Contending for the Faith

Also, I want to give a few thanks to the sermonette, talking about meekness, being a teachability. Interesting in the Portuguese Bible translates the word meek to what we call time. Time. Which is, you know, think about a time animal, quote-unquote. It's exactly what Mr. Thornton was referring to, that we are teachable, we are guided by God, by God's Holy Spirit, we're not wild. We're tamed to God's instructions through His Spirit. On the other side, we must not be tamed to Satan's deceptions.

We must be wise and fight Satan's deceptions. God expects us to be meek towards him, but faithful as well. In other words, we have to be strong in the faith. And Satan has a habit, a real proclivity of deceiving people. No wonder the Bible calls him the deceiver, and he says, you'll deceive the whole world. And brethren, you and I just have to look around at the season that has just gone past. The whole world is deceiving. The whole world! It sounds difficult to even comprehend how he can deceive the whole world, but he has. And amongst these tactics is human reasoning. Human reasoning. You kind of reason yourself around things. And that human reasoning is reasoning apart from God.

And through that human reasoning, he causes doubts. You start doubting God because you reason around it. You then have certain fears. And through that reasoning, you sometimes have anxiety or anxious thoughts about things. And brethren, he has done that in the past, and he has 6,000 years of experience doing it.

And so, he is an expert on the subject. And you and I only have a few years of experience in trying to fight Satan. And therefore, we need God's help, we need God's Spirit to fight Satan. And so brethren, you and I need to be very watchful because he, Satan, caused division in the Church as early as, starting from the year 17 AD. Because if you look at history, there is a period between 17 AD and 120 AD, which historically, it's just, there's no historical records.

And basically, if you look at it, you see a Church before 17 AD, following the instructions of Christ, of Peter, of Paul, of the Apostles, as we normally call the early New Testament Church. And then, when the curtain of history is raised after 120 AD, we see a completely different, quote-unquote, Christian Church. No more the same as it was before 17 AD. Some people call it the Age of Shadows because that age between 70 AD and 120 AD is actually not an historical record.

It's like a curtain came down, closed history, and when the curtain is raised, like 50 years later, we've got a different Church. And in fact, that kept changing more, into the year 325, as you know, with the Council of Messia, and then coming in with forcing Sunday worship, and forcing bringing in Easter, or basically call it Passover on a Sunday. That's what it is, that's what Easter is, Passover on a Sunday, and things like that. So brethren, Satan is a master architect, and he calls that to the church, to the apostolic church, right there after 70 AD, after the destruction of the temple.

And indeed, he calls that 20 years ago to God's Church, about, maybe a little bit more, but, you know, run about 94, 95, and started creeping in a few years before, slowly but surely. And then, poof, it just came along. And what I'm saying, brethren, is he has not given up. He has not given up. And as the time of the end approaches, he will attempt to infiltrate the church and cause more problems. So, you and I, brethren, need to be building the fences of remaining faithful.

It was of strengthening our faith for the faith that was once delivered to the saints, to the church, and remain faithful to that. We need to contend strongly for the faith that was once delivered to the saints. And brethren, that is the theme of one book of the Bible, of one epistle. Can you think of which epistle is? That that is the theme of that epistle, signed to us, called the tent for the faith that was once delivered to the saints.

And that is the book of Jude, the book just before Revelation. So, I'm going to ask you to turn to Jude and put maybe a marker or a piece of paper there, because we're going to go in and out, and in a way, you could call it, we're going to do a Bible study on the book of Jude. But actually, what we're doing is, we're giving a sermon on the topic of remaining faithful to God's truth.

And in the book of Jude, it gives examples from the Old Testament and from times before, the times of dealing with angels and demons, shall we call them. How God has dealt harshly with those people that deviated from truth. And therefore, it's a lesson to us that God will again deal harshly with those people that are involved in infiltrating the church and leading it astray. So, let's turn to Jude, verse 1, or chapter 1, verse 1.

There's only one chapter, so let's just call it Jude 1. Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ and brother of James. This Jude was a brother of James, but James was a brother of Jesus Christ. If you read, you don't have to turn there, but if you want to make a note to look at it at another time, in Matthew 13, 55, or Mark 6, 3, you can see there were four brothers to Jesus. One of them was James and the other one was Jude. And there were sisters, plural.

