Several things that they engage
in, they turn the grace of God into lasciviousness. They especially deny the gospel
of substitution. And he says that flesh merchants,
they exalt the flesh above the spirit. Their great interest
is in numbers, results, outward show, flesh. He says their motive is to discredit
true preachers and exalt themselves and draw away disciples after
themselves. And one of the ways they do this
is they despise authority. They despise the authority of
God. They despise the authority of
the Word. They don't hesitate to correct
apostles. and prophets and pastors who
are sent of God. Then he gave that example in
verse 9, that's where we'll begin. He says in verse 8, these filthy
dreamers, he calls them dreamers because they preach their dreams,
their visions, not the word of God. You remember I read in Jeremiah
where God said, let the prophets who have a dream preach their
dreams, but he that hath my word let him preach my word. And Jude
calls these men, these false preachers, filthy dreamers. They
defile the flesh, they promote the flesh, they despise authority,
they speak evil of dignities. I heard a preacher talking about
the Apostle Paul and said, well, he was He was a fanatic, he was
a radical. He said these things in his day,
they won't go, they won't wash, he said today. Well, I'd be careful
calling Paul a fanatic, a radical. He was God's chosen vessel, but
they're not careful. And here he gives an example
of Michael, the archangel. Now Moses had died. And he was
buried, the Lord buried him. Let's look at that scripture
again in Deuteronomy 34. I want to give you something
here. In Deuteronomy 34, verse 5 and 6. So Moses, the servant
of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, according to the
word of the Lord, and he buried him. He buried him in the land
of Moab. Many of us believe that God,
when he said God buried him, is that God allowed Michael,
the archangel, to bury Moses' body. He overgets Bathur. But here's
a key. No man knoweth of his supplica
to this day. Moses was buried by the Lord,
or perhaps by His grave was concealed according to the purpose of God.
No man knoweth of his supplica, that neither
Moses nor his grave become an object of worship or idolatry. Now evidently, this is what most
of the reputable writers believe, evidently Satan who encourages
idolatry, who feeds and feasts upon idolatry, who desires nothing
better than idolatry. He must have disputed with Michael
about the body of Moses. Must have. That's what the scripture
says here in Jude, verse 9. Michael the archangel, when contending
when contending with the devil. He disputed about the body of
Moses. I know they weren't disputing
over the law, or the body of the Ten Commandments, or the
Levitical law. They were disputing over this
body of Moses. Satan wanted to make an idol
out of his grave. Satan wanted to have something to say about
where Moses was buried. Now, Michael wasn't afraid of
Satan. It says here that Michael does not bring against him a
railing accusation. But he said to Satan, the Lord
will rebuke you. The Lord will rebuke you. That's
his right. Michael wasn't afraid of Satan.
Michael didn't honor or respect Satan. Micah knew that Satan
was wrong in this, but Micah chose, and this is wisdom for
any of us who are called upon to speak regarding things we
don't fully understand, don't fully understand, especially
things of principalities and powers and great things. He chose
to leave the judgment and condemnation of even Satan, to Almighty God,
who alone has the right, the wisdom, and the power to deal
with those in authority. Turn them over to the Lord. That's
better. All right, verse 10. But these
men, these false preachers, They are not at a loss for words.
They don't hesitate a minute, verse 10 says, to speak evil
of those things which they don't understand. Those things they
do not know. They sit in judgment on the scriptures.
They take upon themselves to judge and govern God's church. You hear these preachers on television
that are given to Pentecostalism and wildfire and carrying on,
they'll talk about this church or any church where people worship
quietly, where people worship God in the spirit, where people
worship God and the word is rayed, and all of the screaming and
yelling and exercises in demonstration of the flesh, and hell, they
call those dead churches. It's a dead church. Now, they're
speaking evil. or something they don't understand.
But they don't hesitate. Don't hesitate a minute to sit
in judgment on the scriptures, to take upon themselves to judge
God's church, to interpret spiritual truth that they do not understand,
have not been taught. And the natural thing, listen,
but what they know naturally is brute beast in these things,
they corrupt themselves. materialism, they corrupt themselves in those
things that they do understand the flesh. And the very thing that they
understand is corrupting them. Well, he says in verse 11, theirs
is a threefold problem now, these false pictures. We're not talking
about preachers that come here. We're not talking about preachers
and believe God's grace. We're talking about the preachers
of the world that creep in and just bring their evil doctrines
and their works for salvation. They have a three-fold problem.
