1. There are certain statements recorded in Scripture concerning the nature of God. First, “God is a spirit” (John 4:24). Because God is a “spirit” He is incorporeal, having no visible substance.
2. First Timothy 1:17 says, “Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen.”
3. Had God a tangible body, He would be limited to one place and therefore He would not be omnipresent.
4. But God is omnipresent, and because God is a spirit, He fills heaven and earth. God is everywhere.
5. Second, God is light (I John 1:5), which is the opposite of “darkness.”  In Scripture “darkness” stands for sin, evil, and death.  First Peter 2:9 says God has called us “out of darkness into his marvellous light.”
6. “Light” represents holiness, goodness, and life. “God is light, and in him is no darkness at all” (I John 1:5).
7. Third, “God is love” (I John 4:8).  It is not merely that God loves, but that God is love. Therefore, love is not merely one of God’s attributes, but His very nature.
8. So we understand God’s person, and His nature, and His character by comparing these Scriptures: God is a spirit.  God is light.  And God is love.
9. Furthermore, as we see in our text, God is a consuming fire (Heb. 12:29).  This Scripture speaks of God’s holiness (cf. Heb. 12:18).
10. HA Ironside said, “Consuming fire is holiness manifested in judgment, and God, who is light and love, must consume everything that is contrary to His holy will.  For the believer, of course, this will mean eventually absolute conformity to Christ, when the last vestige of the flesh has been destroyed.”
11. In Hebrews 12:29, the author (probably the apostle Paul) is quoting Deuteronomy 4:24.  “For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.”
12. This should remind us the God of the OT is the God of the NT.
13. In the context of Deuteronomy 4, God is warning Israel of the danger of idolatry (cf. Deut. 4:23, 25).
14. Making an application: money is the # 1 idol in the USA today.  Colossians 3:5 says covetousness is idolatry.

I. THE SYMBOLISM OF FIRE.

1. The word “fire” is found 549 times in the Bible. The first time it occurs is in Genesis 19:24.  “Then the LORD rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the LORD out of heaven.”
2. The last reference is in Revelation 21:8, where we read, “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”
3. These Scriptures remind us that fire can indeed be a word of horror. Many of us here in NY remember the people who jumped out of the WTC on September 11, 2001.
4. What a horrible sight to behold!
5. A couple of weeks after 9/11, Evangelist Ron Comfort preached here at our church, and as we were driving in my car he told me that a psychiatrist had told him that many people have a fear of being burned alive.
6. My heart was heavy as I considered the solemn fact that many of those people jumped from the fire in the WTC straight into the fires of hell (cf. Luke 16:19-24).
7. By the way, the fire in hell is literal, and not merely symbolic. Our Lord said, “And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:43, 44).
8. Jesus said the rich man in hell said to Abraham, “Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame” (Luke 16:24).
9. That sure sounds like literal fire to me.  In fact, the word “torment” or “tormented” is found 19 times in the Bible, and nearly every time it refers to the judgment of God.
10. “And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night” (Rev. 14:11).
11. It is foolish to talk about fire being merely a symbol.  Spurgeon said our Lord, “speaks of the ‘fire that never shall be quenched.’ Now, do not begin telling me that this is metaphorical fire: who cares for that? If a man were to threaten to give me a metaphorical blow on the head, I should care very little about it; he would be welcome to give me as many as he pleased. And what say the wicked?  ‘We do not care about metaphorical fires.’  But they are real, sir—yes, as real as yourself. There is a real fire in hell, as truly as you have now a real body—a fire exactly like that which we have on earth in everything except this—that it will not consume, though it will torture you. You have seen the asbestos lying in the fire red hot, but when you take it out it is unconsumed. So your body will be prepared by God in such a way that it will burn for ever without being consumed; it will lie, not as you consider, in a metaphorical fire, but in actual flame” (“The Resurrection of the Dead,” February 17, 1856).
12. Watch out for these new Bible versions, which alter the Word of God.  I will say more about it in a few minutes.  Our Lord said in Matthew 11:23, “And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shalt be brought down to hell.”
13. But the NIV says, “And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths.”
14. The ESV is just as bad.  It says, “"And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to Hades.”
15. Telling sinners they will be brought down “to the depths” or “Hades” does not frighten them.
16. But if you tell them that they will be cast headfirst into hell, it may put the fear of God into them.

