The book of Jude. Try to finish this up this morning. And not just for the sake of
finishing up. These things are needful. As I, well, look at verse Verse 3, Jude says, it's necessary,
it's needful, the middle part, needful for me to write unto
you and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith. Verse 4, there are certain men
crept in unaware who have done various things. He exhorts us to contend for
the faith, the faith. He says there are certain men
or preachers principally, preachers who have crept in unaware, that
is, they snuck in without anybody knowing their faults. And they have done various things. Our Lord said in Matthew 24,
He said, In the end, many false prophets shall show great signs
and wonders, insomuch that if it were possible, they would
deceive the very last. In other words, He says it's
so close and what they're doing is so impressive that if it were
possible, They would deceive the very elect, and that's God's
people, like many here. I'm thankful he said, if it were
possible. It's not possible, because a stranger's voice they
won't hear. But if Jude said this in the
first century, Jude said it's needful to write that you contend
for the faith, our Lord said it Many false prophets have gone
out. If that was needful in the first
century, now this is 2,000 years later. It's 20 times more needful now,
isn't it? 20 times more needful. Why? Because false prophets have multiplied,
exceeded them. They've gone out all over the
face of the earth. This was written when it was confined to a little
area over there in the Middle East. Right? And now this gospel has gone
out for a witness in all the world, every tribe, kindred,
nation, and tongue under heaven. And so have false prophets. As
I said before, Elijah was one man against 850 false prophets. That was thousands of years ago.
One man against 850 false The ratio is much greater than
that now. Every man, everybody's a preacher. Everybody and his brother and
some mother. You know right away that they're
not. All right. He says that they have crept
in. It's possible they could deceive
the very least. Men who say some good things. Have you ever caught
yourself saying that? About hearing somebody preach? He said some good things. Well, that's what they do. That's
how they creep in, he said. They say some good things. They're
not going to come right out, John, and just say blasphemous
things. Nobody will listen to them. Now,
right down in verse 11, He sums these fellows up, verse 11, by
saying, they've gone the way of Cain. Woe unto them! They have gone
in the way of Cain. Now, you remember us studying
that last week? The way of Cain. We went back to Genesis 4 and
looked at the difference between Cain's religion and Abel's religion.
It's just two religions. These were the first fellows
of Cain. that God recorded in scriptures who came to worship
God. First two fellows, brothers,
mind you. It's a picture of election, too,
and brought up the same way. Flesh and blood told them how
to worship. Adam did. Adam told Cain and
Abel, his brothers, how to worship. How? One way. Blood. Didn't it? Blood. One way. God's been saying that
from the beginning. Since the first man fell, God
was the one that preached the gospel first. The first thing
he did, John, was slew an animal. He slew the innocent for the
guilty. He covered the guilty with the skin of the innocent.
He shed the blood. That means death. The innocent
died that the guilty wouldn't have to. God said today, Adam, you eat,
you'll die. Die and you shall die. But Adam
didn't die. Why? He was clothed. He didn't
die physically. Somebody did die, though, so
he could live. Some thing, an animal, a lamb,
I believe it was, that God killed. See, God was saying it from the
beginning. How do you worship God? Blood. And Adam taught these two boys
that blood, boys, you've got to have blood to come before
the Lord. Because blood is typical of death. The soul that sinneth
must die. And you're going to have to die
at the hands of a holy God for your sins, or he's going to substitute
it for you. And that's when God said the
woman's seed is going to come. Have his heel bruised. He's going
to die. His lower parts are going to
be bruised. He's wounded and bruised for our transgressions.
His stripes, his blood were healed. Now, boys, you've got to bring
a blood sacrifice that's typical, that's pointing to the Christ
that's going to come. God's going to send His lamb
to put away sins. This lamb won't do it, boys.