Number one, they've gone the way of Cain, the way of Cain. And that's no blood atonement.
no blood redemption. We know Cain and Abel, that's
where the two religions of the world divided, right there after
their sacrifice. Cain brought of the fruit of
the field, the things he had made and that he had grown and
that he had raised and that he had done with his own hands,
and he offered them to God as a sacrifice. But Abel brought
the blood, the blood of the Lamb. represents Christ, our Redeemer.
And God had respect to Abel's blood sacrifice, as he willed
the blood of his son. And Cain rose up and flew him,
got angry with Abel because God received his blood atonement,
his sacrifice. And these fellows have left the
blood atonement. And then the second era, they
ran greedily after the heir of Balaam. Now you can read about
Balaam over in Numbers, I think it's in Numbers 16, where the
king wanted to pay him to prophesy his way, to pay him. And after a while, God let him
go that way. He went that way. And God wouldn't
let him curse Israel, but preaching for gain, preaching for riches. Preaching for personal gain and
personal glory and personal recognition and not for God's glory. That's the era of false preachers.
No blood atonement. No particular redemption. That's
it. For whom did Christ die? And
then preaching out of covetousness for personal gain and recognition
and glory. And then the third era And I've
got an article in the Bulletin next Sunday about this. Perished
in the gainsaying of Korah. Now God chose Moses to lead his
people. Moses, my servant, God said.
Moses and Aaron, my servants. But these sons of Korah rose
up in opposition to Moses. They said, you're not the only
prophets. We're all prophets. We're not
the only people that God loves. He loves us all. God wants to
use every one of us. And they were going to use up
the fire that God gave Moses and that God gave Abraham and
Joshua. And I wrote this article. You'll
read it in Sunday's bulletin. I've often thought that the way
that God dealt with Moses might be just the way He deals with
every true servant he calls. One man said one time, no prophet
of God ever sought that office. Now you think about that. No
prophet of God ever sought that office. Moses wanted to be God's
leader, but when he was finally made ready to be God's leader,
he didn't want a job. Isn't that right? He wanted to
lead the people out of Egypt. Moses believed that God raised
him up. His mama told him that, I'm sure.
That God raised him up to deliver Israel from Egypt. He believed
that. He was a strong man, an educated man, a popular man,
an intellectual. And when he saw that Egyptian
smiting the Israelites, he said, now's the time. He assumed this
is the time to act. So he killed the Egyptians, and he had to leave the country
without the Israelites. He left alone, went out in disgrace. He assumed that the time had
come for him to act. He had natural gifts. He had
brains. He had muscles. He had recognition. But he didn't have patience,
wisdom, humility, or grace. And he didn't even really know
God to a certain extent. That's right. Gatsby said this, God sent Moses
40 years to college in the desert to qualify him for the ministry
of God. And after Moses had been 40 years
in the wilderness, he didn't volunteer so quickly to be God's
prophet, nor so zealously. It was a different Moses who
said, Lord, when God told him, you're going to deliver the people,
he said, Lord, send whom you will, but not me. But Lord, I'm
slow of speech. I'm not eloquent. Send whomever
you will." He didn't talk that way forty years earlier. He was
anxious to be God's prophet. But now that he was equipped
and qualified to glorify God and to serve him, he shrinks
back and doesn't want the job. He's like Paul who cried, I'm
not sufficient for these Well, that's the threefold problem
with the ministry. Number one, no blood atonement,
covetousness and greed, and volunteering for that for which a man doesn't
volunteer, he must be called. And he says about these men,
I'll read them, these are spots in your feast of charity, early
Christians met for feasts of fellowship, unity, and love,
and the presence of these false preachers divided them. These men were promoting themselves
and consequently sowing discord. When you promote yourself, you
sow discord. When you promote the glory of
God, you cultivate unity. So there are spots in your feasts.
Secondly, he says there are clouds. Clouds there are without water.
A lot of things about a false creature that could be illustrated
by a cloud. Number one, clouds rise suddenly. You can look up and see another
cloud in the sky. They'd walk around a little while
and after a while, where'd they come from? They appeared out
of nowhere. Secondly, clouds are usually
dark. Where the clouds usually don't
reveal the sun, they blot it out. Sometimes clouds give the appearance
and promise of refreshing showers, but they're empty. And he says
here, they're clouds that promise but don't produce. They promise but don't produce.
