While you're turning to the book
of Jude, the book of Jude for our text this evening, I want
you to listen carefully to these words of Holy Scripture. Paul was about to leave Ephesus
and God's church in Ephesus, knowing that he would never see
their faces again on this earth. And this is what he said, I know
this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in
among you, not sparing the flock of God. Also of your own selves shall
men arise speaking perverse things to draw away disciples after
them. He wrote to the Philippians and
said, many walk of whom I have told you often and now tell you
even weeping that they are the enemies of
the cross of Christ. the enemies of the cross of Christ,
whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, whose God
is their own sensual, foul appetite of ungodliness, whose God is
their belly, and whose glory is their shame. They glory in that which ought
to be their shame. They glory in their imaginary
goodness. They glory in their imaginary
righteousness. They glory in the power of their
imaginary free will. Who mind earthly things. The title of my message tonight
is A Needful Exhortation. I have a very, very needful exhortation
to give you. And you'll find it in these 25
verses of the little one chapter epistle of Jude. The greatest
danger there is in this world. That's a pretty strong statement. The greatest danger there is
in this world to the souls of eternity-bound sinners is not
the ungodliness of the world, but the ungodliness of false
religion. The greatest danger there is
in this world to the souls of fallen men Is not the ungodliness
of the world But the ungodliness of false religion Now I want
to just hold your bibles open at the book of jude tonight And
I want to call your attention to three things Clearly set before
us in these 25 verses in verses 1 2 and 3 jude speaks to us about
god's grace Then in verses 4 through 19,
he speaks to us about God's enemies. And then in verses 20 through
25, he speaks to us about our security. Jude 1, verse 1. First, Jude speaks to us here
about God's grace. Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ
and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the
Father and preserved in Jesus Christ and called. Mercy unto
you and peace and love be multiplied. Beloved, when I gave all diligence
to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for
me to write unto you and to exhort you. that you should earnestly
contend for the faith which was once delivered to the saints. Jude here speaks to God's people. He writes to God's church, to
God's elect. In fact, it's important for us
to understand this, this whole book is written to God's church. It is written to God's elect.
The word of God was not written for the unbelieving but for the
believing. It was not written for the reprobate but for the
elect. It is written to God's church. We proclaim it to the
unbelieving. But the word of God is God's
word to you, his people. And as Jude here speaks in this
word of salutation, he does exactly what the Apostle Paul did and
the Apostle Peter did as they wrote to the churches. They spoke
to them about grace in terms that they presumed would be familiar
to all who believed. They spoke about things they
presumed would be familiar to all who believed. And their presumption
is right. All who believe God are familiar
with these things. All who believe God have these
things in their ordinary, everyday conversation. Jude speaks here
in these opening verses of his epistle about God's election. Election. He just presumed if
you know God, you know about election. And he's right. He
just presumed if you know that you've chosen him, you understand
he chose you. He just presumed, you know, that
if you're born of God, you're born of God according to God's
purpose. And so Jude speaks here about election. All who believe
in time were sanctified by God the Father in eternal election,
separated under God, declared and made to be holy in Jesus
Christ, accepted in the beloved before the world began. In the
early church, In the early church, in the days of the New Testament,
this was just common, ordinary, everyday talk. In the church
of this age, you seldom ever hear about it. But in God's church,
it's common, ordinary, everyday talk. In God's church. So we don't talk about that where
I go to church. We all go to church somewhere else. You all
quit that. That's just nonsense. The scriptures
here speak of God's preservation. God's preservation. All who are
sanctified by God the Father in election are and shall forever
be preserved in Jesus Christ, our mediator. We are preserved
unto the time of our calling. Preserved by the hand of our
God. Preserved in the grace and heart
and purpose of our God. Preserved in Jesus Christ. Preserved for Jesus Christ. Preserved though we fell in our
father Adam. Preserved though the whole race constantly lives rebellion to
God. Preserved in Jesus Christ though our ancestors are barbarians
and constantly at war preserved preserved Preserved until the
time we come forth from our mother's womb and as we do preserve as
we go forth speaking life preserved in Jesus Christ unto the day
of our calling and preserved in him forever preserved in Jesus
Christ Who can describe such grace? God's elect are preserved
in Christ. Preserved in grace until grace
is finished in everlasting glory. Then God the Holy Spirit speaks
to us again and speaks to us about our effectual calling. Our effectual calling. Jude says,
and called. Preserved in Jesus Christ. And
called. Called. All God's people understand
that we live by the call of His grace. All God's people understand
that. God's people understand that
God's call is effectual, irresistible, the work of God's grace, causing
us to come to Christ. God's people understand that.
