in the book of Jude once again
this morning. We're going to start by reading
verses 14 through 19 of the book of Jude and pick up kind of where we left
off last time. It says, And Enoch, also the
seventh from Adam, prophesied these things, saying, Behold,
the Lord cometh with ten thousands of his saints, to execute judgment
upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of
all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed,
and of all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken
against him. These are murmurers, complainers,
walking after their own lust, and their mouths speaking great
swelling words, having men's persons in admiration because
of advantage. 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
be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit." And we're going to call this
today, or we're going to title this portion that we look at,
the Lord cometh. And I would start three things
or three points that we're going to look at. They're going to
be kind of covered all together in some of the verses we're going
to look at, but the first idea, the first thought, the Lord returns
Second one, he executes judgment. And three, against those having
not the Spirit. And we're going to see what the
Scriptures have to say about that. And I'd like to start in
2 Timothy, and a couple of thoughts before we get into until we get into the first couple
of verses we're looking at in Jude. But in 2 Timothy 3, you're
very familiar with this. 2 Timothy 3, starting with verse
14, It talks about the same things
that Jude has been talking about, those that come in that are ungodly
persons. But it says, verse 14, 2 Timothy
3, But continue thou in the things which thou hast learned, and
hast been assured of, knowing of whom thou hast learned them.
and that from a child thou hast known the holy scriptures, which
are able to make thee wise unto salvation through faith which
is in Christ Jesus. All scripture is given by inspiration
of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction,
for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect,
thoroughly furnished unto all good works." And I think this
particularly has to speak to this portion we're going to look
at here, and especially in verse 14 and 15, where it says
that Enoch, also the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these,
the ones that had crept in unawares, those that were causing dissent,
those that denied the Lord and the grace of our God to His people. And it says, Behold, the Lord
cometh with ten thousand of his saints to execute judgment upon
all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all
their ungodly deeds, which they have ungodly committed, and of
all their hard speeches, which ungodly sinners have spoken against
him. And that's speaking about against
the Lord, not against Jude or against the people per se, but
those hard things that unbelievers have to say and speak evil of
those things that God has shown us, they speak hard things against
the Lord, not against His people. And there in 2 Timothy, what
it tells us where our scriptures come from and what purpose they
are for, we have to remember that it says all scripture is
given by inspiration of God. And another passage that says,
speak as they were moved along by our God to write down the
scriptures that we have and hold. So there's been those that doubt
or feel that this particular couple of
verses here, they question the validity of them being Holy Scripture. But we either believe God's Word
as God's Word, or we don't. And we otherwise find ourselves
in the same boat and the same situation as that king who woke
up and was reading the Chronicles and said, I don't really like
part of what this has to say. Cut out that part. Well, we either
believe God's scripture as His word, God breathed to those men
to write down what we have, or we do not believe it. And I think
we have no options if we are believing God's word than to
take all of it and not parts of it. Whether we understand
what something is saying, that's a different matter. And there's
a lot of the scriptures that, I have to confess, I don't understand
all of what is said in scriptures. But believing it is one thing.
God has to cause us to believe that to start with. It's not
just believed in that it makes sense to me type belief. It is
just like the new birth, that it's from above that we believe
these things. that God said them through Jude
or whatever portion of Scripture we're holding, that that was
given to them to write that down as it says, and not to question,
well, was Jude making this up with this old wives' tale, oral
history, whatever? None of that is productive thinking,
I don't think, in this regard. What it says here, and this point
here, it's God's word to us. And what it all is saying and
how it's all saying it, We're going to look at other
passages that speak to this same issue, and we'll see that it
speaks the same thing. And here it says, he's coming
with ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment upon all. That part is we know is true.
And we'll look at the rest of it. And it's a judgment of all
to convince all that are ungodly, among them of ungodly deeds,
what they have ungodly committed, and their hard speeches, which
ungodly sinners have spoken against our Lord, against Him. Those
things we know that we're going to see other places. That is
going to take place. the Lord is coming again, and
there will be a separation, as it says, between sheep and goats.
And there's going to be different passages speak differently in
different manners about what's going to take place. But the
long and short of it is, our Lord is coming again, and when
He comes again, that means that all the sheep are gathered in,
and then there will be a reckoning, then there will be a dividing,
as it says, as a shepherd separates the sheep and the goats, and
that will take place, and we know that that separating of
the sheep and the goats, I read one thought on that, where at
that time in that judgment, all sinners will be, it says, cast
into the lake of fire. And it says, they're over with.