Then he says, they're carried about of winds. They go here
and there and yonder. The wind just pushes them where
it will, you know. They give like a reed against
the wind. And then there are trees, trees,
first of all, whose fruit withereth, no leaves for shade, without
fruit, that is grace, love, and humility, twice dead, once in
Adam and once judicially, plucked up by the roots already, fit
for the burning. He says in verse 13, the raging
waves of the sea foaming out their own shame. I've stood by
the seashore on a stormy day and watched the raging waves
of the ocean, raging waves, noisy, much froth and foam, no substance,
swelling with pride but empty. blustering, destructive. That's the raging
waves of the sea. I'm thankful he leads us by still
waters, aren't you? I'm sure glad there's nobody
throwing psalm books right now while I'm trying to preach the
grace of God. I'm so thankful. I'm thankful
nobody's running up and down the aisle while I'm trying to
show you the word of God. I like peace. These raging waves
of the sea foaming out their own shame. Foaming, blustery, destructive. Wandering stars. You know what wandering stars
are? They're those fallen stars. Permanent stars don't wander.
They're always, you remember, Cecil, we used to get to look
at the stars and draw and find out where you were in the surface. You could pick certain stars
and I guarantee you Columbus picked the same star and plotted
where he was by that star. It's never moved. And that's
the way over in Revelation it talks about the Lord's preachers
being in his hand. He said the candlestick and the
churches and the seven stars are his preachers. And they're
in his hand. They're in his hand. Secondly,
they don't move. They stay in his hand all the
time. They start to minister there
and wind it up there. And thirdly, they show you the
way to God, the directions. But these are wandering stars.
You go out and watch them. They're falling stars. They dazzle.
They're the brightest. When you go out and look at a
falling star, it'll rock you. It's brighter than any star up
there. Wow! But it doesn't last long. And
that's the way these preachers are. They don't last long. I sat and watched one. I couldn't
sleep that night about 2 o'clock in the morning. I was up watching
one. I thought, Lord, why do you let him go on like that? He's denying the Word of God,
he's denying the blood of Christ, he's denying the truth. People
aren't going to be saved. Why do you put up with it? But he won't last long. He won't
last long. He's making a lot of racket right
now. But they listen. These wandering stars to whom
is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. When they fall,
they're gone for good. They're gone for good. For a little while, they just
attract everybody's attention, and then they're gone. Gone for
good. Here's an interesting scripture
here, Enoch. You know, Enoch was the seventh
from Adam. Let's turn to Genesis 5 and look
at this a minute. This is interesting. You young
people will find interest in this right here in just a moment.
In Genesis 5, Enoch, it says here in Genesis 5, verse 18, you go back to verse 7, Seth.
Seth lived after he begat Enos 807 years. Seth, you know, is
the son of Adam and Eve. That's the second generation.
Adam was the first generation, Seth was the second generation.
And then Enos, verse 9, begat Cainan, that's the third generation. And then in verse 12, and Cainan
lived seventy years and begat Eliud, Baha'u'llah. What's that, did I say the fifth
generation? Verse 15, this fellow, whatever
Michael, let's call him, that's easy. He lived 65 years and begat
Jared. That's the sixth generation.
And verse 19, Jared lived after he begat Enoch. Or verse 18,
and Jared lived 160 years and begat Enoch. That's the seventh
generation from Adam. And this man Enoch prophesied
of Christ. Now this is before Moses, before
Abraham. before Noah, way back then. He prophesied of the second coming
of Christ. I go back to my text in Jude,
in verse 14. And Enoch, also the seventh from
Adam, prophesied of these, saying, he prophesied about these false
preachers, the Lord is going to come deal with these fellows.
Look at verse 14. He prophesied of these people,
saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints.
Now, he's not talking about the first coming. When Job prophesied,
he said, I know my Redeemer liveth, and on the last days he'll stand
on his earth. He's talking about the first coming. But Enoch says
he's coming with ten thousand saints. He didn't come the first
time with ten thousand saints. He came by himself, born of a
woman, alone. Didn't even people know who he
was. He came quietly. Born of a woman in a stable.
