I'll try and be very brief but I want us to to be reminded as we come towards the end I've actually preached the messages at the last verses of Jude already I wanted us to consider how it was that we now sort of live in this world and Lord willing we'll come back and look at all that again in summary but He says in verse 17, 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, not having the Spirit. We looked last week at what it was to be separated and that's part of the reason I wanted us to look at what it is to be a saint and to be a sanctified person is to be a separated one unto God. you are here in a separated congregation. We are separated from this world and gathered into a place that we claim to be the house of God, where we claim that God the Blessed Saviour is in our midst, as he promised, that the angels are watching over us, that God has done a gathering and a separation.

And so these words are incredibly poignant to us. And I'm well aware of the fact because I, like you, have witnessed it on so many occasions that people can gather people to themselves of any stripe of religion whatsoever. You think of some of the ridiculous things that the cults and all of the other religions, so many of the other religions have done. People are gathered to powerful personalities and people are are gathered to particular denominations and particular doctrines and I'm well aware of the fact and I pray that the Lord causes us to come before him with fear and trembling. And we have, I believe, been in a blessed place for this last 20 years where we have been continually caused to ask ourselves, is God with us? And I'm not saying that I ask that question in doubt any longer, but I think it's a good thing.

We are called upon to test the spirits, and we are separated from this religious world, and we are separated from this religious world because of one particular issue, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified. That separated us in the beginning. And that separates us or causes others to be separated from us. And the issue, as we looked at earlier, so often has to do with sanctification.

But Jude speaks of these people that have separated themselves from him. And last week, we looked at that word separation, and we looked at the separation that is in the text of Jude. You know, Korah was separated from Moses, and Moses says to the children of Israel, you separate yourselves from these people, these ungodly people. And the word ungodly, which is used five times in the book of Jude, means to be without reverence. It means to not worship God.

And God is worshipped in spirit and in truth. And the Lord, in John chapter four, if you turn there with me, I think this is one of my favourite passages in all the scriptures. I just love preaching on it and I love listening to other people preach on it. And she was wanting to have a discussion about religion, like people do.

And in all of the situations where the Lord Jesus Christ met people who wanted to discuss religion, he made it personal. He made it personal about him, and he made it personal about them. So let's not talk about issues of theology out here. It's always about here, isn't it? And that's where he took all of you, go through all of the conversations that the Lord Jesus Christ had with religious people. It was always personal, because it is personal. And it's personal between us and him. And this is what he led this wonderful, wonderful woman.

I love how he said to her in verse 10, Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink, if you knew him, what would you do? You would ask. You would ask of him. God's children are asking people. God's children are needy people. You would ask of him and he would have given the living water.

And she went on to have a debate about all sorts of things. And the Lord just brought it back to this one thing. He says, woman, in verse 21, woman, believe me, the hour cometh when you shall neither in this mountain nor yet at Jerusalem worship the Father. This is a description of all man-made religion. This is a description of all of those that in Jude 19 are without the Spirit. You worship ye know not what. You don't know who you're worshipping. You don't know who you're worshipping.

That goes right to the very heart of the most religious and zealous people that this world has ever seen. Saul of Tarsus killed people for his faith. He killed people for his faith. He believed his religion so seriously that he would go out and murder people for it and believe that he was worshipping God. He was preparing Bible studies and sermons. and delivering them and delivering his learning. But don't you love, when he met the Lord Jesus Christ, Saul saw, why persecutest thou me?

Once again, it's personal. Everything to do with us and God is personal. So let's not have debates out in the ether. The issue is personal. And I love what Saul of Tarsus, this man, said. The very first words that came out of his mouth when the Lord Jesus Christ, full of the Spirit of God, met him is, who are you? Who are thou, Lord? Don't you reckon that's a great question? That's a great question and it reveals an extraordinary ignorance. And that's the same with these people in Jude. Who are you? I don't know who you are.

I have the most extraordinary religious education and pedigree that this world has ever seen. I know the Old Testament off by heart. I could tell you as much about the Christ as anyone living on this planet. I was a Calvinist. I believed in particular redemption. These days, he would have been reformed. That's what the word separated means, isn't it? The Pharisees were separated people.

And listen to what the Lord said to the woman. You worship what you know not. We know what we worship. Worship is of whom? For salvation is of the Jews. But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth. For the Father seeketh such. to worship Him. God is spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.

To be ungodly is to not worship God, to have no reverence, to have no fear of God. To be sensual is to just be earthly. You can be as sensual as Paul was, and as knowledgeable as Paul was, and be lost. What a shocking thing to be religious and lost. What a shocking thing to devote your whole life to a religion in this world. and be so confident of that religion that you would hold on to that religion all the way through life, all the way through all of the scriptures that you've read, all the way to the very gates of heaven and be one of the many.

Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord. That's a great commendation, isn't it? They just didn't say Lord once, they said Lord, Lord. Have we not prophesied in your name? Have we not preached in your name? If that's not a verse that causes preachers to tremble before God.

