Now let's turn right to our text
in Jude. I do wish we had the capacity
to sit for longer periods of time and worship but such is the weakness of the
flesh. And I admit, I'll be the first
to admit, I have a distinct advantage over you in that I'm able to
prepare a lot longer and enter into the text and the subject. But I do not forget where you
are, where you sit, and how difficult. I do sit in here preaching at
times. And I do not forget the difficulty
and the struggles we have in the flesh on listening. And I don't want to burden you. I don't want to get bogged down
in these studies and all. But I am a firm believer in this
thing of preaching verse by verse through the scripture, a firm
believer in that. I believe that everything is covered. God blesses
his word, and we don't get off in other areas when we go verse
by verse. Everything is covered. And I
like messages in series. I personally enjoy very much
our study through the son of David, a series on that, and
then Tabernacle. I thoroughly enjoy our studies,
Bible studies, on Sunday mornings. And now here we are in Jude,
this little book, and I intended this morning to preach through
verse four, and we got through verse one. And I was going to
make it a three-part message, but now I just don't know. And
I hate this little piece on my wrist here. I wish I could throw
it away. I really do. We're so bound by this. I wish
it weren't that way. When the Lord blesses, I wish
we could just go on. You know, the disciples on the
road to Emmaus, our Lord preached to them. No telling how long
he preached. It says he began in the book of Moses. and the
Psalms and the Prophets and expanded unto them all the things concerning
himself. How long would that take? No telling, but it says
they didn't get enough of it. They constrained it. Well, come
on in the house and continue preaching to us in there. And someday we'll have the capacity.
We'll have the capacity to receive and never grow tired. Now, let's
look at Jude briefly. I want to get into verse 4, but
I also want to continue. I don't want to drag this study
out too long. I'm going to go through several verses here. I hope we can. Verse 2, he said,
after verse 1, talking about this work of God and salvation,
how that God sanctified us, God the Father, chose a people, set
them apart, set his love upon them. declared them to be holy,
justified them, and then gave Christ to come to redeem them
to himself, preserving them through his precious blood, and then
sending the Holy Spirit to call them affectionately so that every
single one of them, every one that the Father gives him, will
come to him. And he says here in verse 2,
as a result of that work of God, there's mercy. unto you, mercy,
and peace, and love. These things are multiplied. Multiplied, he said, abundantly
multiplied. The reason the Scriptures call—these
are what you would refer to as the riches of Christ. And the
Scriptures call them unsearchable, innumerable, abundant, multiplied. to overflow it. Our cup, that
is the cup of salvation of God's people, runneth over. Mercy? You're talking about mercy being
multiplied. His mercies, Terry, are new every morning. From 6
a.m. or 5 a.m., whatever you wake
up, His mercy starts. And it never quits. And you wake
up the next morning, it starts again. Why? We need it. Mercy
is not getting what we deserve. And the minute we wake up, we've
got these sinful, wicked thoughts. and the mercy of God must be
upon us from the beginning. Peace, peace, or that is pardon,
pardon, acceptance with an offended God. My soul has been multiplied
in love. Behold what manner of love the
Father hath bestowed upon us. Love, because sons of God Now
verse 3, Beloved, now obviously you could spend a lot of time
on just verse 2, but let's go on. Beloved, when I gave all
diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was
needful for me to write unto you and exhort you. It was needful. And he says, he calls it the
common salvation here. There's nothing common about
salvation. He's not talking about that. What he's saying is that
the salvation that all of us are in on, the same hope of our
calling, one spirit, one hope of our calling, one Lord, one
faith, one baptism, one and the same, this common salvation that
we, that believers experience, or that is the same faith, one
Lord and so forth. And he says here, I felt compelled. It's just a little short letter. Paul says, you see how long a
letter I've written unto you. But Judas here wrote a short
one. He said, but I felt compelled.
