Well, we're certainly blessed to be here. Thank the Lord that he has marked out our path and brought us here that we might come together and rejoice in our Savior and our Lord, our King, that one who has known us Since before we were in our mother's womb, not one thing of our life is hid from him, for he knows us.

Some people take great comfort in that, because they're not mindful of what they are by nature. When a man knows what he is by nature, it becomes a fearful thing to know that the Lord knows us. Some people say, well, the Lord knows my heart, and they take comfort in that. If you do, you do not know yourself. Because if you know your heart, you know that therein is the sink of sin and unbelief. Their end is a heart that desires to do what you want to do and not what he says to do. That's what we are by nature. It's not a pretty picture.

And if you came here this morning expecting me to pat you on the back and tell you everything's all right and things going along good and you're doing a good job and we just want you to do better, you came to the wrong place. Because the gospel is for sinners, the Lord Jesus Christ said that he came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. And I believe that scripture indicates that sinners will be saved. The righteous will be destroyed.

Because the man who is righteous is the man who thinks himself to be righteous. Who thinks he has something. See, a man might think he's not perfect, which we all would confess that. There's not probably anybody in here that would say, well, you know, I've never done anything that would be contrary to the way of God. Every man would confess that he has failed in many ways. They've not loved his neighbor as he ought. And he certainly has not loved the Lord his God with all of his heart.

But if a man knows that, but yet continues with the knowledge or the error of knowledge in his mind and heart, thinking that there's something that he has done that's made him acceptable in the eyes of God. Because a lot of people, I would say the majority of people kind of think that the Lord has got this ledger up in heaven and he's marking down the bad things that we do and the good things that we do. And then if we get over here and we, in the day of judgment, if we get over here and the good outweighs the bad, then we're all right. But that's not the way that it is.

Because you see, the good, the best you've ever done, is not worth anything in the courts of heaven. Because there's only one righteousness that's acceptable before Almighty God, and it's a perfect righteousness. It's a righteousness which has never sinned. It's a righteousness upon which there is no blot, there's no spot. It's perfect, it's complete. And there's only one who's ever walked among men who had such a righteousness and has such a righteousness even in the present hour, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ.

And so to come before the throne of God clothed in any righteousness, which is not that perfect righteousness of Jesus Christ is to surely perish. Doesn't matter how much is on the good side of the ledger. And fortunately it doesn't matter how much is on the bad side of the ledger. Because if a man has Jesus Christ as his redeemer, then he can never perish. And the Lord alone can grant that salvation. I can't give it to you, and you surely can't earn it. You surely can't gain it. God alone can give it to you.

Now the good news that we proclaim to men is that the Lord saves sinners. He does indeed save sinners. He saves those that call upon his name. He saves those that fall before him and say, Lord, I have nothing to give you. Save me or I'll perish. That's who he saves. The man that thinks he's got something to bring to the Lord, in reality has nothing. But the man who comes, there's a song we sing sometimes, and it says, nothing in my hand I bring, simply to thy cross I cling. Naked come to thee for dress. helpless look to thee for grace. Foul, I to the fountain fly. Wash me, Savior, or I die. My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest frame, but wholly lean on Jesus' name.

Oh, that the Lord might today give us a mind and heart that recognizes that to be true and burns within us, that we might call upon his name. The Lord said, come unto me, all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly of heart. What a glorious Savior He is. What a Redeemer. He saves sinners. And as a sinner, I confess to you, I come in that to you, before you, and before Him, confessing that I have no righteousness at all within myself, but confessing that my hope of a perfect righteousness is found in Christ Jesus the Lord. and there I rest and I rejoice. And I would hope and pray today that the Lord might give you such a mind and heart that that would be your righteousness as well.

We're looking in Jude, the book of Jude, and we've been talking about these that the scripture says There are certain men crept in unawares who were before of old ordained to this condemnation. Ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. That is a description of those that would set themselves against the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Now there are many, and he goes on as we've been looking these past few weeks, as he describes these. These are murmurs, complainers walking after their own lusts, and their mouths speaketh great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because of advantage.

In other words, they think These false prophets would come patting people on the back and seeking an advantage from men as they do that. In other words, as they build men up, they want men to build them up.

I can think of nothing worse than the man who would preach the gospel of Jesus Christ for gain. that would come seeking money from the people of God with the notion that if you give them money, you will gain a blessing from God. And that's what he's speaking about here. That's an awful thing. It's not anything that we would have any time or desire to to support or to think that that was true.

Because the truth, the preaching of the truth involves one message, and it is the preaching of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. He's not trying to enrich you, not trying to make you feel better. See, that's not what the preaching of the gospel is about. It's not trying to pat you on the back or cause you to go away and say, man, that was great, I feel much better.