It's just a lamb. You're a human. This lamb won't
do it. That's just the blood of bulls and goats and lambs. God's going to have to send His
lamb. I don't fully understand it, Cain or Abel, but that's
the way it is. God's going to send a man to
seed a woman who's going to live a perfect life for you. Are you
with me? He's going to live a perfect life for you. Hey, there's a
Cain out there that hadn't understood this yet. Listen, and this woman's
seed, this God-man's going to come and live a perfect life
for you. You can't live. You've got to, but you can't. He can come and do it, and your
sins have to be paid for. God's angry with the sins you're
committing, and you're either going to have to die or somebody's
going to die for you. And that's what this blood is
all about. What you're saying is, you're
coming before God, boys, Cain, Abel, you're coming before God
saying, I plead this blood, or this one who's coming who's going
to sacrifice himself for me, pay for my sin. I can't do it. I have to do it for me. Here's the blood before the Lord.
Let the blood be propitiation on the mercy seat at the right
hand of God, the blood of your Lamb, for me a sinner. That's the only way to come to
God, always has been, always will be. Not the blood plus,
not the blood minus, it doesn't apply. Christ said, I'm the Lamb. He
said, for this cause I came into this world. What? To die. To
be the Lamb. He said, I was the Lamb slain
before the foundation of the world, and now here I am. And
John said, there He is, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the
sin of the world, and be saved. Believe in the blood. All right,
so the two boys came. They came to worship. What came right? His works, the works of his hand. He was a hard-working farmer.
He got him a big basket and filled it full of all kinds of things
that he had raised in his garden, beans and taters and maiters.
Scott Richardson said he was a turnip farmer because you can't
get blood out of a turnip. A lot of wisdom in that old statement.
He brought his fruits and his vegetables, and he adorned it
in flowers and the altar. And he just might have wore a
robe, put this covering on, you know. And Abel came with a loincloth,
naked. But that's the way shepherds
dress. But he made him an altar, a pretty
little table, you know, and put these things on it. And he'd
worked hard, and boy, he was sincere, too. I thought God was
going to like this, and look at that, so pretty. I worked
hard at that. I stood back, and God was angry. And God rejected it. And God
said, that's a smoke in my mustache. Why? That's something clean being. That was the works of Cain's
hands. Are you with me? And God won't accept it. Not
anything comes from these hands. Nothing. Nothing. Doesn't matter
how sincere. Why? Because there's sin in it. Abel and Cain got mad, didn't
they? Got angry. That's the reason.
You know, the first death, the first homicide was over religion. Cain slew his brother. Why? He
didn't like his sovereign grace. He didn't like him saying that. And Abel, God said, if you do
well, won't you be accepted? What is it to do well? John 6,
29 says, this is the work of God that you believe. All that
Cain had to do was say, just bring a lamb. You didn't have to adorn it,
didn't have to do anything, just cut it straight. That wasn't
pretty, you know, that's not pretty. It doesn't make for a
pretty altar. Get blood everywhere, bloody,
messy. God said, you better bring the
blood. Because your sins are a mess, and the substitute's
going to have to be made a bloody mess to put them away. Well, Abel brought the blood,
and God accepted it. And you know what happened. A
hanged-up man rose up and slew his brother. There's two religions. That's where it began. That's
where it all began. And they all fall under one of these two
categories. A man bringing his works or a man looking to Christ. And there are lots of subtleties
there. But it's not gray. There's no gray areas. There's
no in-between. There's no—and this is what they
do, people. It's so subtle, crept in. That's
why he said they crept in unaware. Oh yes, the blood of Christ saved,
but, or and, your faith. You've got to make his faith
effectual. You've got to believe in order for the blood to save
you. That's wrong. That's works. That
you're doing something. Listen to me now. Listen to me
very carefully. You're going to believe because
the blood has saved you. That's why. Everybody whom Christ
shed the blood for is going to believe. That's part of the contract. That's part of the covenant,
the blood of the covenant. He's the head of the covenant,
and he sends the Holy Spirit to everyone he shed his blood
for, and they're going to believe. They're going to be made willing.
Psalm 110 verse 5 says, They're going to be made willing in the
day of His power. When God says, there's one with
the blood on him, He sends the Holy Spirit and the man, I believe.
Do you understand what I'm saying?
People make belief in faith a condition. Preachers make it a condition.