I just had to write you. I can't help but speak the things
we've seen and heard, and I just couldn't help myself. I had to
write you. I had to write you out of concern for you. It was
needful, he said, that I write unto you and exhort you exhort
you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was
once delivered unto the saints. I exhort you to contend for the
faith that was once delivered to the saints." I exhort you
to declare, whenever you're given the opportunity, to declare in
no uncertain terms who you believe, what you believe. And use Bible
words. Don't be apologetic for God's
Word. Use Bible words such as election,
predestination, righteousness, these things. Don't apologize
for God. Don't try to explain it, necessarily. But contend for the faith. Contend for it. Use great plainness
of speech. You know, God has promised to
bless His Word. And let me give you this little
hint, little thing of advice along these lines of of witnessing
to people. Pray for an open door. Pray for
the Lord's leadership. Pray for wisdom to deal with
people. Pray for these things. But here's,
listen, in dealing with somebody, I think this is good advice,
pray that the Lord will give you one word in Caesar, just
one verse of scripture, if you will, one verse. Because one
word of God can say far more than us railing and rambling
for an hour, right? It's the word of God that's sharper
than any two-edged sword. It's the word of God that he
said will not return unto me void. Not my explanation of it,
right? We fumble and fail and we talk
till we're blue in the face and it seems like after it's all
over we have an accomplished thing, right? One word, Lord
give me one scripture that's fitting, that's profitable, a
word in season to say to this person, and leave it with them.
Is that a good advice? Leave it with them. Contend for
the—use great plainness of speech. Stand up for the truth in the
face of opposition, earnestly, zealously. For the glory of God,
for the honor of Christ, contend for it. Don't be contentious.
There's a difference. Contend, or that is, stand up
for the truth earnestly. Don't be contentious or mean-spirited,
but do it with meekness, considering your own self, unless you would
be in the same position, or unless the shoe were on the other foot.
Contend for the gospel of God's sovereign grace in Christ, because
there is no other gospel. There is no other. Contend for
it. He calls it the faith which was once delivered unto the saints.
Buddy, you better believe Abraham believed in a sovereign God,
didn't he? Abraham contended that God was sovereign. Noah,
preacher of righteousness, preacher of judgment, You know, it's old-fashioned
in our day, but judgment is coming in the stand. It is coming, even
though our civilized and educated society says that's old-fashioned
hellfire damnation preaching. Well, it's so. Don't apologize
for it. Moses testified that without
blood there's no remission. wrote psalm after psalm about
the sovereign son of God. Isaiah saw his glory and spoke
of him, the mighty God who had the government on his shoulder.
And they all believed the same one and the same thing we believe.
This faith that was once delivered unto the saints, and that word
delivered means it was revealed unto them, same way you and me,
same way it was to us. It was revelation to them. It
was a gift to them. It wasn't because of their faithfulness
or their works. It was a gift to them, just like
it is to us. But they all believed the same reigning, ruling Lord,
a just God and a Savior, in that order. A just God and a Savior,
in that order. Same exact gospel. The faith
which was once delivered unto the saints is the same faith
we believe. Same exact gospel. It was delivered to Peter, James,
John. Delivered. Preached by Paul,
Timothy, Jude. Later on it was preached by men
like Augustine, Calvin, Knox, Owens, Bunyan, Toplady, Newton,
Gill, Flavel, Jonathan Edwards, Thomas Manton, Thomas Brooks.
The list goes on. Fortner, Mahan, Montgomery. Keep naming them. Pledger, Groover,
Clark. The list goes on. Same faith,
once delivered unto the saints, is now delivered to the saints
now. The faith, the gospel, and there is no other, the gospel
of a sovereign Savior and his effectual redeeming grace. And
Jude here felt the urgency to write and exhort these people
to steadfastness in his faith, in the teeth of, in the face
of, all this opposition they were facing from false prophets
and Creeps, he calls them creeps. Look at it, verse 4. There are
certain men crept in. John called them snakes, same
tense. Same term. Snakes. Weasel. Wiley. Crafty. Sneaking. Sneaky snake, like
that old song. Oh, boy. Paul said they creep into houses
and leads captives. VIA TV sets and radio creep in,
you know. Unexpectedly, you turn on that
TV and they're, they got you. Spellbound. the boob tube, they
used to call it, and got you under their spell. And boy, some
of them are charismatic, and they just got you. You can't
take your eyes off. Creep in. Certain men crept in
unaware. Snakes, vipers, that's what we
call them. That's what Christ, that's what
John called them. That's what the Scriptures called them. Creeps.
