Good evening. Let's all stand
together. We'll sing hymn number 17. Hymn number 17. Come Thou Fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace. Streams of mercy never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise. Teach me some melodious sonnet,
sung by flaming tongues above. Raise the mountain, fix the point,
crowned of thy redeeming love. Here I raise mine heaven-easier,
spithered by thy help on come. And I hope by thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home. Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wand'ring from the fold of God, Gave to rescue. Made from danger,
transurfosed His precious blood. O to grace, how great a debtor,
straightly I'm constrained to be. Let thy goodness, like a
debtor, I'm a wandering form to Thee. Grown to wander, Lord,
I feel it. Grown to leave the God I love. Here's my heart, oh, take and
seal it. Seal it for thy courts above. They will sing hymn number 361.
361. Sweet hour of prayer Sweet hour of prayer That calls me from a world of
care, And fits me at my father's throne. Take all thy wants and
wishes, though In seasons of distress and grief My soul has
often found relief, And oft escaped the tender stare By Thy return,
sweet art of prayer. Sweet hour of prayer, sweet hour
of prayer, Thy wings shall my petition bear. to reproduce truth and faithfulness,
engage the waiting soul to clasp And since He bids me see His
face Believe His word and trust His grace I can't forgive Thy
every care And pray for Thee Sweet hour of prayer Sweet hour
of prayer Sweet hour of prayer May I thy consolation share,
Till from our future's glory I, I view thy hope and take my
flight. His rose of flesh shall often
rise To cease the everlasting Christ. We shout while passing
through the air, Farewell, farewell, sweet Alabama. Turn with me to the Book of Jude,
that one little book right before the revelation,
one little chapter right before the revelation of Jesus Christ. Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ
and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the
Father and preserved in Jesus Christ called, mercy unto you
and peace and love be multiplied. I'm gonna give you a broad outline
of this tonight. I'm gonna deal with it until
I get through with it. So we'll have prayer and then
I'll get back up later give you a broad outline of this. Our Father, in the blessed name
of Christ our Lord, how thankful we are that you blessed us with
such a wonderful meeting, the sweet fellowship we enjoyed,
the gospel that we heard. Lord, we thank you for all that,
what they did and how they helped and how they're encouraging.
They were, all of them, all the folks in this congregation. And
Lord Jesus, we pray for my preacher brethren that'll be preaching
tonight. Be with them in meetings that's gonna be in other places.
Please be with them. God, forgive us of everything
that's unlike you. Meet the needs of this congregation
tonight and have mercy upon our lost loved ones and our dear
brothers and sisters that are having trials. or having things
in their home, having frailties in their body, we ask, Lord,
that you'd be merciful to them, that you'd give them grace and
give them strength and comfort them in their, you be their consolation,
you be their consolation, you be their comfort, you be their
strength, you be their stay, as you are all your people. And
Father, please enable us to worship here tonight Please enable me
to speak, deal with these verses, deal with what you have to say.
And Lord, we desperately need you and we thank you for what
you've done for us and what you are doing and what you'll do
again tomorrow. We bless you and praise you in
Christ's name, amen. M number 224. I know not why God's wondrous
grace to me he hath made known, nor why unworthy Christ in love
redeemed before his own. Whom I have believed and am persuaded
that He is able to keep that which I committed unto Him against
that day. I know not how this saving thing
To me He did impart Nor how believing in His word Brought peace within
my heart But I know whom I am meeting and am persuaded that He is able
to keep that which I've committed unto Him against that day. I know not how the Spirit Convincing me of the same Revealing
Jesus through the Word Creating faith in Him But I know whom
I am believing and they're persuaded that he is able to keep the bridge
of New Belief. Learned to ping the kids that
day. I know not what of good or ill
may be reserved for me. Of weary ways or golden days
before His face I see. but I know whom I am believing
and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I've committed
unto Him a kiss that day. I know not when my Lord may come,
at night or due day there. nor if I walk the hill with him,
nor meet him in the air. But I know whom I am believing,
and am persuading that he is able to keep That which I've committed Unto
being the kids that did I want you to look back here
with me in the book of Jude. I'm going to try to deal with
these 25 verses over the next few weeks. But I want to give
you an introduction, if I can. First of all, this is a general
epistle. It's not written to a particular
church or a person. It only has 25 verses in it.
