Gold Tried in the Fire — Carter Conlon

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Gold Tried in the Fire: Christ’s Warning to Laodicea

If you'll turn in your Bibles to the book of Revelation, we're going to start there, but I'm not staying there. We're going to be traveling quite extensively through the scriptures tonight. I have a message that was given to me during our time of prayer and fasting this week.

It's called Gold Tried in the Fire. Gold Tried in the Fire. Let's pray together. Father, Lord, I just want to step back from this pulpit tonight and acknowledge that I need you. Lord, I acknowledge that this is your church.

These are your people. This is your word. This is your kingdom. This is your plan. This night was planned by you before the world was created and you had something in your mind about it. You had something that you wanted to accomplish in the lives of your people.

Lord, I surrender my life tonight just to be a vessel that you can pour your mind in and through, that you can quicken by the power of the Holy Spirit. God, you can override my weakness. Lord, you can touch my mind and I'm asking you, God, to remove me out of this message and to speak your heart and your mind to the people that you want to speak to tonight.

Lord, we want your kingdom to come. We want your word. We want your will to be done. We don't want anything of man in this house. God, if you don't build it, we labor in vain. I'm not interested in empty labor tonight.

I'm asking you, Holy Spirit, to come and literally animate my heart and animate my mind and my voice and everything about me. Just come and animate me and use me as a vessel. Help the people to get their eyes off of man and to understand that you, Holy Spirit, are the one who speaks to the church.

God, give us ears to hear what you are speaking. Lord, you are speaking something to every heart and to every life. Give us the ears to hear it. God, give me the ability to convey it. Help me to get out of the way of this word.

And, Father, I thank you for it. In Jesus' mighty name. Gold tried in the fire. Revelation chapter 3. Now, this is a scripture where the Lord is speaking to a church called Laodicea, the last that he addresses of seven churches in the book of Revelation.

Most of us who have been in the church for any amount of time are familiar with this church. This is the one that he says is lukewarm. He said, this is the one that if there's not, I'm standing at the door.

I've been pushed outside as it is of all your religious activity. All of this stuff is going on. This is a church with a testimony of increase in wealth and gold. And he said, I'm outside the door of all of this and I'm standing.

The incredible humility of God just sometimes overwhelms me. The God who created the world would stand outside and knock on the door of his own church. He said, but I'm out there and I'm looking for people who will open the door of their heart to me.

And if they will, I will come in and I will sit down and we will, in a sense, he says, sup. In other words, I will open substance, food to you. And we will commune with one another. And he said, I will take away, in a sense, I will give you an overcoming power to overcome this thing that is gripping this entire church called Laodicea.

And many commentators feel that Laodicea typifies the end time church age that perhaps we're beginning to live in now. And Jesus says to this church, because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, in verse 16 of Revelation, chapter three, I will spew thee out of my mouth.

Now, the spewing, in a sense, is that I will no longer testify of you before the Father. If we understand that Christ is before the throne of God right now and he's confessing us before the Father, and by virtue of that confession or intercession, we are accepted with God the Father fully and completely as if we have never sinned.

And here is a church, he says, well, I will no longer, the spewing out, in a sense, is I will no longer confess you before the Father. So this is a serious issue. Serious enough that Christ says I will literally stop confessing you.

The testimony that's on my lips of you will no longer be there. It will be spewn away as it is out of my mouth. Because, he says, thou sayest, I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing.

And knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked. Verse 18, he says, I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire. That's the name of this message tonight. That thou mayest be rich and white raiment.

That thou mayest be clothed and the shame of thy nakedness do not appear. And anoint thine eyes with eye salve that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Be zealous, therefore, and repent.

Now, beloved, the lukewarmness of this church was evidenced by the apparent fact, at least, that they were content as long as their own outward needs were met. There was no real hunger of God in these people beyond this.

Their testimony was just simply this. We're rich, I'm increased with goods and I have need of nothing. Incredible when you think of it. As long as everything on the outside is okay, that's fine with me.

