Speaker 1: To the letter from Jude.
Speaker 2: It's the second to last book in the Bible. This
Speaker 2: is a good opportunity for me to remind you to
Speaker 2: fill out a connection card. We ask everybody to do
Speaker 2: that every week. Please just scan the QR code. You
Speaker 2: got the whole worship service to do that. Scan the
Speaker 2: QR code there in the seatback or the bulletin, and
Speaker 2: just we need to know that you're here by name.
Speaker 2: That's a really important pastoral tool for us. If you're new,
Speaker 2: you can leave some contact information.
Speaker 1: And we'll follow up with you.
Speaker 2: If you are new, there's a table out in the
Speaker 2: lobby called Step one, and that's where we like to
Speaker 2: connect with folks and answer questions and welcome you into
Speaker 2: the process of what looks like to become a part
Speaker 2: of this church. So see it's Step one after this
Speaker 2: service if you're new around here.
Speaker 1: Oh and this thing first Wednesday?
Speaker 2: Is this Wednesday?
Speaker 3: Uh?
Speaker 2: All right, I didn't even have to say it, but
Speaker 2: this I will say. It starts at six o'clock this Wednesday.
Speaker 2: Our ordinary start time is six forty five, but we're
Speaker 2: doing an experiment this summer in July and in August.
Speaker 2: We're gonna start at six and we're gonna see how
Speaker 2: it goes. I think maybe there's some families with young
Speaker 2: children who this is gonna work out better for Look,
Speaker 2: you get to vote on this. You get to vote
Speaker 2: by showing up, you vote with your feet. If you're there,
Speaker 2: we're like, all right, this is strong. If you're not there,
Speaker 2: we're like, all right, back to six forty five.
Speaker 1: That's kind of what we're trying to do.
Speaker 2: We'll see how it goes. Six o'clock though, Wednesday, let's
Speaker 2: pray together, let's worship together. All right?
Speaker 1: Did you find Jude?
Speaker 2: We're in Jude. In Jude, some are the short books.
Speaker 2: That's what I'm calling this summer. Some of the short books.
Speaker 2: We were in Obadiah one chapter, we were in Phi
Speaker 2: Lehman one chapter.
Speaker 1: We're in Jude.
Speaker 2: We're gonna take it in one go, which I think
Speaker 2: is how Jude intended his letter to be read, not
Speaker 2: dribbled out week by week, but read as a letter.
Speaker 2: And I am sure we're gonna leave some grapes on
Speaker 2: this cluster, no doubt. That's fine. You can study some
Speaker 2: more of Jude as we go, but the message is
Speaker 2: going to be clear. I'd like to start with this
Speaker 2: picture you see in the title fighting to keep true.
Speaker 2: That the term true is an important one in our
Speaker 2: overall understanding of Jude.
Speaker 1: True as in straightened.
Speaker 2: On pitch. My grandfather was a woodworker and one of
Speaker 2: the things that he would do work pretty hard at
Speaker 2: is getting boards straight and keeping them straight, keeping them true.
Speaker 1: And involved clamps and glue and stuff. I don't know.
Speaker 2: I watched with bicycle mechanics. You know, they'll work on
Speaker 2: the wheels of the bicycle and to keep them from wobbling,
Speaker 2: they need to be put and kept true. And here's
Speaker 2: the thing. It's a fight. You gotta adjust this spoke,
Speaker 2: tighten this loosen that. If you are a piano tuner,
Speaker 2: that means showing up, listening to each string in that
Speaker 2: instrument and tuning it, truing it up to the proper pitch.
Speaker 2: That's the sort of thing that Jude is about. I'm
Speaker 2: gonna read this whole letter to us in just a moment,
Speaker 2: but I just want to point out a couple of
Speaker 2: things before we read. This is from Jude, who's a
Speaker 2: church leader in the early Church. Says first one, Jude,
Speaker 2: a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James. To
Speaker 2: those who are called beloved in God, the Father kept
Speaker 2: for Jesus Christ. It's a key term throughout this letter, kept,
Speaker 2: kept true, held stayed, and he uses the term a
Speaker 2: variety of ways, kept keeping keep as an instruction. Keep
Speaker 2: uses it both positively and negatively. You'll see it throughout
Speaker 2: the letter. But here's the key verse verse three. Verse three,
Speaker 2: Jude says, I found it necessary to write appealing to you.
Speaker 1: To contend for the faith, to contend.
Speaker 2: To fight, to struggle, to work at it, just like
Speaker 2: the woodworker contends to keep the board straight, or the
Speaker 2: bicycle mechanic contends to keep the wheel true, or the
Speaker 2: piano tuner contends to keep that instrum meant in pitch.
