Two thousand years ago, a powerful messenger arrived on the scene to proclaim the coming of the Messiah. His name was John the Baptist. He wore a leather belt and clothes woven with camel's hair, and his food consisted of locusts and wild honey. He told the people to turn from their sins and receive God's forgiveness. His announcement to the world was, "I indeed baptize you with water; but one mightier than I cometh, the latchet of whose shoes I am not worthy to unloose: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost and with fire" (Luke 3:16).

    "And with fire"?! Many people pray for the baptism of the Holy Spirit: some, for selfish motives; others want a fresh new awareness of the love and presence of our Lord Jesus. But have you ever heard anyone pray for the baptism of fire? Few even notice the "and with fire." Some think it means to be submerged in the love of God, but that is the baptism of the Holy Spirit. It is explained more in the next verse of scripture, which tells how the Lord will gather and preserve the wheat, but burn and destroy the chaff with unquenchable fire (Luke 3:17).
    Chaff is the refuse of winnowed wheat and broken straw. In the East, it was the custom to burn it to prevent a changing wind from blowing it back among the grain. Wheat or grain represents the good in our lives—the fruit that the Holy Spirit produces. The chaff represents what is produced by our flesh.
    The Lord knows how to separate the wheat from the chaff, and when He does it to us, we will feel the heat on some areas in our lives that we hold dear. The Bible says that "Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss; but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire" (1 Cor.3:13-15). This refining fire from the Lord is good for us; we should welcome it with open arms.
    I know a man who owned a furniture store—a two-story building, located in the heart of a city. He was a man who had come over from the old country and had worked hard for many years to build up his business. One night, while he was showing a customer a furniture display in his first floor showroom, fire broke out in the warehouse on the second floor. Within minutes the whole building was filled with smoke, forcing the two men to run outside. The owner stood on the sidewalk, watching the flames leap up through the roof, while the customer ran to the nearest phone to call the fire department. Soon the fire trucks came racing to the scene.
    Quickly, the firemen connected the hoses to a hydrant and began to spray water on the burning building. Up until then the store owner had been quite calm, but when he saw what the firemen were doing, he became very emotional. He ran toward them, waving his arms and shouting: "Stop! Stop! Let it burn! Let it burn!" The old man had to be restrained while the fire was being extinguished.
    Later it was discovered why he wanted to let the fire burn. He had a good insurance policy, and most of his furniture, although it may have appeared to be good, was poor quality—nothing but junk.
    We all have items in our showroom that are not so valuable: testimonies we give that glorify ourselves more than the Lord—"I did this and I said that; I prayed for this one and witnessed to that one"; spiritual guidance given to others designed to bring them under our control rather than the Lord's; setting up our own standards for people as though they were the laws of God; trying to display spiritual gifts as we would a sport trophy that had been awarded to us; claiming that we are building up the Kingdom of God, when we are really trying to fill our own little church to balance a budget; saying that we are showing love and concern when we broadcast another's sins. Smell any smoke? See any flames? Feel any heat? When God torches these things out of our lives, we say, "Stop it! Stop it!" and turn on the cold water, when we should, like the furniture man, say, "Let it burn! Let it burn!"
    There are times when we will complain that we are being persecuted by the world when all the while it is only the heat from the refining fire of God. The Bible says, "Like a refiner of silver he will sit and closely watch as the dross is burned away. He will purify the Levites, the ministers of God, refining them like gold or silver, so that they will do their work for God with pure hearts" (Mal.3:3). When He turns up the heat on the ministers of the Gospel, it gets hot, to say the least; however, out of the smoldering ashes of the chaff will come a pure vessel, fit for the Master to use when serving the "Water of Life."

    God will use both hot and cold workers, but not ones who are lukewarm. If you are cold, He will use you as an example for others not to follow, as He did so often with the children of Israel when they were disobedient. If you are hot, He will use you to minister His grace to others. But if you are lukewarm, He will set you upon the shelf where you will be like a burned-out lamp, until you are willing to submit to His refining fire.
    Look at the lukewarm, self-satisfied Christians in the church of Laodicea. The Lord said to them (through an angel), "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold not hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth" (Rev.3:15-16).
    Being spued out of the mouth of God does not mean to lose your salvation—to be disowned by your Heavenly Father and cast into hell with Satan—as some legalistic preachers would like you to believe. God does not do that to His children. He does, for their own good, rebuke, chasten, and discipline those who belong to Him when they need it, because He loves them (Heb.12:4-12).
    I remember a mother telling me about a time when one of her children was acting badly and had to be punished. What upset her the most was not the behavior of the child but that of her neighbor who said to her that she didn't approve of the way she disciplined her children. She went on to say, "I was furious at that woman. Who is she to tell me how to discipline my kids?!"
    Several months later, her husband was going through a long surge of severe trials. The whole family was being affected, and she cried out to the Lord: "Why do You allow such things to happen to a child of Yours?!" And the Lord answered, "Did you like it when your neighbor complained about how you disciplined your child?" Then she realized that she had no right to find fault with the way God was disciplining His child—her husband—and that He was doing it because He loved him.
    It is not a child's duty to discipline his brothers and sisters; that should be left to the father. Some fathers fail at their responsibilities, but God takes His work of disciplining His children seriously. When He is correcting one of them, don't get in the way. Don't you dare to pour the cold water of sympathy on that refining fire. Just stand back and say, "Let it burn!" But watch and learn so that you will not do the same things, requiring your Heavenly Father's loving disciplining rod.
    Yes, God will spue a child of His out of His mouth, but not out of His heart. When someone is spued out of His mouth, it means that he will not be used as a spokesman for the Lord. Oh, he may be able to repeat exciting testimonies or speak great-sounding intellectual theories, which will give him the respect and admiration of men. Many may think he is moving ahead rapidly, but from the Lord's viewpoint, he is "stuck on a shelf." The Bible says that "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God" (Mat.4:4). If you want to be a good servant of the Lord, feeding the "Bread of Life" to others, you must be able to communicate the word of God; and you cannot do that if you are only lukewarm.
    There is a clear remedy for lukewarmness: Repent. Open the door of your heart and submit to the refining fire of God. You will feel some heat, but it is well worth it, for you will come out of the fire rich in faith, wearing your beautiful spiritual garments; and you will have clear vision into the glory and grace of God. You will also be able to hear His voice and enjoy a good relationship with Him (Rev.3:18-20).
    Don't be a lukewarm Christian, busy with religious activities. Allow the refining fire of God to do its work, and let the Holy Spirit ignite your innermost being with the fire of the love of God. Keep that torch burning as you share the gospel with a lost and dying world