an excellent article in the Bulletin this morning, especially this one about Joe Terrell. I hope everybody can take down and read it when he is able to except on the plane, it makes so much sense. It's a really good article. Let's begin our worship service this morning, hymn number 186, The Church's One Foundation. It's Jesus Christ her Lord. Our church is one foundation. She is Jesus Christ, the Lord. She is His new creation by water and the Word. From heaven He came and sought her. He is holy, bright, with His holy Father, and for our life He dies. He laid from every nation and born for all the earth, the Charter of Salvation. One born, one faithful murderer, One holy man, she blessed, Our dead, one holy poor, And two, one home, she blessed, In every place, they knew. She brings a consolation, a peace forever more. All the eyes are blest, and the King's church victorious shall be the church at rest! Yea, she ordered that you met with God the Three in One! And we speak sweet communion with those whose faith is one. O happy ones and holy, more illustrious than we, like them the meek and poor. I'm very pleased to be with you. Verse 3 Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was need for me to write unto you, to exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered to the saints. For there are certain men gripped in unawareness who before hold ordained to this condemnation, ungodly men. turning the grace of our Lord into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. I will therefore put you in remembrance, 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. The angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting change in the darkness unto the day of the judgment of the great day. Even as Solomon Gomorrah and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. Likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despising dominion and speak evil of dignities. Yet Michael, the archangel, when contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring him a raiding accusation that said, The Lord rebuketh thee. But these speak evil of things which they know not, but what they know naturally, as brute beasts, these things they corrupt themselves. Woe unto them! They have gone the way of Cain, and ran greedily after the heir of Balaam, for reward, and perished in the game-saying of Coram. These are spots in your feasts of charity, and they feast with you, clouds they are without water, carried about by winds, trees whose fruit withereth without fruit, twice dead plucked up by the roots, raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame, wandering stars, to whom it is reserved the blackness of darkness forever. And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints to execute judgment upon all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against him. These are murmurers and complainers, walking after their own lusts. Their mouths speak of great swelling words, having men's persons in admiration, but cause of advantage. But, beloved, remember ye the words which were spoken before the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. Now that they told you there would be martyrs in the last time who would walk after their own blood, these be they that separate themselves since you are having not the Spirit. But you, beloved, building up yourselves in the most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keeping yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ into eternal life. And if some have compassion, making a difference, and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garments parted with the flesh. Now to him who is able to keep you from falling and present you, fall this before the presence of his glory with a succeeding joy. To the only wise God, our Savior, be glory and majesty, dominion, power, both now and ever. Amen. Let us pray. Our Father, we bless you and thank you for the honesty and truth of your word. That is a continual reminder of our great sin and our great Savior. We are thankful, Father, for the warnings you give in your word of God. that we, as we have received the truth, can discern that which is false. Father, we pray this morning that you would be pleased to meet with us in the presence of your Holy Spirit, to take the things of God, the things of Christ, and show them unto us. We pray for those who are sick and going through trials and tribulation, I know it's every case. We ask, Lord, your help for them and your mercy. Help us now. throughout this day to worship you. You're worthy of all praise and all thanksgiving for what you've done for your children. Thank you Father in Christ's name. Amen. Number 477. Here's our Trinity in pride! Mary, now my Lord was crucified! mercy there was mercy there was great grace was Now I can teach us everything! Now I have the opium as my key! Now the rapture's open on this day! there was Oh, the mighty work that God did spend at Calvary Mercy there was great and grace was free For the devil's want of life to be There, my mercy sold for liberty I pray, Father, give me a fortune in the name of Jesus Christ, our majestic and glorious Savior, who died in the womb instead of His people, redeemed them by His blood, became their righteousness, wisdom, sanctification, and even now intercedes it for them. We thank you for salvation, full and free. We thank you, Father, that you did not ask anything of us because we could not have provided it. Help us now to worship you in