You talk to people today about irresistible grace, and they,
most of them never heard the terms. Most people have no idea
what they're talking about. God's people understand. We've
been called. Called. And all who are called
are those who are preserved, those who are sanctified, those
who are redeemed in Christ. They're called. And all who believe
have been called. The cause of the believing is
the call. And then Jude, in all of these
things, describes this salvation, this grace, as being the work
of the Holy Trinity. Chosen, sanctified by God the
Father, preserved, kept in Jesus Christ, and called by God the
Holy Ghost. We worship one God in the Trinity
of His sacred persons, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and understand
that all three persons in the Holy Trinity are constantly,
from everlasting to everlasting, involved in the saving of our
souls. You and I who know God, we who are believers, we were
taught of God, date all our mercies to eternity. We date all our
mercies to eternity so that we are compelled to speak concerning
all who believe, as Paul did to the Thessalonians. We're bound
to give thanks all the way 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. And then Jude
speaks of common salvation. Common salvation in common faith
look at the third verse 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
contend for the faith once delivered to the saints. Now, when Jude
speaks of common salvation, he's not talking about salvation that's
meaningless. He's not talking about salvation
that's common to everybody. He's talking about salvation
that is common to all God's people. All who are saved by the grace
of God are saved by the same purpose, by the same election,
by the same sanctification, by the same blood, by the same power,
by the same God, and in the same way. All who are saved share
a common salvation. We are chosen by God in Christ,
accepted by God in Christ, blessed of God in Christ, with all spiritual
blessings in heavenly places in Christ. God's salvation is
common to all his saints, so that not one in the kingdom of
God rises above another, so that not one in the church of God
has anything on the other. God's people share a common salvation,
bought with the blood of Christ, saved by the grace of God, kept
by the power of God, and we have one faith. The faith that he
speaks of here is talking about the faith of the gospel. He tells
us that we should earnestly contend for the faith, that faith for
which we must earnestly contend. is the faith of God's people
written across the pages of Holy Scripture having to do with the
person, glory, bloodshedding, and righteousness of Jesus Christ. The redemption he accomplished,
the salvation is found in him. And any reluctance on our part,
any reluctance on my part as a preacher, any reluctance on
your part as a believer, any reluctance on our part to openly
profess these glorious truths revealed in the gospel, or any
denial of these things, is the wounding of our Redeemer in the
house of his friends, and high treason against God. For me, not to proclaim the gospel
of God's free grace in its purity, with all its rough edges, in
the face of its most utter enemies. For me not to confess it as a
believer, for me not to uphold the cause of Christ and the banner
of Christ, for the glory of Christ is to wound the Redeemer here
in the house of his friends. And it is high treason against
God. Say that's true with regard to this preacher or any other
preacher I'm sick to the top of my head of preachers who Talk
stuff they won't preach and ride our stuff. They won't preach
and debate about stuff They won't preach won't be caught dead preaching
those things. We can't do that It costs too
much and I know where the cost is. It's in your billfold. I
Know where the cost is. It's in your influence. I know
where the cost is. It's in your reputation. I not God's servants. Jude draws a clear line of distinction
between God's elect and the reprobate. He draws a clear line of distinction
between the religious person and the believer. He draws a
clear line of distinction between God's servants and false prophets. He draws a clear line of distinction
between true religion and false religion. That brings us to verses
four through 19. In these verses, Jude describes
those men who are the common foes of God's elect in every
age. The common foes of God's elect
in every age, and they never change. They never change. These are
the enemies of the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. These are
the enemies of your soul. These are the enemies of God,
as God himself has declared. They are men who creep in unawares. They are men who rise up from
among you. Now listen to how Jude describes
them. He paints with a broad, broad
brush, but man, what bold lines he uses to paint the picture.