So at least there were two. Does not enumerate them? There were two. So we're talking about six plus Jesus, a family of seven, at least. Now this is interesting because the Catholic Church says, Virgin Mary, she was virgin and always virgin! Not true. She had other children. So he was a brother of Jesus Christ, but he was also a brother of James, which is obviously the author of the book of James.

And this book was written round about during that period that we call the Age of Shadows, when the curtain was down in history. Round about somewhere in the year 80 or 90. Somewhere in that decade. Now, Mr. Herbert W Armstrong used to say, that if you want to know the history that or what happened in those periods between 70 and 120, that period of shadows, if you want to know the history of what happened during that period, read the General Epistles.

Because the General Epistles, that means the epistles that were not written by Paul, by Ezekiel were written after 70 and 80, and give a history of that period. But particularly Jude. You see, what we see, we see a church that in a sense had seen Jesus the Christ, that had the apostles like Peter and Paul. A church that had matured, or at least should have matured, in the solid doctrine of Jesus Christ. And then that church, which had its doctrines fixed, they don't change.

The doctors of Christ, which were revealed to us by Christ, which adds to the Old Testament, and which were explained in more detail by the apostles like Paul and Peter and others. And those doctrines are fixed. There's no new truth now. There's no new truth. That is it. Now, maybe over time you learn to understand a little bit better and deeper, but there's no new truth.

That is the truth. That is what Christ told us from the Father, and that is it. So we had a church by approaching the year 70, which had the basic doctrines of faith fixed and handed down from Christ Himself and His apostles. And that is the faith that needs to be maintained, and not all who've got new truth, and quote-unquote, changed. We've got to maintain that faith that was once delivered to the science. And it's the same thing with us, brethren.

In a sense, we've been around since when God raised up a leader in a modern age to teach us and expound us these basic truths, which I believe was most strong. I'm not idolizing you. I just believe that He was a man that God used and expounded to us those basic truths of the early church. And we have been soundly established on those basic truths for many years. That early church, which also matured for many years on those basic truths, in 50 years, swung, and by the year 120, it was completely different church.

We've got to be careful that the same thing does not happen to us. In fact, about 20 years ago, as I said, about 85% of the church did exactly the same thing. Only about 15% remain loyal. The point is, Satan is a deceiver of the whole world. The time is getting shorter, and he's going to really rise up very angry, and he's going to do even more.

And you and I need to use the little time we have to build ourselves up against that attack. Brethren, that's why Jude wrote this book. He says, As we heard in the sermon, we are called, sanctified by God the Father through the power of the Holy Spirit, of course.

In other words, we've been set aside, separated by God the Father through the power of God's Holy Spirit, we called, and preserved in Jesus. So he says, mercy, peace, and life, we multiply to you all. Yes, that's what he's done. The Father has delivered us from darkness. The Father has called us, as we heard in the sermon, and delivered us from darkness.

Just turn briefly to Colossians chapter 1. Keep a marker again, Jude, because you're going to come back to it, please. But Colossians chapter 1. Start reading in verse 12. Giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified us to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in the light. It's the Father that has done this work and is doing this work through Jesus the Christ, but it's the Father.

And he, the Father, has delivered us from the power of darkness. This wall is in darkness under the power of Satan. He has delivered us from that power and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love. Yes, the kingdom of God hasn't come yet, but you and I, in a sense, are now under the rules of that kingdom, which is God's laws, which is that family, and we, in a sense, therefore, are ambassadors of that kingdom, representing that kingdom on earth.

And therefore, we now are in that kingdom, although technically not yet in the kingdom, because that is still to come, the kingdom of the Son of His love. And so, it's the Father that has done this for us. And look at in verse 19, a little bit ahead. For it pleased that the Father, that in Him, that is in Christ, all fullness should dwell.

It pleased God. It pleased the Father that all fullness, all divinity, all power should be through Christ. And we are called and preserved into that body of Jesus Christ, which is the head, and we are part of that body. But it's the Father that has sanctified us. It's the Father that calls us. It's the Father's work through Christ. It's the Father that created us through Christ.