II. FIRE CAN ALSO REPRESENT COMFORT AND BLESSING.

1. While fire often symbolizes horror and judgment, it also can represent comfort and blessing.
2. FB Meyer, after acknowledging that fire signifies terror, says it also signifies comfort and blessing. “And yet, for all that, what comfort and homeliness and genial blessedness there are in the kindly glow of firelight!” (The Way into the Holiest).
3. FB Meyer points out that fire is warmth, light, and purity.
4. So while fire often represents the judgment of God, it also represents the grace of God. For example, God appeared unto Moses in a burning bush (Exodus 3). 
5. When the Israelites traveled through the wilderness, they were led by a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night.  Here the pillar of fire is a picture and type of the protection and guidance of the blessed Holy Spirit.
6. David wrote in Psalm 39:3, “My heart was hot within me, while I was musing the fire burned.”  This speaks of David’s strong desire to let others know of God’s goodness and grace.  David said, “while I was musing the fire burned: then spake I with my tongue” (Ps. 39:3).
7. The prophet Jeremiah said, “Then I said, I will not make mention of him, nor speak any more in his name. But his word was in mine heart as a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I was weary with forbearing, and I could not stay” (Jer. 20:9).
8. Elijah the prophet was carried up into heaven in a chariot of fire, pulled by horses of fire (II Kings 2:11).
9. On the day of Pentecost, there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, each disciple was touched with fire from heaven, but it did not hurt them.
10. According to our Lord’s promise, they were baptized with the Holy Spirit and they were unconsumed.
11. The Holy Spirit is referred to as “the spirit of burning” in Isaiah 4:4.  He burns away the filth, the carnality, the selfishness, the worldliness, the bad attitudes, etc.

III. FIRE USUALLY REPRESENTS THE JUDGMENT OF GOD.

1. Hebrews 12:29 does not bring terror to godly Christians, but it ought to alarm ungodly sinners and careless backsliders.
2. When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego were cast into the burning fiery furnace, we are told in Daniel 3:19 that wicked King Nebuchadnezzar, “full of fury,” commanded that they should heat the furnace one “seven times more than it was wont to be heated.”
3. The fire was so hot that the flame of the fire slew those men that took up Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego (Daniel 3:22).
4. And when Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego came out of the fire, everyone was amazed because “the fire had no power” on them, “nor was an hair of their head singed, neither were their coats changed, nor the smell of fire had passed on them” (Dan. 3:27).
5. How could that be?  Because the Son of God was with them in the fire (Dan. 3:25).
6. Isaiah 43:2 says, “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.”
7. By the way, watch out for these modern translations.  The NIV and the ESV refer to the fourth man in the fire as “a son of the gods.”
8. The Lord Jesus Christ is not “a son of the gods,” He is the Son of God.
9. In fact, there are solemn warnings given to those who attempt to alter the Word of God (Rev. 22:18, 19).
10. AW Pink wrote, “As a fire consumes combustible matter cast into it, so God will destroy sinners” (cf. II Thess. 1:7-9; Revelation 20:11-15).
11. Those who understand that our God is a consuming fire have a greater desire to win souls and support missions.  We realize the Lord could return any day now, “in flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ” (II Thess. 1:8).
12. Ezekiel Hopkins wrote, “Even those who stand highest in the love and favor of God, and have the fullest assurance thereof and of their interest in Him as their God, ought, notwithstanding, to fear Him as a sin-avenging God and a consuming fire.”

CONCLUSION:

1. The problem today is most people do not understand the character of God.  I gave a Gospel tract to a man yesterday and he immediately was immediately struck by the fact that he was lost sinner headed for hell.
2. Unfortunately most sinners do not seem to care.
3. And even sadder is the fact that many Christians do not really understand the character of God.
4. God is love.  And God is holy (cf. Hebrews 12:28, 29).