And in thy name cast out devils. and in thy name done many wonderful works." Look at the quantity of them, many. Look at the quality of them, wonderful works. He's not denying that they did all these things. And then, at this day, all the way through all of your life, I pray the Lord works in our hearts to give us just a childlike faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Then I will profess unto them, I never knew you. The religious world knew you, your family knew you as religious. This world held great ceremonies of your profound wisdom and knowledge and usefulness at your funeral service here. And the Lord will say, I never knew you. Depart from me, ye that work iniquity. You that are lawless, is the word. You, if you're lawless, you have no righteousness. What's righteousness? Righteousness is perfect obedience to the law of God.

I want us to Be mindful of the depths of the seriousness of Jude's warnings. And we can go back through the book of Jude and I can list them again to you as I have so many times. I want you to see that these are spiritual pictures of people that live in this world today. The word of God is living and active. It's living and active. These people, are sensual and they do not have the Spirit. They do not have the Spirit of God. And they separate themselves from Christ's body. They separate themselves from the believers. This is not new.

Just turn with me back in your Bibles to Isaiah. towards the end of the book of Isaiah. And we'll see what these people, these separated people do. The separated people who are the Matthew seven people, who are the Matthew 25 people, when the Lord Jesus comes in all the glory with his angels and they still stand before God and say, we've done all these things. We've been obedient to all of these things. Listen to what Isaiah 66.

He said, Hear the word of the Lord, you that tremble at his word. Your brethren that hated you, that cast you out for my name's sake, they claim the name of the Lord as they cast these people out from their fellowship and from their company. And what did they say when they cast you out? Exactly what Saul of Tarsus was saying when he was killing people.

Let the Lord be glorified. That's religion. That's man-made works religion. But, He shall appear to your joy, you who tremble at his word. Listen to what at the beginning of this chapter, thus saith the Lord. The heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. Where is the house that ye build unto me, and where is the place of my rest? For all those things hath mine hand made, and all those things have been, saith the Lord. But to this man will I look, even to him that is poor. and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word. The ETH means that he never stops trembling at the word of God. He is in reverence for the word of God.

They cast you out for my name's sake, claiming that they're the children of God and saying, let the Lord be glorified. He shall appear to your joy and they shall be ashamed. Turn over the page in Isaiah chapter 65. This is these same people. He says, which say, stand by thyself. These are the separated ones in the Old Testament. Stand by thyself. Come not near to me, for I am holier than thou. Isn't that exactly what the Pharisee said of the Lord Jesus Christ? That's exactly, wasn't it?

They do not have the spirit of God. Jude says, they are just sensual. These are a smoke in my nose, a fire that burneth all day long. God makes his children to be mercy beggars. They are separated, they're sensual. If they don't have the Spirit, they're sensual. That's all they are. They're just carnal. They can be as religious as you like, they're just carnal.

And how serious, I know we've read these verses before, but Romans 8 makes it so abundantly clear what it is to have the Spirit of God. Paul is a wretched man. Who shall deliver me? He says, I'm a wretched man right now. a wretched man that I am, not that I used to be, I am. Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?

I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then, with my mind, I myself serve the law of God, but with the flesh, the law of sin. There is therefore now, right now, no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, that's what it is to be sensual in Jude's writing, but after the spirit. For the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do, in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and foreseen condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the spirit.

Don't forget the great accusation that was made by Jude and is made by the religious world against anyone who preaches the Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified and salvation by his work and his work alone and by grace and grace alone. received into the heart of sinners by the new birth by faith and faith alone.

If you just preach the Lord Jesus Christ and him crucified, you're just going to let people be sinners. The only way to stop them being sinners is to preach obedience to the law. And then you'll be right. You can still preach Christ, but you can preach Christ and.

What the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the law, after the flesh, but after the Spirit. If the Spirit is in you, if you have the Spirit, you walk after the Spirit.

For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh. Their mind is fixed on them. For affirmation, for confidence, they are looking to what they have done and what other men have done. They that are after the flesh, what did the Lord say to Nicodemus? Flesh gives birth to flesh, and spirit gives birth to spirit.

For they that are after the flesh do mind the things of the flesh, but they that are after the Spirit, the things of the Spirit. For to be calmly minded, which is similar to the word sensual that Jude uses, to be calmly minded is death. But to be spiritually minded is life and peace.

Does the gospel bring peace? I love the Gospel. I love the fact that the Gospel is simple. The Gospel is for babes. The Gospel tells me that the Lord Jesus Christ has done it all. The Gospel tells me that he said it's finished. The Gospel tells me to rest in him. The Gospel tells me that God is at peace and he has made peace by his blood and I can be at peace.

I like the notion of peace. This world knows so much about war. God, by his Spirit, reminds us that the Lord Jesus Christ is our peace. He is our peace. For to be calmly minded is death, but to be spiritually minded is life and peace, because the carnal mind is enmity against God. That's what the carnal mind is.