This is the testimony of this church. I have money in the bank, I've got a job, I'm healthy and I prosper. And all these things seem to be in order, therefore, I have need of nothing. Absolutely nothing.

I'm complete and entire just because the exterior around me seems to be provided for. That was the testimony of the Laodicean church. Now, Christ says to this church in verse 18, I'm paraphrasing him, he says, But you are so lacking the cloak of Christ which could be yours.

He says, I want to put a clothing upon you. I want to do something to you and through you that will be an evidence and a testimony to the world of the reality of the fact that I have risen from the dead and sit at the right hand of all power.

I want to open your eyes. I want to give you eyes to have and open your eyes to a kingdom and the glory of that kingdom that extends so far beyond your own needs. Then he reaches out to Laodicea and he says, I counsel you because I'm sure Laodicea had many counselors, probably a church of all kinds of theories.

The Apostle Paul says in the last days that people are no longer going to endure sound doctrine, but they're going to be turned to fables. If you understand the definition of the word fables, these are not necessarily lies.

These are stories with a good meaning attached to them and they might even be true, but they really have nothing to do with the kingdom of God. They could even be stories about Christ. We're living in a church age now where they're inventing stories about Christ all the time that have no appearance at all to the Christ of the Bible.

They're inventing and reinventing God, absolute foolishness. And the people don't want to hear true counsel that comes from the heart of God. And now they're turning to heaps of teachers who will just simply tell them what they want to hear and invent stories with good morals, even about Jesus Christ.

Tragic, absolutely tragic. I tried to counsel a young man on Friday night here in this sanctuary who has come through one of these churches that tells fables about God. And he has embedded such confusion that it's so difficult to get through that, that hodgepodge of confusion because there's no quest for the real truth as Christ has revealed himself in the scriptures.

Seeking Gold That Survives the Fire

Jesus says, you've sought the wrong gold. There's another that you should be seeking. It has been proven by God and it is pure. I counsel you to buy of me gold dried in the fire. There is another gold and the gold that you're seeking.

I think of in past years, the modern charismatic generation has been so lusting after gold that they're seeing gold dust in the air and running around talking about gold fillings in their teeth. To what end?

To what purpose? Tell me what is the purpose? You walk out to a man who's struggling or going through difficulty and disease or the tragedies that affect humanity throughout their life and tell him I was in his service and saw gold in the air.

So what? So what? What does it do for him? What is the point? What is the purpose? You see, the land of sin church was completely satisfied by the exterior. Completely satisfied as long as there's something in the bank and something on my back and I have a semblance of health and I've got this testimony of being healthy and happy all the time.

Everything is fine. But Jesus says, no, you've been seeking the wrong gold. There is a gold that has been tried by God. It is pure. And I counsel you to buy this gold that you may be rich. Now go back to 1 Chronicles, please, if you will.

Chapter 28 in the Old Testament, right after Kings. This Chronicles, go to chapter 28. In 1 Chronicles. This is the story. Of Solomon being commissioned by God through his father, David, to build a temple.

That was a place where the Lord was to be glorified. Now, keep in mind, we're talking about gold that's been tried in the fire. Chapter 28, verse 6. And he said to me, Solomon, thy son, he shall build my house and my courts.

I've chosen him to be my son and I will be his father. Moreover, I will establish his kingdom forever. If he be constant to do my commandments and my judgments as at this day. Now, keep in mind that the inference there is that Solomon was obeying God.

He was seeking God. The Bible does definitively say that God loved Solomon. He was a man who was seeking the heart of God. And God spoke to David and said, if Solomon continues to pursue me as he is this day, I will establish his kingdom forever.

Now, therefore, in this site, verse eight of all Israel, the congregation of the Lord and in the audience of our God, keep and seek all the commandments of the Lord, your God, that you may possess this good land and leave it for an inheritance to your children after you forever.

And now, Solomon, my son, know thou the God of thy father and serve him with a perfect heart and a willing mind. For the Lord searches all hearts and understands all the imaginations of the thoughts. If you seek him, he will be found of thee.