Speaker 2: Jude saying I had to write to you to encourage you,
Speaker 2: to exhort you to fight to keep true. We're gonna
Speaker 2: read this altogether in just a moment, and as we do,
Speaker 2: I want to encourage you to not get stuck in
Speaker 2: the weeds. There are gonna be a bunch of references
Speaker 2: in this letter. You know, Jude is written. It's an
Speaker 2: ancient letters. He talks funny, okay, And there are references
Speaker 2: in here to old Testament accounts. You might not be
Speaker 2: familiar with, or even Jewish traditions that you're not familiar with.
Speaker 2: Don't get hung up. I think if you zoom out
Speaker 2: a little bit, you'll get the big picture. In fact,
Speaker 2: if you keep this one question in mind as we read,
Speaker 2: how important does God's words say it is to fight
Speaker 2: to keep true? If you keep that question in mind
Speaker 2: as we read, I think the big picture will come
Speaker 2: leaping off the page. Okay, so stand for the reading
Speaker 2: of God's word and let's read the letter from Jude Jude,
Speaker 2: a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to
Speaker 2: those who were called beloved in God the Father and
Speaker 2: kept for Jesus Christ. May mercy, peace and love be
Speaker 2: multiplied to you, beloved. Although I was very eager to
Speaker 2: write to you about our common salvation, I found it
Speaker 2: necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the
Speaker 2: faith that was once for all delivered to the saints.
Speaker 2: For certain people have crept in unnoticed, who long ago
Speaker 2: were designated for this condemnation. Ungodly people who pervert the
Speaker 2: grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only
Speaker 2: Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. Now I want to remind
Speaker 2: you although you once fully knew it that Jesus, who
Speaker 2: saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward
Speaker 2: destroyed those who did not believe, and the angels who
Speaker 2: did not stay within their position of authority, but left
Speaker 2: their proper dwelling. He has kept in eternal chains under
Speaker 2: gloomy darkness until the judgment of the Great Day. Just
Speaker 2: as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise
Speaker 2: indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as
Speaker 2: an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. Yet
Speaker 2: in like manner, these people, also relying on their dreams,
Speaker 2: defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones.
Speaker 2: But when the archangel Michael, contending with the Devil, was
Speaker 2: disputing about the body of Moses, he didn't presumed to
Speaker 2: pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but he said, the Lord rebukeu
Speaker 2: these But these people blasphem all that they do not understand,
Speaker 2: and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning
Speaker 2: animals understand instinctively. Woe to them, for they walked in
Speaker 2: the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake
Speaker 2: of gained Balem's error, and perished in Cora's rebellion. These
Speaker 2: are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast
Speaker 2: with you without fear. Shepherds feeding themselves, waterless clouds, swept
Speaker 2: along by winds, fruitless trees, and laid autumn twice dead,
Speaker 2: uprooted wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam
Speaker 2: of their own shame, wandering stars for whom the gloom
Speaker 2: of utter darkness has been reserved forever. It was also
Speaker 2: about these that Enoch the seventh from Adam prophesied, saying, behold,
Speaker 2: the Lord comes with ten thousand of his holy ones
Speaker 2: to execute judgment on all, and to convict all the
Speaker 2: ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have
Speaker 2: committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the
Speaker 2: harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him. These
Speaker 2: are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires, their loud
Speaker 2: mouth boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage. But you must remember, beloved,
Speaker 2: the predictions of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2: They said to you in the last time, there will
Speaker 2: be scoffers following their own ungodly passions. It is these
Speaker 2: who cause divisions, worldly people devoid of the spirit. But you, beloved,
Speaker 2: building yourselves up in the most holy faith and praying
Speaker 2: in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in the love of God,
Speaker 2: waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that
Speaker 2: leads to eternal life. And have mercy on those who doubt.
Speaker 2: Save others by snatching them out of the fire. To
Speaker 2: show others, and show others mercy with fear, hating even
Speaker 2: the garments stained by the flesh. Now to him who
Speaker 2: is able to keep you from stumbling, to present you
Speaker 2: blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy,
Speaker 2: to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ, our Lord,
Speaker 2: be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time and
Speaker 2: now and forever. Amen, This is God's word. If I
Speaker 2: was going to sum up Jude's message, you know, sentence
Speaker 2: this morning, I would put it this way. Keeping true
Speaker 2: is worth fighting for. Keeping true is worth fighting for.
Speaker 2: And this morning, if you're here, let me just say,
Speaker 2: if you're here, as a non Christian, I don't know
Speaker 2: what kind of assumptions you're bringing about Christians. Maybe maybe
Speaker 2: you're assuming that Christians are kind of fighting people, contentious people.
Speaker 2: I think you may have some reasons to think that,
Speaker 2: or or maybe you're you're you think that Christians are passive,
Speaker 2: gutless people.
Speaker 1: You may have some reasons to think that too.