And Jude's theme you find in verses 3 and 4. He has a theme
to this. 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 that you should earnestly,
earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto
the saints. Now, why does he tell us to contend
for the faith? Look at the next verse. For there
are certain men crept in unawares, who were before bold, ordained
to this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our
God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord
Jesus Christ. And so we, he says, we contend
for the faith because of all the false teachers and false
prophets that they are in the church. Now you keep Jude and
look with me in Matthew 24. You think that, you know, the
scriptures tells us the end will not come until our first come
of falling away. Now, when we talk about falling
away, apostasy, a revolt, a defection from the truth, it's not a defection
from religion. You know, when he talks about
this, you look with me in Matthew 24 and 11, verse 11. Matthew
24, 11. many false Christ shall rise
and shall deceive many and Because iniquity lawlessness shall abound
the love of many shall wax cold Now that's where we're at. We're
in the falling away now. I'm gonna tell you something
this you know Paul said in the test second Thessalonians He
says, you know, the end won't come until there comes a falling
away first. It's not a falling away from
religion I mean, there's a church out close to us that they're
busting at the seams and they're doubling the size of their building
right now. Doubling the size of it. But what I'm telling you
is that the falling away is not from religion, it's a falling
away from the revealed truth of God. Falling away from what
God teaches in His Word. You know, men will teach anything
besides God's Word. And they'll teach everything
under the sun. And then look what he said in Matthew 25, excuse
me, 24 verses 25, 24 and 25, Matthew 24, 24 and 25. Look what
our master said. For there shall arise false Christs,
false prophets. And look what happens, they shall
go show great signs and wonders. I mean, they grow by leaps and
bounds. And you know, that's, you know,
you say, boy, look at how, how can they be so popular in so
much that if it were possible, they shall deceive the very elect. Behold, I've told you before.
So that's why he says, you know, contend for the faith because
certain men have crept in unawares. That's why he's talking about
it, a falling away. And I want to show you something
else in 2 Timothy. Look back over in 2 Timothy.
Keep Jude now. Look back over here in 2 Timothy.
I want to show you something over here about the way we're
going to be in the last days. 2 Timothy 3. know, it's a, and in the midst of, Jude said
in the midst of this apostasy, earnestly contend for the faith.
And look what he said in chapter 3, verses 1, starting in verse
1 of 2 Timothy 3. This note, I want you to understand
this, that in the last days, perilous times shall come. Now,
the last days started when Christ came. When Christ came, that's
when the last days started. For men shall be lovers of their
own selves. They're going to be covetous.
They're going to be braggers. They're going to be boasters.
They're going to be proud. They're going to be blasphemers.
They're going to be disobedient. They're going to be disobedient
to their parents. They're going to be unthankful.
They're going to be unholy. They're gonna be without natural
affection. They're gonna be truce breakers.
I mean, they'll be, you know, shake hands with you, say, oh,
listen, I'll do that. But they're truce breakers, false
accusers. They lie on people. And they're
incontinent. They have no strength. They're
incontinent. They have no ability to restrain
themselves. They're fierce despisers of those
that are good. Traitors, heady, high-minded. lovers of pleasure more than
lovers of God, having a form of godliness, but denying the
power thereof, turn away from them people. And that's why Job
said, this is why we should earnestly contend for the faith because
of these kind of people, these kind of people. And you know,
Paul told Timothy, he said, preach the word, preach the word. Be instant in season and out
of season. What does that mean? Preach when
you feel like it and preach when you don't feel like it. Preach
when you got liberty and preach when you ain't got any liberty.
And he says, you know, for the days coming they'll heap to themselves.