Now, if God wants to and can't, you're going to have to let Him.
Please accept Him. That ain't faith. That's not
faith. Besides that, God, why would
you have faith in a God like that? God who wants to and can't. I don't need a God like that. I need a God who wills to and
does. Not wants to and can't. I need
one who wills to and does. One who says, I will, therefore
you shall. I say, I shall. If he hadn't have done that,
I wouldn't have believed. See, faith is not of yourselves. It's the gift of God. Ephesians
2a, it's the gift of God. It's not a condition of salvation.
It's the end of salvation. It's not the means to an end.
It's the end of the means. What's the means? Blood. It's
the blood that makes atonement for the soul, not the blood plus
me believing in it. Now understand what I'm saying. Understand what I'm saying. If this thing's so subtle, you
see, there's people who are going to say, why, we believed on Jesus. I accepted Jesus. I made my decision. Well, when I was twelve, I was
baptized. And they're going to say that
before God, and God's going to say they're workers of iniquity. Isn't that what he said? These
are saying to me, Lord, Lord, Jesus, Jesus, She'll say to men
that day, Lord, Lord, have we not preached and prophesied thy
name? Cast out devil. We want souls to Jesus. He's
going to say, depart from me, you workers of iniquity. Iniquity. Why would He say that? Because it was their works. that
they're pleading before God. Well, I, Lord, well, I accept
it. I let Jesus into my heart. I
open the door. I do nothing. Watch me. I will damn you. But the sinner comes before God.
He's staying before God and God says, Why are you here? What
do you attribute to you being here? They say, He did it. He did it. He did it. I was running,
I was resisting, I was kicking, I was fighting, I didn't want
to, I wasn't willing to, I wasn't calling, I wasn't seeking. He
did it! He did it! He did it! That's
my creed in three words. He did it! Unto Him! Salvation isn't an
I. How salvation is an He? The only I is in the word Him.
Him. Is that your plea? Or do you
plea your profession of faith, or your baptism, or your church
membership, or your experience, anything like that? It's a work,
and it's a subtle thing. It's a subtle thing. Don't dare
not read it. If you think for a minute there's
anything you have done that God's going to accept, you missed it. You missed it. Well, who made the difference?
Why did Abel bring the blood? Hmm? In I Corinthians 4, 7, say, Who
maketh thee to differ? These boys, flesh and blood didn't
make them do it. Who made Peter say, Thou art
the Christ? And everybody else say, He's
a false prophet killing. Who made the difference? The
Lord said, Peter, flesh and blood didn't reveal it to you, but
my Father which is in heaven. So Peter wrote two letters, and
all through it he says, we're kept by his power. We're elect. We're sanctified. We're called
by him. You see that? Peter said, I was
riding a boat. Peter said, I was fishing in
a boat. I wasn't even religious. I said,
I'm fishing. And a man came by. Out of the
blue, out of the blue, a man walked by and said to me in an
irresistible voice, follow me. Drop what you're doing and come
on. But I don't know what came over me. I dropped everything
and followed him. And now I know what came over
me. Two religions. Do we help God
out? God does it all. A-double-M. All means all, and that's all
it all means. Christ is all, or it's me and Jesus. I couldn't
talk on a more important subject, because this thing is subtle. Not really very subtle anymore.
It's getting plumb out of hand. And it's going to be a multitude.
Our Lord said, many will say unto me in that day. Many. Do you realize how many people
that is when God says many? Do you realize how many people
that is when God says many will say unto me in that day? Lord,
Lord. Religious. Well, they've gone the way of
Cain. And read on. I've got to hurry. They've corrupted. They've gone greedily after the
error of Balaam. Generally, they'll fall into
this error. If it works religion, it has
money behind it because there's more people in
it. The error of Balaam. Balaam was a preacher for money.