this manner that you've ordained for the preaching of the gospel here and in other places. Help us to remember each other in prayer and remember those who stand to proclaim the glories of your grace. Help us now, we pray in Christ's name, amen. Please do not cry. Please do not cry. Please do not cry. Please do not cry. you. This epistle is written to the church in general concerning the influx of those who would teach anything other than the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. These people are not people who deny the gospel as such. by those who pervert the gospel and corrupt the gospel of Jesus Christ by adding anything that man has to do with it. Their influence was evidently very great. Their abilities were astounding. And they drew many away from the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, noted, they didn't draw any of the elect, for the elect shall not be deceived. But there are many who can be drawn away for a while before they were shown their error. Peter and Barnabas at Antioch are a good example of that. They had preached the gospel to the Gentiles, not bringing them under the law, under circumcision, and told them they were free men. And things were going real well at Antioch until some folks came in, Judaizers, who were supposedly converted Jews, who came in and said, we know that you're saved by grace, but you got to also keep the law. And Peter folded and left the fellowship of the Gentiles who had received the gospel by the grace of God and joined himself up and held hands with those who opposed the gospel of free and sovereign grace. Paul, when he found out about this, confronted Peter face to face. He said, I'll show you. Face to face. He said, Peter, by doing this, you're saying you despise the gospel of grace. You despise it. And we know Peter didn't despise it. But he fell short for a while. God removed his hand of protection from him for a while, and he fell like, just like that article says if you'll read it. A rock falls and somebody catches it. Nobody looks to the rock to keep its ability from falling again. They look to the one who's holding it. And we who are caught after falling in Adam by God Almighty need not think that we are able to keep ourselves. If he lets go of us, we will keep on falling. Because by nature, we are carnal, we are sinners. David knew that about himself, King David. He besought the Lord in Psalm 19 saying, keep me back or keep thy servant back from presumptuous sins. Let not them have dominion over me, then shall I be upright and I shall be innocent from the great transgression. He knew that the sins of presumption would leave him guilty of the great transgression. He also knew that intrinsic to carnal nature is a bent to presumption, and that bent could be a dominating, overpowering force. The great transaction is simple. It's the mother of all transaction, or of all transgression, rather. It is unbelief, which every child of God will tell you he has to struggle with every day. Nobody struggles with unbelief except a believer. Because he's the only one to understand there's two things going on inside him. The unbeliever without any knowledge of Christ just lives the life as an unbeliever. He don't know anything about unbelief. It's his way of life. The child of God does. But it's the mother of all sin. Where it says, our Lord said when the Holy Spirit comes he will convince men of sin and of righteousness and of judgment. Sin, because they believe not on me. The Holy Spirit convicts men of the fact that they are unbelievers. In fact, you'll never know that you are an unbeliever until the Holy Spirit awakens you to the Lord Jesus Christ. John said, Perception calls God a liar. Man say he hath no sin. He makes God a liar. 1 John 5 verse 10. The scriptures say, let God be true and all men be liars. And that's just a fact of life. Presumption means going beyond what is right or proper. Exceedingly froward. Arrogance and hubris and impertinence are synonyms of presumption. Paul defined presumption as this way, for if a man think of himself to be something, when he's actually nothing, then he deceives himself. The word presumption is found twice in the Word of God. The words of David, that we just read, and in 2 Peter chapter 2, Peter said, But, jealously, them that walk after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness, and despise government, presumptuous are they, self-willed, And they are not afraid to speak evil of dignities. Note that this indictment has to do with authority. Hearing this passage, I just read they speak evil of dignities. It has to do with despising authority. Where does all authority rest in this universe? Not in the White House, nor in Buckingham Palace. Nor in Moscow. Where does the authority in this world lie? In one place. In one person. Our Lord Jesus Christ prayed to His Father in John 17 and said, All authority is given unto me. He has given me authority over all flesh. That He might give eternal life to His many as God has given Him. Presumption, then, is arrogance or hubris against the authority of the Lord Jesus Christ. Presumption is a revelation of hatred for Christ, and since men cannot get to Christ, it is presumptuous sin against those who are given authority in the Lord Jesus Christ. Verse 8 of this text says, likewise also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. Now he's talking about false teachers and false brethren. These false teachers and dispatchers, as well