Teachers, teachers. The teachers don't have itch
in the ears, but the people that listen does. They always want
to hear something new. And okay, so let me, here's an
outline. I ran across a long time ago,
and I believe it'll be helpful as we go and outline this little
book, Jude's aim, and he's the writer. You know, he's the writer. Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ,
it said, verse one, and then a powerful blessing, mercy, and
peace unto you, and love be multiplied. And he writes to them that are
sanctified by God the Father, preserved in Christ, called,
and oh my. And then he explains his purpose.
You know, like I said, earnestly contend for the faith. And then
he, you know, he describes heretics. He describes heretics. Look down
in verse four. Heretics and I'll tell you what
these these are real heretics. He describes them in three ways
They have certain features about them and he says there are certain
men crept in unaware Before bold to this condemnation. Here's
the first description of them. They're ungodly. They're ungodly
men Second thing is they turn the
grace of God into lasciviousness. They're lawless They have no
restraint THEY HAVE NO ABILITY TO KEEP THEMSELVES. AND HERE'S
THE THIRD FEATURE OF THEM. DENYING THE ONLY LORD GOD AND
THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. DENYING THEM. DENYING THEM. SO THAT'S ONE THING HE SAYS ABOUT
THEM. AND THEN I WANT YOU TO LOOK AT SOMETHING ELSE. THERE'S
THREE EXAMPLES OF GOD'S JUDGMENT. LOOK DOWN IN VERSE 5. THREE EXAMPLES
OF GOD'S JUDGMENT. DUDE, FOR VERSE 5. He said, I
will therefore put you in remembrance, once you knew this, how that
the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward
destroyed them that believed not. You know why they could
have been in the Promised Land in just a few days, but you know
why they wandered around in that desert for 40 years? For everybody
that come out of Egypt Less than 20 years old everyone. I'm gonna
die in the wilderness because of unbelief and murmur They wasn't
out of Egypt three days and they said let us go back Now let's
go back. Oh, let's go back. They got good
food over there We're not alone this light bread and God said
listen, I'll kill you you want to murmur against me? You know,
you don't want to believe me. Ah Look what else the other one
said and then in verse 6 look at this judgment And the angels
which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation. Now these are people that was
in heaven. These angels were in heaven.
Created beings just like you and I are. And he hath reserved
in everlasting change under darkness under the judgment of the great
day. You remember when our Lord Jesus Christ would be Out doing
work and doing works and that and he come up on somebody that
had the devil and they say We know that thou art the Christ.
We know that thou art the Holy One of God. He'll say shut up
Shut up They can't say a word that you know People say the
devil does so many things that God put the devil on a chain
And he's on a chain and he'll only allowed to go as far as
God will let him He said when he when Job was in the you know
when? Satan come one day when Job and
them was praying, he was praying for his children, he said to
talk to God, he said, God said, if you ever considered my servant
Job a perfect, a perfect and an upright man. That's what God
said about him. He said, I'll tell you one thing,
you let me at him and he'll crush you to your face. They're reserved. They can't
do anything unless Christ lets them. And then look what else
he said. And here's the third judgment. Sodom, even as Sodom
and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in like manner, giving
themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh,
are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal
fire. Three things of judgment. We
love the promises of God. Thank God for His promises. BUT
THE GOD THAT HAS THE PROMISES, HE ALSO HAS THE WARNINGS. THE
GOD THAT SAYS, I'LL BLESS YOU AND I'LL SAVE YOU, HE ALSO SAYS,
I'LL DAMN YOU AND I'LL PUT JUDGEMENT ON YOU. SO I MEAN, YOU KNOW THOSE
SIDES OF THIS GOD. AND OH MY! SO WE SEE THREE EXAMPLES
OF GOD'S JUDGEMENT. AND I WANT YOU TO SEE THREE MAIN
SINS THAT PEOPLE COMMIT HERE IN JEW. LOOK DOWN IN VERSE 8.
Look down, look at three main sins that people commit here
in this particular book. He says, they cause, he says,
they're called filthy dreamers. Filthy dreamers. They can't dream,
they have filthy dreams. Despicable dreams, nasty dreams,
filthy dreams. And then look what else he says.
