Three heretics tonight, three
apostates. They're in verse 11. It says
this, Woe unto them, for they have
gone in the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the heir of
Balaam for reward, and perished in the gainsaying of Corrie.
These are spots in your feast of charity, when they feast with
you, feeding themselves without fear. Clouds they are without
water, carried about of winds, trees whose fruit withers, without
fruit, twice dead, plucked up by the roots, raging waves of
the sea, foaming out of their own shame, wandering stars, to
whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever." Now, there
had been these apostate teachers, these false teachers. that came
in and crept in among the children of God. And there always has
been false prophets, always has been false teachers, and always
will be. There's always those that are
deceived and deceiving. There's always men that come
that has something new to say, something different to say. And
Jude describes all these people as they go by. He described First
of all, the land of Egypt, how they perished through unbelief
after God saved them, so many of them did. And angels, which
kept not their first estate, God put them in chains under
the Judgment Day. And people like Solomon Gamora
that go after strange flesh. Then he talked about that these
men were filthy dreamers and they had visions. And they took
these visions and these dreams for to be in the truth. That's
what they preached. That was their message. I had a dream.
I had a vision. Instead of taking the Word of
God, they trusted in their dreams and visions and told them their
dreams and visions. And everybody thought they were
super spiritual. But then, you know, they're not
afraid to speak evil of dignitaries. And they were brute beasts. You
can't even deal with them because they're natural, and they're
just like a beast. You can't handle them, and you can't convince
a beast of anything. And then he comes and says, and
this is what's going to happen to them. It's what's going to
happen to them. And he uses three Old Testament
people to describe what's going to happen to them. And he says,
Woe unto them. Woe unto them. This is what happened to these
people in the Old Testament, what's going to happen to these
fellows, these false teachers, these heretics, these people
that are trying to lead the Lord's people astray, that despise dominion,
that defile the flesh. And he says, Woe unto them, for
they go in the way of Cain. And not only that, but they ran
greedily after the heir of Balaam for reward and perished in the
game, saying, Of course. And I'm telling you, let's look
at these three people and see what he means, what they've done.
And we look at the way of Cain. What's the way of Cain? Well,
look over in Genesis chapter 4 and we'll see. Genesis chapter
4. They've gone in the way of Cain.
What's the way that Cain went? Well, the way of Cain is the
way of self-righteousness, bloodless religion, pride, and the sin
of self-righteousness. And Cain's mentioned four times
in four different books. He's mentioned in Hebrews 11,
1 John 3, there and here in Genesis. Look what he says now. And Adam
knew Eve, his wife, and she conceived and bear Cain. The first thing
about Cain is, as he was the first son of Adam and Eve, very
first son, firstborn son. And it goes on to say, it said,
I've gotten a man from the Lord. They said, this is the one that's
going to be the one that's going to save us. It's going to be
the Redeemer. It's going to be the Messiah. But that wasn't
so. And she again bear his brother
Abel. Abel was a keeper of the sheep, but Cain was a tiller
of the ground. And in the process of time, it came to pass that
Cain brought up the fruit of the ground and offering unto
the Lord, and Abel he also brought up the firstlings of his flock
and the fat dove, and the Lord had respect unto Abel and to
his offering. But unto Cain and his offering he had not respect.
Cain was very wroth, and his countenance failed." Now, the
way of Cain, first of all, he's a religious man. You didn't have
to do anything to get him religious. He was a religious man. And as
all men are by nature. And he believed in God, or he
wouldn't have brought an offering. He believed that he needed an
atonement, or he wouldn't have brought an offering. He believed
that God would accept him, that's why he brought an offering. And
he believed in religious duties. But all of his religion was natural. It was based on his own thoughts,
on his own opinions, on his own feelings, and on his own conception
of God. And they what pleased Him, and
they what pleased His nature, and what pleased His will. And
over in Colossians 2, it talks about those who have a will worship.