You know that? That's what he was. He was a
hireling. He was hired to tell, to prophesy. He was hired to
prophesy against Israel. You know the story. You want
to read it sometime for yourself. But God overruled one time and
even caused that old false prophet to tell the truth. He said, I
don't know what came over me. I heard Jimmy Swagger one time
preaching on Just and Justifier. I bet after that was over, he
said, I don't know what came over me. Oh, my. Saul did it one time. Saul was
a false priest, and he prophesied, and everybody was going, what
did he say? He said the truth. Is Saul among the prophets? After
a while, Saul said, well, I didn't mean all that. God overruled. Stan, I believe
that's the, you know, God may have some sheep out there in
that crowd. And a false prophet, he was called Balaam. Balaam
even heard it from a donkey one day. And Balaam, who was one
of those himself, he spoke the truth one day. Well, they go, Balaam was a hireling,
that's exactly what, a hireling. He was in it for money. That
describes most preachers today. They ran it for money. I don't have time to give that
illustration, but there's better money in modern religion and
more people. Hire them. Look at the next thing. It said
they have gone the way of Korah, perished in the gainsaying of
Korah. They argue and backtalk against
the truth, like Korah. Cora argued with Moses, who was
a true messenger, and he said, Well, I'm a messenger, too. Cora said, I have the truth,
too. I know. And a bunch of fellows followed him. You know what happened
to them, don't you? Verse 12. Let's read on. He says, These
are spots in your feasts of charity. They feed with you. But really,
they're feeding on you. They're feeding on you. We'll
look at those verses tonight in Jeremiah. Now usually, and
these fellows usually cater to the wealthy, influential members. I've seen them come and go. I've
seen them. And after they go, down there in verse, where is
it? It says they separate themselves. Verse 19, they be they who separate
themselves. They go off on their own. They're
not content to be one of the crowd. is to face in the crowd. They want to be the face. And
I've seen them. And after they're gone, they
usually ride and stay in contact with the rich people of that
congregation, or at least those that they have had some influence
over. Now, y'all listen to me very
carefully. I'm going to give you a piece of this. You're going
to get some discernment. You're not going to be tricked
and fooled. All right? Everybody in here. Listen, read
on. Feeding themselves without fear,
doing what they do without fear, clouds they are without water.
In other words, they cloud the issue. They're not plain preachers,
they're yea and nay preachers. You ever read that, 1 Corinthians,
2 Corinthians 2, yea and nay? Well, you pin them down. You
say, um, did God elect the people or didn't he? They say, well,
yes and no. What's that? Help this man. Well,
yes, God did. God elected you to believe, but
no, you have to elect him. And really, my hair is missing
for scratching my head. at all these wise statements.
I scratched my head a lot. No way man. Either God chose
the people to save them or he didn't. It can't be one or the
other. I mean it can't be yea and nay. You remember those six stubborn
statements we gave last time? Either God elected a people and
those people will be saved or he didn't. He merely hoped they
would elect him, but he didn't elect them. Huh? Who's going to be elected president
next? The one we vote for, right? All right, who's going to elect
Bill Clinton? That's who it's going to be.
Who's going to elect Bill Clinton? I ain't, but whoever votes for
him will. Whoever votes for him, they'll
say, I elected him. He's in office, why? Because
I voted for him. It's not him voting for me. Now God either elected a people
or he didn't. Huh? Who gets to heaven? All
God elected. But these fellows cloud the issue,
don't they? They cloud us. They cloud the issue. Does the
blood of Christ save or doesn't it? Does the blood of Christ
put away our sins or doesn't it? What does it say? 1 John 1 now, what does it say?
The blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us, doesn't it?
Hebrews 10 now, what does it say? He entered in with the holy
of all, with his own precious blood, having obtained eternal
redemption. Hebrews 1, 5, doesn't it say,
when he sat down at the right hand of God, that he put away
sins forever. He put them away. By himself,
by the sacrifice of himself, and sat down at the right hand
of God. The blood of Christ. But they cloud the issue. They
say, yes, His blood paid for your sins. Now listen to this.
His blood paid for your sins. He put them away, but you've
got to accept the payment. Your faith is what makes the
blood effectual. It's what cashes the check. Now wait a minute. Wait a minute. Did His blood pay for my sins
or didn't they? Did they put away my sins or
didn't they? I go down to a store and I give the man some money.