Speaker 2: I think it will actually be fascinating for you to
Speaker 2: look at what God's word says that Christians are called
Speaker 2: to actually contend for. What does Scripture call us to
Speaker 2: struggle towards, to work for, to fight for? And if
Speaker 2: you are a Christian here this morning, I hope that
Speaker 2: after our time this morning, yes, you will understand the
Speaker 2: letter from Jude a lot better, but that you will
Speaker 2: be able to use it to detect theological.
Speaker 1: Blowning so much better.
Speaker 2: If you are here this morning and you are already wobbling,
Speaker 2: you're already a drift. I pray that this letter this
Speaker 2: morning will be part of what brings you back spiritually.
Speaker 2: And I also hope that many of you will understand
Speaker 2: this letter well enough that you'll be able to use
Speaker 2: it to defend the faith when people around you or
Speaker 2: I don't know, on the internet or maybe even in
Speaker 2: a church that you're at some other time begin to
Speaker 2: teach those things that are not true. Keeping true is
Speaker 2: worth fighting for him, Jude's letter breaks down, I think
Speaker 2: into about three basic steps for his argument. There are
Speaker 2: a lot of things here that I'm sure will leave untouched.
Speaker 2: They're going to be grapes left on this cluster. But
Speaker 2: I think it breaks down in three pieces. Number one,
Speaker 2: what's worth fighting for?
Speaker 1: What do we fight for? Question number two? Why? Question
Speaker 1: number three? How?
Speaker 3: So?
Speaker 1: Question one? What do we find? Four? Question two?
Speaker 2: Why? And then I think the third question is actually
Speaker 2: the most surprising. I think the answer surprises me the most, which.
Speaker 1: Is, how do we go about fighting? Let's jump.
Speaker 2: Five for what?
Speaker 1: Five for?
Speaker 3: What?
Speaker 2: What is worth fighting to keep true?
Speaker 1: Well?
Speaker 2: Jude gives us this answer straight away in verse three,
Speaker 2: the True Faith.
Speaker 1: He says this in verse three, I wanted to write
Speaker 1: you about our common salvation. I was eager to do it.
Speaker 2: I found it, however, necessary, and put the party on Paul. Yes,
Speaker 2: I needed to write you to appeal to you to
Speaker 2: contend for the faith that was once for all delivered
Speaker 2: to the saints, once for all delivered to the saints,
Speaker 2: Which is to say that there is a body of
Speaker 2: teaching there is.
Speaker 1: There is truth.
Speaker 2: About who God is, who mankind is, what sin is,
Speaker 2: what He has done to rescue us from sin. That's
Speaker 2: been communicated to us through Jesus Christ, through the prophets,
Speaker 2: through the apostles that we have. It's been it's been
Speaker 2: communicated to the church, and we have it and it
Speaker 2: is trued up. And that's what we can tend for,
Speaker 2: which is to say that as people try to shape
Speaker 2: that change that make it progressive, it's something worth fighting for.
Speaker 2: My pastor once told me some years ago, if it's true,
Speaker 2: it ain't new, and if it's new, it ain't true.
Speaker 1: But not when it comes to.
Speaker 2: The truth of God's word. In fact, that there's a
Speaker 2: term for it, orthodoxy. Orthodoxy Ortho means straightened right, just
Speaker 2: like when you go to the orthodontist. You go to
Speaker 2: the orthodontist so that he would straighten out your teeth
Speaker 2: and keep them straight. You go to the orthopedist to
Speaker 2: straighten out your legs and your feet.
Speaker 1: And keep them straight.
Speaker 2: And there essentially two approaches to God's word, essentially two approaches.
Speaker 2: And this has been true since the beginning.
Speaker 1: Of the church. It's been true since the beginning of time.
Speaker 2: To take God's word as what is true, as what
Speaker 2: is the true pitch, what is the true level, what
Speaker 2: is the true straight turn of the wheel. And the
Speaker 2: approach of faithfulness is to take our lives and our
Speaker 2: thinking and our relating and the way we comport ourselves
Speaker 2: in this world and to straighten it up, to true
Speaker 2: it up against God's word, to study his word, to
Speaker 2: understand his word, to try to articulate his word right,
Speaker 2: faith seeking understanding. That's what theology is, just faith seeking understanding.
Speaker 2: Do we understand everything all the time, No, we do not,
Speaker 2: but we're seeking to be straightened out by his word
Speaker 2: or or we try to take his word and twist
Speaker 2: it to match how we want to live, how we
Speaker 2: want to think, how we want to relate, how we
Speaker 2: want to handle our bodies, how we want to handle
Speaker 2: our lives. And one of the things that the Scripture
Speaker 2: is calling us to fight for is the true faith.