They defile the flesh. They defile their own bodies.
They defile their flesh. And oh my, look what else he
says about them. They despise authority. That
word dominion means authority. They despise authority. And not
only they despise authority, but they speak evil of people
that are dignitaries. People that they despise dominion. It's like the Jew said, we'll
not have this man reign over us. They despise authority. And I tell you, these people
despise authority. They despise it. And oh, they
speak evil of authority. And then, oh my, there's so much
in this little old five things. I want you to look in verse 11
with me. Three examples of error. And I tell you, God told us,
you know, about this. There's three things, three people
that's talking about here. He said in verse 11, three people. Woe unto them that have gone
in the way of Cain. was the man in the Bible, the
first man, he killed his brother because his deeds were evil.
He come to God with the works of his hands. Don't go in the
way, he said, woe unto them. They've gone in the way of Cain.
And then they ran greedily after the heir of Balaam. You know
what Balaam's sin was? A fellow hired him to curse Israel. And the next thing you know,
they gave him a whole bunch of money and gave him all kinds
of clothes. And he went over to curse Israel. God wouldn't
let him. Well, he come back and said he wouldn't let me. Well,
we'll give you more money and give you some more. And he went
and tried it again. He'd done that three times. And
you know what stopped him from... God destroyed... He had a donkey
and stood right in the way. And he was trying to go. And
he was trying to beat that donkey. And that donkey said, spoke to him. He forbade the
madness of the prophet. Oh boy, I tell you what. And
then look what else he says now. And then there's perished in
the gainsaying of Korah. Korah was the man and he took,
he told about, he told Moses He said, listen, you're not the
only holy one people around here. You're not the only one that
God is using. And listen, he said, listen,
we as holy as you are, and God is gonna use us like he did you. And he was, Moses said, well,
listen, everybody that's on the Lord's side, get over here. Everybody
that's on Korah's side, get over here. That means intruding in
the office of the ministry and you ain't got nothing. Well,
they got over there. God's people got over here. Next
thing you know, earth opened up, took over 250 of them. Old Barnard said, took them to
hell without giving them a chance to pack a suitcase. So that's three people. Don't
you go like this. Don't you do these things. That's
what he's saying. And then he gives us five images,
five images of Illustrations from nature from nature look
in verse 12 Five images from illustrations from nature. He
says these are spots in your Feast of you they got blemishes
on them. They've got spots there. They
have blemishes on and Then look what else it says they're clouds
without water. You know, you look and say boy
We're gonna get a rain here comes that cloud and we drill dry go
get some rain. Nope. I Ain't no water coming
out of them clouds. And then look what else he says
about them. They're trees, they're trees
without fruit. Trees whose fruit wither, without
fruit. Trees that don't have any fruit
whatsoever. And then look what it says down
in verse 13. Raging waves of the sea. They're
just raging, they're just like, just a tome on all the time,
just raging about something. And then look what else it says.
Falling stars, wandering stars, to whom we serve the darkness
of darkness. And that word wandering means falling stars. Falling
stars. That's five things that he tells
us are out of nature that tells how sorry these people are. How sorry that they are. And
then look down in verse 14. And Enoch also, the seventh from
Adam, prophesied of these saying, prophesied of the ones we just
talked about, of these 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 their ungodly deeds
which they have ungodly committed, and all their harsh speeches
which ungodly sinners have spoken against God. Now, I want you
to see something in Deuteronomy. You keep Jude, look in Deuteronomy
33. Deuteronomy 33. You know, I don't know where
they got that prophecy from, but we know that it's true. And
God says, you know, that he'll come with these Dead in Christ,
you know, He'll come with 10,000 of His saints. But look what
He said here in verse 2, Deuteronomy 3, 3, 2. And He said, The LORD came from
Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them. He shined forth from
Mount Paran, and He came with 10,000 of His saints from His
right hand, when a fiery law Deuteronomy 32 33 to from his
hand come with 10,000 of his saints and from his right hand
come a fiery law What's that fiery law gonna do gonna convince
these ungodly men of their ungodly deeds? So you see there's there's
that 10,000 Saints that God brings with him. That's the prophecy
of Enoch and all my Then let me show you the prophecies the
prophecies of the Apostles look in verse 17 Enoch, I mean, Jude,
makes these wonderful promises, and you know, and prophecies
that he makes for us. He said in verse 17, but beloved,
he always calls them beloved. He calls them beloved two or
three times in this epistle. Beloved, when I gave all diligence.