And these men, it says, they were before of old ordained to
this condemnation. of old ordained to this condemnation." Now, God has, from the beginning
of time, from that counsel, that eternal
counsel that he and his Son and his Holy Spirit convened or held,
that eternal counsel God has of old, from the very beginning,
determined or prefixed the eternal destinies of all men." Now, I
could just leave it right there, couldn't I? It says what it says. I read everybody I could read
on it, and I've got scribblings all over my book here. I wrote
one thing, scribbled it out, wrote another thing, scribbled
it out. What does it say right there? You're reading the same
thing I'm reading here. Let me try to explain it a little
bit. I know there are false charges labeled against us, but all men and women are born guilty,
sinful, vile, wretched, condemned sinners on the road to hell. On the road to hell. All men
by nature are going to hell. It's not as if God has to direct
a man that way. God has to make him sin just
in order to send him to hell. No. He'll sin by nature. He'll
go into hell of his own will and volition and his own acts. Acts 13, 48 talks about as many
as were ordained to eternal life, believe. God must ordain certain
elect individuals to be saved. He must. He must, in mercy, stop
some people, their wild career. He must, in grace, give them
everything necessary for life and for godliness in order to
receive them. He must ordain people to salvation. All he needs to do in order for
people to go to hell is leave them alone. leave them alone. In accordance with the divine,
eternal decrees of God Almighty, he decreed from the very beginning
to allow, to leave some people alone. This is the sense in which
he has ordained some people to condemnation. In other words,
according to his decree, I'm going to leave those alone, but
in mercy and grace, I'm going to save and deal with and set
apart, sanctify these people. That's the best I can do. Here's
an illustration, a simple little illustration that may suffice.
A dog, when it is born, every dog is a carnivorous canine. It's a dog. I don't care what,
I don't care if it's the highest bred form of Pekingese or whatever
it may be. It's a dog. Poodle, it's a dog. When it is born by nature, within
its nature, it's wild, it's vicious, it's carnivorous, and by nature
it's unfit for anything. Unless somebody takes that animal
and nurtures it, trains it, chastens it, instructs it, feeds it, provides
it, inoculates it from all diseases, does everything to care for and
protect and provide and train that dog into something worthwhile
or something fit for the master's use. But if left to itself, a
dog's a dog, right? Fit to be road food. Fit to be run over and cast away.
A dog's a dog, right? What's the world need with dogs,
then? I know you think a lot of your dogs, but they're just
dogs, aren't they? There's no intrinsic, I use that
word all the time, what that means is there's no, nothing
within the life of a human being is really of any value to God
Almighty. And you say Lebanon is not fit for burning? Huh?
It's vanity. You're less than nothing. God
doesn't need man, right? Man's a low life form. A low life form. He once had
some intrinsic worth. He once had the image of God
in him. No more. He's dead. He's dead. All right. And so it is with
man, who are snakes, born with this venom of sin within them.
And, well, I'm not going to go into it any further. But it says
right there, ungodly men or of old, ordained with this condemnation. They turn the grace of our God,
some of them turn the grace of our God into lasciviousness,
antinomian doctrine, turning the grace of God into lasciviousness,
saying it doesn't matter how you live. And Paul said in another
place, they do despise the spirit of grace, that is, they say grace
plus. That's what you were saying back in the study. They do despise
or confuse, or he said in one place, I do not frustrate the
grace of God by adding to it or taking away from it. I say
grace is grace, works is work. Now if it's grace, it's not works.
If it's works, it's not grace. It's grace. One hundred percent
pure grace. Not ninety-nine, forty-four,
one hundred percent, but one hundred percent grace. All of
God. Don't confuse it here, but some
do. Some do. Some do frustrate the grace of
God, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness. They
deny the Lordship of Christ, the only Lord God, or that is,
the sovereign power of God, our Lord Jesus Christ. They preach
by preaching a gospel that will not save, a God who is impotent,
who wants to and can, a Christ who is a failure. A blood that
redeems nobody. A man-centered, man-glorifying
message. And Jude says, I was compelled.