This is the price. If man says, what will this cost?
Or I'll say, what will it cost? He says, five dollars. I'll say,
here's five dollars. There's the payment. He must
give me that. The law demands it. He must. Why? I have the payment. I have the money. That's mine. Christ said, Deliver him from
going down into the pit. I got the money. I got the price. Almighty love, arrest that man. Why? I got the payment right
here. Gomer on the auction block. What
she had to do with that, Nancy? Hosea's out in the crowd. They're
bidding for this They're bidding for it. What's the highest bid?
Hosea says, a zillion dollars. So, she's got to go along with
him. He paid the price. And the law apprehends her and
says, you're going with this fellow. I heard some fool use this illustration. He said, well, no, it's like
this. He said, it's like Christ made it possible for us to go
free. He paid for our sins. You're in jail, see, for your
sins. You're in prison. And Christ came along and opened
the door. He opened the door to the jailhouse,
and now it's up to you to walk out. He paid the penalty. He paid for your crimes and opened
the door, and it's up to you to walk out. And one wise preacher
said this. He said, I've got a real problem
with this. He said, you show me a jail anywhere, anywhere,
that's taken in boarders. Show me a jail anywhere that's
taken in boarders. In other words, anybody can just
stay. Otis did. But that's just TV. Otis did. He came and went as
he pleased. But see, the law, see, if the
crime is paid, the law says you've got to get out of here. This
place is for guilty people. This incarceration is for guilty
people. You've got to go. You can't stay. You've got to go. That's what
justice says. It's the reason I love the justice
of God. Christ paid for my sins. Justice says, I don't have anything
on him. Satan says, send him to hell.
He's a sinner. Justice says, no, he's not. I don't have a
thing on him. There's not a thing on the book. I can't find the thing. It's got to be there. No, it's
not. It's covered in red. I can't read the thing. The handwriting
of the mortuary is against him. It's covered in red. Well, I'd
convict him if there was anything on the books. Oh, I see his blood. Let him go. Get him out of here.
Next. Next. Bring him next to me. Get him out of here. You see that? And they cloud
the issue, though. They cloud the issue. Oh, seeing
we have such hope. You great plainness of Can you
get any plainer than this? Everybody Christ died for will
be saved. That's my hope. Is that good
hope? Huh? That means that no matter
how sinful you are, yes, this means no matter how sinful you
are, no matter how long you're a sinner, you come before God
and say, Christ is my only hope. You're coming in. Wait a minute you're not going
to let that public and question you know they're going in first. Sit on the front row. You don't mean Mother Teresa,
do you? No. This woman had been with
men for forty years. A common street whore. Sitting
by Christ. And every pope that ever lives
is watching her. in outward torment, outer torment,
outer darkness. I've got a good hope. And it's
the only hope for sinners. Therefore, seeing we have such
hope, we use great plainness of speech. What is it to save
sinners? What is it to save the sinners? I'm not giving anybody a license
to sin. That's what these fellows do.
I know that. I tell you, that doesn't make me want to sin.
Does that make you want to sin? Romans 12, verse 1 says, I beseech
you by the mercies of God. See, he didn't have to do that.
I beseech you by the mercies of God, you present your body
as a living sacrifice. That makes me thankful. It makes
me, it humbles me. And it makes me want to live
for His glory. And it makes me love Him. I want
to be like Him. Spots, clouds, carried with winds. Verse 12,
they carried about of winds. What's that? Every wind of doctrine
in it. Every new thing. That's what's
going on today in the Toronto Blessing. Remember me telling
about that? Every wind, every new thing. That's what the Athenians
like to do. They love to do nothing more than to tell in the hearing
of some new thing. Athens. It could have been called
Athens. California, or Athens, Virginia,
or the Athenians. You've got a new revelation, and everybody just flops to it.