Speaker 2: It doesn't need to be progressed in that sense to
Speaker 2: be understood, yes, to be articulated, yes, to be to
Speaker 2: be fleshed out in our lives. Yet there are new
Speaker 2: circumstances and occasions all the time that we need to
Speaker 2: examine against God's word, but God's word once delivered. And
Speaker 2: you'll notice that this, this contending is not about what's
Speaker 2: going on out there. This is about listen, what is
Speaker 2: it some people have crept in unnoticed? This isn't about
Speaker 2: a culture war. This is about a family concern. This
Speaker 2: isn't about what's what's untrue out there in the world.
Speaker 1: You'll never run out of topics.
Speaker 2: It's about what's taught here in attitudes or suggestions from
Speaker 2: the pulpit, by all means, and in our conversations and
Speaker 2: in the links that we share.
Speaker 1: It's a family concern, fight for what.
Speaker 2: The true faith, and not only the true faith, but
Speaker 2: also and especially and specifically the true grace, the true grace.
Speaker 2: He goes on in verse four, for certain people crept
Speaker 2: in unnoticed, long ago designated for this condemination, ungodly people
Speaker 2: who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality. Pervert
Speaker 2: the grace of our God into sensuality. Pervert just means twist,
Speaker 2: to pervert, to twist. And the idea here is there
Speaker 2: is a sense in which, because the scripture teaches us
Speaker 2: that God is forgiving and gracious and merciful, that there
Speaker 2: has been from the beginning of such truths about God,
Speaker 2: there have been those who would twist that idea of
Speaker 2: grace and forgiveness into a permission slip for sin. I mean,
Speaker 2: this has been going on since the Old Testament, right, Oh,
Speaker 2: we've got to covenant with God. We can live how
Speaker 2: we want. It has been going on since Romans. Should
Speaker 2: we not then sin? More?
Speaker 1: That grace may abound.
Speaker 2: What Judas saying is that is a perversion of what
Speaker 2: grace really is.
Speaker 1: In that idea.
Speaker 2: The idea of this perverted idea of grace is that
Speaker 2: I want what I want and God is going to
Speaker 2: forgive me for clinging to it. This way, with God's grace,
Speaker 2: I can have my sin and it's covered. It's a
Speaker 2: permission slip for me to live my life apart from God,
Speaker 2: apart from his ways, apart from his person and intimacy
Speaker 2: with him. But real grace, real grace doesn't get you
Speaker 2: a permission slip. Real grace gets you God to enjoy
Speaker 2: Him and all that he has created, To boldly enjoy
Speaker 2: all that he has created as He has created it,
Speaker 2: to be enjoyed under his design. Real grace gets you God,
Speaker 2: not an idea of forgiveness, and a life apart from God.
Speaker 1: It's not real grace. It's worth fighting for true grace.
Speaker 2: It's worth fighting also for the true Christ, the true Christ.
Speaker 2: We'll get it up there, there we go. He goes
Speaker 2: on in verse four, the grace of our God into
Speaker 2: sensuality and deny our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2: Deny our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ. Now he's
Speaker 2: not talking about people who are in the church denying
Speaker 2: that Jesus existed, or that you know that Jesus is
Speaker 2: you know what we're about. He's talking about people who
Speaker 2: are in the church calling themselves Christians. But he's specifically
Speaker 2: using these terms master and Lord, Master and Lord Jesus Christ.
Speaker 2: That's what they're denying. Jude is not saying that Jesus
Speaker 2: isn't savior. He is. He's not saying that he isn't
Speaker 2: the blood of the Blood of God, the lamb of
Speaker 2: God that takes away the sin of the world.
Speaker 3: He is.
Speaker 2: But he's emphasizing master and Lord because it is those
Speaker 2: who are denying that Jesus actually should.
Speaker 1: Run our lives.
Speaker 2: I'm old enough to remember the Lordship's Salvation debates from
Speaker 2: way back when some of you are too.
Speaker 1: Maybe you're familiar with them. I don't know, there were
Speaker 1: a big deal.
Speaker 2: I don't like debates, I know, but you might not
Speaker 2: believe that it's true, Like I don't.
Speaker 1: I don't like to fight. Something's worth fighting.
Speaker 2: For the idea and it you know, it's going around
Speaker 2: forever and ever, like this is not new. The idea
Speaker 2: was like, maybe there's a way in which you can
Speaker 2: sort of like claim.
Speaker 1: Christ as savior.
Speaker 2: Because we're saved by grace and and but not as Lord.
Speaker 2: In fact, you I've heard many many people say something
Speaker 2: along the lines of, well, I received Jesus as my
Speaker 2: savior when I was eight, and then I made him
Speaker 2: lord when I was thirty eight.
Speaker 1: Yeah, it doesn't work like that.
Speaker 2: But in the intervening thirty years, you just perverted the
Speaker 2: race of God into sensuality. You just lived how you
Speaker 2: wanted to live and called yourself a Christian. That's exactly
Speaker 2: what Jude is talking about here. He's saying, that's a
Speaker 2: denial of our Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. It's a
Speaker 2: denial of the faith, and it's a perversion of grace.
