A Christian is likened to a field, and his improper behavior is likened to thorns and thistles. Suppose I have a five-acre piece of land. Is it possible that after it has been burned by fire, only two acres are left and three acres are gone? This is impossible. What is burned are the thorns and thistles. The field itself cannot be burned. In other words, only those things in Adam that are cursed, that should be removed but have not been removed, are to be burned. They are the object of the burning of the Gehenna of fire. The life that God has given us cannot be touched by fire. Therefore, after the thorns and thistles are burned away, the land will still remain. No part of it will be taken away. There is absolutely no problem with our salvation, but there is so much that has grown on top of it, so much that has come out of the flesh. If these things have not been dealt with by the blood of Jesus, we must pass through quite a bit of dealing.

Now let us look at another place, Hebrews 10:26-29. "For when we sin willfully after receiving the knowledge of the truth, there no longer remains a sacrifice of bulls and goats for sins, but a certain fearful expectation of judgment and fervor of fire, which is to consume the adversaries. Anyone who has set aside the law of Moses dies without compassion on the testimony of two or three witnesses. By how much do you think he will be thought worthy of worse punishment who has trampled underfoot the Son of God and has considered the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified a common thing?" These verses refer to someone who has rejected Christ and returned to Judaism. He thinks that by spending a few dollars he can buy a bull or a goat as an offering for sin. But if someone has come to know Christ and returns to Judaism, he is trampling underfoot the Son of God and is regarding His blood as a common thing. He is treating the Lord like a bull or a goat. To him there is no difference between the Lord and a bull or a goat. The verse concludes, "And has insulted the Spirit of grace." While the Holy Spirit is giving him grace, he is insulting Him by going back to Judaism. These verses show us the way of an apostate. I will not say that such a one is saved; rather, I will only say that such a one may be saved. Perhaps he is not saved. The apostle does not tell us if such a one is saved or not. He only says that if a person has come to Christ and then returns to Judaism, he will suffer worse punishment. His end is an expectation of judgment and fervor of fire. Here we see a kind of fire.

In addition to all of these passages, we also have the Lord's own words in John 15. Verse 2 says, "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes it away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it." These are not branches that have nothing to do with Him; these are branches in Him. What is indicated here may not refer to the temporary punishment, but to the discipline of this age. But look at verse 6: "If one does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is dried up; and they gather them and cast them into the fire, and they are burned." Some branches will be thrown into the fire and burned. Some branches have sprouted and have borne green leaves, but do not have fruit. Though they have life inwardly, they do not have fruit outwardly. The Lord Jesus said that they would be cast out, dried up, and burned in the fire. Here we see clearly that Christians may have to pass through the fire.

Having read all these passages, we can conclude that if a Christian does not take care of his sins properly, there will be punishment waiting for him. The Bible shows us clearly what kind of punishment this will be. It is not an ordinary kind of punishment but the punishment of the "Gehenna of fire." But it is the fire in the kingdom, not in eternity.

The question now is this: What kind of sin will bring us into this state? Once a person is saved, it is important that he deal with his sins. None of the sins that he has confessed, repented of, dealt with, and made recompense for under the blood of the Lord Jesus will come back to him at the judgment seat. All of these will be gone. Even the greatest sins will be gone. But there are many sins which will not be passed over. These are the sins that one regards in his heart. Psalm 66:18 says, "If I regard iniquity in my heart, / The Lord will not hear." What are the sins that the heart regards? The heart is where our love and desires lie. The heart represents our emotion. It represents the psychological man. If the heart regards iniquity, the Lord will not hear us. Many confessions are made only because the person knows that he has sinned. There is no hatred for the sin nor condemnation of the sin. Such a one the Lord will not hear. Moreover, if we have a problem with another person that has not been solved, or if there are things that need to be forgiven but have not been forgiven, or if we have wronged others or the Lord, we have to deal with these things in a specific way. At the same time, we have to put these things under the Lord's blood. Only then will these things be dealt with, and we be delivered from the coming judgment.