORD hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day.

KEY VERSE:
“But the LORD hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day.” – (Deuteronomy 4:20).

MESSAGE

Precious metals dredged from the deep bowels of the earth are not good for ornamental use until they have experienced the raw heat of the furnace. They do not find their way into royal courts if they have not first been touched with the fire that cleanses them from all dross. This purifying process is what makes them useful and desirable. The skilled goldsmith who works on the stones in the blaze becomes proud of a product ready for service.

That was exactly what the Lord did with the children of Israel as they emerged from slavery in Egypt. He, the master Workman, polished them from the pollution and filth that stuck them in sinful Egypt. Like the smith would handle gold brought from the depths, the Lord had to work on His people to fit them spiritually for His vineyard. They needed such cleansing to have a heart that would shun idolatry and obey all His statutes.

When the sinner repents and the Lord mercifully allows the person to transit from the field of filth to His royal court, He kits the new citizen with a heart that hates the muddy life. The new children of God would be expected to operate in a realm where they would “take…good heed unto [themselves]…lest [they] corrupt [themselves]”.

True believers who have left the world behind have been given a new heart that yearns for heaven and not the enticements of the old life. We have passed through “the iron furnace” that enables us to burn the bridge upon which we crossed into the new life in God’s kingdom.

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
God cleanses from filth and gives a heart that hates sin.

THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR:
Ezekiel 36-38