Speaker 2: It doesn't work like that. When you receive Jesus, you
Speaker 2: receive all of Jesus, and he is Lord now receiving
Speaker 2: a partial Christ. Believe me, I understand. I understand the
Speaker 2: attraction of a partial Christ. The attraction of a partial
Speaker 2: Christ is the thought that I could be comforted by
Speaker 2: the idea of forgiveness. I could receive that comfort, and
Speaker 2: I could also maintain the satisfaction of the sin that
Speaker 2: I love. But the fact is you get neither. You
Speaker 2: get neither because a partial Christ doesn't exist. And if
Speaker 2: you're not in Christ, then there is no forgiveness. You
Speaker 2: don't receive the comfort of that forgiveness the pretend clear conscience,
Speaker 2: nor do you receive satisfaction because in the end sin
Speaker 2: won't satisfy.
Speaker 1: It will all turn to ash in your mouth.
Speaker 2: But I promise you the true Christ, the whole Christ,
Speaker 2: will grant the comfort of real forgiveness, real covering, and
Speaker 2: he will provide the satisfaction of knowing Him and enjoying
Speaker 2: Him and enjoying all that He has created as he
Speaker 2: has created it, to be enjoyed, to boldly enjoy whatever
Speaker 2: he has designed as he has designed it. It is
Speaker 2: both comforting and it is.
Speaker 1: Satisfying, and it grows sweeter as you go it's worth
Speaker 1: fighting for.
Speaker 2: It's worth fighting for because I want you to have
Speaker 2: comfort and I want you to have satisfaction. It's worth
Speaker 2: fighting for the true faith, the true grace, the true Christ.
Speaker 2: Here's the second question that moves us along through the
Speaker 2: letter of Jude. Why Why is it worth fighting? Why
Speaker 2: is keeping true worth the fighting? That's what Jude really
Speaker 2: tackles next. And here's how I would I would answer
Speaker 2: it in our in our terms. Why is it worth
Speaker 2: the fight? First of all, because of the danger, the danger?
Speaker 2: What do I mean by the danger? Jude makes it
Speaker 2: clear that judgment is a real danger that some don't expect.
Speaker 2: Judgment is a real danger that some don't expect, and
Speaker 2: he uses a few examples. He says, in verse five,
Speaker 2: I want to remind you you knew this that Jesus
Speaker 2: saved the people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those
Speaker 2: who did not believe. He's saying, there were a people
Speaker 2: who called themselves the people of God. Christ was among them, right,
Speaker 2: Christ was among them. He uses the term Jesus. Paul
Speaker 2: uses the same exact logic in One Corinthians ten. If
Speaker 2: you're interested in this, jotted down in your notes. One
Speaker 2: Corinthians ten. The very beginning of that chapter, Paul uses
Speaker 2: the same logic to say, just because you waived the
Speaker 2: Jesus flag doesn't mean that you are exempt from judgment.
Speaker 2: The question is have you received him by repentance and faith?
Speaker 2: Because there were those who he saved, they called themselves
Speaker 2: his peace people.
Speaker 1: They were saved in a sense, they were brought.
Speaker 2: Out of their captivity, and he would they counted themselves
Speaker 2: among him. But in their disbelief he destroyed. It is dangerous.
Speaker 2: This is judgment that people didn't expect.
Speaker 1: He goes on.
Speaker 2: He gives you the example of the angels. He says,
Speaker 2: even the angels, when they didn't remain in their place
Speaker 2: of given authority, God punished them. If if angels who
Speaker 2: disregard His authority, who reject his word are punished, how
Speaker 2: much more we And then he goes on, he says,
Speaker 2: consider Sodom and Gomor.
Speaker 1: They weren't expecting judgment.
Speaker 2: They were twisting the God's design for sexuality. They were
Speaker 2: twisting God's designed for man and twisting God's design for women.
Speaker 1: And God.
Speaker 2: Said, okay, let me give you an example. Let me
Speaker 2: give you an example of what it looks like. Two
Speaker 2: warp what I have created and how that works out.
Speaker 2: It's dangerous because there are people for whom judgment is
Speaker 2: not in their expectations at all because they're waving the
Speaker 2: Jesus flag, or just because they think I'm not hurt
Speaker 2: to anybody.
Speaker 1: What is does God's design?
Speaker 2: What? What difference does God's design make? Why is it
Speaker 2: worth the fight to keep true? One of them is
Speaker 2: the danger, but also the reality. We're just keep moving here.
Speaker 2: The reality is this. This is what I mean by
Speaker 2: the reality. The reality is that this is a church reality.
Speaker 2: This isn't an ancient reality. This isn't an Old Testament reality.