Jude, verse four. For there are certain men crept
in unawares. Sounds like snakes to me. Certain men who slip out of the
door, who slither their way in. They don't dare speak openly. They don't dare speak honestly. They don't dare reveal their
true motives. They slither in. They slither
in unawares. Who were before the Lord ordained
to this condemnation. It didn't take God by surprise.
It didn't take God by surprise. They were ordained to this condemnation.
Ungodly men, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness
and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. I
will therefore put you in remembrance that though you once knew this,
How that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of
Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. You remember
those millions that came out of Egypt and ate manna? Those millions who walked across
the Red Sea on dry ground? Those millions who constantly
were led by pillar of fire by day or by pillar of cloud by
day and pillar of fire by night. Those millions to whom God sent
his prophet and his priest. Those millions God fed and clothed
so that their clothes didn't go moldy and their shoes didn't
wear out for 40 years. They had marvelous outward experiences
of salvation. But they didn't know God, and
they perished in the wilderness. They perished in the wilderness.
Read on. Read on. Verse 6. And the angels which
kept not their first estate, you read about them in Revelation
chapter 12, but left their own habitation, hath he reserved
in everlasting chains under darkness, under the judgment of the great
day. Even as Sodom and Gomorrah, and the cities about them in
like manner, giving themselves over to fornication, the words,
the words which we get our word pornography, to every kind of
moral indecency, to every kind of moral degeneracy, and going
after strange flesh, are set forth, watch this now, for an
example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. God set them
forth as an example, an example of divine judgment that's sure
to fall upon all men in the last day. Likewise, also these filthy
dreamers, these certain men who slithered their way into the
church unawares, filthy dreamers, filthy dreamers. They defile
the flesh. They despise dominion. They speak
evil of dignities. Yet Michael the archangel, you
mark somewhere on there, circle that Michael the archangel, underline
it, draw an arrow to it, that's Christ the Lord. When contending
with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses, does not bring
an accusation against him, does not bring against him a railing
accusation, but said the Lord rebuke thee. But they speak evil
of those things which they know not. These slithering snakes
who creep in underwears, these filthy dreamers, these certain
men who come in the church under false pretenses and take the
pulpit under false pretenses. They speak evil of those things
which they know not. election, and predestination,
and limited atonement, and irresistible grace, and the godhood of Christ,
and the power of God, and divine sovereignty, and man's depravity.
They speak evil of those things they know not. But what they
know naturally as brute beast, what they know only by carnal
light and carnal knowledge, What they know only as that which
can be taught by men and known by men in those things they corrupt
themselves They take the Word of God and they Remember Jude
said they're ungodly men. Is that what he said Don? They're
ungodly men, but it doesn't say what about being drunks or thieves
or fornicators or adulterers No, no, if that's what they were
they couldn't have got in If that's what they were, they couldn't
have cut into the church. These are ungodly men who take
the word of God and corrupt themselves by that which they know only
as brute beast, only by the letter learned by the flesh. They corrupt
themselves speaking evil against those things they know not. The things that can be known
only by divine revelation, only by the gift of God's grace. They
speak against them and speak against them blasphemy and thus
commit ungodliness. Read on, read on. They corrupt
themselves. Woe unto them, for they have
gone in the way of Cain and reigned greedily after the error of Balaam. for reward, and perished in the
gainsaying of Korah." What's he talking about? Rex, he's describing every false
prophet who's ever lived in the world under three categories. Every false prophet, past, present,
and future, who's ever lived in the world. Every false prophet
will be described by one of these three, two of these three, or
all three of these three descriptions. First, they go in the way of
Cain. I'm not going to worship God.
That's not the way of Cain. I don't believe there is a God.