I could not help myself. I had to write you and warn you
about it, as do all the other apostles. Now look with me at
verse 5. He says, I will therefore put
you in remembrance. Now I've got something to say
to you, he says. And you remember this. He once knew this, he said,
how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of
Egypt, the Jews, the chosen people of God, afterward destroyed them
that believed not. Now he says, and we're going
to leave this judgment of these obviously, outwardly, openly
wicked people, we're going to leave them, we're going to talk
about the house of God. Because the time has come where
judgment must first begin at the house of God. He says, now
we're going to talk to us personally. And he said, do you remember
the Jews that were so miraculously delivered and so wonderfully
provided for and protected all the way through the wilderness
and all? He said, two people over twenty years of age entered
into the promised land. Those that didn't believe, they
were destroyed, he said. What a solemn warning to us. What makes us think, Denver?
Ellen, what makes us think God's going to put up with us any more
than He did the Jews? We're no different than they
are. No different. It's a solemn warning. This is
the reason we studied in 2 Peter how that we ought to give diligence
to make our call in election sure. And this is the reason it's required
of a steward. A steward is a recipient, a steward
of the grace of God, a recipient, those who receive the gospel
of God. It's required of them more than
anything that they be what? Found what? Faithful. Faithful. Three areas. That they be found
faithful in word, And this is what Jude started out by saying
here in their profession, but not just a profession, found
faithful in their walk, found faithful in their worship. These
are three proofs. Found faithful in their word,
that is, having a knowledge of the truth, discernment of the
person and work of Christ. A solid confession of the gospel
is necessary, but it goes on. from faith to faith, from perfection,
from glory to glory, found faithful in word, in walk, regeneration,
sanctification, repentance, a change. That's what repentance means,
change, turn. That's what he said to the Thessalonians. He said, you turned from your
idols to worship the living God. You turned. That's what repentance
is, turning. New creature, spiritual walk,
Christ-like attitude in everything, as we said in Ephesians 4, we
read it this morning, growing up in Christ in all things, maturing
into faith. By degrees, yet it's there in
all of them. Faithful in word, profession,
faithful in walk and actual possession, faithful in worship. Worship,
true believers, children of God, true Christians are taken up
with the things of God. I say this time and time again,
almost to the point of harping on it, and did you read the little
article by Don Fortner in the Bulletin this morning? Solemn
warning about apostasy, and the first mark of apostasy is a gradual
slipping away of carelessness toward the things of God, forsaking
oneself from the assembly of saints. Listen, a believer, a true child
of God, a speaker, a child of God orders their lives
around worship, not vice versa. A real child of God who's really
interested in things of God, whose affection is set on things
above, orders his life around worship, not vice versa. around the things, around knowing
God. All right, verse 6, he says,
And the angels, now think about the angels, what they saw. The
angels, which kept not their first estate, but left their
own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains, under
darkness, unto the judgment of the great day. These angels,
though blessed with visions and sights and knowledge, far more
than us, yet they kept not their first estate. You just preached
this morning. Once in Christ, always in Christ. Give diligence to make your calling
and election sure. There's no contradiction here
at all, none whatsoever. There's promises and warnings.
This morning we're full of promises, okay? This evening we're talking
about warnings, lest we presume. These angels kept not their first
estate. Their hearts weren't right. This
was the key. Their hearts weren't right. Like
Simon Magus, it said he believed also. Simon Magus was baptized
and it said he believed also. In other words, it sounded like
an afterthought. Simon Magus baptized, got religion, and he
believed also. Oh yeah, by the way, he believed
the doctrine too, but his heart wasn't right in him. That's salvation. Salvation is regeneration. It's in here where it begins. And it says, these angels whose
hearts were not right, they were reserved in chains of darkness
to the day of judgment. Satan and his demons and all
these evil powers that followed Satan said they're under chains. They seem to be doing some things,
don't they? Oh, Hal Lindsey, a false prophet, he wrote a book entitled, Satan
is Alive and Well on Planet Earth. That's a flat lie. Satan's in
chains. According to Jude, verse 6, know
what you read? Does he sound well off to you,
with a chain around his neck and in manacles? Does he sound
like he's doing well? Besides that, he's dead in trespasses
and sins. He's not alive. He doesn't have
the life of God in him. At any rate, God, according to
his purpose, according to his sovereign will and divine wisdom, uses these demons and Satan himself
according to his purposes. Now, Thomas Watson said this,
and this is good. You have to listen carefully
to understand this simple quote. God does not have a hand in the
stand where the action is, but he has a hand in the action where
the scene is. In other words, God doesn't have
a hand in their sin. He doesn't cause them to sin
and the evil. God is not the author of sin,
yet he has a hand in his divine will and his wisdom. He has a hand in the outcome.