But if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off forever. Now, the Lord was about to build a temple. And keep in mind, in this temple, the glory of God was going to come. And God had commissioned a man to build this temple.

And beloved, just like he has commissioned you and I in a relative sense that when we came to Christ, we were given a calling. We were becoming the temple now of the Holy Ghost. And God said, I've called you now to allow me to build something into your life.

I've called you to allow me to work in you a weight of glory as it is. I'm going to do something in you. And that something that I'm going to do you is in you is going to reflect my glory, that people from all over the world will be able to look at the work that I have done and they will be dumbfounded at the goodness of God and the glory of God.

He said to Solomon, serve God with a perfect heart and a willing mind. The perfect heart in the original Hebrew text means a complete or untouched or a heart that's been unformed by an iron tool. Or in other words, it's something that is untouched by the hand of man.

It is a heart that cherishes peace and friendship. Jesus himself said in Matthew five, eight, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Oh, beloved. You cannot see God without a pure heart.

You cannot see Christ without desiring peace with him and friendship. It's more than just a religion. It's more than just a pacifying of the conscience. It's more than just coming in so that tomorrow's provision will be there.

God said, no, I want more than that from my people. I want the people who desire me, who want to know me as Abraham did and was called as it is the friend of God. Jesus said the pure in heart are going to see God.

It's my desire for you and for my own heart that for the rest of my life I would have this clear vision of Christ. I would understand things about Christ that are hidden from the carnal. They're hidden from people who live lives of self-seeking.

They will never know these measures of Christ. They'll be forever locked outside with Christ knocking on the door saying you've been looking for the wrong wealth. You've been seeking the wrong gold. I'm standing outside and I'm knocking on the door of your heart.

And if you will open to what I want to speak, what I want to do, you will understand things that you've never understood before. Not only Solomon are you to seek him with a pure, perfect heart, but also with a willing mind.

Now, when you look in the Hebrew text, it's an extremely lengthy definition of the willing mind. I brought it down to my own definition. And it really means a willingness to move in the direction of something which is contrary to my natural appetite or inclinations.

Jesus said I'm going to reveal something about myself to you. If you have an honest heart and you desire my friendship, I'm going to show you some things. But you have to have a willing mind, not only just a perfect heart.

It's not enough just to say I know lots about Jesus Christ. It's not to know about him. We're to know him. We are to know him in the way that he is able to build his kingdom within us. And he says if I reveal what I reveal to you, you're going to have to have a willing mind.

Or in other words, a willingness to move in a direction that you don't want to go. Remember, he said to Peter after Christ rose from the dead, he said, Peter, when you were young, you dressed yourself.

And you know, I'm paraphrasing him. But he said, basically, you did your own thing. You went where you wanted to go. You did what you want to do. But as you're growing older, he said, you're going to stretch out your hands and you're going to be led where you don't want to go.

You have to have a willing mind. Or you and I can never fully glorify Christ until that mind is in us. Until we can honestly say, not my will but thine be done. Oh God, if it be possible, take this cup away from me.

I'd rather not go here. I'd rather not do this. But Lord, not my will but thine be done. For you have revealed your heart to me. You have shown me what it is you want me to do and how my life may glorify you.

It says about Peter, it said, by this he showed him by what death he would glorify his Savior. It's an incredible thing, really, when you begin to think about it. Take heed now, he says to Solomon. Solomon, rather, for the Lord has chosen you to build a house for the sanctuary.

Be strong and do it. Verse 11, then David gave to Solomon, his son, the pattern of the porch and of the houses and the treasuries, the upper chambers, the inner parlors and the place of the mercy seat.

And verse 12 says the pattern of all that he had by the Spirit. You see, beloved, you can't build a Christian life in the flesh. It can only be built by the Spirit. You see, when God saved you, when you came to Christ and by his mercy he saved you, he had already a pattern for your life.

He had something already destined for you to be and to do for him. A path, in a sense, that you would walk or a person that you would become that would bring honor and glory to Christ throughout your life and into eternity.