That's not the way of Cain. Oh, no, there's no such thing
as heaven, hell, or eternity. That's not the way of Cain. Well,
the way of Cain says, let's go to God and bring God the best
we got. Let's bring him the best we got.
Let's, let's clean ourselves up, go to church and bring God
the best we got. Bring him the most costly sacrifice. Bring him the most costly work.
Bring him the best thing we can do. Let's go to God and bring
God our goodness and ask him for grace. That's the way of
Cain. Cain came with his brother Abel
to the house of God to worship God. And when he did, he brought
him the fruit of the ground, the works of his own hands. And
Abel brought him a lamb of the flock. He understood what God
did in the garden. He understood the message his
father Adam taught him because God taught him and he came to
God not bringing his goodness But God's goodness not bringing
his sacrifice, but God's sacrifice not bringing what he did But
what God did he brought God a lamb for a burnt offering and offered
him in faith Believing on the Lamb of God slain from the foundation
of the world and the book says God had respect to Abel and his
offerings What does that mean? God favored Abel and his offering. God accepted Abel and his offering. God smiled on Abel and his offering. God said, I like that. God said,
I'll take that. God said, I'll take you because
of that. But the Lord had not respect to Cain and his offering.
And Cain was as mad, oh, he got mad. Oh, he got mad because God
wouldn't take his goodness. God wouldn't take his works. God wouldn't take his produce. God wouldn't have the best he
could do. God would only have the best
God could do. And because Abel was as near
as Cain could get to God, he killed his brother Abel. All
false prophets come to God mingling their own works on God's altar. Or they're described like this.
They ran greedily after the error of Balaam. Greedily after the error of Balaam. How can that describe false prophets?
Do you remember how Balaam behaved? When the king said to him, he
said, you gonna curse Israel? And Balaam said, I can't do that.
God bless them. And the king said, I'll give
you anything you want. He said, well, it doesn't matter what
you give me. It doesn't matter what you give me. I can't do
what the Lord hadn't said. And he's got his hands stretched
out the whole time. He's like, you can't buy me off! And he's
got his hands stretched out the whole time. The whole time, he's
serving. his own interest, seeking his
own welfare, seeking his own benefit, and it teaches Israel
to mingle the worship of God with the worship of idols. Find
a way to get along, and you'll get along. Find a way to get
along, and you'll get along. Just don't cause any offense. Just don't say anything bad about
anybody. And especially don't say anything bad about anybody's
God. Don't say anything bad about anybody's religion. Don't do
that. And you'll get along alright.
Don't declare this is the way. You'll say this is the way. Don't
declare this is how men come to God. Just declare this is
the way you can come to God. Don't declare Christ is the way. Just declare Christ is the way.
There are other ways. There are other ways. I read to you once many years
ago a television transcript of an interview that was done between
Billy Graham and Bob Shuler. I call the names because they're
familiar. And Shuler said, do I understand you right? There
is a wideness in the love of God. So that if a man has never
heard of Jesus Christ, and worships God the best he can, knowing
the best he knows, even if he calls him this, that, or the
other thing, then he'll make it to heaven. Yes, I believe
that, Mr. Graham said. There's a wideness
to the love of God, and they just pat each other on the back.
But that's the kind of fellows Cain and Balaam and Korah were. religious leaders of renown,
folks known in Israel, folks respected, but now God speaks
plainly and says these false prophets run greedily after the
way of Balaam. For reward, either money or power
or position. For reward, they do what they
do. Their motive is their belly.
Is that what we read in Philippians 3? The motive is the belly. That's the motive. Are you saying
preacher fellows would preach the gospel of God's grace if
they weren't motivated by their lust? No, I wouldn't say that. God said that. I'm just telling
you what God said. Read this book. Read it. Read
on. And perished in the gainsaying
of Korah. The gainsaying of Korah. Korah
was himself a self-appointed self-prophet who thought he had
no need for God's word or God's prophet. He declared himself
holy. He said, we're as holy as you,
Moses. He declared himself knowing God without any knowledge of
God. He declared himself a messenger
of God with no message from God. And God swatted him up in his
wrath. All right, read on. Verse 12. What do we think about all these
fellas? These are spots in your feast of charity. Now, love feast. Churches these days like to jump
on a statement like this, love feast. They observed love feast
in the New Testament. That doesn't mean it was right.
