Pulling Them Out of the Fire

September 6, 1998 AM

PULLING THEM OUT OF THE FIRE

TEXT: Jude 17-25

INTRODUCTION

Read text.

September 11, 2001

21 years ago our lives were changed.

Not since WW2 had U.S. borders been breached on such a scale of death and destruction with almost 3,000 people killed and 25,000 injured.

Most of those who died on that day, 2753, did so at the World Trade Center that was completely destroyed.

I cannot imagine what those on the floors above where the planes impacted went through in their final minutes of life.

We witnessed with horror, those who jumped to their deaths in order to avoid being burned to death.

Let’s pray for those STILL dealing with loss 21 years later!

If we picture those victims who jumped to their deaths, who died in the flames and connect them to verse 23 of our text, it gives a greater poignancy to what Jude said about reaching the lost:

We have to snatch them from the very fires of hell.

We have got to be like the brave firefighters and rescue workers who rushed into danger in the attempt to save others.

We have got to adopt the same mindset as our missionaries who are going into countries hostile to the Christian faith.

They are part of something called “Live Dead.”

It is a multinational TEAM effort.

Their determination: To die to self. To live fully among the unreached.

As Missionary Dick Brogden says:

The defining characteristic of the missionary is falling to the ground and dying, taking up the cross for the long, splinters-in-your-bloody-back march. Are you ready for a long, slow death, that others might forever live?

Jesus said:

John 12:24–26 (The Message) “Listen carefully: Unless a grain of wheat is buried in the ground, dead to the world, it is never any more than a grain of wheat. But if it is buried, it sprouts and reproduces itself many times over. 25 In the same way, anyone who holds on to life just as it is destroys that life. But if you let it go, reckless in your love, you’ll have it forever, real and eternal. 26 “If any of you wants to serve me, then follow me. Then you’ll be where I am, ready to serve at a moment’s notice. The Father will honor and reward anyone who serves me.

Folks, that’s NOT sugar-coating it — but it is telling you just what Jesus said and what He intends for us to do.

If we would live for Jesus, then we must die to self — THAT is Biblical Christianity.

THAT is what Jesus very clearly told us about living for Him.

THAT is the model the Apostles and many others in the 1st century lived for us.

THAT is the only way our world can be changed.

THAT is the only way this nation will be turned from its path of annihilation.

If a group of people would do what our text says:

BE the beloved of God by …

Not just denying self — but DYING to self, as the Apostle Paul said it in …

Galatians 5:24 (TPT) Keep in mind that we who belong to Jesus, the Anointed One, have already experienced crucifixion. For everything connected with our self-life was put to death on the cross and crucified with Messiah.

Once self and its selfish desires are put to death then that group of people who would change the trajectory of this nation will…

Build themselves up in the faith

Begin and then KEEP praying in the Holy Spirit

Keep themselves in the love of God — no matter how much hatred is spewed around them

Look for the mercy, keep the coming of Jesus at the forefront of their minds — knowing time is short

HAVE mercy on others accompanied with the Fear of God

And then they will pull people out of the fire.

While at the same time “hating the garment polluted by the flesh”

Then, through God’s grace, our nation can be turned from its determination to tear itself apart.

We are talking on Wednesday night about the possibility of civil war in the U.S.

In fact the article to which I sent you a link says:

A recent CBS/YouGov poll uncovered that 54% of Americans view other Americans as the biggest threat to their way of life.

In [the book] Tribe, combat journalist Sebastian Junger writes,

“People speak with incredible contempt about – depending on their views – the rich, the poor, the educated, the foreign-born, the president, or the entire U.S. government. It’s a level of contempt that is usually reserved for enemies in wartime, except that now it’s applied to our fellow citizens.”

In one comprehensive 2021 survey, 36% of Republicans and 33% of Democrats believe they “feel justified to use violence to advance political goals.” In 2017, that number was 8%.

According to a 2022 YouGov/Bright Line Watch poll, 47% of West Coast Democrats and 66% of Southern Republicans were open to the idea of secession.

These are not the benchmarks of a nation trending toward unity and peace.

… Combine all of [these poll results] with a heavily-politicized pandemic, an explosion of “Deep State” conspiracy theories, growing distrust of large institutions, and foreign-based disinformation campaigns, and you could well argue the opening chapters leading to a broader and more sustained conflict have already been written.

Like the citizens of Pompeii under the shadow of Mount Vesuvius, we’re sitting atop a powder keg that threatens to detonate and overwhelm us all. And the next few years likely represent one of the greatest … challenges [for Christianity] of the 21st century.