He determines that whatever they themselves do is going to work
out his purposes, and boy, it frustrates them. In the same
sense, in Acts chapter 2, Peter said, you with wicked hands have
taken and crucified the Lord of glory. You did what you determined
to do, but you did what God determined a long time before you did. He
didn't have to make you do it. You did it willingly, of your
own free will. But it worked out His divine
will. Oh, and it was for His glory,
wasn't it? The greatest glory of God. So God determines and decrees
the end by allowing and directing things to happen in keeping with
His holiness. But the subject at hand here
is judgment, here. Go to verse 7, judgment. Sodom
and Gomorrah, cities about them, in like manner, cities of the
plains, were given over, like Romans 1 says, reprobates, given
over to fornication and going after strange flesh, strange
flesh, given over to... Now, see if this doesn't sound
like the United States of America in 1991. The cities, Sodom and Gomorrah
and the cities of the plain, were given over to fornication.
That is, they were consumed with S-E-X. Right? Consumed with it. All manner
and wicked ways in it. Whatever you could think of,
they were in it. Isn't that our generation? Uncleanness,
whoremongering, lasciviousness. And it says, they'd given over
to strange flesh, that Paul said, Timothy, he said, without natural
affection. Homosexuality, I believe, is
what this is alluding to. Homosexuality was rampant back
then, and it's rampant now, isn't it? And the people allowed it,
and Solomon Gamara even condoned it, even became militant in the
cause of it. And it says, remember when God
led Lot and his family out of Sodom, it says that the men were
even struck with blindness. God sent a judgment on them,
but it said they broke through the door trying to get at those
men, not their daughters, the men, to have these relations,
even in their affliction. And this reminds me of, do you
think the people with AIDS have discontinued their evil practices? No. No way. Smitten and afflicted with a
death, a certain death-causing disease, yet they're still broken. It is set forth as an example,
suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. They were burnt to a crisp,
Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities of the plains. Now, God has judged
and God continues to judge all sin. He will by no means clear
the guilty. Every sin, John, is going to
receive a just recompense from God. It must. God judges all
sin and sinners. and sinners. He visits the sin
and iniquities of men and women, even upon their children's children. The reason some children are
born with AIDS. And he visits people with personal
calamities He visits people with sickness, violence, distorted
poverty, cleanness of teeth, as Scripture talks about, that
is droughts, famine, pestilence, natural disasters. God has visited
twentieth-century America with judgment, and men perceive it
not. That's Sodom and Gomorrah of
America, San Francisco, California. Am I pointing right? West? Sodom
and Gomorrah of America, San Francisco, was literally in 1989,
before millions and millions of viewers during the course
of the World Series, was literally shaken. People running, screaming
for their lives. People all over the world viewed
that on national Worldwide television, God Almighty's shaking that city. Did it do any good? Didn't do any good. And it's
the cities of the plains. We have cities of the plains.