That's why these people separate themselves from the people of God, according to Jude. They separate themselves. They separate themselves from God. They separate themselves from God's people. They cannot abide being in the presence of God. That's exactly what happened on the cross of Calvary. Let the world be rid of this man. We can't have someone like the Lord Jesus Christ here telling us that God is absolutely sovereign. He saves who he wills, and he wills to save, and he saves them completely, and he saves them perfectly, and he keeps them saved.

Can't have that. because the carnal mind is enmity against God. For it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. So then, they that are in the flesh cannot, understand it, cannot please God. But you are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of God, he is none of his.

They separate themselves. They're sensual. They separate themselves from the children of God. But, and sorry, and if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin. What's the wages of sin? Death. When was the death of all of God's children died? When were his children put to death?

Paul says it so plainly in Galatians 2, doesn't he? I'm crucified with Christ. Such is my eternal union with the Lord Jesus Christ. Paul says, and all believers say the same, I was crucified with Christ. I was crucified with Christ. And the life I now live in the flesh, I live by the faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. That's what he's saying in verse 10 of Romans 8.

And if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life because of righteousness. But if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal, give life. That's what his job is, is to give life, life from above. Quicken your mortal bodies by his spirit that dwelleth in you.

How can the Holy Spirit dwell in you? How can Christ dwell in you? The only possible way he can dwell in you is that you have no sin before him. If he sees sin on his son and did what he did to his son, how much worse when he sees us, which are just bubbling iniquity. Our great God, when the spirit comes, and this is what's missing from these people, isn't it?

These sensual people. He's called the comforter. When the spirit comes, he's called a comforter. I love the fact that he wounds before he heals. I love the fact that he comes. The comforter, turn with me to John 16 and we'll close. I just wanted to look at these verses briefly. He's going to send the comforter. He says, it's good. It's expedient for you that I go away, verse seven. For if I go not away, the comforter will not come unto you. But if I depart, I will send him unto you.

And when he is come, he will reprove, he will convict, he will convince the world of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. And what's the great sin? What's the great sin of Adam's race? It's not murder and drunkenness and fornicate. What's the great sin that he speaks of? What's the great sin that the Holy Spirit is going to bring into the hearts of his people? Of sin, because they believe not on me. Have you ever thought that's the greatest sin? The greatest sin, isn't it?

Is believe not on me. of righteousness because I go to my father. He convinces the world, he convinces and he reproves the world of his elect of the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. He was put to death because of our sins and he was raised because of our justification, our righteousness. What is it to be righteous? to perfectly obey the law of God. Whose righteousness do the children of God have? Like David said in Psalm 71, I will speak of thy righteousness and thine only. There is just one righteousness, and that is the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is the work of the Spirit in the hearts of his people.

And of judgment, because the prince of this world is judged. Not judgment to come, the judgment for all of the children of God is finished. It's done. The judgment happened on the cross of Calvary. All of the sins of all of God's people were punished until God says, my justice is perfectly satisfied. My holiness is perfectly satisfied. It is finished. When God sees the blood, he will pass over his people.

He says, verse 12, and I have yet many things to say unto you, but you cannot hear them now. How be it when he, the spirit of truth, is come? He will guide you into all truth, for he shall not speak of himself. But whatsoever he shall hear, that shall he speak, and he will show you things to come. He shall glorify me, for he shall receive of mine, and he'll show it unto you. What a glorious comforter we have. What a glorious comforter. He convicts of sin and righteousness and judgment, then in he comes and shows us all that the Lord Jesus Christ has done. All things that the Father hath are mine.

Therefore, said I, he shall take of mine and shall show it unto you. He'll show it to you. He'll make it known. He'll announce it. He'll proclaim it. He'll report it. He'll disclose. He'll show it unto you. And in a little while, you shall not see me again. In a little while, you shall not see me because I go to my father.

We see the Lord Jesus Christ through the eyes of faith, through the eyes of faith in the new heart, and we rejoice. We rejoice to see him there. We rejoice to know that the blessed Holy Spirit will take the things of the Lord Jesus Christ, and he will show them to us.

Let's pray. Our Heavenly Father, we do thank you and praise you for the promises that are signed and sealed in that precious blood of your Son. Heavenly Father, we thank you for that glorious promise that these things will be shown to your people and we pray that we might see him yet again crucified, buried, raised, glorified, coming back with all of his saints, reigning and ruling over all flesh. O Heavenly Father, may he reign and rule in the hearts of your people here and wherever they gather throughout this world, Heavenly Father, in such a way that we would find the Comforter's work and words so extraordinarily comforting to our hearts, and that we might see the Lord Jesus Christ. Sir, we would see Jesus. O our Father, we thank you for the revelation of your Son in his glory. May you cause us, Heavenly Father, to walk in childlike faith and obedience and love to him in this world, that you might be glorified that we might rejoice in the work of your hands in the lives of your people. And we pray for his glory, our Father, the glory of your dear and precious Son, our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.