Speaker 2: This isn't now. That's what Jude goes on to say
Speaker 2: in verse eight. Yet in like manner, Yet in like manner,
Speaker 2: like those Old Testament examples. Right now in our churches,
Speaker 2: people like this relying on their dreams right that their
Speaker 2: sense of authority is located directly.
Speaker 1: And only in their own minds.
Speaker 2: They decide they're gonna decide what they're gonna do, defile
Speaker 2: the flesh, reject authority, blaspheme the glorious ones. And then
Speaker 2: Jude gets into this story, this Jewish story of Michael
Speaker 2: debating disputing with the devil over the body of Moses.
Speaker 2: It's it's pretty weird, right, It's pretty weird. Here's the
Speaker 2: point that Jude is making. The point that Juda is
Speaker 2: making is about presumption. He's saying, these folks in our churches,
Speaker 2: they think they know.
Speaker 1: What they're talking about.
Speaker 2: They have no speaking confidently about spiritual things that they
Speaker 2: really don't know anything about. It's like even they are
Speaker 2: changel Michael said the Lord rebuka, what you rebuke you
Speaker 2: when he was debating with Satan. So like, what all
Speaker 2: these people really understand as much as they confidently talk
Speaker 2: to such a good game about understanding everything. All these
Speaker 2: people really understand is what they want for themselves, their desires,
Speaker 2: he says, is what they really understand, and they are
Speaker 2: being destroyed by them. They're like, he says, they're like Cain, Baalim, Cora,
Speaker 2: different guys, different circumstances. Here's what they have in common.
Speaker 1: They should know.
Speaker 2: They should know. Cain is one who had conversations with God.
Speaker 2: Baalem was one of those one of the most prominent
Speaker 2: prophets in all of ancient Bible times. Cora was the
Speaker 2: worship leader, the head worship leader for the people of Israel.
Speaker 2: He and his sons were writing songs about the living
Speaker 2: God he should know, and yet each.
Speaker 3: Of them, each of them wobbled off, wandered off, warped out.
Speaker 2: It reminds me of an experience I had.
Speaker 1: A few years back.
Speaker 2: I went to a conference of worship and teaching conference
Speaker 2: in Dallas. It's a lovely time. John Piper was there, Shane,
Speaker 2: and Shane was leading worship. Awesome, and this one guy
Speaker 2: was also there as a teacher, and I liked him.
Speaker 2: I had read skimmed some of his books. I liked
Speaker 2: his style and seen some of the clips of things
Speaker 2: that he had written, and I was looking forward to this.
Speaker 2: Then he came out and he started teaching. He was
Speaker 2: teaching and he was making like this really strong law
Speaker 2: gospel distinction, talking about how grace, grace means that we
Speaker 2: don't have to concern ourselves too much with obedience.
Speaker 1: That's law.
Speaker 2: Obedience is about the law. Grace is about forgiveness, like, oh,
Speaker 2: you haven't really been reading your Bible or you have
Speaker 2: willfully forgotten. I mean, you can just turn to tide
Speaker 2: us too. We can flip is too, Verse eleven. Grace,
Speaker 2: What does grace do Verse eleven. The grace of God
Speaker 2: trains us to renounce ungodliness and worldly passions and to
Speaker 2: live self controlled, upright, godly lives.
Speaker 1: In the present age.
Speaker 2: Grace doesn't make obedience irrelevant. Grace makes it substantial. Grace
Speaker 2: trains us and listen. The job is a long one,
Speaker 2: that training job.
Speaker 1: It's a long one.
Speaker 2: I'll admit, I'm not trying to discourage you by telling
Speaker 2: you otherwise. But it didn't take long. But thinking less
Speaker 2: than a year, it was discovered that that particular Bible
Speaker 2: teacher was living in an adulterous relationship.
Speaker 1: I yeah, saw that coming.
Speaker 2: He knew better. It's usually the Bible trivia kids. I'm
Speaker 2: just saying, not saying to bail out on Bible trivia.
Speaker 2: But the Bible trivia doesn't change your heart.
Speaker 1: Pharisees Cora.
Speaker 2: Bail them. Piling up Bible knowledge in your brain does
Speaker 2: not change you. I say that as someone who teaches
Speaker 2: Bible I spend all week piling up Bible knowledge in
Speaker 2: my brain. Bible knowledge in your brain is like firewood.
Speaker 2: It just stacks in rots if it ain't on fire. Listen,
Speaker 2: if it's on fire, more firewood is great. Keep piling up,
Speaker 2: give me more. But if it's just gonna sit there,
Speaker 2: no warmth, no light, he says, they are hidden reefs.
Speaker 1: That's what he says.
Speaker 2: Next, These are hidden reefs at your love feasts. I
Speaker 2: mean that conference was a lovely time, and there he was,
Speaker 2: he sneaked in these This warning is not that, oh
Speaker 2: you're gonna be able to tell.