He's coming here. We're coming with him when he
comes this time. Listen. And he's coming, verse 15, to
execute judgment. He didn't come the first time
to execute judgment. He said, I didn't come to condemn
the world. I came to save people. That's why he came. But Enoch's
talking about when he comes to execute judgment on all, and
to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly
deeds, which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard
speeches, which these ungodly sinners have spoken against him."
See, these folks we've been reading about don't hesitate to speak
evil of the dignities and the word of God and the scriptures
and the prophets. Christ, either the seventh from
Adam, where'd that come from? He said the Lord's coming someday,
the Lord Jesus Christ, Jehovah, that's not Elohim, that's Christ
he's talking about. He's coming with 10,000 of his
saints, with the host of heaven, and he's going to execute judgment
on these folks that pop off about things they don't know anything
about. They're ungodless. speeches,
hard speeches against him. He's not God, they say. He's just a superstar. He's just
a reformer. He's just a defeated martyr.
He wants to save and can't do it. He's a failure. His blood
was shed in vain. Now, Judgment Day is coming,
where sixteen He said, these fellows, they're murmurers, they're
complainers, they walk after their own lust, their mouth squeaks,
great sweat and lust. And they have men's persons in
admiration because of advantage. What's that talking about? Well,
they use flattering words, great swelling, flattering words, openly
court people to gain their praise and gain their possessions. They
flatter people, having their persons in admiration because
of an advantage, their advantage. But beloved, remember now the
words which were spoken before of the apostles of our Lord Jesus. They told you that there should
be mockers in the last times who walk after their own ungodly
lusts. These be they who separate themselves,
since you are having not the Spirit, that turn to 2 Peter
2. This is what he's talking about,
2 Peter 2. He says, These are false prophets
among the people, even as there shall be false teachers among
you who bring in damnable heresies, denying the Lord that bought
them. bring upon themselves swift destruction,
and many people shall follow their pernicious, lascivious
ways, by reason of whom the way of truth shall be evil spoken
of. And through covetousness shall
they with fain words, phony words, words that are covered over with
smoothness and sweetness, make merchandise out of you. But their
judgment now of a long time lingered not, and their damnation slumbered
not. Well, let's go back now and let's
see these five things I want to give you. Five-fold defense
against falling away, against error, against being swept up
with these fellows and swept up with their false religion. Verse 20, Number one, building up yourselves
on your most holy faith. That's the first thing. How do
you build up your faith? Well, I'll tell you. If you'll
go back to the book of 1 Peter. I spoke on this down at Dingus
last Sunday. 1 Peter chapter 2 verse 2. 1 Peter 2 verse 2. As newborn babes,
as children, Little children in Christ. Desire. Desire the sincere milk of the
Word. I told them there's not much
an infant can do. There's not much. He can't walk,
he can't hear good, he can't see, he can't dress himself,
he can't bathe himself. I'll tell you one thing he can
do better than anybody. He can nurse. Or he can go after that milk.
And the more he goes after that milk, the more he's going to
grow. And there ain't a whole lot that a little bathing crash
can do. He's pretty ignorant. He's just
been born of the Spirit. He's born of the Word of God.
He's born of the Word of God. Now he desires that Word and
goes after it like that baby does the milk. He'll grow thereby.
So the same way I was born, the same instrument or grace or means by which I
was born I'm fed and grow. That's it. So build yourselves
up on your most holy faith is one way to, and I know, I know
we like to read books, but let me tell you something now. Books
are fine, but be careful you don't become obsessed with books
and become a man follower. Be careful, just use books as
helps. Read the scriptures. Read the
scriptures. Read the scriptures. I know this
is true. I believe what Dr. Gill is saying
is true. I know this is true. This is God's Word. You grow
on this. Secondly... Secondly, pray. Pray. We have not because we're
asking on it. Men are always to pray, not to
quit. Not to think. Ask, he said. He'll be giving you. Seek, you'll
find. Not! It'll be open. Keep on praying. Call on God. Call on God. Pray often. Pray regularly. Pray
faithfully. Pray humbly. Pray about everything. Pray about everything. And thirdly,
keep yourselves in the love of God. Keep yourselves in the love
of God. That upsets some fellas that
try to explain that away, but let's just leave it like it is.