as other descriptions given, fall between two definitive phrases in this epistle. The first introduced them as to their place and purpose of God, their actions and their intentions and ill use of the gospel and the people of God. Where did those folks come from? Verse 4 says, For there are certain men creeped in unawares. Paul uses that same language in Galatians. When he said those who would spy out your liberty privately. These creeped in unawares. Who were before of old ordained to this condemnation. Ordained. Predestinated by God. to condemnation. You mean God does that? Well, that's what His Word says. I know men might try to explain that away, but they're going to get a headache doing it, because that's what the Word says. In another place, Peter said this, those who stumble at the Word of God stumble because they were appointed to it. They were appointed to it. This thing here, this damning resume, a sinful trifecta. First they're said to separate, or rather to be ordained to a condemnation. Then in verse 19, it says this, these are they who separate themselves, sensual, having not the spirit of God. Now that forms two bookends in this passage of scripture, where after that he speaks to the beloved. believers in the Lord Jesus Christ. Between these two bookends, all that is addressed is defined by these two distinctive attributes. They're despised dignities, they're filthy dreamers, and they're sensual. And the last is especially the Scripture that points to the nature of the driving force behind all false teachers. It's sensuality. Sensuality. Now when I say that word, what do you think of it? I know what what it's come to mean in this day and age. What does it mean when I, what do you think it means when I say sensual? My Lord says they're sensual, having not the spirit of God. First they're said to separate themselves, separate themselves. This does not mean that they pull away from the members of the church, because these have crept in unawares. Their time is spent in the church being false teachers, being false teachers. They would defeat the purpose of creeping in unaware that they separated themselves. This separation is the sense of lifting themselves up. Lifting themselves up. Distinguishing themselves in order to draw men to themselves and to their heresies. They have crept in to destroy the faith. The faith. That's what it's not talking about. Faith. which God has granted to you by His grace alone. For by grace are you saved through faith, and that faith is not of yourselves. It's a gift of God, not of works, lest any man should boast, saith the Scripture. But he talks about contending for the faith. The faith, that's the Devinah article for the word faith, and that's speaking of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's speaking of the gospel that declares that God Almighty by His grace and by His mercy alone saved the people from their sins and set them as being accepted in Jesus Christ and the Beloved and He did it all for one reason and no reason other. Not because you were special. Not because I'm special. None of us are anything. We're just breezy spots on the pages of history. We will be wiped off the scene before we know it. Look at these hairs. They used to be red. They're not red no more. His body can't do what it did no more. Most of the time nowadays, instead of doing stuff, I think about, oh, to be doing stuff. And that's the truth. I sat there and pondered. I should be out gathering wood. Maybe tomorrow. I kind of like the Old Spanish word, mañana, doesn't mean tomorrow, meaning not today. We're all fading as a leaf. The reason these creep in unawares is they want to separate themselves and distinguish themselves as someone special. Follow me, they say. Do what I say, they say. I say don't listen to me at all, except when I'm preaching the word of God. I say to you, as I've said for 47 years, go home and get your Bible. Read it and see if I'm telling you the truth. And if I'm not telling you the truth, you've got two choices. You can leave or get rid of me. But don't sit around under someone who's lying to you. That's crazy. Well, we want to be in church. Not if the church is lying to you. Not if the preacher is standing up and lying to you. You don't want to be around that. This is the truth of the Word of God. These come in to be exalted. Secondly, they are said to be sensual because of the evolution of that language. The word sensual has come to being exclusive. In this they describe something sexual in nature. The Greek word and the English word both, at the time of this translation, before the evolution of modern language, simply meant this, natural. They're natural. What does that mean? What they do, they do in the flesh and not in the spirit. What they do appeals to the flesh and opposes the spirit. What they do involves the five senses and therefore cannot enter into the realm of revelation. They speak in terms of faith that can appeal only to the carnal nature of men and can affect even the faithful, drawing their eyes away from Christ. They are also said to have not the Spirit. That simply means it's a simple declaration if they're not the children of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh. Our Lord said that to Nicodemus. And that which is born of the Spirit Jude also uses three examples in this passage of scripture to illustrate what he has stated. In verse 11, Jude pronounces woe upon these three false teachers, or these false teachers. Woe