Introduction

• Fallen Condition Focus: we can get caught in eddies of self-pity and complaining and think that the Lord God does not care about us, that he is not present with us and that he actually delights in those who do wrong. We willingly compromise our faith because we may think that it doesn't really matter.
• Sermon Proposition: Since the Lord is a refiner's fire refining his beloved people, let us humbly submit to this divine process of sanctification

I. The person or nature of the Lord as a fire (Mal. 3:2)

II. The process of knowing the Lord is one of refining (Mal. 3:3)

III. The product of knowing the Lord is becoming like pure gold (Mal. 3:3, 4)