A lot of people think that if they go and attend a meeting somewhere and they come away feeling great, well, that means the Lord was there. Well, it might mean the Lord wasn't there. Because if you go away from a meeting feeling good about yourself as far as you being having some righteousness or something that you can give to the Lord, then you have been deceived.

Because the preaching of the gospel brings men down to the foot of Christ to worship him and him alone. See, it's not enough to worship Christ. We must worship Christ alone.

May the Lord give us such.

But beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, how that they told you there should be mockers in the last time who should walk after their own ungodly lusts, these being they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the spirit,

But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. And of some have compassion, making a difference, and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garments spotted by the flesh.

Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God, our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen.

Now, as we have said, he's been speaking about these deceivers that have gone out, and this is not unusual that he says that I should tell you about this. Because all of the apostles whom the Lord sent into the world came with these warnings that there would be those who would come into their midst as deceivers. and he says they would come in the last time.

Now again we've talked about this and that when is the last time? Now a lot of people think that there's coming some time in the earth which is the last time, but I'm telling you what the scripture says, as John said, this is the last time. The last time is the time when Jesus Christ has come into the world. There's not another chapter of the world's history to be unfolding. Jesus Christ is the culmination of the work of God in the earth. The purpose for which the Lord made the world was to magnify the glory of God's grace in Jesus Christ. That's what he sent, that's what he made the world for.

And so it is that from the beginning, as the Lord warned his own disciples, and he said that there would come those in his name, and he said, you know, they would be those that would deceive many. And we ourselves would be deceived. were it not that the Lord does keep us. See, the only reason that you are kept, if you are, is because the Lord's done it. As he said here, you know, in that last verse, now unto him that is able to keep you from falling and present you faultless before the presence of his glory. He alone can do that. You can't keep yourself.

A lot of people think they can keep themselves faithful, and they work hard at it sometimes, and then they fail. Because that's the way of men. Men will fail, but Jesus Christ does not fail. And the work of God is he works in his people, both the will and to do of his good pleasure. He does not fail. And because of him, they do not fail.

Now when I say they do not fail, I don't mean they don't fall into error, that they don't fall into sin from time to time, that they don't do various things that are imperfect. But they never go away from Christ. See, even in those times when I have known myself to have walked contrary to the way of the Lord, by the grace of God, he's shown me that. He's taught me that. He has opened my eyes and he has broke my heart. And he has convicted me of my sin. and my unworthiness and he's brought me down to his feet because he'll keep us from falling there, brethren. So this is the last time. And there are mockers that are in the world, and they walk after their own ungodly lusts. These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not spirit. How do they separate themselves? They come saying what great men of God they are. They come saying, I'm a prophet. Listen to me. I've got the word and nobody else does. and if you'll send me your cards and letters and you'll help me out, I'll pray for you and the Lord will help you out.

Now dear brethren, that's a mocker and a deceiver. That's somebody that sets themselves up as something that they are not. I don't have a thing in the world that I can do for you. If you ask me, I'll pray for you. But I can't guarantee you that the Lord's gonna do what you want done. Neither can you. Now see, and there's no power that men have to cause God to do anything.

Now you'll hear some of these guys say that you can back God into a corner. And that you can, you know, you can pray a prayer. He won't have any choice but to bless you or help you. Brethren, that's foolish. The Lord said, I'll show mercy to whom I will show mercy, and I'll harden whom I will. We are at the mercy of God. Men think that by their free will, I'll seek the Lord, I'll choose the Lord. How foolish is it for men to grow angry when they read in the Bible that God chooses the people that belong to him, And yet they think, and they get mad and say, God doesn't have the right to choose one and pass by another. But yet they believe they have the power to choose God.

Now how foolish is that? Who would have the most power in that situation? Brethren, God is the one who does the choosing. God's the one who in his mercy visits men. But you see, he does visit men. And no man, there's nobody seeking with all their heart to come into his presence and to fall down at his feet and worship him whom the Lord is turning away. That's not the picture. A man won't seek the Lord unless the Lord seeks him. The man won't call on the Lord unless the Lord calls him. That's what Peter preached on the day of Pentecost, did he not? He said, to those whom the Lord our God shall call.

Brethren, that's why we preach the gospel, because God is pleased to call men to himself. He said, My sheep hear my voice. I know them and they follow me. The Lord knows them that are his. They belong to him. And in his mercy, he saves them out of the darkness of this world, according to his good pleasure. But it's not according to the good pleasure of men. And so those that would, that are sensual, that is, they believe that man has the power, that it's in the flesh. See, man by nature thinks that in his flesh, he can do anything he wants to. Man can't do anything. See, Judas, he thought he could do something, did he not? He thought he could betray the Lord. He thought that he was the one who ordered that betrayal. He thought in his flesh he was gonna betray the Lord.