And that means they worship according to their will, not the will of
God. And He revealed, and I'll tell you what He done. He rebelled
against God's revealed way of salvation. God doesn't reveal
the way He saves the sinner. You look over here to Genesis
3.21, and I'll show you what I'm talking about. God had done
showed Adam and Eve how sinners is going to be saved. And unto
Adam and Eve, Genesis 3.21, and unto Adam and also to his wife,
did the Lord God make coats of skins, and clothed them. God
done that. God saw them out. God made coats
of skin. And that's what he read tonight.
He said, Joshua stood before the Lord in filthy garments.
And the Lord says, take away those filthy garments and put
fair garments on him. Put clean garments on him. Put
new garments on him. And that's exactly the way it
was. Adam and Eve didn't know they was naked and God said,
why? Who told you he was naked? And God came and he shed the
blood. He took the animal skin and covered
their nakedness and the blood was shed. And they knew right
then and there that the only way that God could be approached
is through the shedding of blood. You sin, you've got to have an
atonement. You sin, you've got to have a
sacrifice. The innocent's got to die for the guilty. The just
for the unjust. Cain knew that. Because the difference
is, that's what Abel done. He brought a lamb. And he brought
it in faith. And God had respect unto Abel's
offering. And God looked at Abel's offering,
that blood sacrifice, and He brought the fact thereof, and
He looked at that and said, that's a sweet smelling savor. He offered
it in faith. He offered it because he was
a sinner. And that's what Cain did not know. God revealed the
way of how to approach him, the way of faith. Instead, what did
he say here? And in the process of time, he
came to pass that Cain brought the fruit of the ground of offering
unto the Lord. He brought it off fruit. Didn't bring no blood. Brought it of his own efforts. And in doing this, I'll tell
you the first thing he done, he said, I don't want God's way
of salvation. I want my way. And the second
thing he'd done this, he denied he's a sinner. The very fact
that he brought his own efforts, the fruit of the ground of his
own works, tells me that he said, I'm not a sinner. I don't need
a blood offering. I don't need a sacrifice. All
I need to do, what I do is good enough. The works of my hands
is good enough. My fruit's good enough. He didn't need the blood. He
didn't need a substitute. He didn't need an innocent for
the guilty. He didn't need a righteousness by substitute. And Cain rejected
God's way. And how many in this world reject
God's way? How many reject God's way? And
I tell you, when Cain rejected God's way, and I'll tell you
something about that, God rejected Cain's way too. You reject God's
way, God will reject your way. You hate God, God hates you. You're mad at God, God's mad
at you. That's why people don't understand this. I don't like
the way God does things. God don't like the way you do
things. And there ain't nothing you can do to change God, but
God can do something to you. You ain't gonna change the way
God does things, no matter what we think about it. The only person
this hurt was Cain. It did not change God. It did
not change what He demanded. It did not change what He demanded. It did not change His character.
It did not change His nature. It did not change what He demanded
for salvation. It did not change salvation by
substitute. It did not change the righteousness
by faith. And oh, look what happened to
Him. It says down there in verse 5, But unto Cain and to his offering
He had not respect. And what did Cain do? Instead
of saying, oh, Lord, have mercy on me, I'm going to go get me.
I've seen it, Jesus. I've seen what you've done for
Abel. You accepted him. But you think he can always think
humbly, put the fear of God in him? He got mad. Who did he get
mad at? He got mad at God. If this is not enough, I don't
know what else I could possibly do. And that's what folks are
going to do. You know, our Lord Jesus said
over in Matthew, He says this, He says, There will be many,
say unto me in that day, Have we not, have we not cast out
devils, healed the sick, preached the gospel to, oh my, we've done
many wonderful works in your name. And the Lord said, Depart
from me, you workers of iniquity, I never knew you. And Cain got
angry, And his countenance fell. That means, beloved, he pouted.
He pouted. He got upset. His countenance
fell. He says, oh boy. His countenance fell, and God
told him there in verse 7, He says this, and the Lord said
unto Cain, verse 6, Why are you wrangling? Why has your countenance
fallen? Why are you looking like you're
sad? Why are you looking like somebody's hurt your feelings?