Incredible. But there's no way of knowing it but by the Spirit. There's no way of knowing where we're to go as a church but by the Spirit. There's no way to know how our ministry should be run but by the Spirit.

Woe be to the church that trades in the Holy Spirit and adopts committees and begins to build from the minds of men. And what they get is a man's organization that has the name of Christ on it but has no power.

There's no glory. There's no sense of reverence. There's no sense of awe. Sinners walk in and are totally unconvicted. And so the church, instead of looking at the flaw that's in their fundamental worship of God, now has to make the church sinner-friendly as they see it.

They have to find a way, in a sense, to make the sinner somehow stumble over himself and see his need of God because there's no reflection of God's glory in the house anymore. The Holy Spirit is not there.

The Holy Spirit is not in charge. The Holy Spirit is not designing the house of God. The Holy Spirit is not leading the people. Whenever we begin to build anything that is called by the name of Christ and the Holy Spirit is not leading us, we are building with fool's gold.

We may say it's prospering, but is it really prospering? If it's not that which is tried and pure, if it's not that which has been called by God, if it's not that which has stood the test of time, is it really good?

Is it really gold? Is it really prosperity? Will it really last? And in times of difficulty and trial, will it stand? Oh, folks, there's a lot of fluff in the church of Jesus Christ that calls itself prosperity and calls itself pure gold and calls itself doctrine.

But I tell you, the day the economy goes, you're going to find out what truly is God and what has not been God. The day hardship hits the nation and touches everyone, then you'll find out who has oil and who doesn't.

Jesus said, find gold. Find gold that's been tried in the fire. Go back in the Word of God and find gold that's been tried in the fire. David gave to Solomon the pattern of the house by the Spirit. The cry of your heart and mine has always got to be, Holy Spirit, lead me.

Holy Spirit, teach me. Holy Spirit, guide me. Holy Spirit, make the Word of God real to me. Holy Spirit, give me a heart and a mind to embrace not only the Word, but the will of God that's revealed to me in it.

Give me the power to embrace it, O God, that your kingdom may come and your will may be done in me, that you might be glorified on the earth as you are in heaven. He gave him the pattern. Verse 14 says, gold for things of gold and instruments for all the instruments of service.

Verse 15, even the weight of the candlesticks were of gold and their lamps were of gold. Verse 16, he gave gold for the tables of the showbread. Verse 17, gold for the flesh hooks, which is a type of how the ministry was to live by faith, and for the golden basins.

Verse 18, and for the altar of incense, refined gold by weight, and gold for the pattern of the chariot of the cherubims that spread out their wings and covered the ark of the covenant of the Lord. And all this said David, the Lord made me understand in writing by his hand upon me, even all the works of this pattern.

David says, God gave me an understanding of what is pure. God gave me an understanding of what glorifies him, and he gave it to me in writing, not only by the Spirit, but in the writing. You see, Jesus himself said, there's a time coming, the Father is looking for people to worship him in spirit and in truth.

A people who know the book, and the Holy Ghost has made it real. The Holy Ghost has given illumination. The Holy Ghost has birthed the desire, and the man or woman of God looks at this book and says, this is to be the pattern of my life.

Not what other people are saying, not what my own heart thinks, this is to be the pattern of my life. This is to be the life that glorifies God, and the Holy Spirit will show it to me. He will open it to me, and what God says is truth, and let every man be a liar.

The Temple’s Gold and the Glory of God

Gold, you can see it now. Solomon's Temple is a magnificent building. Of course, it's a type of something that was to come. If you were to walk in, if you were to go back there with me thousands of years ago, and walk into that temple, and you see the golden, there were golden shields.

Walls, there were golden candlesticks. There were golden basins. There were golden altars. There were golden tables. And on the sides of that temple were lamps that were lit, which represented the presence of God.

And everything in that temple was designed by the Spirit, and when the lamps were lit, they were to reflect the glory of God. Incredible. People walking in from other nations and other countries, Solomon in 2 Chronicles 6, 32, 33, he said this is to be a place where even the stranger would be drawn to God.

