Fire Snatchers

FIRE SNATCHERS

JUDE 1:22-23

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR

1. I heard about this man that was very stingy with his money. Just before his death, he made his wife promise that if he died first she would bury him with the $50,000 he had saved. His wife reluctantly agreed.

2. At the funeral, before they closed the casket, she sneaked in this small wooden box. Her friend said, “Shirley, you didn’t just bury the money, did you?

3. Shirley said, “Of course I did! I’m a Christian. I can’t lie.” She said, “You mean you just buried $50,000?” The wife said, ”Yes, well, I wrote a check.”

B. RESCUED FROM FIRE

1. https://www.azfamily.com/2025/02/19/officer-firefighter-speak-after-rescuing-woman-burning-truck-mesa/

2. We are all grateful for our first responders who rescue people in terrible crises.

3. It happened in the Bible. The fire of God’s judgment was going to rain down on the city of Sodom. Abraham interceded and God sent two angels who tried to get Lot, his wife, and 2 daughters to leave the city. But Lot’s family was so compromised by worldliness they couldn’t make up their minds to leave the doomed city.

4. Gen. 19:16 says, “When he hesitated, the [angels] grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them” NIV.

5. This verse is a picture of how WE are supposed to rescue those who are perishing in sin. This world, like Sodom, is under the doom of judgment. We are God’s ‘first responders’ to lead them to safety in Jesus Christ.

C. KEY VERSE & TITLE

1. Jude says, “And others save with fear, pulling [NIV, “snatching”] them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh” KJV, 1:23.

2. This verse says 3 things about how we’re supposed to rescue people; the method, the action, and the caution. The title of this morning’s message is “Fire Snatchers

I. “SAVE WITH FEAR”

A. WE NEED TO BE MORE DIRECT

1. The Apostle tells us that at times, our appeals must be adapted to produce fear. The idea seems to be that with some people, the only arguments they may listen to – in order to be saved – are ones which warn them of their personal danger.

2. Many unbiased and sincere people can be won to Christ by gentle persuasion, but there are also many people who can only be aroused by knowledge of coming judgments or of God’s wrath. Paul used every method so that he might "by all means save some."

3. An example might be Acts 24:25, “And as [Paul] reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, ‘Go your way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for you.’” What Paul said was enough to make a Roman Governor tremble. Paul was telling him about the Judgment of God and his place in it!

4. Some people object to Christians using “fear tactics,” but our society regularly uses fear tactics to discourage drunk driving (depicting crash scenes), premarital sex (results in STIs, pregnancy), drug use (testimonies of people who were destroyed by it), the dangers of guns, etc.

5. If a house is on fire and someone is sleeping peacefully in it, isn’t it proper to yell “FIRE! FIRE!”? Of course. It’s normally not right to bust out car windows and drag people from cars, but in life-and-death situations, that’s what’s necessary.

6. IF we had an accurate picture of how horrible Hell is, and that every lost person is teetering on the brink of going there for eternity – we might be inclined to pass by niceties and warn them of their doom.

7. Charles Simeon was summoned to the dying bed of his brother, who said, "I am dying; and you never warned me of the state I was in, and of the danger to which I was exposed by neglecting the salvation of my soul!" "That’s not true," replied Mr. Simeon, "I brought up the subject sometimes, and frequently mentioned it in my letters." "Yes," exclaimed the dying man, "you did; but that was not enough. You never came to me, closed the door, and took me by the collar of my coat, and told me that I was “NOT SAVED” and that if I died like that I’d be lost forever. And now I’m dying -- and but for God's grace, I might have been for ever undone!" [Biblical Illustrator]

B. JESUS TAUGHT EXTENSIVELY ABOUT HELL

1. The truth is that Jesus spoke more about Hell than anyone else in all of Scripture. Jesus referred to Hell as a real place and described it in graphic terms. He spoke of a fire that burns but doesn’t consume; where the naked spirits of men, like worms in a fire, burn but are not burned up; of a place of loneliness and darkness. Jesus says the unsaved “will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:12). See also Mt. 25:46; 13:42; 22:13; Lk. 16:23, etc.