Let's not be, let's not talk about San Francisco only. Homosexuality
is rampant in Roanoke, Virginia. The cities of the plains. plain
old ordinary, good old home town. You know, it's everywhere, everywhere. And someday they're going to
be burnt to a crisp like Sodom and Gomorrah was in the cities
of the plain. And likewise, verse 8, these
filthy dreamers. Boy, I tell you, God's Word really
calls these, these nuts by names, doesn't it? Vipers, filthy dogs. And we ain't supposed to call
names. Judge not. Don't they say that? A man took
issue with me down in Houston after I preached. Came out and
said, you ought not to judge people. My soul. Filthy dreamers. Now, I'm not
going to go back there, but you know Jeremiah 23. All the way
through Jeremiah 23, it talks about these people that dream
dreams, that they think to pervert God's Word with their dreams,
with their dreams. They make people to forget God's
Word by their dreams. They say, God told me this, God
told me that, I had a dream. And then the scripture goes on
to say, and to command, well, he that has that little dream,
let him tell his little dream. Let him tell his little dream.
What's the chaff to the wheat? But he that hath my word, let
him preach it faithfully. Preach it instant. Be instant.
In season, out of season. Like Paul said to Timothy. and
their filthy dreamers. That's all they've got. They're
not going to the Word of God, verse by verse. It would condemn
them and their practices, wouldn't it? They're not preaching the
Word of God where it would condemn them. They wouldn't have them.
They wouldn't be able to support their covetousness. It will condemn
what they're saying and doing. So they dream. I had a dream.
And touch not, God's anointed. That's in against the Holy Spirit
if you say I didn't dream this dream. So, Jude describes them
here. He said, Filthy dreamers defile
the flesh. They defile the flesh. That is,
defile all those people that follow them, despise dominion. Oh, do they despise the sovereign
grace of God, sovereignty of the lordship of Christ. I know
they say, Lord, Lord, with their lips. Well, Henry, their hearts
are far from believing that, aren't they? Why? They're the
lords. They've got a following, too,
and if all men quit following them and followed Christ, They
wouldn't have a ministry, would they? They're little lords. They're
little gods in their own minds, legends in their own minds. And they say, Lord, Lord, with
their lips, but their heart is far from believing that, far
from it. Speak evil of dignities, despise
dominion, despise God, the lordship of Christ, and speak evil of
dignities. I was going to entitle this message
tonight, Devil Bashing. Devil bashing. It's real popular
today, isn't it? And you can get a following.
Devil bashing. Everybody's doing it. These prophets,
these false prophets, they shout and they scream at the devil.
You've seen them, haven't you? The worst one of the bunch. Boy,
I keep mentioning that dude, but my soul. Devil! I'm commanding you!" Screaming
at the devil. I command you, devil. They make their idle boasts of
power and authority over the devil. They talk about how they
told the devil to do this and do that. Stomped on the head
of the devil, you know. And I tell you what, this goes
right on down into the average freewill Arminian Baptist church. It's not just on national TV.
You go into the average so-called church out here in the sticks,
and you'll find the preacher standing up saying, I told the
devil the same thing. Same thing. Yet, as verse 9,
Michael, the archangel, when contending with the devil, that
is, faced with confronting the devil and disputing about the
body of Moses, dare not bring against him a railing accusation."
He didn't say, I rebuke you, devil, did he? I command you. He didn't scream at him. He said,
the Lord rebuke you, Satan. The Lord rebuke you. Listen to
me, folks. The only person more powerful
than Satan is God himself. Right? He was called in the beginning,
Satan or Lucifer, son of the morning, the highest angel. He's called over in Ephesians
6, the prince of the power of the air, principality, rulers
of the darkness of this world. Our children, we see these comic
books and these science fiction movies and all this about satanic
this and satanic that. They don't know the half of it. The Lord God, if he let back
the, turned back, opened up the skies and let men see, they'd
die of fright. Die of fright. And if he lets
Satan loose for just a little season, it says he's going to,
over Revelation, he's going to. He's going to have a little season.
Let loose and all hell is going to break loose, such as never
before. And he's pinhead. I can see him
now, Henry. Devil! And this reminds me of the sons
of Siva. Remember those seven sons of
Siva? that came running, they were trying to exorcise the devil,
and it says that he smote them, and they were cut and bleeding
and ran out of that place naked. And the devil, or the demon,
one of his little pinhead demons, wasn't the devil, all he needed
to do was send one little demon, said to those old boys, Now Jesus
we know, and Paul we know, the apostle with all authority, who
are you? my soul." And Michael, even Michael
the archangel, wouldn't contend with him. Yet Bob Tilton's got
the devil by the tail right now. Listen to this, you ever thought
about this? You know why Satan doesn't do something with these
present, you know why he doesn't do the same thing with these
present day preachers that he did with the sons of Sabaoth?