They don't live forever like we do. Yes, they do. They should be so fortunate as
to just be burned up and be done with. But that's not what the
scripture says. The scripture says, and we're
not going into some of the details in those matters, but it says
there's going to be wailing and gnashing of teeth and forever,
not for, and forever on that side is a long forever. And that's
the situation that the unbelievers, the ungodly will be in. And it's not a It's not annihilation
at that time. It is separation into with the
Lord forever, with the Lord, and glorifying and worshiping
Him, or in outer darkness forever. That's the long and short of
what the Scripture says about that. It's not an end for the
ungodly. It is just a terrible beginning. Here in Jude, in that verse there,
verse 15, very strongly, several times talks about ungodly and
everything that the ungodly does is ungodly, is not without God
and without, it's all in sin that's ever done
and ever actions that are taken place and done by the ungodly
and It's going to take place, and
it talks again, and those that had snuck in unawares, and that
were causing dissent, and all the different things that we
looked at earlier in the passages here in Jude, that says they
defile themselves, and they defile the group that they're in the
midst of. And these will all, at this time
here, as Enoch says, when the Lord comes again, this is a time
of reckoning that take place. This is a reminder, and once again, just
a showing forth that this is the end of natural man, and it's
not as natural man thinks, it's the ones that are going to be
on that hand have done something to deserve to be there. not recognizing
what the Scripture says about the nature of man. Natural man
deserves to be there. It's by God's grace alone that
he's not there, that every man is not in that situation, in
that position. By nature, that's where... It's
not neutral, and then you find out the good or the bad. It's by nature, it's all bad
news. There's no good news there but by God and His grace and
His mercy having a people. And that is the only hope that
there is, that God has a people and He's about His business of
delivering those people. And this speaks about His coming
in that judgment And I'd like to look at several passages that
speak to this same thing. And as other thoughts and ideas and
things that we know about our God and about what He teaches
and shows us, there's a lot of facets to a lot of pictures and
a lot of different areas where this is brought in. A lot of
passages that speak about it is coming, and we're going to
look at a few of them and see what it says about that. In 2
Thessalonians-let me read the book of 2 Thessalonians. in second Thessalonians chapter
one. This recounts or goes along closely
with what the book of Judah is speaking about in a good share
of it. It says, starting in verse 7 of chapter
1 of 2 Thessalonians. It says, And to you who are troubled,
rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven
with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them
that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction
from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power,
when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and
to be admired in all them that believe, because our testimony
among you was believed in that day. Wherefore also we pray always
for you that our God would count you worthy of this calling. and
fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness and the work
of faith with power, that the name of our Lord Jesus Christ
may be glorified in you and ye in Him, according to the grace
of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ." And now in chapter 2,
verse 1, "'Now we beseech you, brethren, by the coming of our
Lord Jesus Christ and by our gathering together unto Him,
that ye be not soon shaken in mind, or be troubled, neither
by spirit, nor by word, nor by letter as from us, as that the
day of Christ is at hand. Let no man deceive you by any
means, for that day shall not come, except there come a falling
away first, and that man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition,
who opposeth and exalted himself above all that is called God.
or that is worship, so that he is as God sitting in the temple
of God, showing himself that he is God. Remember ye not that
when I was yet with you, I told you these things? And now ye
know what withholdeth that he might be revealed in his time.
For the mystery of iniquity doth already work. Only he who now
letteth will let until he be taken out of the way. Then shall
that wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the
spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of
his coming. Even him whose coming is after
the working of Satan, with all power and signs and lying wonders,
and with all deceivableness and unrighteousness in them that
perish, because they receive not the love of the truth, that
they might be saved. And for this cause God shall
send of his strong delusion that they should believe a lie, that
they all might be damned who believe not the truth, but had
pleasure in unrighteousness. But we are bound to give thanks
always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord, because
God hath from the beginning chosen you to salvation through sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth, whereunto he called you
by our gospel to the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus
Christ. Therefore, brethren, stand fast
and hold the traditions which ye have been taught, whether
by word or our epistle, Now, our Lord Jesus Christ himself
and God, even our Father, which hath loved us and hath given
us everlasting consolation and good hope through grace, comfort
your hearts and establish you in every good word and work. And here in this little bit of
a lengthy reading here in 2 Thessalonians, much of what Jude is speaking
about, and not just, as in Jude, it's not just wagging a finger
at those that are opposed to themselves and opposed to God
and opposed to us and opposed to the preaching of the gospel.
That's true. There's plenty of Scripture of
all Scripture that speaks to the ungodly and what the natural
man is like. And here in Jude, as well as
Thessalonians, he's pointing that out, but he's also saying,
keep an eye on and remember those things that the Lord has shown
you, that you're recipients of His grace and that He has Your names are in the Lamb's
Book of Life, and what He has done and does for you, keep that
in mind. It's not a just looking at the
bad things among us or those that crept in unawares, but by
contrast, as He starts out, and as Paul says here, too, that Remember those things that you
have, what positions you are in by God's grace and mercy to
you. And it's a contrast of those that are the ungodly, and there's
other places where Paul says, he says, this is where you came
from. You are these type of people.