Of course, Christ is the Creator, but Christ is the agent. He's the one that God uses. He's the executive agent. He's the one that is done. And He's our Savior. He's the one that is doing it. So, going back to Jude, we'll continue there. And we're going to read now in verse 3. Beloved, while I was diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation, so, Yah is Jude saying, listen, brethren, I wanted to write to you about our hope, about Christ, about our salvation, about our exciting the hope we have. I wanted to write to you about these things.

And then He says, I found it necessary to change the theme of this letter. I found it required. I was inspired by God to write to you on a different topic.

And the topic is to exhort you, in other words, to diligently ask you to work hard, to encourage you to contend earnestly. That is to fight earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.

Brethren, there's no new truth. It's that faith that was delivered to the saints by Christ and His apostles. That is the rock. That is the foundation. And that doesn't change.

And He's saying to us, Judy, I think, I wanted to write about a different topic, but God inspired me that I need to talk to you about this topic. Because it was that age of shadows, because those false ministers were infiltrating already into the church, and they were about to cause a big earthquake, quote-unquote, on whole church. You see, doctrinal errors were coming into the church, and they were beginning to cause people to stray from the truth. And so He says, I need to exhort you to content, to agonize, to make sure you're following the teachings of Jesus Christ accurately, not kind of float and coast along, as if we're going on a vacation. We've got to really content, agonize, stand strong, because the attack is coming. And I believe, brethren, at the end time, the attack will even be stronger. And you and I need to be strong in faith.

You see, it says it was once for all delivered to the saints. I mean, it's the same word as it says, Christ suffered once for all. You know, Christ is not going to suffer the second time. He suffered once for all. That truth was delivered to us once for all. There's no other faith. There's no new truth. There's no new revelation. Jesus came, He came with the Word from the Father. That is it. Full stop. No deviation.

And He was that prophet that Moses prophesied. Jesus Christ is the prophet that Moses prophesied. He is the prophet greater than Moses. Moses prophesied that, and that is reiterated in Peter's message, just after the diaphragmatic cost, in Acts chapter 3. So I want you to please turn with me to Acts chapter 3, Acts chapter 3 verse 22 and 23. Acts chapter 3 verse 22 and 23.

And now it's quoting the Autonomy 18, starting from verse 15. It's a quote from that. But we are on Acts 3, verse 22 and 23. And He says, for Moses truly said to the fathers, The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me, like me Moses. The only difference is that prophet is going to be greater than me, Moses. He says, from your brethren. Exactly. He was physically a descendant of the tribe of Judah through Mary and that genealogy. Him you shall hear in all things, whatever he says to you. Whatever Christ says to us, we better listen to it. He says, it shall be, verse 23, that every soul who will not hear that prophet, that is Jesus Christ and His teaching, every soul who will not hear the teaching of Christ, shall be utterly destroyed.

Utterly destroyed. Exactly. So, we have to listen to the words of that prophet, which is Christ. That will not be superseded. We've got to stick with it. But false teachers will come in trying to reinvent Christianity. And that's what happened when the curtain raised after 120 AD. There was a different Christianity. But brethren, you and I follow the example of the New Testament church before 70 AD. We don't follow the changes that came afterwards. Such as like the Council of Messiah, Sunday worship, Trinity, Easter, etc. We don't. Because those people were changing what Jesus brought. And remember, it says, if you don't follow what Jesus said, you will. It says, shall be utterly destroyed. It doesn't say, well, you might just be.

You shall be utterly destroyed. You see, people were changing what Jesus taught. And people have been doing that. And that's dangerous to be in that ground. Very dangerous. You see, the Word of the Lord endures forever. It's the same yesterday, today, and forever. 1 Peter 1, verse 25. We don't have to turn there. But it says, the Word of the Lord endures forever. So let's go back to Jude, verse 3. It says, to contend endlessly for the fight which was once delivered to the saints. To the saints. What is a saint?

It's a holy person. It's not because he's a member of this physical organization or that physical organization. A saint is one that is led by God's Holy Spirit.

That's what it is.

God's church, God's true church, is a spiritual organization. And let us never forget that.