Huh? He said, if you do well, will
you not be accepted if you bring the right sacrifice? And if you
do not well, sin like that at the door, there's a sacrifice
line right there. All you got to do is go get it.
And then Abel, under him, it should be his design, you'll
have Reno because he's the oldest. God told him, if you'll bring
a sin offering, you'll be accepted. And what did he do? If a man
can't get to God, do you know who he's going to get to? He's
going to get to God's people. If he can't get to God, he's
going to get to God's people. If he can't cuss God, he'll cuss
God's people. If he can't lay hands on God,
he'll lay hands on God's people. Look what it says. In verse 8,
And Cain talked with Abel his brother, and it came to pass
from then to feel that Cain rose up against Abel his brother,
and slew him. Over in 1 John 3.12 it says this, Wherefore
did Cain, don't be like that wicked, God said, love you one
another, and not be as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and
slew his brother. Wherefore did he slay him? Because
his deeds were evil, and his brothers were righteous. God
says, you're evil. He says, I'm not evil. He proved
how evil he was. The first murder was over religion. The first murder was over blood
and works. Grace and works. God's way and
man's way. That's the first murder that's
ever committed on the face of this earth, over religion. And
oh, look what happens now. And he took it out on his brother.
And that man wanted to sit down in verse 16. I want you to see
this. And God punished him. God punished
him, and Cain says, My punish is greater than I can bear. It's
more than what he's saying is, I've sinned so bad I can't be
forgiven. And he says here in verse 16, And Cain went out from
the presence of the Lord. God placed a curse on Cain, and
Cain went out. And God placed a curse on his
religion. And that ought to tell that people would just read the
Scriptures. Just read that! And people would understand that
you do not bring your own efforts to God. But when preachers tell you that's
what you need to do, and oh, and he says he went out from
the presence of the Lord. And what that means is, beloved,
he separated himself from God. He separated himself from the
altar of God, the people of God, and he was the first willful,
unbeliever, and apostate in the Scriptures. Now let's go over
to Hebrews 10. I want you to see this. He was
the first willful, He deliberately chose and deliberately became
an unbeliever. When God told him, you bring
the blood off and you'll be accepted, he willfully said, I will not
do that. I will not be saved your way. And God cursed him, and he says,
my punishment's greater than I can bear. and punished his
whole family. He was a vagabond all the days
of his life, and he went shaking everywhere he went. But look
here at Hebrews 10, 26. For if we sin willfully, after
that we have received the knowledge of the truth. You hear the gospel. You hear God's way of salvation.
You hear salvation, the just for the unjust. You hear Christ
bearing our sins in His own body. You hear about Him, through His
own blood, putting away our sins by the sacrifice of Himself,
and God accepting Him, and us only accepting Him. If you hear
that knowledge, and you receive that knowledge, and you come
to that knowledge, and you willfully do like Cain done, he says, I
don't want it, I will not believe it, and I'm going to go someplace
else, and I'm going to be something else. He said, there's never
another sacrifice for your sins. God has not, there's no hope
for you. There's going to be another sacrifice.
There's not going to be another crucifixion. There's not going
to be a never another offering. And the world is full of canes.
Full of them. Proud, self-righteous. We are
worshipers. And said, ah, you know, like
that old song says, I'll do it my way. They'll do it their way.