Solomon said, Lord, when the stranger walks into this place, and the inference that I would like to draw from this scripture is when the stranger comes in, he would be awed by the glory. He would be awed by a strange sense that I am witnessing the reflection of God.

I'm seeing something of God. It has been designed by the Spirit. Beloved, that's what our lives are supposed to be like. When the stranger comes in contact with us, and we begin to converse with the stranger about things that would overwhelm everybody in society around us, he listens to us, he watches our countenance, he looks and he's awed by something that has been designed, but it's not been done by the hand of man.

There's a reflection of the glory. A reflection of the glory is in that vessel. What we say, how we touch, how we react to situations, there's a reflection. There's a stability. There's something of God that's been built into us.

The Holy Spirit didn't come into us simply just to make us happy. The Holy Spirit came to redesign us. And to build into us those things which God has already revealed to us in His Word. Sure gold. They've been tested.

They've been tried. They've gone through the fire. They've stood. They've been proven. They were in Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego. They were in Daniel. They were in the Hebrews. They were in those that were in caves and dens and saw the thunder.

They were all tried in the fire. Hallelujah. Thanks be to God. And the Bible says that God's glory was to be manifested there. 2 Chronicles chapter 7. Verse 1 says, When Solomon had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the house.

And the priest could not enter into the house of the Lord because the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord's house. Nothing of man could be found there. Nothing of flesh could enter. I love it. Because the glory had filled it.

The glory. Oh, folks, once you've tasted of the real, let me tell you. Anything of the false will make you sick to your stomach. Once you've tasted of His glory. Once you've been made a partaker of His heart.

Once you begin to understand this is an eternal kingdom. This is not about the here and now. Yes, we live in the here and now. But the here and now living of the believer is to announce the coming kingdom of God.

Sorry if I'm yelling. When Solomon made an end of praying, the fire came down and consumed everything. The priest could not enter into the house of the Lord because the glory had filled the Lord's house.

And when all the children of Israel saw how the fire came down and the glory of the Lord upon the house, they bowed themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement and worshiped and praised the Lord, saying, For He is good, for His mercy endures forever.

This is the testimony that's to be manifested in the house of God. This is what pure gold will produce. That no matter what happens, no matter what changes around us in society, there will be a testimony of God's goodness.

And there will be a song of praise of His goodness and His mercy that endures forever. It cannot be taken away because it didn't come from anything this world has. If your trust is in anything this world has provided to you, even if it's masquerading as the gospel of Jesus Christ, it can be taken away.

Trust me, and it will be. John, in the book of Revelation, chapter 21, he saw something. He saw an incredible city. Revelation 21, he said, I saw, verse 1, a new heaven, a new earth. The first heaven and the first earth were passed away and there was no more sea.

And I, John, verse 2, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself shall be with them and be their God.

And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain, for the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new.

You see, this is the testimony of God. He that sat upon the throne is Christ. He said, Behold, I make all things new. I make everything new. I redesign everything. I fashion everything by the Word of God that's been tested and pure and tried.

And I create new creations. When Christ came into your life, just as He sits, as John saw, on the throne of this heavenly city, when He sits on the throne of a believer's life, the testimony is the same.

I make all things new. I make everything new. And He said, Write, for these words are true and faithful. Verse 18, speaking about the city. The second half of that verse, we'll read the whole verse. He said, The building of the wall of it was of jasper, and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass.

Verse 21, The twelve gates were twelve pearls, and every several gate was of one pearl. And the street of the city was of pure gold, as it were transparent glass. Verse 22, I saw no temple therein, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.

And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God did lighten it. And the Lamb is the light of it. Hallelujah. Oh, this is a coming city. It's a coming time.

It's a city coming down from heaven sent by God. A city of pure gold, beloved. Pure gold. You know, I've heard people say, Well, I'm going to walk on streets of gold, the cities of gold, as if... And they say it in a kind of a financially lustful way.

As if, What are you going to do? Are you going to carry a jackknife and scrape it off the streets and put it in your pocket? And tell me, Where are you going to spend it up there? No. You see, this is a type.

