Date:      6th January 2002                                                                                                                                                    Ref: A0056

Place:     Kambah P.S.

Title: Pull them out of the Fire

Text:        & Rev 20:11-15

Illust:     On Sept 11th the world changed. One of the main features about the events of that day & those that followed was the selfless heroism of the men & women of the NYPD & FDNY. There have been countless articles written about these folks & their efforts. Over 200 Fire Fighters & 78 Police Officers died when the 2 towers collapsed. Many of them were senior members who were controlling the rescue efforts. These people put themselves in harms way to try & rescue as many as they possibly could from the flames.

I.                   Reality of Eternity

A.               Eternity

i.                 The reality of Eternity; Arthur Stace the illiterate street artist spent years walking around Sydney writing the word Eternity on the sidewalks, on buildings everywhere (over 500,000 times), so much impact did he have that it was emblazoned across the Harbour Bridge on News Eve at the turn of the millennium. A single word Eternity, a message more important than any long dissertation.

ii.                By his own admission he couldn’t even spell eternity, yet he was able to write it in this perfect copper plate script. God must have been moving, why? God wanted that one word message to be widely proclaimed. ~ It was seen all over the world.

B.               Real

i.                 Eternity is real & it is forever, for all eternity no beginning & no end. We need to grasp that one word message Eternity, Eternity, Eternity. 1Jn 2:25 And this is the promise that He has promised us—eternal life

ii.                Where people spend Eternity is determined here on earth in the few short years that we have available. Everybody you know, everybody you see in the shopping centre, passing on the road, in the restaurant, the Gym, the workplace, on the Television, in the Newspapers everybody will go into Eternity

iii.              The where they will spend eternity is the only question. Dan 12:2 And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, Some to everlasting life, Some to shame and everlasting contempt. Jesus spent a great deal of His earthly ministry talking about “eternal life” or “life everlasting” & He also talked about eternal punishment.

II.                 Heaven or Hell

A.               Heaven

i.                 The bible talks a lot about Heaven, Eternal life; God wants us to be thinking about it, looking forward to it, aware of it. Jesus said & Jn 14:1-3. ~ We don’t think enough about Heaven.

ii.                The book of Revelation gives us some amazing insights into Heaven. & Rev 21:1-5, & 23-26 and 1 Cor 2:9 But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.”

iii.              We really can only try to imagine what it will really be like & even that will fall way short of the mark.

B.               Hell

i.                 Conversely the Bible also talks a lot about Hell, an eternity separated from God. Jesus tries to give an impression of what it will be like by likening it to the valley outside Jerusalem where all the filth & rubbish of the city was dumped including dead animals & the bodies of executed criminals. To consume all of this fire burned continually & maggots worked in the filth. Mk 9:45 And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame, rather than having two feet, to be cast into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched— 46 where ‘Their worm does not die And the fire is not quenched. The valley of Hinnom or Gehenna

ii.                Repeatedly Jesus spoke of outer darkness & a furnace of fire, where there will be wailing, weeping & gnashing of teeth – ever burnt yourself? It hurts, you squeeze around the area. ~ As long as it is under the cold water there is relief. Imagine that multiplied over your entire body, no place to squeeze, no relief not ever from the agony & torment. Unable to see because of the total absence of light, falling, falling, falling screaming out in anguish & pain. Surrounded by others you can’t see all screaming.

iii.              Because of the symbolic nature of the language, some people question whether hell consists of actual fire. I don’t know, what I do know is the reality is greater than the symbol. The Bible exhausts human language in describing heaven & hell. Hell is more terrible than language can express.

III.              To The Rescue

A.               Save them from the Fires

i.                 Since Christmas Eve men & women, all volunteers, from NSW then Victoria, QLD, SA have been rushing to NSW to fight the Bush Fires to save people’s homes & lives. Battling around the clock, where they are exhausted & still they fight on. Why? If they don’t lives will be lost, homes destroyed.

ii.                On S11, Men like Sgt Timothy Roy, a cop who was off duty but heard that a plane had struck the Trade Centre raced to the site & was last seen helping people escape from the south tower, the 1st to collapse.[1]

iii.              People willing to give of their time & effort to save people from the fires. Should we be any different? Yes we should be more active, more involved. These people whose homes were lost, they will start again.{common theme, Aussie Battler} In eternity there is no starting again. That’s it, the die is cast their destiny is set for eternity.

B.               Time is Short

i.                 The clock is ticking for every human soul, as every second passes people’s deaths draw closer. The time is very short, before we know it. That’s it we will pass through the curtain and eternity awaits. We need to make sure we know where we are going. ~ As saved born again believers in this place we need a revelation that the only thing that really matters is eternity.

ii.                CT Studd came across a Tract written by an atheist that set the course of his life to go on the mission fields: Did I firmly believe as millions say they do, that the knowledge & practice of religion in this life influences destiny in another, religion would mean to me everything. I would cast away earthly enjoyments as dross, earthly cares as follies & earthly thoughts & feelings as vanity. Religion would be my first waking thought and my last image before sleep sank me into unconsciousness. I should labour in its cause alone. I would take thought for the morrow of eternity alone. I would esteem one soul gained for heaven worth a life of suffering. Earthly consequences should never stay my hand, nor seal my lips. Earth its joys & its grief’s, would occupy no moment of my thoughts. I would strive to look upon eternity alone and on the Immortal souls around me soon to be everlastingly happy or everlastingly miserable. I would go forth to the world & preach to it in season & out of season, & my text would be, For What Shall It Profit A Man If He Gain The Whole World And Lose His Own Soul[2]

IV.             Altar Call

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[1] Time, Dec 31,2001 p.44

[2] C.T, Studd, Cricketer & Pioneer, p.25