They'll do it their way. Now let's talk about the error
of Balaam. Don't be a king. Whatever you do, don't be a king. Oh, being able. Being able. And then he talked about the
error of Balaam. And this is, you know what he says there,
who for reward. That's what he says. What did
he say there in verse 11 of Jude 11? And ran greedily after the
error of Balaam for reward. And that's the error of Balaam,
is that he done what he did for covetousness, for greed. And
all beloved, and you want to read about him, you can read
about him in Numbers 22 through 24 and read about when he was
killed. But his sin was a sin of covetousness
and greed. Now, Balaam was a Gentile prophet. He's a fortune teller. Fortune
teller. God used him. When old Balak,
the king of Moab, said Israel was coming, he was scared to
death of Israel. He had heard about them, heard all that they
had done, and how God had used them, and how He had destroyed
all their enemies. And he hired Balaam. He said, Balaam, this
prophet, this fortune teller, you come up here, and I'll give
you so much money, and I'll give you great honor if you'll curse
Israel. He said, oh, I can't come. I
can't come. I don't care how much money you
give me. Sent all of his servants back. Well, they come back down
to Nexton a few days, and they said, they upped the offer. He
says, well, we're going to give you now this much money, and
we're going to give you this much garbage. We're going to
give you this many suits. We're going to give you this
much money, and we're going to give you a wonderful place to
live. And instead of sending them back that time, he says,
well, I'll pray about it tonight. I'll pray about it. God done
told him not to go. And that's like a fellow, you
know, that the church calls him, you know, and he's with a little
old church. Big church calls him and says, you know, we're
looking for a new pastor. We'd like to offer you the pastor.
We're going to double your salary and give you a house to live
in. He said, well, I'll pray about it. He hung up on the phone
and said, honey, go pack. We're fixing to move. That's
the way it was with Babel. He said, I'll pray about it. He got up, and away he went. And you remember, look over here
at 2 Peter, and I'll show you what happened. Just to give you
an instance, 2 Peter 2, verse 15. You know, and he's sitting offering
him more money, and next morning he got up to go, and he got his
donkey, saddled his ass, and away he went. You remember when
that angel stood before him with the sword drawn. Balaam didn't
see that angel. I mean, God was mad at him. He
tried him, and he said, well, I'm going to go for my money.
I'm going to go for the reward. That's a lot of money to turn
down. That's an awful lot of money. And there was that angel
standing in the way, that sword going back and forth. Balaam
couldn't see that sword. Balaam couldn't see that angel.
And that donkey, that ass of his, he saw that. He bucked up
and he wouldn't go. He got off and kicked him and
beat him and, oh, just mistreated his donkey like crazy. And God opened the mouth of that
donkey and he turned around and says, Who? Don't you see that
angel standing there? Look what it says here in verse
15. Verse 14, having eyes full of
adultery that cannot cease from sin, beguiling unstable souls
and hearts that have exercised themselves with covetous practices. Cursed children, which have forsaken
the right way, and are gone astray following the way of Balaam,
the son of Bothar, who loved the wages of unrighteous, but
was rebuked for his iniquity. The dumbass speaking with man's
voice forbade the madness of the Father." How do you in bad shape whenever
God has to use a donkey to talk to you? I mean, you're pretty
high-minded, ain't you? But old Balaam, he got down there
and he couldn't. He couldn't know when in the
world. He couldn't curse Israel. Every time he opened his mouth,
he ended up blessing Israel. But I tell you what he didn't
do. This is what he told. He told old Balak, he said, I
tell you what you do. You be real friendly with Israel. Don't be afraid of them. Be real,
real friendly with them. Have your women to be real friendly
with their young men. And invite them to your feasts.
Next thing you know, you'll have it. And sure enough, look in
Numbers with me, 25-1, look what happens. Numbers 25-1, this is what happens.
And you know, this is probably the awfulest thing that a preacher
can do, is set a price. Set a price on his ministry.
Set a price. You know, the loving, filthy
looper. And, you know, being offered
bigger pulpits and always going because the money's bigger, the
money's bigger, the money's bigger. And that's the thing about it.
Cubbishness and greed. And look what happened. Down in verse 25 and verse 1,
And Israel abode in Shedim, and the people began to commit whoredom
with the daughters of Moab. And they called the people unto
sacrifices of their gods, and the people did eat, and bowed
down to their gods. And Israel joined himself unto
Baal Peor, and the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel."
Oh, he didn't have to curse them. You know what he had to do? Just
tell them, just be real friendly with them. Next thing you know,
they're committing idolatry, fornication, turned against the
Lord. And this is called the doctrine of Balaam. Revelation
2.14 says this, it says there, But I have a few things against
them, because there have them that hold the doctrine of Balaam,
who taught Balaam to cast a stumbling block before the children of
Israel, to eat things sacrificed unto idols, and to commit fornication. That's the doctrine of Balaam.