Warning, you don't want anything new. Don't follow anything new. Anything new. As a matter of
fact, the older the better. Jeremiah said, search, stand
and see and search for the old paths, wherein is the good way. Salvation is an old-fashioned
thing. Salvation is an old-fashioned
thing. Read on. Carried about trees without whose
fruit withereth, their converts will fall. Without fruit, they
don't have it. Plucked up by the roots, the
root of the matter is not in them. Verse 13, raging waves
of the sea, that is, they go with every rage. They follow
the latest rage. Foaming at their own chains,
they're not afraid to say anything. Or they stand. They just spew
out anything. If a man knew God, he'd set a
watch on his lip. He'd be scared to utter the name
of God, especially out in public where somebody might believe
him. But these false fellows say anything.
They say anything. Lying on God without fear. Telling
that men God wants to and can't. Oh, man. God's going to someday say to
those fellows, Oh yeah, I've got it written
right here. A man shall be accountable for every idle word. Down in
verse 13, it says there are ungodly sinners. They've spoken against
Him. Everything they say is against Him, against God. I heard you
say that. Now, just watch as I do exactly
what I want to do. Instead of watch over your lips,
You ought to name God. God. God what? God. What about God? What's he like? What's he going
to do? God. He is God. Believe it or not. Spots. Read on. Hurry. I haven't
been, I've only been thirty minutes. Spots, they say. Wandering stars,
spots in your feet, raging waves, reserves of darkness. Enots said
they're ungodly, ungodly deeds. And I remind you that man doesn't
have to be outwardly wicked to be ungodly. He's a man who does not have
a heart for God's glory. You see, and this is important. I need to say this. The difference between a man
after God's own heart, a true preacher, and a false one is
this. Now, you listen. A true preacher of the gospel,
a man after God's own heart, is more concerned with God's
rights than he is men. You hear that? I'll say it again.
A true preacher of the gospel, a true man sent from God, is
more concerned with God's rights than he is men. In other words, he is more declaring
God's power, God's sovereignty, God's sovereign and purpose that
it will be done, that God must do, can do, and must do, will. That's what makes him God. He
is insistent on God's rights as God, not man's. A false one, all he's concerned
with is man's rights. Well, you're offending man's
will. He doesn't have any rights. Is it that man? Read on, all right? Ungodly. Verse 16, murmurs, complainers,
they never have enough. And they're beggars. Oh, they're
beggars. I need this, I need that. My support's not big enough.
Their mouth speaketh grace, swelling words, good talker, good speeches,
fair words, smooth speeches, good words. Having men's persons
in admiration, a true preacher of the gospel admires. He says he has God's person in
that relation. He's not out to impress men.
But it's God that he speaks before. Read on. Because of advantage,
but beloved, remember that. Remember, he said, Peter said
that. And they separate themselves. They're maverick creatures. Call
themselves and send themselves and go out on their own and love
the world. And it's applause. Verse 20.
Now, a few more minutes, all right? We've been tearing down
and breaking down these fellows and exposing them. And it's needful. You, I, we need discernment. Because remember how it started?
If it were possible, it would deceive the very least. Because
many are gone out and they could deceive you. False brethren creeping
in the church. And they have these same principles
behind them. If you don't have discernment, you'll be taken
by them. You'll follow them. You'll like them. You'll love
them. You'll eat in their houses. You'll fall for their speeches.
And you'll grievously err against the truth if you don't have this
discernment. All right, now, I'm going to
try to build you up some, okay? Get a hold of yourself. You with me? Want a drink? Would it help? I would say, take five minutes.
Take a break. Just give me five more, all right?
Read on. Beloved, you, building up yourselves
on your most holy faith, building up yourselves on your most holy
faith, praying in the Holy Ghost. What does this mean, building
up yourselves? Building up yourself on this
most holy faith. How do you do that? Build yourself
up in faith. Build your faith up. How? Well,
how does faith come? By hearing the Word. Know what
I'm saying? Hearing the gospel. How does
one build up himself in the faith? By being under the sound of the
gospel. Those who are under it the most are going to grow in
faith. and grace. Grow in grace and
in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Who's going to
grow in grace and in knowledge? Who's going to grow in faith?
Those who are under the sound of the word the most. Right?