You know why he doesn't, I've often thought, boy I wish the
devil would, would really show that old boy. You know why? You know why he doesn't do the
same thing? Because they're doing his work. They're working for
him. And the house divided against
itself can't stand, right? They're doing his work. They
got people deceived into thinking they're stepping on the hand
of the devil, when all the while they're playing into his hands. Satan's applauding their preaching.
Yeah, you're deceiving everybody. You got everybody fooled. Keep
it up, buddy. They speak evil of those things,
verse 10. Speak evil of those things which
they know not. This talks about the gospel here,
I believe, principally. They speak evilly and falsely
of God. They do, blasphemously, don't
they? speak blasphemously, evilly,
falsely of God, His character. They malign the power of God,
the wisdom of God, the love of God. They're keeping the love
of God in such a way that men just walk on it. The blood of
Christ, haven't they trodden it underfoot? Huh? They do that
because they cast it out there and make it a general offer for
men to just trod underfoot. Don't they? Oh, and God says
there's going to be sore punishment, sore punishment. They speak evil
of God's Son and God's salvation, and they speak evilly and falsely
of Satan and his work, evil of those things, or ignorantly of
those things which they know not. They don't have the foggiest
idea. But what they know, it says,
verse 10, what they know naturally. according to their carnal reasonings,
like brute beasts, like fools that they are. Brute beasts,
animal, carnal. They speak of those things that
they only know in that way and corrupt themselves. Corrupt themselves. What they know naturally. They
professed faith and piety. And they use all the terms, the
language, they use the Bible mostly as a prop, but the Scripture
says they're only carnal. Carnal. And they speak of things
from a carnal knowledge, strictly from a natural standpoint, not
compared to Scripture to Scripture, but from a natural standpoint,
from a natural reason and rationale, physical, material. That's the
reason they talk about God wants you this. God wants you that.
God wants you to be rich. God wants you to be healthy.
A health and wealth carnal gospel, right? A gospel according to
the flesh. But they which are spiritual
discern all things. They understand that not only
is the law spiritual, but this thing of salvation is a spiritual
thing. The flesh is going to die. I
don't care how rich it gets. I don't care how healthy it stays.
It's got to die. It's got to get sick. It's got
to die eventually. What we need, the one thing needful,
is not more gold. It's not better health. It's
not a mansion and a new car. What we need is Christ. What
we need is the gospel, which is able to save our souls. But
these brute beasts, doing the devil's work, they strictly speak
of the physical, material, civil, and moral issues, right? They don't deal with such things
as justification before God, sin, and what's got to be done
about it. Right? These Bible words such
as propitiation, righteousness, they don't deal with these things.
The holiness of God, the character of God, a man's got to understand
something about that, but they don't deal with it. And they
deal with, they dabble in, it says here, those things they
don't know. They dabble with great mysteries
of Scripture. I tell you, the gospel is a mystery.
And for a man to stand up and say, it's simple, just believe
on Jesus. Well, he's a fool. That'd be
like my daughter standing up and saying, I know something
about nuclear physics. Right? Same sense. Woe unto them,
and woe unto them that follow them. Verse eleven, woe unto
them. And we're going to go into that
verse there on Wednesday night in depth. This right here, verse
3, is a description. It's my enticement to come back. These three, this is a perfect,
a definitive description of all modern religion, all error in
religion. Every error that has been in
religion from the very beginning is found right here in verse And we'll go into that Wednesday
night. But in closing, let me read to
you 2 Peter chapter three. Let's read this together in closing. And we got through that in thirty-five
minutes. 2 Peter chapter three in closing.