What's the doctrine of Balaam? Make friends with the world.
And ain't that what's going on now? Ross Barnard said this years
and years ago. He says, the world and the church
is so mixed up that you can't tell the difference between one
and the other. The so-called religious world
is so mixed up, you can't tell the world from the church and
the church from the world. You go to most of the services, and
you know as well as I do, that they'll do anything in the world
to get a crowd. Anything in the world to get
a crowd. And they'll offer them anything that they can, They'll
tell them how good they are, how nice they are, they'll get
them. In fact, one of the biggest churches in the United States
right now, you know how it come into existence? Two men up in
Illinois, two seminary students. They said, what we need to do
is we'll create a questionnaire, and we'll go around the neighborhood
and we'll pass it out. And we'll have them ask, what
kind of church would you like to have? What kind of church
would you have that you'd go to regularly? And they wrote
out that questionnaire. They named all the things they'd
like to have. And they wanted theater seats to sit in, one
of the things. They didn't want to be preached to. They wanted
good music. They liked a place where they
could go socialize with their friends. And they named off a
whole bunch of things. Well, these fellas, they decided,
they started a church like that. They had a great big stage. They
had all kinds of musicians. They put on dances and they put
on plays. They had a coffee shop for them
and they had a place for people to do their exercises. Next thing
you know, they had 18, 20,000 people in that place. And if
you didn't, you know, they had couches for you to sit on. You
could drink coffee in the service. Sit and drink your Coca-Cola's. That's the doctrine of Balaam.
Bring in the world. Do whatever's necessary. Go ahead
and commit fornication. Go ahead and have an idol. Go
ahead and be with the daughters of Moab. That's what he's saying.
And God helping us. If I ain't but two or three,
you know what the Lord said? He said, if we're two or three
or gathered together in my name, my name, I'll be in the midst
of it. I'm going to give you all a survey. No, we know what we want, don't
we? We want to worship God. I just got a note from Moose
Parks. This fellow sent him a link that
told him his name and music group. He said, we'd like to come and
play for you. He gave him his Facebook and
all that, and he said he played with the roots of something or
another. And named all three or four groups
that came forward. Moose wrote him right back and says, no thank
you. You're better off with them roots
of fools. He said, we worship God in song. And you don't, you know, and
we don't need you. We don't need anybody you know.
And said, you know, we make melody and sing spiritual hymns in our
hearts unto the Lord. Tell you another thing, this
is about the doctrine of Phalim. Some people, I get calls all
the time, if you'll have such and such in there, if you'll
just give them a place to stay and give them a meal and a love
offering, they'll be glad to come. I get that calls all the
time. Got a call from some people wanting to come put on a play.
And put on dancing, saying, dance the gospel. Put on a play, dancing
the gospel. I said, oh, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, you can't dance the gospel, we don't want nothing
to do with that. She said, they told me on the phone, said, I
sure feel sorry for the congregation you pastor. Well, who ever heard
such a thing? But I feel sorry. But that's
what's going on. There's churches up here in town
that they put old plays. They have plays. How do you put
an old play concerning the gospel? I'm not going to go. They have
had passion play over there in Gatlinburg. I don't want to go
see that. They have this passion of Christ, that great ministry.
I don't want to see that. I know who Christ is. I know
what He's like. I know what He went through to
save me. I know what it took for God to give His Son to redeem
my sinful, wretched, black-hearted soul, and to compromise with
anybody over that for money, for popularity, or for... Oh,
God save us! Let's worship God in spirit and
in truth. Oh, my. And now let's look at
Corrie now. Corrie, back over here in our
verse. It says this, they've gone under the way of Cain, ran
greedily, greedily after their Balaam for reward. And then they perished. And then
the other side says they perished. They're going to perish. They're
going to, oh, we'll run to them. You know what happened to Balaam?