means judgment without mercy. This woe is placed on them because they followed in the footsteps of some infamous characters in scripture. Their end proves that they have not They all perished under the wrath of God. Now Jude is writing under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, for all Scripture is given by the inspiration of God. It's proper for doctrine to prove correction and instruction, that the man of God might be truly furnished under all good works. Jude's writing under the inspiration of the Spirit of God, and he plucks these three characters out of the Old Testament. What he's been saying about these who are in danger of condemnation, who are sensual, and have not the flesh, and separate themselves, make themselves something. Now in verse 11, he says, woe unto them for they have gone the way of Cain. They've gone the way of Cain. There's hardly a more notorious character in all the scriptures. He was considered to be the first murderer. Our Lord made it clear in John chapter 8, verse 44, that Satan is the first murderer. He's the father of murderers. The father of murderers. The employment of him here could suggest the fact that most teachers are murderers of men's souls. We know there's certainly merchandisers of men's souls. However, this probably has to do with Cain's envy and jealousy, which are but sins of presumption. Being presumptuous addresses the principle of separating oneself. It is a heartfelt belief that you deserve better for that you don't deserve what you got. Cain was sure. He presumed that God had done him wrong. when God accepted Abel and his sacrifice and rejected Cain and his sacrifice. He presumed that the works of the hands were equal to the death God requires for the atonement of sin. When Adam and Eve sinned in the Garden of Eden, God did not give them a list of things to do to make things right. Did he? He took Beast and he killed him. He slew them. He drew blood. Because the wages of sin is death. And he took the coats off of those beasts that he had slain and covered his buried. That's a picture of imputation of righteousness. This is what God did. Cain didn't like that. Cain felt that this thing about blood was just, you know. But you see it says that Abel did this by faith. Romans 8, Hebrews chapter 11. By faith. By faith. Abel offered a more excellent sacrifice than Cain. And he being dead, yet speaking about faith. How to do it by faith? How does faith come? One way. Through the preached gospel of Jesus Christ. Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. How shall they call on Him? On Him whom they do not believe. And how shall they believe on him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach except that they be sent? So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. I saw a fellow on TV the other day, a fellow asked him, how long have you been a Christian? He said, all my life. Somebody told him that at a bar once. No, I said, that's too long. faith, Abel offered that sacrifice. How'd he get it? Adam told him. Adam left that garden with the gospel, keeping the way of the tree of life. At that altar, with the flaming swords and the cherubim facing one another on the east of Eden, their blood was offered to God. And he knew it. So Abel knew, by faith, that God accepts sinners only one way. Through the blood of Jesus Christ. And so he offered that altar offering. McCain was a farmer and an excellent one. And he gathered the best he had. This wasn't slop. We got the best turnips and the best corn and the best whatever. I put it on the tray. I said, I'm giving God my best. I'm giving God my best. Surely he'll accept me. And God rejected him. And Cain grew angry with God and was jealous of Abel. and he went after Abel. Cain was sure. He presumed that God had done him wrong when God accepted Abel. He presumed that the works of his hands were equal to the death that God required for the atonement for sin. And to further reveal that Cain was full of presumption, the murder of his brother was tantamount to raising himself above God, which all presumption ultimately is, is self-deification. And why did I say that? God required a blood sacrifice for sin. He required death for sin. And Cain rejected that, opting for the works of his hands to satisfy God. But when he believed that his brother had offended him, he required blood of his brother to satisfy his own justice. in his own wrath. So he's saying, God can require death. I don't accept that. But mess with me and I'll kill you. I require death. I think he believes like Eve did in the Garden of Eden. And just a taste of that fruit will make her like God. Make her like God. He made himself greater than God, the height of separating oneself. Those who crept in unawares follow in the footstep of Cain. Those who are sensual and natural and have not the spirit follow the way of Cain. The second character that is brought up is Balaam. One of the most interesting characters if you read the Old Testament. The king trying to get Balaam to curse Israel somehow. Balaam said, I cannot curse what God has blessed. I cannot. And when you read the prophecies of Baal concerning Israel that he gave, they were all solid. They were all good. It made sense. Very interesting character. He told the truth about Israel. However, because of his love for filthy lucre, according to 2 Peter chapter 2 and verse 5, the love of monetary reward, the love of gain, He showed the king how to seduce Israel into