But dear brethren, you see, The Lord said to him, it'd been better for you if you'd not been born. Now what did he mean by that? He meant because your path is marked out and you are going to do this thing. Now was Judas guilty? Who would say he was not? And Judas thought he would take his own life, but he couldn't take his own life because God is the one who, he says, I kill and I make alive. I, the Lord, do all these things. The Lord has set the bounds of a man that he cannot pass. The number of his years are with him. Oh, dear brethren, may the Lord give us a mind not to be sensual. to be of the flesh, to think that these fleshly bodies and in our mind and heart, we can just do whatever we want to.

No, the Lord has put us on a path of redemption, or he's put us on a path of destruction, just like he says here, for there are certain men crept in unawares who were before God ordained to this condemnation. That's in the hands of Almighty God.

You know, if a man fears that he might be such, and he finds himself desiring the righteousness of Christ. I believe that I can tell him he didn't come up with that on his own. See, the ungodly men are glad to be there. I mean, they're glad to go on their way. They don't have any, they think when somebody stands up and preaches to them something like I'm preaching that they're crazy. They think that couldn't possibly be true. They're not interested. They're going on their way and they're gonna get exactly what they desire.

If the Lord gives a man a desire to seek after him, he'll have the desire of his heart. The Lord will give him the desire of his heart. But if he desires to go on his way, he's gonna go on his way. And he's gonna reap what that entails according to the Lord's purpose.

But ye, beloved, building up yourselves. Now see, he's talking to the people of God here. He's not talking to everybody. He's talking to the beloved. He says, but ye, beloved, speaking to the brethren, Building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost. Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life.

Now I don't believe that there's anybody to whom he's speaking here that entertains the notion that they can do any of those things. Now I know for a fact I can't keep myself in the love of God. But I believe He can. And when the exhortation comes to the sons of God, what comes with it is the power of the Spirit of God to keep them.

Now what is it to keep ourselves in the love of God? I mean, can we do something to make God love us? He loves who he will. He said, Jacob have I loved, Esau have I hated. That's what he said in the scripture. People say, well that can't be true, God loves everybody. That's not what the scripture says. He said, I'll show mercy to whom I will show mercy. Man that doesn't receive the mercy of God is certainly not one that he loves. He shows mercy to those whom he does love.

Now he is love. You couldn't know what love was if it wasn't that God was the one who's the author of it. But keep in mind that God's love is God's love. It's not yours. You don't have a right to it. You don't have any way to get it. He has to give it. Now the glorious thing is that he does. You know, that's the most amazing thing that I can think of is that the Lord would love anybody.

Some people get mad because if we say he doesn't love everybody, but I wonder why on earth he would love anybody. There's not a person on earth who hasn't spat in God's face and said, Lord, I'm going my way. But God who's rich in mercy, He does show love to his people. And that's who he's talking about here. He says, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith.

Well, what is our faith? Brother, you gotta keep the faith. Well, how did you get the faith? Faith's the gift of God, not of words, lest any man should boast. You see, God's the one who gives men faith, active faith. But our faith is not what we do. Our faith's not what we believe. Our faith is Jesus Christ. See, he is the one. And see, the object of faith is much more important than the activity of faith. Because the activity of faith can fade. You don't always believe these things as far as your activity of faith is concerned. You don't always believe them with the same strength. But the object of our faith never changes because the object of our faith is Jesus Christ.

And so whenever Peter said to the Philippian jailer, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. He did so in answer to the jailer's question. He said, sirs, what must I do to be saved? He said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Now was he telling him a story? No. Because he was telling him the absolute truth. But he also understood that unless the Lord gave that faith to him, he wouldn't ever have it. But he knew this, that because that man had come desiring to be saved, hungering, crying out, like the men on the days of Pentecost, men and brethren, what shall we do?

See, the Lord is the author of the faith. He's the author of the desire. He's the author that causes a man to desire to know Him. That's the work of God. Because a man by nature won't ever do that. Oh, he might be religious. He might join the church. He might be baptized. He might go through all kinds of things. He might read the Bible. But unless the Lord gives him faith, he'll never call on the name of the Lord.

So, build up one another on your most holy faith. See, when we build up, we're called as brethren to help one another. And what we're called on to do is to build one another up on what? Our most holy faith. I'm not trying to build you up so I'm telling you, brother, you gotta work this faith up in you. I'm telling you that Jesus Christ is the object of faith and in order to build you up on that most holy faith, I'm pointing you to Christ. And that's what we do as brethren. We don't encourage one another to do this or that. Now, surely, you know, it's a good thing to go about and do good works and things, you know, that help other men. That's a good thing. Certainly we never discourage somebody from doing that. But if I'm gonna build somebody up in the faith, I'm not gonna be trying to get them to do something. I'm gonna be pointing them to Christ, because there's where our faith is. And to build somebody up on our most holy faith would be to build somebody up to look to Christ. Look to Him.