Now this second epistle, beloved, I write unto you in both which
I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance, that you may be mindful of the
words which were spoken before by the holy prophets." They preached
the gospel. And in the commandment of us,
the apostles of the Lord and Savior, knowing this first, remember
this, we remind you that in the last days there shall come scoffers
walking after their own lusts, saying, where is the promise
of this coming? Since the Father fell asleep, all things continue
as they were from the beginning of the creation. But this they
willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens
were of old," that is creation, even so-called believers are
going to start believing some kind of creation evolution. They're going to mix it. And
the earth standing out of the water and in the water, and whereby
the world that then was being overflowed with water perished,
they call the flood now just a fairy tale, just a story. But the heavens and the earth,
which are now by the same word kept, the same one kept in store,
are reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition
of ungodly men. But beloved, don't you be ignorant
of this one thing, that one day with the Lord is as a thousand
years, and a thousand years just one day. In other words, time
is of no—doesn't mean anything to God. The Lord is not slack
concerning His promise either. Some men count slackness, but
He's long-suffering to us. This is salvation, long-suffering,
waiting on that last sheep. He's not willing that any of
us should perish. but that all of us should come to repentance.
But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night,
in which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and
the elements shall melt with fervent heat. The earth also
and the works therein shall be burned up." Now, seeing then
that all these things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons
ought ye to be, in all holy conversation and godliness, looking for, carefully,
diligently looking for, hastening unto the coming of the day of
God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, the
elements shall melt with fervent heat? We, according to his promise,
look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved, seeing that
you look for such things, be diligent, that you may be found
of him in peace, without spot, and blameless." And how might
you be found like that, by faith in Christ? In account that the
long-suffering of our Lord is salvation, even as our beloved
brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath
written unto you, as also in all his epistles speaking in
them of these things, in which are some things hard to be understood,
which they that are unlearned and unstable, like those fellows
over in Jude, they rest them. twist them, as they do all other
scriptures, to their own destruction. But you, therefore, beloved,
seeing you know these things before, but beware, lest you
also be led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your
own steadfastness. But grow in grace, more insistent
upon it, more dependent upon it, contending for it, It's your
only hope. If the foundation be destroyed,
John, what's the foundation? Salvation by grace. If it be
destroyed, what are you going to do about it? Glory and grace,
and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, to him
be glory All glory, both now and forever. Amen. Sounds like these three men got
together when they wrote these books, doesn't it? Paul and Peter
and Jude. Well, they did. Same author,
same book, same message, same thing. And you notice they're
full of warning. That's what this text tonight,
what this message tonight was full of. I know, but that's what
Peter, that's the way Jews started out. He said, I felt, I felt
compelled. I just had the right to warn you. To warn you. Like a faithful watchman that
he was. And as also Paul did. Warn, warn, warn. And Peter did. Warn the people. Because we're
here. We're in those times, people.
We're in the last days. in no doubt whatsoever in my
mind. It wouldn't surprise me one bit. I mean, if Christ came
tomorrow, I would be pleasantly surprised, but really, he could
come tomorrow. It's ripe. The seasons are right. The time is right for Him to
come. So be it. Even so, come quickly. We hasten the coming. Come now.
Come before my daughter grows up and gets in this mess. Come now. Save us. Save us. All right. Stand with me and
I'll dismiss this and pray. Dear Lord, we pray, earnestly
pray, sincerely pray, that you will save us from this unfulfilled work, this ungodly work that
we are doing. Lord God, save us. We are, we are saved by any
worldly category, by that very word. And that's the reason we
believe in Kṛṣṇa. We believe in Him. You don't know just a bit, but
because we feel just like Him at that, we would desperately
need You to save us from this world, from our sins. We thank You for Christ. Thank
You for the Father. Thank You for the words of the
One who can give us what a faithful shepherd does each year. And
Lord, let us give us boldness and courage and contend for the
favor God has written for us. Give us wisdom to deal with evil
and good. Give us courage. Make us zealous for the truth.
Make us jealous of the glory of God and the face of all opposition. Make us good servants, good stewards,
faithful students of the grace of God. Thank you, Lord, for this blessed
fellowship. We enjoy it. We enjoy our time together today. We're thankful for friends practicing
with us tonight. We look into the same thing.
Keep practicing that. When you're marching in the prairies
throughout this week, close your eyes. Christ bless you. Amen. Amen. Amen. you