And so, the Word was given to Jesus. Look at Jesus' last prayer that is recorded, just after he celebrated the Passover, before he went into the Garden of Gethsemane, which is in John 17. Look at John 17, please, with me. John 17, verse 6 through 8. He says, John 17, verse 6 through 8, he says, This is Christ praying. He's saying, I, that's Jesus Christ, have manifested your name, that means the Father's name, to the man whom you, the Father, have given me, just like we are in the Sumonet. You, God, you've called him, you've given me out of the world. So not that we're any better.

God is calling us for a specific job now.

He has jobs for those other people in the future. It's just a question of a selection process. For the job now. We're not better than the others that are not called. They also will be children of God. They just will have different job responsibilities later. So we're not better. We're just selected for a specific team. The others are being selected later on for different teams. Each thing at some time. We're not better. Not better. But go on reading them. They were yours. Yes, these people you selected were yours. You gave them to me. We are kept in Christ. And they have kept your word. Now, they have known that all things which you have given me are from you. You know, it was the true apostles, the true disciples, that early New Testament Church, they knew. That it was the Father given all this to Christ. Verse 8, For I have given to them, as Christ says, He has given to those disciples at early New Testament Church, the words which you, the Father, have given me.

You see, Christ's words, Christ's teaching, the teaching of that prophet is no others but the Father's teaching. Through Jesus. The Father does everything through Jesus. Jesus, he sees, let's call it executive director.

And He does everything through Him. And have known surely that I came from you. And I have believed that you sent me. So, God, the Father, gave the New Testament Church His teachings through Christ. And Christ is saying that New Testament Church kept those teachings faithfully. In other words, Jesus' job was to teach information which was not available in Old Testament, additional information that Moses had not taught. He did not do it away with the teachings of the Ten Commandments or anything like that, but He expounded, He added extra spiritual value and content to those teachings. And now we've got the full story. And that's what we're going to have.

And that teaching is the same teaching that the apostles received, and even Paul received it. And you may think, wait, wait, wait a minute. Paul was not amongst the twelve apostles. He did not walk with Christ. So how did he receive it from Christ? Because he was not walking with Christ. But look at Galatians chapter 1 verse 11 and 12. Galatians chapter 1 verse 11 and 12. It explains here, in Galatians chapter 1 verse 11 and 12, that Christ Himself took time and taught Paul individually and personally after His resurrection.

Look at Galatians 1 verse 11 and 12. And now indeed, I've come to Antioch.

This is chapter 2. Galatians 1 verse 11 and 12.

But I have made known to you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me, you know, this is Paul, saying to the brethren in Galatia that the gospel which he preached is not according to man. In other words, it's not my ideas or any man's ideas. For I, that's Paul, neither received it from man nor was I taught it by man. In other words, people didn't teach me. But it came through the revelation of Jesus Christ. Christ Himself went and spoke to Paul somewhere in the wilderness for a certain period of time. And that's how He got that information. Look at verse 6 of the same chapter in Galatians chapter 1. It says, I marvel. And this is Paul writing to the Galatians. And this is about 52 AD. So it's even before 70 AD. It's about 52 AD when he wrote this book. And Paul says, I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him who called you into the grace of Christ to a different gospel. You see, the gospel of Jesus Christ was already being distorted and perverted. Which is not another. So they didn't come out with a completely different gospel, which is about a different prophet like Muhammad or whatever it is. It was still about Jesus. But it was twisted. It was ever so little. But just modified. He says, it's not another. But they are some that trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.

It was the teachings that Jesus Christ gave us. For even if we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel to you than the one we every preach to you, it was the gospel of Christ letting be accursed. As I've said before, so now say again, if anyone preaches any other gospel to you than what you have received, let him be accursed.

Brethren, we cannot modify the truth we've received from the beginning. Look how John put it. The Apostle John in 2 John. It's another one of the general epistles. 2 John.

2 John was written about 90 AD. Somewhere there, 90 AD. 2 John.

Verse 9. One verse 9, but there's only one chapter in 2 John. So it's verse 9. It says, whoever transgresses...

What do you mean by transgresses?

The word transgresses here means, in my margin, it says, goes ahead or beyond. In other words, it's like you say something and then you ad lib a little bit more around it. That's transgressing the word. You follow me? You said this and then you say this, but you ad lib a little bit to it. That is transgressing. That is going beyond what Christ said.