This was all of God's people who are the same bunch. There's
none that that has lived a godly life,
start to finish, it's just too much. God reveals it and delivers
his people in the day that he has appointed. But by nature,
we're in the same boat by nature, but by God's grace and having
a people. And as he says here again, keep
those things in mind. And not just, it's not just look
at the, the evil that's in the world are amongst us, that is
there. God will deal with that, but keep an eye and look at who
He is and what He has done for His people. And then turn back
to 1 Thessalonians, and in chapter 4, chapter 4 and parts of chapter
5 of 1 Thessalonians, and we're going to pick up what Timothy says here. Speaking of that, it says in
verse 16 of chapter 4, It says, For the Lord himself
shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the
archangel, and with the trump of God, and the dead in Christ
shall rise first. then we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the
Lord in the air, and so shall we ever be with the Lord. Wherefore,
comfort one another with these words. But of the times and seasons,
brethren, ye have no need that I write unto you. For yourselves
know perfectly that the day of the Lord so cometh as a thief
in the night. For when they shall say, Peace
and safety, then sudden destruction come upon them as travail upon
a woman with child, and they shall not escape. But ye, brethren,
are not in darkness, that that day should overtake you as a
thief. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of
the day. We are not of the night, nor
of darkness. Therefore let us not sleep as
others do, but let us watch and be sober." And here he speaks
that when the Lord does come, and
it speaks again here of coming that some of the order that the
dead in Christ arise first, and then we, which were alive, we
caught up with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air,
so well we ever be with him. And he says, comfort one another
with these words. And this is what God's people,
many times from day to day, we lose sight of a few things. And
one of them is, sometimes we lose sight of that, that he's
coming. And that's what we are, that's
what we are, our hope and our, we're looking forward to that,
to that, uh, to that day in that time. And that, as it says, comfort. And, and then he goes on and
says, we don't know when this is going to take place. But we're
not going to be caught unawares. It's not that those that, and
most people, whether they're religious or not, think that,
well, I'll be ready in the day. I'll take care of things. I'll
get things taken care of so when the Lord comes, everything will
be fine. Or more likely, most religious people say, I hope
he doesn't come today because things are not quite taken care
of yet. And we better think about what we're going to do. But he
says here, we're not of that group. We are in him. And we
stand in him. And we know who we have believed
and are persuaded he's able to keep those things against that
day that we've committed unto him, against that day. And that's
a belief, a faith, and a hope that he gives his people and
puts in his people, and not as others that are, it says, of
night, that don't know what's taking place or what's going
on. In 2 Peter, book of 2 Peter, if you will,
chapter 3. Peter speaks along the same lines
and speaks about those that are false preachers and false prophets,
and says, remember those things that have been delivered to you. Remember those things and keep those things in remembrance,
and what you have received from God himself. And in chapter 3, Starting with verse 7 of chapter
3 of 2 Peter, it says, But the heavens and the earth, which
are now by the same word are kept in store, reserved unto
fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
But, beloved, be not ignorant of this one thing, that one day is with the Lord
as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day. The Lord is
not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness,
but is longsuffering to usward, not willing that any should perish,
but that all should come to repentance. But the day of the Lord will
come as a thief in the night, in the which the heavens shall
pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with
fervent heat, and the earth also, and the works that are therein
shall be burned up. 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 and hastening unto
the coming day of God, wherein the heavens, being on fire, shall
be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat.
Nevertheless we, according to his promise, look for new heavens
and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Wherefore, beloved,
seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent, that ye
may be found of him in peace, without spot, and blameless.
and account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation, even
as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given
unto him hath written unto you. And 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
rest, as they do also the other scriptures unto their own destruction.
Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before,
beware, lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked,
fall from your own steadfastness. But grow in grace, and in the
knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory,
both now and forever. Amen. And here is spoken of Peter,
that he reminds his people of those things that were spoken
before of the holy prophets and the commandment of the apostles
and the Lord our Savior, those things that we know and are in
Him. And it says that these things are going to happen. The end
of the world is going to happen. It's going to be burned up. These
things are going to be done away with. That's not a terror for
God's people, because this is what's going to happen to the
physical things are going to be taken care of and be done
away with. And he says, seeing that these
things, what manner of persons ought ye to be in the holy conversation
of godliness? And looking unto that coming
day, and as it says here, look for such things, be diligent
that you may be found of him in peace without spot and blameless,
that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation, even as our
beloved Paul has written to us. the longsuffering. And that's,
I think, a big theme through all of Scripture, whether it
was physical Israel as we have the record, and we've gone through
it some distance and some time in the Old Testament. But one
key thing is The longsuffering of the Lord means salvation to
His people, that from the very beginning the longsuffering of
the Lord has meant salvation to those that are His. Until that is taken care of,
the last one, His longsuffering is here until the last sheep
is brought in, longsuffering with all of mankind, all of the
sinfulness and those things. His longsuffering is put up with
that for a long time. In our frame of mind, his it's
a done, it's done. And when the Lord said it's finished,
it was finished. And it's all done but the bringing
in of the sheep and what he is about that doing. Turn to the book of Revelation,
if you would. There's a lot of passages in
the book of Revelation about last times, last things, coming
of the Lord. A lot of it has been made much
more of than what the Scripture makes of it, and much less than
what the Scripture makes of it. This is a good book for God's
people. kind of the culminating picture of who the Lord is, has
always been, and is to His people now. And that picture of the
end times is, as it were, part of it, but not all of it. It's
a part of it. There's quite a picture of our
God from start to finish, and with His dealing with His people.
