290. Consume Filthiness
Ezekiel 22:15 And I will scatter thee among the heathen, and disperse thee in the countries, and will consume thy filthiness out of thee.
This does not feel like a wonderful promise, but it really is: God promises to consume the filthiness out of us. “Our god is a consuming fire. ”The chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.” To accept this as a beneficial promise we must first admit that there actually is filthiness in us that needs to be burned out. This will take a conviction of the Holy Spirit who uses the Law to show us our sin. This leads us to repentance and to faith in the Gospel. Unless we want to hold on to our sins we will have to submit to the fire. “Consume” here does not mean “eat up,” but “burn up” with fire.
When we are baptized and believe in Jesus Christ the Spirit comes in, and the Spirit is a fire. He points out our sins so that we may put it in the fire to be consumed. This is not a pleasant process, but the discipline of the Lord yields the peaceable fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. But it is possible for us to do this “repent and believe” exercise because Jesus suffered for our sins and “took the heat,” as it were. By faith in Christ we do not suffer the consuming fire, for Jesus has done it for us. We lay our sins on Jesus, and they are consumed in Him. Jesus consumes the filthiness out of us.
This is been accomplished, “finished,” on the cross, but we still work out such a great salvation with fear and trembling during our lives. Then the lifelong process of consuming goes on by the work of the Holy Spirit through the ministry of the Law and the Gospel of the Word of God. Finally, our own death finishes the process and we are perfected.
Believing this process helps us not to complain, blame others, or make excuses. Instead, when bad things happen we are reminded of our own sin that needs consuming. Then we give ourselves to the Lord and receive afresh the forgiveness of sins. We do not beat ourselves up or burn ourselves up, but we let the Lord work out the “consuming of filthiness” process. Thank God that He uses every bad thing that happens to turn our eyes to the cross and our ears to the Gospel. When you see filth give Him your filth and let Him consume it out of you.