That's what Paul was saying to the Galatians. They are perverting the truth by adding a little bit, going a little bit beyond what it is. Whoever transgresses and does not abide in the doctrine of Christ. In other words, instead of you abiding in Christ, you actually ad lib a little bit around it. Whatever it might be, does not have God. If you are doing that, you do not have God. He who abides in the doctrine of Christ as both the Father and the Son. It's very powerful! We must do exactly as Jesus Christ taught. What Jesus Christ taught us is going to be carried out exactly. And so, let's go back to Jude. And now we are going to read verse 4. For certain men have crept in unnoticed. For certain men have crept into the church unnoticed. Nowadays, we have an interesting analogy. If you watch these aeroplanes, there is a type of aeroplane called stealth. You have heard of those stealth fighters? They come in the air and radar doesn't beat them. So now, radar things don't bounce back, they don't pick it up. So they come in unnoticed by stealth. That's what these people have done. They come into the church unnoticed. Some of them become elders, leaders, unnoticed by stealth. Who long ago were marked out for this condemnation. If you were marked out, that means pro-graphel, which is pro, which is previously. Graphel means writing. It was written or prophesied long ago that it would happen. And they come in. Now, this is an interesting prophecy. I'm not going to turn there. But I would like you to make a note of it and read it a little later. And that's in Deuteronomy 13, 1-5. And basically says, if you have a prophet, put on it, a minister, or a dreamer, somebody that woke up and says, I had this dream.

And he says, this is going to happen. So you've got a minister, and he's got this great dream, and he comes and preaches, I had a dream last night, and blah, blah, blah. I dreamt first, and this is going to happen. And then it does happen. And then it does happen. Think about it. That's in Deuteronomy 13. It says, and then it does happen. And if he tells you to deviate ever so little from the doctrine of Christ, don't listen to him, because he's a false teacher, a false prophet.

And then he goes on and says, because what's happening is God is testing your heart to see whether you really love God or not. So God allows this to test you and I. So you can't say, oh well, Satan is doing this, and God doesn't know anything about it. Well, if God doesn't know anything about it, you'd better go and tell him. Of course, I'm being cynical. Of course, God knows about it. Right? But God is allowing it to test me. It's a powerful test. When you and I have to stand up against those things, God is allowing it to test us.

Now, look at continue reading here in Jude 4. It says, for certain men have crept in unnoticed, who long ago prophesied or mocked for this condemnation. Ungodly men who turned the grace of our God into ludicrous. The grace of Christ.

The mercy, the love of God to forgive us, and so that we can repent, which means change. But forgive us. But they turn it into ludicrous. They turn it into an excuse to do whatever they please to do, because it says, oh, well, God will forgive. You can't do that. You can't do that. You can't play with God.

You can't turn that into ludicrous. Because when you do that, you are denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. We actually deny we are rejecting God and Jesus Christ. So don't use it as an excuse to do it. So what people do? They use like Galatians 5 verse 13. Or Galatians chapter 5. Or Galatians chapter 5. You know, I've heard that.

They use that to turn liberty into an opportunity for the passions of the flesh. Don't allow that.

They deny God in works. Yes, they're very religious, but they deny God in works. For instance, in chapter 1 verse 16. Another point for you, if you want to do a Brextra Bible study, to look at chapter 1 verse 16. So this is kind of an introduction to the letter. Just saying, brethren, I wanted to write to you about something else. But it's imperative that I write to you and warn you to remain faithful because these people are going to come in by stealth and take you away from the truth. And so it did happen. And so it did happen. From verse 5 to 19, from verse 5 to 19, Jude gives examples from long ago of this happened. And now it's applicable to today. It gives basically five groups of examples from June 5 through 19.

In each group, it gives examples from history or the past, and then it gives an application for today. Each group gives examples from the past and an application for today. Each group, examples from the past and an application from today. And, typically, in groups of threes, examples of threes from the past and an application for today. Examples of threes from the past means application for today.