It's a three-fold love. Number one, my salvation and
my hope is because He loved me. He loved me. I love Him because
He loved me. My salvation and hope is He loved
me. And secondly, my obedience and
walk And the things I do is because I love Him. Now keep that in
mind. Everything I am and have and
hope to be is because He loves me. But my walk and obedience
and whatever I do in His name is because I love Him. Not motivated
by merit or reward or fear or duty, just because I love Him. Keep yourself in that vein. Our
relationship with one another, let that be based upon that love
we have for each other. God does what he does for us
because he loves us. We do what we do in his name
because we love him. Then we'll settle our differences
because we love each other. So that's how you keep yourself
in this principle. Keep yourself in this faith,
the love of God. This will keep you from falling.
Look for mercy! Look in for the mercy of our
Lord Jesus Christ. Look in for mercy. I'm looking
for mercy. I'm not looking for merit or
reward. I'm looking for mercy. I'm looking
at mercy's past. Listen. Somebody's been here
a long time, and the past has just been A pathway strewn with
mercy, hadn't it? It's been mercy, mercy, mercy,
mercy, mercy. Mercy of God all through the
past. Looking, looking for the mercy
of the Lord. And mercy present. Doris and I sit down, get up
in the morning, make a little coffee and sit down to a meal.
We just can't help it. Think about how merciful God's
been to us. How merciful. Thank Him for the
mercies of a comfortable home, nice clothes, good food, good
friends, loving children, good health. We're loaded with mercy. How merciful. Looking for the
mercy. And I'll tell you, the future
is full of mercy too. Looking for the mercy of our
Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life. Past, present, future. It's all mercy. Not by works
of righteousness which we've done, but according to His mercy. Yes, I've done. Mercy. And then skip verse 22 and 23
a minute, and here's the fifth reason or defense against falling. Now to Him it's able to keep
you from falling. Keep yourself in the love of
God. Keep yourself in a prayerful
spirit. Keep yourself looking at the
mercy of Christ. Build yourself up with the Word
on faith. But here's the bottom line. down
to Him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present
you faultless before His throne of glory with exceeding joy, until the
only wise God, our Savior, our Lord Jesus Christ, be glory and
majesty, dominion and power both now and forever. Now let me take
a moment and go back to verse 22 and 23. And we've been talking about
these false preachers. There's no compromise with them. A man who deliberately stands
in the pulpit and denies the grace of God and the blood of
Christ and the righteousness of Christ and exhorts sinners
to seek salvation by works is not to be tolerated. He's a heretic. have anything to do with him.
But here he says in verse 22, and of some, some people, not
preachers, are preachers if he doesn't deny the faith. Of some
have compassion, making a difference. And others save with fear, pulling
them out of the fire, hating even the garment spotted with
the flesh. Here's what he's saying here. Everybody who acts foolishly
in this life, we all do plenty of times, and do things, and
people, believers who do things they shouldn't do, and even may
leave the fellowship for a while, they're not unbelievers, they're
not false professors, they're not false preachers, they're
not denying the faith, but they go astray. They're deceived or
tempted by various things in this world, the force of which
and the power of temptation and trial sometimes is overwhelming
and overcoming. These people are not to be cut
off. They're not to be despised as you would a false preacher
who denies the gospel. They're not to be avoided. They're
to be loved. They're to be instructed in meekness
and compassion. Though you despise what they've
done and the consequences, the results of which they have done,
and though you condemn their previous behavior, hating even
the garment spotted by the flesh, yet you love them. You pull them
out of the fire that has enveloped them and drag them away or drag
them down and restore them. Of some, have compassion, make
a difference. Others say with fear, with fear
of yourself, with meekness considering thyself, lest thou be tempted. Pull them out of the fire. While
at the same time you hate even the garment spotted by the flesh. But you don't hate them. But
I have to say, false preachers I hate. I don't
think there's a greater criminal. I've said this often, I'd rather
my son Paul be a bartender than a free will preacher. Ten times,
hadn't you? And you John, I'd rather one
of your sons be a tin bar than to preach error. Tin bar and people can still
be saved, but when he preaches error and damns their souls,
and he is too. But we don't hate people who
love Christ. Let's sing redeem, number 475. I left to proclaim it redeemed
by the blood of the Lamb.