ts to two things, the day and the fire.

'The day shall declare it,' that is the day on which Jesus Christ
comes to be the Judge; and it, that is 'the day,' 'shall be revealed
in fire; and the fire shall test every man's work.' Now, it is to be
noticed that here we are moving altogether in the region of lofty
symbolism, and that the metaphor of the testing fire is suggested by
the previous enumeration of building materials, gold and silver being
capable of being assayed by flame; and 'wood, hay, stubble' being
combustible, and sure to be destroyed thereby. The fire here is not
an emblem of punishment; it is not an emblem of cleansing. There is
no reference to anything in the nature of what Roman Catholics call
purgatorial fires. The allusion is simply to some stringent and
searching means of testing the quality of a man's work, and of
revealing that quality.

So then, we come just to this, that for people 'on the foundation,'
there is a Day of revelation and testing of their life's work. It is
a great misfortune that so-called Evangelical Christianity does not
say as much as the New Testament says about the judgment that is to
be passed on 'the house of God.' People seem to think that the great
doctrine of salvation, 'not by works of righteousness which we have
done, but by His mercy,' is, somehow or other, interfered with when
we proclaim, as Paul proclaims, speaking to Christian people, 'We
must be manifested before the judgment seat of Christ,' and declares
that 'Every man will receive the things done in his body, according
to that he has done, whether it be good or bad.' Paul saw no
contradiction, and there is no contradiction. But a great many
professing Christians seem to think that the great blessing of their
salvation by faith is, that they are exempt from that future
revelation and testing and judgment of their acts. That is not the
New Testament teaching. But, on the contrary, 'Whatsoever a man
soweth that shall he also reap,' was originally said to a church of
Christian people. And here we come full front against that solemn
truth, that the Lord will 'gather together His saints, those that
have made a covenant with Him by sacrifice, that He may judge His
people.' Never mind about the drapery, the symbolism, the expression
in material forms with which that future judgment is arranged, in
order that we may the more easily grasp it. Remember that these
pictures in the New Testament of a future judgment are hig