Speaker 1: No, they're hidden reefs.
Speaker 2: They are shepherds without or they are shepherds feeding themselves.
Speaker 2: They are waterless clouds swept along by winds. But they
Speaker 2: are hidden. I promise you. I promise you. There are
Speaker 2: people in this church.
Speaker 1: There are six hundred people who come to this church
Speaker 1: on a Sunday.
Speaker 2: I promise you. There are people in this church. I
Speaker 2: don't know who they are who would teach a orped grace,
Speaker 2: who would suggest, maybe even in their joking or in
Speaker 2: their attitudes or in the links they send around, who
Speaker 2: would teach a partial Christ.
Speaker 1: You don't know until you.
Speaker 2: Know, and I hope Jude will help you smell it.
Speaker 2: This is what I would encourage you in. Don't let
Speaker 2: their presence wreck you. Yes, they're hidden reefs. They're wandering stars.
Speaker 2: Wandering stars. Which is to say, if you followed them
Speaker 2: by navigation, you'd drift off a field. Don't let them
Speaker 2: wreck you, don't let them cause you to wander, and
Speaker 2: don't let them discourage you.
Speaker 1: I know you see the headlines.
Speaker 2: It was disappointing when that guy turned out to be
Speaker 2: a fraud. This preacher and this teacher and this guy
Speaker 2: who claims the name of Christ, and I know you
Speaker 2: see this happening, and you're.
Speaker 1: Like, what is going on.
Speaker 2: This is going on the same thing that's been going
Speaker 2: on for a long long time. Christ himself said, Look,
Speaker 2: they are gonna be sheep, and they are gonna be goats.
Speaker 2: They're gonna be wheat, and they are gonna be weeds.
Speaker 1: It will be like this.
Speaker 2: Don't be discouraged, don't be surprised, and don't be deceived. Well,
Speaker 2: we fight not just because the danger in the reality.
Speaker 2: We also fight because of.
Speaker 1: The continuity, the continuity. Why did I choose that word,
Speaker 1: the continuity.
Speaker 2: Here's what I mean to point out, and I think
Speaker 2: Judas pointing out too.
Speaker 1: The warning, the warning.
Speaker 2: About this danger has been going on from the very beginning,
Speaker 2: and it's going on now. The warning about the judgment
Speaker 2: of God against the ungodly, even though they claim him
Speaker 2: or they claim Christ. Is not just an Old Testament reality,
Speaker 2: it's a New Testament reality too. He says, this has
Speaker 2: been going on since Enoch verse fourteen, Enoch the seventh
Speaker 2: from Adam. This is all news man. This is ancient,
Speaker 2: but it's also current. This is not only has Enoch
Speaker 2: prophesied this, but also verse seventeen. Remember beloved, the predictions
Speaker 2: of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. This isn't
Speaker 2: just an Old Testament reality, it's a New Testament reality too.
Speaker 2: The continuity of this warning is from the beginning to
Speaker 2: the end the gospel, right in this gospel administration, this place,
Speaker 2: right now, in an after the cross. Doesn't just wave
Speaker 2: away judgment for being crooked. The Gospel doesn't wave away
Speaker 2: judgment for crooked as as you can remain a scoffer,
Speaker 2: remain committed to ungodly passions and worldliness devoid of the spirit.
Speaker 2: That's not what the gospel does. The Gospel shows that
Speaker 2: Jesus Christ welcomed, with his arms wide enough to be
Speaker 2: nailed to a cross, all who would receive him, who
Speaker 2: would come to him to receive forgiveness in their repentance
Speaker 2: and faith and be transformed, and get strewed up, set straight,
Speaker 2: tuned to Him our Master and Lord, and under Him
Speaker 2: and in Him, receive mercy and grace and forgiveness, in abundance,
Speaker 2: in abundance, not a little separate our sins from far
Speaker 2: as the east is from the west. We're not talking
Speaker 2: about any bitty thumb like one of the thimbles. Fulls
Speaker 2: of grace, all of it in Him, in Him. Well,
Speaker 2: how how do we make this fight? How do we contend?
Speaker 2: For keeping true? Quickly? Now?
Speaker 1: Number one?
Speaker 2: Keeping yourself, keeping yourself so, it says in verses twenty
Speaker 2: through twenty one. He says, but you, beloved, building yourself
Speaker 2: up in the most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit.
Speaker 2: Keep yourselves in the love of God. Keep yourselves in
Speaker 2: the love of God. Our hearts are prone to wander.
Speaker 2: Don't you feel it? Don't you recognize that our hearts
Speaker 2: and our minds and our lives continually need to be
Speaker 2: tuned to the true pitch of the love of God.
Speaker 2: Continually to contend in that way, building ourselves up in
Speaker 2: our faith, praying in the Holy Spirit. We keep ourselves
Speaker 2: like Proverbs four twenty three says one of my favorite verses.