The beginning of that application is always with the word I'm going to go and highlight these for you in a moment. I'm not going to go through each one in detail. As I said, I'm giving you material that you can go home and use as a Bible study to study more. And I encourage you to do so. But each of these groups first gives examples from the past, and then it gives applications from today saying, These men today! Now, in English it's just translated, These, but in Greek, it's actually These men of today. So let's look at the first group. The first group is from Jude 5 to Jude 8. And from 5 to 7 is the examples of the past, and 8 is the application for today. I have taken the liberty to name this group as the disobedient. I mean, you study it and could come out with maybe a different title to that. But basically, if you look at this, let's look at verse 5. But I want to remind you through, though you once knew this, I want to remind you, but you've known this before, That the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who do not believe. So there's the people that came out of Egypt during the forty years, remember, in the wilderness they came out of Egypt. They do not believe. You can read that in Hebrew, it says, they do not obey. They were just obedient, therefore they do not believe. Remember, I've always been telling you, when you see believe, read behind it, they do not obey. Because if you believe in me, you're going to do what I tell you. Right? So believe, read behind it, obey. So these people do not believe. In other words, they do not obey. And therefore, they do not make the promised land. That is kind of three examples. That's example number one. And example number two is verse six. And the angels, which do not keep their proper domain, God had given the angels certain responsibilities to do, and they disobeyed. They do not keep what they supposed to have done. They left it on the bow. They left their job responsibilities. They left their duties that God had given them. In other words, these are the demons, of course. These are the angels that rebelled. He has reserved those angels in everlasting chains and the darkness for the judgment of the great day. They know it's coming. That's example number two. So that's why I grouped the disobedient ones, you know. Number three. A Sodom and Balmora, and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, as in giving themselves over to sexual immorality. Por raya. Sexual immorality is just more than thing out of marriage. It includes in marriage. It includes every impurity, sexual impurity, whatever it is. It's all encompassing term. Por raya is a whole encompassing term. It's not just fornication. It's a whole encompassing term. Some Bible translates it as fornication, which is an incorrect translation. Por raya is sexual immorality across the board, married or unmarried or whatever it is. And gone after the flesh. In other words, take this off, pay it.

I'll set forth in this example suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. In other words, Sodom and Balmora burned forever and it's gone. It's a fire that had an eternal effect. That's it. Gone. It's a lesson for us. So here are three examples of disobedience that has got a lesson that had punishment or punishment that will come, like for the demons, this punishment. So here's an example from long ago, three examples from long ago, and then the application for today. Verse 8. Likewise, these men today, today, application for today, false preachers today, they are dreamers. They defile the flesh. They reject authority and speak evil of dignitaries. There was these people today, three things again. Think about trees. They file the flesh. They got bad fruits, unclean with various wicked acts. Reject authority. They are self-wielding, in other words, they are disrespectful. And number three, they speak evil of dignitaries. In other words, they have no fear of speaking evil of their leaders. Police could be leaders in the church. So Yahweh's first group is saying, giving examples of long ago of disobedience and expulsion. Then let's look at the second group. That is verse 9 and 10. And the second group says, yet Michael, and I've titled this as disrespectful, but you could maybe title this something else, but yet Michael, the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses, did not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, the Lord rebuke you. He respected his position. He respected that he did not have authority over his fellow angel, which was Lucifer or Satan, with the devil, which had turned wrong. And so he said, let God sit you up. Not me. So he respected the authority. So he was respectful. And that's an example for us today to be respectful for those in authority. And look at verse 10. But these men today, application for today, verse 10, speak evil of whatever they do not know. They don't understand, but they accuse. They bring false accusations. They don't know all the facts. But they are just quick to shoot them up. And whatever they know naturally, like, whatever they know naturally. In other words, they're not led by God's Holy Spirit. They are naturally, they're following their nature, human nature, not God's Holy Spirit. Like brute beasts. In other words, they are corrupt in the human understanding, in the following of the wicked pursuits, and they become like beasts. In these things, they corrupt themselves. So that's the second example. These disrespectful people, they just speak evil, they're not following God's Holy Spirit, and they corrupt. It's not a third group, verse 11 through 13. Well unto them. For they have gone to way of time, they have ran greedily in the air of Baid-in, for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah, again three. You see, this third group is a group with other motives of the heart. Time was a murderer and a deceiver. He had his own selfish motives and was a murderer. Bailam was greed. Even though he was used as a servant and God spoke to him, he had greed for money. It's the first example of using religion to make money. Bailam. For profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah. Korah was presumptuous. He had contempt. And he says, well to them. In other words, their doom is assured. You see, we can see God is going to deal harshly with him.