Praying in the Holy Ghost. You know, there really is no other kind of prayer. Most of the prayers that people pray are just They just want something, or they're scared, or this, that, or the other. You might call it like whistling past the graveyard. When I was a kid, it was a spooky thing to be around the graveyard. You didn't really believe in ghosts and all that stuff, but you wasn't 100% sure about it, just like going out in the dark. You know, every man has some fear of the dark. A child has to overcome the fear of the dark because there's all kind of things that might be there.

But oh, you see, praying in the Holy Ghost is the only kind of true prayer there is because God's the author of prayer and he calls his men to pray. And we pray because He moves us to pray. And that's an earnest, that's a fervent, earnest prayer of a righteous man is that which God gives him, to pray, to call upon Him.

Praying in the Holy Ghost, it's not blabbering away in some language that you never spoke before. I'm not saying that people in the Bible, people definitely did that, but when you talk about praying in the Holy Ghost, it's not about what's coming out of your mouth, it's what's been put into your heart. Now that's what praying in the Holy Ghost is. It's calling on the name of the Lord by the moving of the Spirit of God in us. He hears those prayers. Why? Because he's the author of those prayers. See, he gives his people what they desire because he works a desire in them. We receive what we desire because we desire that he be glorified.

Now you see, the man who's praying the selfish prayer, he's not worried about the glory of God. He's worried about what he's getting or what he wants. How'd the Lord start the prayer? Now how does true prayer start? True prayer is worship. The Lord said when you pray, say, our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. That's worship. A lot of people just jump in, Lord, I need this and I need that and help this and do that and don't let me get sick and don't let me wreck and don't let me do all these different things. But you see, a prayer in the Holy Ghost begins in a recognition of the glory of God. Praying in the Holy Ghost is praying that His will might be done and not ours.

Keep yourselves in the love of God. Can you do that? But you're exhorted to do it if you're a child of God. What does he mean? He means that's the place you want to be. You don't want to be apart from the love of God. Now you can't keep yourself there from the standpoint of, you know, you can keep yourself from falling out of the love of God. You can't do it. He can though. But you know that that's the place you want to be. You want to keep there. And so our exhortation to God's people is keep yourself in the love of God. Don't go off after something else. That's the place you want to be. That's the place where God moves His people to be, to love Him, to serve Him, to delight in His ways, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.

We're not looking, I hope you're not looking for justice. You know, a lot of people live their life looking for justice. They want justice for themselves. They're not interested in the justice of God because the justice of God, if God was just and there was no redeemer, we'd all be destroyed. But the justice of God demands the salvation of sinners. because Jesus Christ paid for the sin of his people. And every sin which he paid for is settled, is canceled. That's justice. See, we come before the Lord justified. We're not hoping that the blood of Christ is gonna be sufficient. We know that it is. Now we might from time to time wonder whether or not we're included in that number. But we have perfect confidence that what Christ has done is sufficient. It's efficient. He did what he said he was gonna do. He said he came to seek and to save that which is lost and that which, that that belongs to him, he won't lose a one. They belong to him.

Looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. See, we're not expecting, we're not expecting that the Lord's going to reward us for something we've done. We're not looking for his payment to us. What we're desiring is to be found covered in his mercy. And the scripture says that the Lord's merciful to those that show mercy. And a heart and a mind that demands justice from others is not a heart that loves mercy. A man that holds a grudge against somebody else and hates another man and wants to see him destroyed because of something he did to him, He's not walking in mercy. See, God's people can't be a vindictive people. He said, I am a God of vengeance. But he didn't say for you to be. He said, love thy neighbor as thyself. If you think you're doing that, you need to check up, because you're not.

Only the Lord can give us a mind and heart to love our neighbors, ourselves. And we know how imperfect we are, how little that can be said. I can't say, you know, I hear people say, oh, I love everybody. Well, the man that loves everybody really doesn't love anybody, because love is particular. And it's manifested. That's what love is. It's real. And the love of God to his people's real. It's not a theory. You know, it's just not some principle that's out here in the world. Smile, God loves you. That's not the love of God.

The Lord loves his people with a love that will not let them go. Oh, to be found. in that love. I want to keep in the love of God, don't you? I mean, don't you want to be in the love of God? Don't you want to stay in the love of God? Do you desire to be anywhere else? Oh, that the Lord might open our eyes and cause us to see and to draw us. And he does. That's the glorious thing, he does. He gives us a mind to call on Him. He gives us a heart to love Him. He gives us a heart to love His way. He gives us a heart to desire to see His will done in the earth as it is in the heavens, even if it's contrary to ours, even if it's totally backwards to what I want to happen.

I rejoice by the grace of God. May the Lord give us such a mind. Remind us that we're sinners, but that there's a Savior of sinners. In His name is Jesus Christ the righteous.