Beloved. And so he's writing to people
that he loves. They're beloved of him, they're
beloved of God, beloved of Saints are beloved of one another, but
beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before of the
apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh my, look what he says. How
that they told you that there should be mockers in the last
time who should walk after their own ungodly lust. These be they who separate themselves
Essential, having not the Spirit. Having not the Spirit. And that's
the thing he talks about. The Lord Jesus Christ talked
about these people. The apostles talked about these
people. Mockers at the cross. You know how many people mocked
our Lord at the cross? Paul was mocked I don't know
how many times. God's people have been mocked
and always will be. I've been mocked over the gospel.
I've been mocked over the gospel. Anybody that's been very long
at it, they'll be mocked over it. And they walk after their
ungodly. They separate themselves from
everybody else. And they go according to the
flesh, having not the spirit. Then he gives us three exhortations,
three exhortations for us. Look what he said in verse 21.
No, verse 20, excuse me, verse 20. But you, beloved, there it
says again, you, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy
faith. You can't build yourself up if
you ain't got a foundation. And you can't build yourself
up if you're not in the faith. Build yourselves on your most
holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost. All believers exhort,
build yourself up How do you build yourself up on your most
holy faith? Attending the gospel. Hearing
the word of God. Paying attention to what's being
said. Believing God's word as it's preached to you and as you
read it for yourselves. And then look what else he says,
you know, keep yourselves in the, you know, building up on
your praying in the Holy Ghost, praying in the Spirit. And then
look what else, the third thing he tells us is keep yourselves
in the love of God. looking for the mercy of our
Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. Keep yourselves in the
love of God. Why would he tell us to do things
like that? Why would he exhort us to do
these things? I think it ought to be obvious to all of us because
of this flesh, because how quick we are. You know, we had the
most wonderful meeting last week, and the last message was so blessed
of God. by Brother Greg, Pastor Greg. I'll tell you, it was so blessed
of God. But I'll tell you what, those
things I can remember. And that's how you build up yourself
on your most holy faith. You remember. He said, I want
you to remember. And I want you to remember. And
when that's how you do it, you start remembering. what God said. You start remembering of the
things of the scripture. You start remembering preaching
that's been done. You start remembering how God
saved you by His grace. Start remembering how God brought
you out of darkness into light. And then your faith, you'll build
on it. And it all will grow. And then
keep yourselves in the love of God. Why do we have to keep ourselves
in the love of God? Because he said, iniquity shall
abound, the love of many a wax cold. Oh my, I want to abide
in God's love. I'll tell you what, we love him
because he first loved us. But let's live in that love.
Live in that love. Rejoice in that love. Be strong
in that love. And then look what he tells us
about ministering He tells us three attitudes for ministering
in the last two verses. Verse 22 and three, things that
we do when we're trying to minister to somebody. And he said in verse
22, the attitude, he says, of some have compassion making a
difference. Of some people you have compassion.
There's some people that God draws you to, and you have such
compassion for them. You see the great need that they
have, and you have such compassion for them, and your heart gets
heavy for them, and you want to let your heart, compassion
means you so identify with them. And so, you know, that's the
first thing, compassion. And then he said in verse 23,
and others say with fear. What does that mean? That you
have great fear for them, fear of what will become of them,
fear of what's gonna end, they'll end up being. You know, Jimmy
Swagger died today, or yesterday, 90 years old. And he hated God, he hated Christ,
he hated election, he said that was, he said all the Calvinism,
what we believe, the five points of Calvin, what they call, he
said that was a doctrine hatched in hell. Heard him say it myself. My but there's people the others
you save with fear. You see your children. You see
somebody that's right on the verge I've gone into eternity
grant somebody in your family right on the verge and You have
such a fear for them and you save them with fear. You got
such a fear for and look what else it says Pulling them out
of the fire They're so close to, you know, they're so close.
