FIRE TESTED

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames.

1 Corinthians 3:13b-15

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Can a person lose their salvation once saved?

It’s a question you may hear while engaged in the Lord’s work with others and the answer, as we see so many times, is contained in the very word of God. Look again at today’s passage:

It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames. 1 Corinthians 3:13b-15

So what is the “it” Paul is referring to, the object that will be tested by the Lord’s holy fire?

You have to go back a few verses to verse 10 where you find Paul talking about how he worked to lay a spiritual foundation composed completely of Jesus, the Stone rejected by other “builders”, through the Gospel work He was called to do.  

This foundation, the foundation of Jesus, would then be built upon by others over the course of time and that building could be fully of Christian or worldly construction or a combination of the two. The scriptures told us that worldly construction would be akin to building with “gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw” (v. 12), materials that could perish. Think the treasures of earth that Jesus spoke about during His Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 6:19).

Okay, so anyone who accepts Jesus as Savior has a foundation laid by Him that is then built upon throughout life in one of two ways. But then what happens when this life ends?

Note that there will be a fiery test and everyone will be subject to it. This fire is from the Lord and it will reveal the “quality of each person’s work”. If the believer’s structure survives the fire and remains standing, then they were built well because they allowed Jesus to continue to build upon His firm foundation. God’s word tells us they will receive a reward. But if a person received their salvation in Jesus and then dedicated themselves more to the world than Him, then their “house” would be “burned up” and the believer will “suffer loss”.

How much loss?

Not total loss and here is where we find our question answered regarding the prospect of lost salvation. The scriptures assure us that it won’t happen because although the believer’s “house” was totally consumed by the testing by fire, the foundation would remain. God’s holy fire test will never remove the presence of His Son and so salvation still comes “even though only as” the believer was “escaping through the flames”.

Friends, we know ahead of time what will come. The Bible warns that we all will be fire tested when this life is through. As Christians, let’s all make sure we build properly on the foundation of Jesus so we can be rewarded at the finish line instead of barely pulled to eternal life through the flames.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

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