This is a type of what the kingdom of God is built out of pure gold. And the Lamb is the light of it. The gold, in a sense, reflects the glory of God. Now, we just went from Solomon's temple to the new city, Jerusalem.

Both, in a sense, with a similar design. The light in Solomon's temple was to be a reflection, as it is on the gold, and produce a sense of the glory of God. In New Jerusalem, the light of the Lamb reflects on the pureness of the city.

And it produces an awareness, as it is, of the reality, rather, of the glory of God. That is the reflection of the Lamb. But today, I'm talking about something that lives between Solomon's temple and the city of New Jerusalem.

There is another temple. The Bible calls this other temple the Church of Jesus Christ. This is, today, the temple. We're no longer living in the days of Solomon's temple, and we're not yet in New Jerusalem.

So, there's another temple right in the middle of those two. The Church of Jesus Christ. Paul said, 2 Corinthians 6 .16, You are the temple of the living God. As God has said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them, and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

We are now the temple of the Holy Ghost. The light, as it is, is now in us. And God, by His grace, is designing something that is to shine and be a revelation of His glory to all nations. Beloved, go with me now to 2 Corinthians chapter 3, if you will, please.

Becoming the Image of Christ Through the Spirit

2 Corinthians chapter 3. Pastor David preached from my text this morning. 2 Corinthians chapter 3. How the Lord, verse 17, the Lord is that spirit. Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. The Greek definition is generosity, really.

Or freedom. But we all, with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the spirit of the Lord. We are changed. As we behold Him, we become a reflection of His glory.

Incredible. Not just a reflection, but we become the actual substance of His glory. His image is formed in us. It's an amazing thing. He fashions us. And we become as we behold Him. But you see, you have to have a pure heart and a willing mind.

You'll never know the refashioning without it. You'll never understand the pure gold. Always be living on the periphery of some sense of wealth and abundance, but never understand the kingdom of God. Never amount to anything in God's kingdom.

Never reflect His glory. Strangers never convinced of their need of God listening to your conversation or hearing your story or just being in your company. There's no conviction because there's no glory.

Christ said, if you are beholding Me, I am changing you into My image. You're not just holding up a picture of Jesus. Jesus is actually being formed in you. He said, there are My people. There are My temple.

I will dwell in them and I will walk in them. I will walk in you. I'll walk through you. We are the temple now of the living God. It's an incredible truth if you can come to the realization of it. And as we behold Him, with a pure heart and a mind to say, God, give me what is of eternal value.

Give me what lasts. Don't let me settle for the temple. Don't let me settle and be satisfied just for the now. There's an eternity in perspective. What was your work, Jesus? You walked through this world.

You weren't even touched by it. There was something on your mind. God, help me to understand it. Help me to enter into that work and to join you in that work on this side of eternity. Therefore, Paul says in chapter 4, verse 1, seeing we have this ministry as we have received mercy, we faint not.

But have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty. Not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully. That's an incredible thing. In other words, listen to what Paul is saying. We understand the ministry.

And because we do, we're putting away these hidden, dishonest things. And many of them that would want to masquerade and come into the kingdom of God. They'd want to pretend that they belong to God's kingdom.

Fool's gold, as it is, would want to come in and masquerade itself as the prosperity of God. And we will end up with Christ on the outside knocking, trying to get in. Nor walking in craftiness. In other words, sneakiness.

When I see this word, I get a picture of Aaron just refashioning God to the likeness. What do you think of this? Do you think he should have ears here? How do you feel his legs should look like? And refashioning God to suit the people.

And we have a ministry doing that. Even in the professing born-again church of Jesus Christ. Fashioning and refashioning and refashioning God. A palatable savior. That caters only to the appetites of the carnal.

Nor handing the word of God deceitfully. But by manifestation of the truth, commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. There it is. Paul says, we allow the truth which is Christ to be manifested in us.

And that truth which is manifested in us. That pure gold which is shining out of our lives. Commends us as it is to every man's conscience in the sight of God. In other words, people seeing the change of God in my life are convicted.