And it does talk about what he's dealing with, the ungodly, for
sure. But that's not the only thing this book talks about,
is terrible things in the end. There's some wonderful pictures
of who our Lord is. And these are comforting and
good things to God's people. But we're going to look at a
couple of passages. I'd like to look at a part in
Revelation 21, chapter 21, first of all. Pardon me. And I'd like to read, starting
with verse 5, and just reading a few verses here, and then backing
up to chapter 20. It says, verse 5, Revelation
21, And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all
things new. And he said unto me, Write, for
these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It is done.
I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto
him that is a thirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
He that overcometh shall inherit all things, and I will be his
God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful and unbelieving
and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers
and idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which
burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." Here it speaks of that that does
take place, but under here, the gospel is indeed in the book
of Revelation, and as it says here, Alpha and Omega, the beginning
and the end, I will give unto him that is a thirst of the fountain
of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit
all things. I'll be his God, and he shall
be my son." And we know in Zechariah and Hebrews and Jeremiah and
Ezekiel and Isaiah, the Psalms and others, that those that it's
speaking of that are a thirst and that will give unto them
the fountain of the water of life, and them that overcome
are those that God has chosen and has given to the Son as His.
Those are the sheep, the ones whose names are in the Lamb's
book of life. These are the ones that He causes
to have that thirst. He's the one that draws them.
He's the one that, because of Him, there is a new birth and
does give that new birth to His own. And then back up to chapter
20, just for a little bit here, for just a spot. In chapter 20, the last two verses, and we're
going to look at another one, but 14 and 15, it says, And death
and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written
in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. And here
it death and hell were cast into the lake of fire." This is the
second death, and it says, whoever was not found written in the
book of life was cast into the lake of fire. Those who God has
marked out from the very beginning, those are the ones that the fountain of life had been
opened to those that he has caused to believe that. And I would
like to look also in chapter 20, verse 4, And not claiming to know all
that is being said, but reading down for just a few verses, and
it says, And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, judgment
was given unto them, and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded
for the witness of Jesus. And for the word of God, which
had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had
received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands,
and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But
the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years
were finished. This is the first resurrection." blessed and holy
is he that hath part in the first resurrection. On such the second
death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of
Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years." And up
here I remember a message that may be more than one message,
but a time spent on this verse here that speaking about the
souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus. It's
not speaking of physical martyrs that had their heads cut off because
of that. There were those that were indeed in that situation.
We know that. We have books that speak nothing
about nothing but about martyrs and those that suffered for the
Lord. We know that. Here, the greater
gist or thought of this are those who have, and we talked about
having stitches around, they were beheaded. They have a new
head. and he is the new head. The mind
has been changed as that one, that demon, he was clothed and
seated in his right mind. That wasn't the mind that he
originally had by nature, and that when the Lord saw him there
in the tombs, he was beheaded for Christ in that regard. His
mind was severed, and all of God's people, their natural mind
is severed, and they see things with new eyes with a mind that
is different, and the difference between before and after is like
we said about Caleb, that he had a different spirit with him
than the others, the ten of them when they spied out the land.
And he had that eyesight and expectation that the Lord gave
him, and not that the others that, when they went into the
land, they were looking for the troubles that they were going
to have. And Caleb and Joshua and Caleb were looking to inspect
that land that they were given, and they came back with that
good report of that land, and the others did not. And so those were the ones that
didn't worship the beast, didn't have the mark on the forehead,
those symbols. And what those have been made
much of and argued over and whatnot, and I'm not going to get into
any of that now, but that the souls of them that were beheaded
for the witness of Christ, and that's who he speaks about, his
people. And then I would like to go to Jude again, one more
time. Not the last time, but one more
time in the last couple verses of Jude. I've come to like them
a lot. Pardon me. Jude 24 and 25, it says, actually,
verses 21 and following, it says, keep yourselves in the love of
God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal
life. And if some have compassion,
making a difference, and others saved with fear, pulling them
out of the fire, hating the garments spotted with the flesh. And verse
24 and 25. Now to him that's able to keep you from falling
and 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. Thank you
for your attention.