What plants grow the most? The ones that are watered enough. The ones that are fertilized
enough. Right? Oh, I'm just so weak in the faith.
Why? Are you going to be here tonight?
Are you going to be here tonight? Well, I know I've got to get
to the... Don't complain about being weak in the faith. Huh? It's as simple as that. Be under
the sound of the word. Build yourselves up. He says
here, praying in the Holy Ghost. Praying in the Holy Ghost. That
doesn't mean praying in gibberish. I can speak in tongues. What
you got in my mouth, let me speak in tongues. That's blasphemous. That's ridiculous. That's not praying in the Holy
Ghost. What does it mean to pray in the Holy Spirit, in the Holy
Ghost? All right, what does he do? What does the Holy Ghost
do? Well, it's his author. If you read John 14 and John
16, which I've never heard one of these so-called spirit fellows
say, but John 14 and 16, all through those chapters, our Lord
said, here's the comforter. He's coming, and this is what
he's going to do. John 14 and 16. This is what the Comforter
shall do. He shall guide you into all truth. He shall take the things of mine
and show them unto you. He shall bring to remembrance
all things that I said. In other words, Holy Spirit preaching
is Christ-filled preaching. and praying in the Holy Ghost
is to say, O Holy Spirit, take the things of Christ and show
them to me. Because then I'll know the truth,
who is Christ, and it'll set me free from these false prophets
that I'm preaching Christ. You see? I'll be grounded and
settled in the truth, and then when one of these fly-by-night
preachers comes along with a newfangled thing and a miracle and a sign
and a wonder, I don't want to go with him. I'll sit in my chair,
reading my Bible, saying, that ain't of God, because it says
right here. That ain't of God, it ain't written. It'll set me free. He ain't going
to relieve me of bondage. I'm going to settle right down
right here. Clothed in fur on the floor laughing. You tell
a good joke, it's worth laughing. I might laugh. But you ain't
going to slay me. I'm sure not going to come up
after you preach and let you breathe on me. I want that. I'm making fun. They need to
be making fun. I can slay you. You come up here
right now. Come up here right now. I'll slay you. I blow in
your face and slay you. You do it to me after every service,
and I want to hand out the search. You need to do this. Start doing it. Joe, let's do
that. Let's hand out search after every service. Isn't that nonsense? That's exactly what Elijah did
on Carmel. He said, Come on, boys. Praise
your God. Maybe he's taking a vision. You
know what he said there? Maybe your God's, where is He?
Why isn't He listening to you? Maybe He's taking a trip. He's
on a journey. Taking a trip. Where to? Reap yourself. Sometimes. Oh, He may find out. Oh, maybe He can't hear you.
Cry louder. Oh, beloved. Praying in the Holy
Ghost. Pray. Lord, give me discernment. Well, let me fall for this mess.
Teach me Christ. Read on. Keep yourselves in the
love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ
unto eternal life. Now, you know he's not saying
there that you keep yourself saved or you keep God loving
you. What can you do? What can we
do to keep God loving us? Huh? He said, I've loved them
with an everlasting love. Didn't he say that? So, you know,
if you know the Scriptures, you know it doesn't mean that. He
said, I've loved them with an everlasting love. He said, my
father, which is greater than all, were in his hands. No man is able to pluck them
out of my father's hands. He said, I'll give them to them
in eternal life, and they'll never perish. He said, they're kept by the
power of God. So what's it say? Where's the love of God? Christ. Well, you hear about
the love of God. What kind of sacrifice has God
well pleased with? Believers. gospel hearers, gospel
believers, those under the sound of the gospel and loving it,
bowing to it, believing it. The love of God is in Christ,
Romans 8, 39. It's in Christ. Keep yourselves under the sound
of that gospel, which tells us of this love of God. Looking for mercy. That's good,
isn't it? Looking for mercy. Keep yourself
Folks, just stay right there at the feet of Christ like Mary.