You know what happened to Cain? And you know what's going to
happen to Corrie? What did happen to Corrie? What happened to Corrie? Look
over with me in Numbers 16. Let's look at that again. Back over
in Numbers 16. Corrie is Cora. Numbers 16. Oh, Cora was a Levite. And this
is the sin of rebellion. You know, it says they despised
dominion. Here's a man who despised dominion. He despised authority. He despised
God's order. And his was the sin of rebellion.
Now Korah, the son of Izar, the son of Kohath, the son of Levi,
he was a cousin to Moses and Aaron. And Kohath, the son of
Levi, Dathan and Abiram, the sons of Eliab and On, the sons
of Pele, the sons of Reuven, took men, and they rose up before
Moses. was certain of the children of
Israel, two hundred and fifty princes of the assembly, famous
in the congregation, men of renown." Oh, just watch these fellas now.
This is the committee that got together, and they decided they
were going to change the way things were done. Old Cornerstone, he says, fellas,
you know what we need to do? I think it's time for a change
around here. I think it's time for us to take
control of some things around here. And watch, and they rose
up now, and watch what it says in verse 3, and they gathered
themselves together against Moses. Not for Moses. Not to go and
thank God for him. Not to go and bless God that
God gave him somebody to lead him. And against there it is
said unto them, here's what they said. You take too much upon
you, seeing all the congregation are holy, every one of them,
and the Lord is among them. Now, here's what it is right
here. This is envy. It's the Octophebes. He loves
to have the privilege. Wherefore then lift you yourselves
up above the congregation? Why make yourself? Why do you
make yourself above? Moses didn't make himself above
the congregation. God made him above the congregation.
But that's what he's mad about. That's what he disliked. He was
jealous. of Moses being elevated above
him. You know, and his gainsaying
means to speak against, is to deny something. And he denied
Moses' position. And he read this insurrection
against Moses. And all Israel knew that God
had sent Moses. He was the one that delivered
Israel out of Egypt. And he was the one that God made
the leader of the delivered. But, oh, listen, he despised
this authority. He's one of those ones who spake
evil indignities, and he perished. Now, look what happens to him
over here in verse 28. Number 1628. I don't know why
I didn't tag his day over there while he was there. Number 1628.
Look what happens. Oh, listen. He says, You know,
Jews said they perished, Dr. Gaines saying. Their punishment
was swift and fearful. And Moses in verse 28 says this,
and Moses fell on his face and said, Oh God, what's going on
here? Why do these men do this? I never
exalted myself. And Moses said, Hereby you shall
know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works, for I
have not done them of my own mind. If these men die the common
death of all men, or if they be finished upon the visitation
of all men, then the Lord hath not sent me. If they just live
out their lives, nothing happens to them, die a death like everybody
else does, then it's evident the Lord didn't send me. But
if the Lord make a new thing, and the earth open her mouth
and swallow them up with everything that pertains to them, and they
go down quickly into the pit, then you shall understand that
these men Have what? Provoked the Lord. You see, God's
got an order. We went through that here a while
back. And it came to pass as he had made an end to speaking
all these words, that the ground claimed asunder that was under
them. The earth opened her mouth and
swallowed them up. Now listen. And their houses
And all the men that are pertained unto Coriah, and all their goods,
they and all that pertain to them, went down alive into the
pit. And the earth closed upon them,
and they perished from among the congregation. You know, there's a ten over
here, and there's a ten over there, and there's a ten over
here, and there's a few over there. Wherever they was, ground
over that, and down they went. That's what Martin said, God
sent him to hell without giving him a chance to pack a suitcase. And that's what happened. You
know, God's got an order. And when you reject God's authority,
and that's what he's saying here, you're perished. And that game
saying, denying. And oh Lord God, he rejected
God's way. He rejected God's law. And you
know the thing about all three of these people, all of these,
All of these rebelled against the revealed way that God had
shown them. Every single one of them. God
said, this is the way it is. And they said, this is the way
we're going to do it. This is the way I believe. This is the
way I think it ought to be. Every one of them. Now look here
quickly in verse 12 with me. Back over here in Jude. These are spots in your Feast
of Charity. We have, you know, we gather
here and this is a Feast of Charity. But whenever they take the Lord's
Table, it says these are spots in your Feast of Charity. Nobody,
you know, if you get a spot on your clothes or something like
that, and I do, I get, when I eat this all the time, I'm worse
than the world is. Got spot things on me. He says,
and that's what they are. You know, you have, you're white,
you're pure. God's blessed you. You're without
holy and without blame before Him in love. And then you have
these feasts of charity. Here's these old dark spots among
you. Now, and watch this. And feeding
themselves without fear. They feed among you. They have
no fear of God. They have no fear of being deceived.