idolatry. He says, you can't curse Israel. He says, I can figure out a way where you can ruin them. And you ruin them. He was sensual in that he wanted to satisfy his flesh with game. Because he understood the sensual work of a carnal nature, Balaam told the king who hired him to introduce these pagan women to the men of Israel and let nature take its course. And he did. He married up with them. He accepted their gods, their idols, their false deities. And soon Israel was confronted by Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel, Daniel, and Obadiah. Because of what Balaam did. The end would be that in time they would become an idolatrous mixture of true and false worship. Indeed, would be done covertly, even as those who crept in unawares. Said these politicians like Balaam. Oh, they'll tell you it's like Jesus. They'll say he's the Lord. But then they'll say things like, won't you let him into your Let me tell you something. You ought to know something about your life. It's a vile, corrupt, God-hating entity by nature. It's a liar from the first breath it draws by nature. Carolina is enmity against God. is not subject to the law or the word of God, because it can't be. Neither can it be. Romans 8, 7, and 8. Why can't it be? Because it's carnal and not spiritual. It takes the work of God to make you a spiritual person. It ain't something you can work up to. If you had Jesus in your life, if you knew something about your life, you wouldn't invite your best neighbor or your worst neighbor into your life. He knew what your life was like, really. The third person he introduced was Korra. Korra's place as the son of Kohad was to be a bearer of the ark and the lampstand and the table that showed red and the golden altar to read his duties. Korra was the son of Kohad. They could carry them, but they could not handle them in the manner of a priest. Only the priest could touch those things. Only the high priest could see the Ark of the Covenant, and that only one day a year on the Day of Atonement. Cora, along with his cohorts named Dathan and Abiram, and others, numbering about 250 in all, presumed to accuse Moses of being a dictator. Too much going on, Moses. You just took too much for yourself. God appointed one man to lead Israel. His name was Moses. And after he died, because the law cannot carry a man into the promised land, Joshua, which is Jesus is Greek for Joshua. Joshua means the Savior. But he says, Moses, you've got too much on you. Let us handle some of this other stuff. Tell you what let's do. I know that the Lord has assigned the priesthood to the tribe of Levi. But you know, though I'm the son of Kothad, I think I can do that priest thing. So I'm going to take me a censer, and I'm going to fill it with coal and some incense, and I'm going to go in as a priest before God. Me and Dathan and Abiram and these 250 followers that I've gathered with me, we're going in. We're going to be all these priests. And they went in. And when they came out, God opened up the earth and swallowed all of them and sent them to hell with censers in their hands. Those censers represented the intercession of the Lord Jesus Christ. Killed them all. Killed them all. They were indicted for what is called game-saying. or saying what they say in order to gain what was not theirs by ordinance or right. In the end, they took censers and presumed to do what belonged only to the sons of Aaron. The result came God opening up the earth and swallowing them all. Those who crept in unawares followed the footsteps of Korah and Ganesee. Doing what they do to gain is how the Pharisees did it. They do what they do to be seen of men. See how religious I am? Listen to people today. I know it's supposed to be a great religious revival happening in America. And if it changes the moral compass of this nation, I'm all for it. Fine. And I'm telling you everything that calls itself Christian and Christian. I hear people. I only hear them talking about the one thing that makes a person a child of God. That's the salvation brought by the Lord Jesus Christ, by his blood, by his righteousness. But I hear him talking about my faith. I've gotten my faith. And that fellow who was killed recently was a really good guy, a patriot, a fine fellow. He was killed recently. I asked him what he was most proud of. He says, my courage and my faith. Proud about faith? when you had nothing to do with it? If you do something in your power, in your ability, and you create something, you work on a car, or you carve, or you paint, or you're a good mechanic, or a bricklayer, or a stonemason, or whatever, and you finish a job, you have every right to be proud of that job. But you have no right, no warrant, to be proud of anything that you had nothing to do with. Race, face, grace, no reason for pride. Because you had nothing to do with those things. Nothing. Absolutely. Game save. Look at me. I'm gonna get something out of this. I'm gonna get something out of this. These are those, or the types of those, who crept in on the words, who were sensual, who had not the spirit, and who separated themselves. I say to you this morning, fly to Jesus Christ. Because when you come to the truth of the Word of God and the truth about yourself, you'll find that your enemy, your greatest enemy, is that person looking back at you from the mirror. My hope, as some writers said, is built on nothing less than Jesus' blood and righteousness. She's doing great. That's a strong woman.