And he says, pulling them right out of the fire. That's what
God did with us. We're brands plucked from the
burning. God pulled us up out of a fire.
And he said, you have compassion. You have this fear for some people
and save some. God help you to witness to them
and God do something for them. Oh my. And then You know, you've
got such a compassion, they're right there and they smoke on
them and you pull them out of the very bottom. Because you
have such a burden, such a compassion for them. When you do, that's
the way I feel about my children. That's the way I feel about some
people here sometimes. They just keep coming and coming
and coming and coming and coming and they never They're right
on the verge of walking it, and they never, and you get afraid
for them, and they come in service after service, and they say it,
and they look at you, but they never become a believer. And then look at this. Shirley said this is her favorite
verse, and I believe it'd say all of this for this, down verse
24. Oh, what a blessing, isn't it? Parting blessing. Now, after
all that's been said and done, now unto him, I love that, unto
him that is able to keep you from falling. That's how we're
going to stay in the love of God. That's why we're going to
build ourselves more under him that to keep you from falling.
And listen to this, and to present you faultless before the presence
of his glory, oh my, you're going to be just plump full of joy. And to the only wise God, our
Savior, be glory and majesty and dominion and power both now
and forever. So that's a little outline of
this book before we get into it. Now, let me go and give you
a little thing about Jude. And it says, Jude, well, verse
one, Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James.
Now, you know, Jude was our Lord's brother. You know, Christ was,
he would be his brother from his mother. Christ was God. He had nothing after the flesh
other than a body. But you know, they was his brother.
They were his brothers. He had brothers. And James was
his brother. Jude's the author of this, and
his name means praise. That's what Judah, Jude means,
that praise. And look what he says about himself.
A servant, a servant of Jesus Christ, a bond slave of Jesus
Christ, bought by Christ from bondage of sin. Now willing,
a willing slave of the Lord Jesus Christ. And then the false servant
is those people who feed themselves, feed themselves, I've done read
it to you, feed themselves without fear. The false, instead of serving
Christ, serve themselves. And then it says he's the brother
of James. Now if you remember, James was
the same James that was in Acts 15, I think it's Acts 15 when
they had the first council. But I want you to look in Mark
chapter 6. He names all of the Lord's brothers here. Mark chapter
6, verse 3. All our Lord's brothers are named.
Here's the brother of James. James was the one who was the
pillar of the church in Jerusalem. And here he names in Mark chapter
6 in verse 3. Talking about the Lord, they
was astonished at His wisdom, mighty works. Then they said
in verse 3, Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother
of James, and Joseph, and of Judah, and Simon? Are not his
sisters with us? And they were offended at him.
He had brothers and sisters after the flesh, from his mother. And, oh, during our Lord's life,
his brothers didn't believe him. Let me show you that. Look in
John chapter 7, verse 3. John chapter 7. His brothers
didn't believe him. They didn't believe him. His
brothers didn't believe in him at all. Oh, my. During our Lord's life,
his brother believed not on him, didn't believe he was the Son
of God, didn't believe his Savior a sinner. Look what he says now. His brethren, verse 3, John chapter
7, verse 3. His brethren therefore said unto
him, Depart hence, and go unto Judea, that thy disciples almost
see the works that thou doest. And this is what they accused
him of. Look what he says here. They
accused him of this. For there is no man that doeth
anything in secret, If he does something that nobody can see
and gets no recognition for it, he said, nobody does anything
in secret that he himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou doest
these things, show thyself to the world. Neither did his brethren
believe in him. His brothers. You know, could
you imagine growing up in the home where the Lord Jesus Christ
was? Can you imagine growing up where the Lord Jesus Christ
was? When he was 12 years old, he was confounding the doctors
and the lawyers. He was confounding the best minds
of the day when he was 12. Could you imagine growing up
in a home? There's no doubt was jealous of him. They said, how
can he be such a perfect child? How can he be such a perfect
person? And you know, they was upset
with him. You know they were. But you know when they began
to believe on him? after the resurrection. Or it says in 1
Corinthians 15, he says, first he appeared to Cephas, then to
the 12, and then above 500 brethren at one time. And that's when
they believed on him, after the resurrection. And then look at
his humility. I just got a little bit more
to do here. Look at his humility. A servant of Christ, brother
of James, You notice he doesn't say, Jesus Christ is my brother. He said, I'm a bond slave of
Jesus Christ. I'm a bond slave of the Lord
Jesus Christ. I said, I'm a bond slave. He
didn't say, I'm the brother of Jesus. He didn't say, no. He
said, the brother of James. He doesn't boast of his physical
relationship to our Lord Jesus Christ, but his spiritual relationship. That's what he is interested.