He's not suggesting they should have a love feast. He just said
you have these feasts of charity. These are spots in your feast
of charity. These are spots in your feast of charity. They're
corrupting spots. They're dividing spots. They're
destructive spots. When they feast with you, Feeding
themselves without fear. They walk among you fearlessly,
confident, cocky, arrogant. Feasting themselves without fear.
They don't. Clouds are they. Clouds. Boy, when it's been long and
dry and the grass is burnt and the crops are withering and you
see a cloud in the sky, you say, well, there's a promise of rain.
And the cloud just goes right on with no water. That's false
prophets. They're full of promises, but
they've got nothing to give. Full of promises. Clouds without
water. Carried about of winds. They chase everything that comes
down the road. Every new idea. Every new doctrine. Everything
that folks get excited about, they chase after it. The trees. Trees whose fruit withereth. That is, without fruits. twice
dead. Dead spiritually and subject
to eternal death. Plucked up by the roots. Raging
waves of the sea. They make a lot of noise and
they get a lot of attention, thumbing out their own shame. Bittering out their own mighty
will, their own good works, their own righteousness. Wandering
stars to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever.
Mm-hmm. I'm looking at verse 4 notice
how Jude describes these fellas He says they turn the grace of
our God into lasciviousness you see that They turn the grace
of our God in lessee business. They they say if you preach just
pure free grace. I If you preach salvation by
absolute free grace, absolute forgiveness, absolute pardon,
absolute redemption, absolute righteousness, no matter what,
that opens the floodgates to sin. And that leads to licentiousness,
and that causes people to go out and live like hell. Jude
tells us, no, God the Holy Spirit tells us. that all such prating
law workers, all such proud legalists who dare assert that grace promotes
ungodliness, they deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. They deny all the work of God,
all the glory of God, all the salvation of God, all the glory
of the Redeemer. They deny His Godhead when they
deny his grace. Now, verse 14, Enoch also, the
seventh from Adam, the seventh generation of believers from
Adam, prophesied to these fellas. Imagine that. I told you they
didn't take God by surprise. Enoch prophesied to these fellas
way back before the flood. Enoch prophesied to these fellas.
He prophesied, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousands
of his saints. When Christ comes again, we shall
be raised from the dead, and so shall we ever be with the
Lord. And the Lamb will descend in judgment upon the earth with
all his saints to execute judgment upon all. Now watch this. And
to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly
deeds, which they have ungodly committed. Everything they've
done in the house of God, in the name of God, pretending to
be the servants of God, they're ungodly deeds. In all their hard
speeches, everything they've spoken, they talk about loving,
serving Jesus, and loving, serving Jesus, and loving, serving Jesus,
and loving, serving Jesus. They're hard speeches. Claus Peterson, you're 80 how
many too? Everybody you've heard all your
life, who's taught you anything about God contrary to the gospel,
didn't matter how sweet it sounded, it was just hard speech. Hard
speech. Now the world applauds us. Oh,
that's so good. That's so sweet. He's so nice.
Oh, look at him. Hard speech. His speech is going
to take you to hell. Hard speech. His speech is going
to take you to hell. We don't. We don't. which ungodly sinners have spoken
against God. These are murmurers, complainers,
walking after their own lust. They live for themselves, and
their mouth speaketh great swelling words, and there's a reason for
that. Because if you've got something
they can get from you, they think real highly of you. Having men's
persons in admiration because of advantage. Having men's persons
in admiration because of advantage, they court folks and they butter
them up and they rub them the right way and they get what they
can from them. But beloved, Remember you the
words of the Lord which were spoken before the apostles of
our Lord Jesus Have that they told you who should walk at after
their own ungodly lust These be they who separate themselves
Sensual having not the spirit These ungodly men speak evil
about things they don't know, and they speak evil of dignities,
of God's sovereignty, of God's majesty, of the rule and dominion
of our Lord Jesus, and they're sensual men. Come back to the
book of Zechariah, Zechariah chapter 3. Like their father, the devil,
they rage out against the authority and dominion of God. And Jude
speaks of these like they bring a railing accusation against
dignity. But Michael, the archangel in
verse nine, dared not, durst not bring a railing accusation
against Satan when he disputed with him about the body of Moses.