Mary is not lifted up now. She's still at His feet. Keep
yourselves at the mercy seat. There's a mercy seat. Stay right
there. Don't ever get off your spiritual
knees. Don't ever get off your spiritual face before Him. Keep yourselves in the love of
God. How's that? As a sinner seeking mercy. My daughter's memory verse last
week, Psalm 147, verse 11, I believe it is. Where is it? I wrote it
down. It says this, He take a pleasure in them that fear Him, in those that hope in His mercy. Is that Psalm 147, 11 there?
Good. He take a pleasure in them that
fear Him, And in those that hope in His mercy. I'm a sinner. I want mercy. God smiles. Smile. God loves you. Oh yeah. That's what that's saying.
And read on. He says, Some people have compassion. You know, I feel sorry for the
people. I'm damn right angry. These preachers, they're the
scum of the earth. They know what they're doing.
They know what they're doing. They're Balaams. Balaam knew
what he was doing. Didn't he? Read it. He knew what
he was doing. Korah knew what he was doing.
He's a rebel. Cain knew what he was doing.
These preachers know what they're doing. They've got a Bible. They've
been to school. They've read it just as much as I have. Well,
maybe not. But they've read it. They know what they're doing.
They're in it for money. And they'll say or do anything
they need to to get your body in the pew. Get your name on
the dotted line to get more money from the convention. I'm telling
you. But the people, I pity the people. I really do. People are ignorant.
It says here we need to have compassion. Verse 23, save with
fear. You know we can't save them.
He's not saying that. You can bring them to where the
gospel is that can save them though. You can witness to them the gospel
that can save them. That's what he's saying. Pulling
them out of the fire. He said, come out from among them. Come
hear what I'm hearing. That's a mess. Be like Virgie. You ain't going
to hear no gospel down there. There ain't no church. The church,
as Virgie would say, the church is where Christ is preached. Not where games are played. It's
where people worship God in spirit, rejoice in Christ Jesus, and
put no confidence in the flesh. They don't have all this flesh
stuff. You don't worship God with flesh.
God's not worshiped with men's hands. Here. But he says, Hating even the
garment spotted by the flesh. That is anything that has to
do with the flesh. All this fleshly religion. Hating
every bit of it. I do. I esteem all of God's precepts
concerning all things to be right, and I hate, I utterly hate every
false way. All this stuff going on in religion,
I absolutely detest it. Anything but the pure preaching
of this is absolutely abomination. I hate it. Men are saying there's
something else necessary, that this isn't enough. This is the
power of God Almighty and the salvation of everyone that believes
it. Read on. Now unto him that is able to
keep you from calling. Oh yeah, go on, dude, go on.
Unto him present you faultless before the presence of his glory. Keep saying it. With exceeding
joy, you're going to joy in Christ, and you're going to joy, rejoice
in Christ. To Him, the only wise God, our
Savior, be all glory and majesty and dominion and power both now. He's got it now, and He'll have
it forever. Amen. Brethren, beloved, Build
up yourselves in this most holy thing. It's most holy because
it's God-given, and there are few that have it. Many are called. Few are chosen. If you heard
this and you believe this, bless God, because He's the one that
revealed it to you. You have a rare thing. Guard
it. Keep yourselves under it. Don't
go after that stuff. All right, let's stand and I'll
dismiss this in a moment. Heavenly Father, thank you, thank
you for men, bold men, dogmatic men, courageous men that you
raised up, such as the Apostle Jude, who were not afraid of
men, but feared God. not out to have men's persons
in admiration for advantage, their own personal gain, but
who sought one thing, the glory of God, the truth of God's Word,
and were not afraid, yea, necessity was laid upon them to tell it.
Thank you, Lord, for moving on them by your Holy Spirit to write
these words. Lord, open our eyes wide open. Give us twenty-twenty visions.
When it comes to these things that go on around us, let us
try the Spirit by your Word. Let us try them. Let us see from
your Word the truth that will set us free. And save us from
this untoward generation. This generation is not going
toward God, though they say it. Though they say it with their
lips and their hearts, it's far from you. And go in the opposite
direction of the God of the Bible. Lord, save us from this untoward
generation and cause us to look to Christ and follow Him and
Him alone. No man but Christ. We pray and ask these things.
In Christ's name, amen.