Now let's look at the application. The application. That's in verses 12 and 13. These men are spots in your love feasts. In other words, these people come to church, they keep the feast with you, but they're just spots.

They blemishes. They're not serving God. They talk about serving, but they don't serve. It's all about themselves. They come to the feast amongst us, it's all about me, myself and I.

They spot in your feasts, while they feast with you without fear. Serving only themselves. They selfish. They clouds without water. You know, think of it like clouds without water. And they are, there it says, carried about by the winds. There's nothing there. It's just empty. It's empty. There's no rain. There's no fruit. And it says, light autumn trees without fruit. In other words, trees, then when it's a light autumn, when you should have that fruit to pick it up, there's nothing! It's a time for harvest, and there's no fruit. Then it says, twice state. It means the second death. The second death. They are committed to the second death, pulled up by the roots. That's gone. Nothing left. They're gone. Wiped out. Afterly destroyed, as we read earlier.

So let's look in now at, continue now, sorry, verse 13 I've been reading. Raging waves of the sea. Here is the second example of this application. Raging waves of the sea, filming up their own shame. You know, it's like people that are discontent. They always think like the sea, like raging waves. They're never happy. They're discontent. They're wicked like a troubled sea. Filming up their own shame. Wandering stars for whom is reserved the blackness of doctors forever. In other words, they like these demons, wicked spirits. That is being affected them. They're being affected by them. And there's going to be a punishment for them. So that was the second, I mean the third group. Now let's look at the fourth group. The fourth group is from 14 to 16. 14 and 15 is the examples and 16 is the application. So 14 he says, Now Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied about these men saying, Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his saints. Now he has Enoch, the seventh from Adam. He prophesied. And where is that prophecy? In the book of Enoch. Now does it mean that the book of Enoch is now scripture? No! What if he quoted something from Encyclopedia Britannica? Would that mean that Encyclopedia Britannica now isn't scripture? No! It's just simply quoting from a book that was available at that time. And Enoch said, Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his saints. Now how many saints went at the time of Enoch? From the book of Genesis, it's probably Abel, Seth and Enoch. Three. So there's something Enoch knew, because there were only three. Well, maybe there were more, but the Bible only talks about three that were faithful in those many years.

But it talks about ten thousands of his saints. When would that be? Obviously you and I know that the lost great day. Towards that, when it comes back, sorry, at the resurrection, the Lord comes with ten thousand of his saints. When it comes to the Second Coming, sorry, I'm correct there. I'm correct myself. So the Lord comes with ten thousands of his saints. To execute judgment on all, to convict all who are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds, whom they have committed in an ungodly way.

And for all, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against them. So Yahweh will be the Second Resurrection, but they will actually work with all those other people that are ungodly, indeed, in the Second Resurrection, in the lost great day, meaning the lost great day.

So Yahweh sees these people. That's an example of the Old Testament. In this, I put it there just under the title of Be Careful About What We Say. Be careful what we say. To execute judgment on them, on godly deeds, and commitment on godly way, and all the harsh things which these ungodly sinners have spoken against them. So be careful what we say. What comes out of our mouth. It says, we'll be judged by every word that comes out of our mouth. We've got to be very careful what we say. And look at the application. These, verse 16, these men are grumblers, complainers.

In other words, may I always got something? It's like always a squeaky wheel. Number two. It says, walking according to the own lusts. You say they got their own evil passions in them. And their mouth, great swelling words. So be careful what comes out there. They say, oh, yeah, you're a great person, and this and that and that, you know? Flattering people to gain advantage. So flattering. So be careful what comes out of our mouths.

The next example, which is the fifth group, is from verse 17 through 19. And so in verse 17 and 18 is the actual past, historical, but you, beloved, remember the words we spoke of before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ? How they told you that there would be markers in the last time who would walk according to their ungodly life.