They have no fear of punishment. They have no fear of God. They
have no fear of their hypocrisy. And here's what this is. They're
clouds without water. You know, when you're in a drought,
we had, several years ago, we had two or three years, just
drought, and them clouds would go by, I said, boy, look like
some rain in that one. Just go right on by. Three years,
said, no rain in this one, and all of a sudden, there was a
cloud way off in the distance. And the Lord just said, I see a cloud
the size of a man's hand. Rain in that one. But oh my,
when the droughts come by, I said, there are clouds that ain't got
any water. And listen to this. Trees whose
fruit withereth. They ain't got no fruit. They're twice dead. What does it mean they're twice
dead? They're dead in their sins and they're dead in their religion.
That's what Paul was. He was dead in Adam. And he was
dead in his religion, dead in Phariseeism. That's the way these
fellows are. They're twice dead. They're dead in their religion,
and dead in Adam, and dead in their religion. Their religion's
dead, their profession's dead, their life is dead, their heart
is dead, their mind is dead, their worship is dead. Everything
about them is dead. Plucked up by the root. Watch
this. Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame.
And boy, you see a big storm come up and them waves go to
whippin' and that. And all the foam that comes up
from it. He says that's what they're like. Raging. Instead
of foaming out something, they're foaming out shame. Their own
shame. And they don't know it. They
can't see it. And wandering stars. You know,
that wandering star means a shooting star. A shooting star. You know, you see a star go flying
across the sky. You just see it for just a few
seconds. And that's what they are. They're like shooting stars.
And then they just disappear. And he says that's the way they
are. They're like shooting stars. And then they just go off into
darkness. And every darkness is reserved for them. And so,
beloved, I tell you, when we go through these things, we see
just how horrible human nature is. And how easy human nature
is deceived. How easy it is for people to
do what's natural to them. to do what's natural to them.
And oh my, these things are great warnings for us. Great. I've heard Brother Henry say
this so many times. The Scriptures have promises
on this side. Oh, the promises of God. Multitudes
of promises over here. And then warnings over here.
And what happens was, if we live in those promises, and we start
to presume in the warnings over here, and they keep us. These
warnings put the fear of God in us. And that's what we want. Oh, we got to have them, don't
we? It's like going around a big, you know, you're going to go
around a curve, and it says 40 mile an hour, and it says 40
mile an hour, you're not going to go around that curve at 70.
You're going slow. And that's what these things
are in their personal warnings. To watch out for these kind of
people. And God help us to honor our Lord Jesus Christ by the
gospel, by our character, and by our love for one another.
And oh my, I'm like old John Newton. Lord, tis a point I long
to know, and oft it gives me anxious thought. Do I love the
Lord or no? Am I his or am I not? If I have
not loved before, Lord, help me to begin today. I do not want
to be veiled. I don't want to be a chorus.
I don't want to be BAM. You don't. Our Father, in the gracious,
blessed name of Christ our Lord, we thank you for the day. Thank
you for the truth. Thank you for the gospel. I pray
that the things that are said not discourage us, but encourage
us. You give us these things. You give us these things to warn
us and to direct us and prevent us and help us to recognize the
errors when we see them. And we bless you for them. Thank
you for the saints of God. Thank you for this service, the
songs that were sung, the prayers that were prayed, the scriptures
that were read. Lord, I thank you for everything
that's been done. Bless your holy name. Keep us
and preserve us. Bring glory and honor to you.
Save your people in this place. Have mercy on our children and
grandchildren. We ask these things in Christ's
name. Amen. Amen.