Again, if you couldn’t access the article, I will print it for you.

There is a great fire raging in our nation.

A fire from hell that consumes hope, joy, peace.

People need to hear about the answer to their problems: Jesus!

Once again I would to encourage us to believe and behave according to the Word of God.

So many, EVEN FOLLOWERS OF JESUS, believe that matters of faith are a personal matter.

The problem is so severe that only 3-5% of Christians in North America witness about Jesus and His salvation.

In living that way, FUNCTIONALLY we are telling unbelievers the lie that there are many ways to heaven apart from Jesus.

Because we DON’T tell them Jesus is the ONLY way of salvation.

It seems that even the followers of Jesus don’t understand the command of Christ:

Matthew 28:19–20 (NASB95) “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”

Mark 16:15–16 (TPT) And [Jesus] said to them, “As you go into all the world, preach openly the wonderful news of the gospel to the entire human race! 16 Whoever believes the good news and is baptized will be saved, and whoever does not believe the good news will be condemned.

Acts 1:8 (NASB95) but you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and even to the remotest part of the earth.”

We have got to be unashamed, we WILL be unashamed of the Gospel because WE have experienced the power of the Gospel in our lives:

Romans 1:16 (NASB95) For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.

Never more so than on this 21st anniversary of 9/11.

A. This morning I want to urge us to be fervent (zealous) ABOUT living for Jesus even as we are BUSY pulling people from the fire by TELLING them about Jesus.

B. "What fire?", you may ask.

1. Well, there is the fire of sin that rages in people's lives ravaging and destroying like the wild fires do on the west coast every year.

2. An even worse fire is the judgment-fire of hell that burns for eternity.

C. People are crying out in pain and torment as they are engulfed in the flames.

1. We cannot, we MUST not ignore their cries.

Just like there is a real devil, there is a real hell.

Once we reach an age where we KNOW we need Jesus for salvation, hell becomes our DEFAULT destination

Only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life can avoid hell.

More than hell because hell is just a temporary holding place that will be cast into an eternal lake of fire.

Revelation 20:12–15 (NASB95) And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. 13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. 14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.

D. This morning I am preaching about evangelism — about the need, the command from Jesus to telling others about salvation through Jesus.

We are witnesses to others because we live in obedience to

Philippians 2:3 (NASB95) Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind regard one another as more important than yourselves;

E. There are many thoughts about evangelism:

1. For some evangelism is like strong horseradish: people praise it with tears in their eyes.

2. For some people, evangelism is an evangelical mugging mission, where we go into a phone booth, come out with a big red S on our chests and charge out into a neighborhood, seldom our own, to win it for Christ.

3. For others, it's some kind of evangelical ambush where we lure the honest, unsuspecting victim to some type of an event, lock the doors, and sing twenty-two verses of "Just as I Am."

4. Some people think of evangelism as a bombing mission where, from protective cloud cover at 30,000 feet, we fill backyards with gospel bombs.

5. For others, evangelism is herding fish into the stained glass aquarium where the big fisherman throws the lure from the pulpit.

F. But, in truth, evangelism is simply reaching people for Christ...

1. Simply telling them about the love and grace and forgiveness that only Jesus can give.

2. It's telling them what has happened to us, if we have asked Jesus to be Lord and Savior of our lives.

G. It's reaching people...

1. People who are hurting.

2. People who are dying.

H. There does need to be some preparation done before you can pull the perishing from the fire.

1. Look at verse 20 and 21 of our text.

I. Again, it says that we need to ...

1. BE the beloved of the Lord

Build ourselves up in the faith

2. Pray in the Holy Spirit

3. Keep ourselves in the love of God

4. Look for the mercy, for the coming of Christ

In the Fear of God, Extend the mercy of God to others

5. And then we pull people out of the fire.

6. While at the same time “hating the garment polluted by the flesh”

ALTAR

A. I want to open the altars this morning.

I want to open them to all.

C. If you need Jesus, come and accept Him as Lord and Savior of your life.

D. If you are afraid that someone you know is about to burn alive...

1. in the flames of sin.

2. in the judgment-fire of hell.

E. Come and declare your intention to...

1. Build up your faith — pump it up!

2. Begin to pray in the Spirit.

3. Reestablish yourself in the love of Christ.

4. Receive new mercy and a vision for new mercies everyday.

F. So you can be someone who pulls others from the fire.

G. ALTAR

H.