Speaker 2: Keep your heart with all diligence from it, froze flow
Speaker 2: all the streams of life.
Speaker 1: Keep yourself.
Speaker 2: I don't want you to be discouraged by that, because
Speaker 2: this is a lifelong process. It's glorious, it's actually enjoyable,
Speaker 2: but it's long. Sin is strong, and I've talked to
Speaker 2: young people who are like, I've been fighting sin for weeks. Yeah,
Speaker 2: gonna be a few weeks more. But as you do,
Speaker 2: don't be discouraged. Don't be discouraged that you get tripped up.
Speaker 2: Don't get discouraged that your affections fall out of tune. Instead,
Speaker 2: as you recognize that, know that you serve a gracious Lord,
Speaker 2: and continue to keep yourself in his love, tuning your
Speaker 2: heart to the true pitch of his love. As you go,
Speaker 2: he is patient, he's patients, seniors. As you go out
Speaker 2: from your families, you go into communities made up of
Speaker 2: who knows what kind of people. Keep yourself in the
Speaker 2: love of God. Guard your heart with all diligence. That's
Speaker 2: part of the fight. How do we fight? First? The
Speaker 2: fight is here, second, reaching them, reaching them, And Jude
Speaker 2: then now turns his attention to those who would be
Speaker 2: hidden reefs, who would be drifting, who would cause others
Speaker 2: to drift? And he says this, have mercy on those
Speaker 2: who doubt, save others by snatching them out of the fire,
Speaker 2: even to others. Show mercy with fear, hating even the
Speaker 2: garment stained by the flesh. In other words, different people
Speaker 2: are different places, Different people are in different places. Show
Speaker 2: mercy to those who were doubting, save others, snatch them
Speaker 2: from the fire. There there's work to be done here.
Speaker 2: Show mercy with fear, like be a real accountability partner,
Speaker 2: don't be the accountability partners like, oh you were rolling
Speaker 2: around in the mud this week, So was I happens
Speaker 2: to the best of us. See you next week. Mercy
Speaker 2: with fear. Guys, we got to take this seriously. We
Speaker 2: may we may may be on the drift. I hate
Speaker 2: that we have stumbled in descent. I love how much
Speaker 2: mercy shows up here. Mercy which is to say, don't
Speaker 2: go on a church purity pitchfork campaign. Right, Jude isn't
Speaker 2: saying church just like, don't practice church discipline. He's just
Speaker 2: saying people are in different places. Be discerning, don't be
Speaker 2: a discernmentalist, Be discerning.
Speaker 1: Win those who are wandering.
Speaker 2: And also this, lastly, this, how do we keep fighting
Speaker 2: to keep true?
Speaker 1: Trusting God?
Speaker 2: Trusting God? Verse twenty four and twenty five says, now
Speaker 2: to him who is able to keep you from stumbling
Speaker 2: and to present you blameless great joy.
Speaker 1: Hold on a second, Is he keeping me? Or do
Speaker 1: I keep myself?
Speaker 2: Yes, keep yourself in the love of God and trust
Speaker 2: that he is able to keep you. He is able
Speaker 2: to keep.
Speaker 1: You, and that's not passive. The picture I like.
Speaker 2: To think of as like a baby who's being held
Speaker 2: by a father. Is he being held absolutely? And he
Speaker 2: says to the father says to the child, hey, hold
Speaker 2: on to my finger. I want you to learn to
Speaker 2: hold on to dad. And the baby's holding non tight.
Speaker 2: But the real difference maker.
Speaker 1: His dad.
Speaker 2: The real trust belongs in him, not in ourselves. He's
Speaker 2: called us to keep ourselves tuned to the love of God,
Speaker 2: but he's called us to trust his ability to keep
Speaker 2: us true. If we truly trust that he is worthy
Speaker 2: of all of this glory, we truly trust that he's
Speaker 2: worthy of majesty, that we truly trust that he's worthy
Speaker 2: of dominion, truly trusted he is worthy of authority before
Speaker 2: all time and now and forever then we will actively
Speaker 2: tune our lives to him.
Speaker 1: It's a step of faith.
Speaker 2: It's a step of faith.
Speaker 1: Would you stand and pray with me?
Speaker 2: Lord God, We thank you for your good and righteous warnings,
Speaker 2: but thank you for this letter so relevant to the
Speaker 2: true Church of today and the Church of fifty years
Speaker 2: ago and the Church of five hundred years ago, and
Speaker 2: the church that you was ministering to, because we haven't changed,
Speaker 2: and neither have you, And so we celebrate the grace
Speaker 2: that you've shown us. We celebrate the true grace of
Speaker 2: our God, and we celebrate the true Christ who has
Speaker 2: won us from sin and delivered.
Speaker 1: Us to You and Jesus. Th Amen. Let's sing