And oh my, and he had no jealousy towards his brother James who
was a pillar in the church. And let me say this in closing.
Being a servant of Christ is the greatest title we can take
for ourselves. Being a servant of Christ. Christ, you know, we're bought
with a price. The greatest title we can take
I've told people as a preacher, a call of God, I'd have to step
down to be the President of the United States. That's how high
this calling is. That's how our calling is in
the Lord Jesus Christ, bond slave, a servant of Christ. Our Lord
was called Jehovah's servant, Jehovah's righteous servant.
He said, behold, my servant, mine elect in whom my soul delights. Paul says, Timothy and Paul,
the servants of the Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, my. Now, there's two kinds of servants,
a willing, gladly, out of love for God's glory, a servant of
Christ. And then there are wicked men
that do what God purposes for them to do, and yet they do exactly
what they want to do, and God uses Pharaoh. Pharaoh's one, Cyrus. 200 years before Cyrus was born,
God said, I'm going to use Cyrus over here for my people. 200
years before he was born. And hell, we raised up Pharaoh
for one reason. He used a wicked man and killed
him. Mary, you know what she did when
she called herself when the Lord came and told her she was going
to have a child? You know what she called herself? The handmaid
of the Lord. Just a handmaid. I have nothing special about
me. I'm just a handmaid. Christ's servant. Christ's servant. All a prisoner of Jesus Christ
is what he said. He said, I endear all things
for the elect's sake. So there's a little introduction
to the book of Jude. I hope it's a blessing for you.
You didn't realize it'd be so much in 25 verses, but we, listen,
I'll tell you what, we gotta, you know, since it's only 25
verses, you know, you read this two or three times and get yourself
familiar with it so that when I'm dealing with it, you'll be
familiar with it. Our Lord Jesus, blessed be your
name, for allowing us to meet here tonight, allowing us to
worship you, allowing us to take your precious, precious word.
Oh, your word is precious indeed. We have precious faith, precious
blood, precious people, precious treasure. Oh, Lord, we thank
you for your word. Nothing like it in this world.
God bless my dear brothers and sisters as they go home. Give
them rest this evening. Give them a good night's rest.
The rest, the sleep of a laboring man is sweet. Give these dear
people a good night's rest and bless them in the days to come. And again, thank you for our
wonderful meeting and the brethren that came. God bless our dear
people, those that are hearing and those that are not able to
come. Pray for them again in Christ's name, amen. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, there's
just something about that name. Master, Savior, Jesus, like the fragrance after
the rain. Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, kings and
kingdoms will all, am I supposed to do it again? Shall all pass
away. Well, listen, that's a good thing
that I've done. I mess up a good thing. More
on accident than most people can on purpose. Good night and
God bless you. Oh, they said we're gonna have
picnic Sunday. We're gonna have hot dogs and chili to go on the
hot dogs and mustard and ketchup or whatever. okay that's what
we're going you know we just had dinner last two days last
week but the first sunday i tell you i like it cause uh... uh... we ended all about
it i tell you what all i got just a little smell of it every
once in a while alright y'all