That's referring to this text right here in Zechariah chapter
3. The children of Israel had been in bondage, in captivity. Joshua, the high priest, while
he was in Babylon, took to himself one of Babylonian women for a
wife and defiled himself, disqualified himself as priest in Israel.
And here he stands before the angel of the Lord, as Michael,
the Prince of God, and Satan standing at his right hand to
resist him. What's that talking about? Raise
Satan up. Raise Moses up. Satan was not
disputing about where Moses was buried. And he wasn't disputing
about Moses' physical body. He was disputing about Moses
being forever silenced by Christ the Savior, the angel of the
Lord. And Joshua's there, and Satan says, Joshua has got to
bear the punishment for his crimes! And the angel of the Lord said,
The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan. Even the Lord that hath chosen
Jerusalem rebuke thee. Is not this a brand plucked out
of the fire? The Lord Jesus says, Satan, the
Lord rebuke you. God, with all his being, rebuke
him! Because this man, he's God's
chosen. He's my redeemed. He's a brand
plucked out of the fire. Read on. Now Joshua was clothed
with filthy garments and stood before the angel. And he answered
and spake unto those that stood before him. That is, the angel
of the Lord did, saying, take away his filthy garments from
him. And unto him the angel said,
behold, I have caused thy iniquity to pass from thee, and I will
clothe thee with a change of raiment. That's what the Son
of God done for me. And I said, let them set a fair
mitre upon his head. Holiness to the Lord. And so
they set a fair miter upon his head and clothed him with raiments,
and the angel of the Lord stood by. That's Christ our mediator,
our advocate in heaven, who doesn't bring a railing accusation because
there's no need to. He pleads our cause as he stands
in our stead before God, our mediator, our surety, our advocate,
ever pleading for us. That comfort that we have from
an advocate called alongside to our aid, a mighty advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ, the propitiation for our sins. And then Jude speaks to us about
our blessed security. Look at this, verse 20. I'll just give it to you quickly
and you can fill in the rest of it. Our security is all prayer. Our security is the love, mercy,
and grace of God. Our security is the absolute
purpose of God. Look at it here. But ye, beloved,
building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the
Holy Ghost. Praying in the Holy Ghost. While you walk through this world fully aware and fully confident
that all the apostate religion of this apostate world will never
harm one of God's elect. You walk with God in faith, praying
in the Holy Ghost. God, give me grace and teach
me constantly that I am nothing, I have nothing, and I can do
nothing. Give me grace and teach me constantly
that I have no strength in myself for anything. Give me grace ever
to lean upon Christ, my beloved. Look at verse 21. Keep yourselves
in the love of God. How's that? Looking for the mercy
of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. Look away, look
away, look away to Christ for everything. Look to him for eternal life. Verse twenty-two, and while you
walk in this world, serve the souls of men by the
gospel of some have compassion making a difference. I had to to have a good long
talk with my son-in-law last night, lots of things. One of the great, great, great
privileges of preaching the gospel of God's
grace is the possibility that God might
be pleased to use me to make a difference in your life. I'm
talking about an eternal difference, an everlasting difference. Now,
children of God, may God use you to make a difference in the
lives of men, an eternal difference, an everlasting difference. Read
on. and of others saved with fear,
pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garments spotted
by the flesh. Joshua and all the others, men
wondered at, brains plucked from the burning, pulled out of the
fire, and despised the filthy garments." Read on. Here's our security. This is
God's purpose. unto him that is able to keep
you from falling, and to present you thoughtless, oh, what a word, 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 forever. To Christ, who's able to present
you thoughtless before the presence of God's glory, to Him be everything forever. To Him be everything forever. Amen.