So it's actually, yeah, in this example is prophesying there would be people that will be mocking, that will be causing the vision in the church. And look at the application today in Jude 19. These are sexual persons. You know, it was controlled by the impulses who caused the visions. They caused the vision in the church. They profess to know God, but the works deny them. They're causing the vision in the church, not having the spirit. They don't have God's only spirit. So don't listen to them. People are grumbling and doing these things and these ungodly things, they're sensual, causing the visions.

Don't listen to them, because they don't have God's only spirit. If you see people causing the vision, right? Think about it. They might not have God's only spirit. That's what it says here. So, Jude warns us, be careful, that he gives us some examples of the past and some examples of the present, some practical examples and applications.

And then in verse 20 and 21, he tells us how to contend earnestly for the faith. And he says in verse 20 to 21, He's on that basic things. Learn to trust him more fully, as Abraham grew in faith. Remember, Abraham at the beginning had faith, but he did not have a lot of faith. But later on he had a lot of faith.

He grew in faith over time. That's what we need to do. He was building yourselves up on your Most Holy Faith. We've got to grow in that faith. In other words, feed on God's Word. Study the Bible. Feed on God's Word and grow in that faith. Then he says, praying. He's praying in the Holy Spirit. Rather than that, the Holy Spirit helps us to pray. Sometimes we don't know what words to say. When there's a big problem, when there's a real big problem, you don't even know what to say.

You don't even know how to pray. You just get to God, and God's Spirit just helps you, and God just kind of binds you to him. The Holy Spirit helps us when we have infirmities, when we have diseases, when we have difficulties and problems. It's the power of God that helps us. It is our connector to God. Thinking about a little baby growing, and as that baby comes out of the womb, all the time in the womb was connected by the umbilical cord.

The analogy is the Holy Spirit is like that umbilical cord between us and God through the Mother.

So, use God's Holy Spirit to keep that connection. Then continue in verse 21. No, no, sorry. Yeah, verse 21. Keep yourselves in the love of God. So, how do we build the Holy Spirit, or how do we build our faith? By staying in the love of God. I gave a sermon about the virtues, the ladder of virtues, and we use that sermon to actually look at the ladder of virtues in 2 Peter chapter 3.

Let's think about 2 Peter chapter 1, verse 3 to 7. It's the ladder of virtues, and it ends up in God's love. In the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ and to eternal life. You see, and testify to God's mercy. Only His mercy will get you and I through.

There's nothing you and I can do. Only God and His mercy will help us to get through. And God can work with us, and He can make it happen. So, stay with that. You must build yourselves in the faith, read the Word, work on God's love, and always rely on God's mercy. Anticipate God's mercy.

Now, verse 22 and 23 is about how to deal with those that go astray. Verse 21 and 22 is how do you grow in faith? Now, verse 22 and 23 is how to deal with those that go astray. And again, it's in three layers. First, on some have compassion. In other words, be merciful on those that have doubts. Be patient with them. Help them with the right teaching. Just be patient. And help them patiently. I know it's easy for us to say, don't they ever get it? You just have to be patient with these people, because God is patient with us. So, be merciful, be compassionate. Making a distinction, you know, because they have doubts, but they're still learning, and help them to understand the truth. The second group is, but others save with fear. Pulling them out of the fire. In other words, they have doubts, but they've passed the doubts. They're now in fire. They're now really deeper in the trench. And those we have to help them to see the truth with fear, with meekness. To actually help them out, to get out of that ditch, because they're already in trouble. So warn them of the judgment, and help them out. And then we have the others. The final one, that says, "...hating even the garment defiled in the flesh." The actual New International Version breaks it out a little bit better, these three groups. It says that those that have actually really embraced the wrong teachings, hate even their own clothing, but still have mercy with them. So brethren, we need to build our faith, but dealing with those that are going astray, there's like three layers. The ones that are just kind of having doubts, help them. The ones that are really in trouble already, help them to get out. And the ones that have completely embraced the wrong stuff, still show mercy with fear, but don't allow yourselves to be with their clothing. Hate that clothing, hate that false teaching. And so brethren, what do we have? In summary, we have Jude warning the brethren here, that we're mature at the first century church, saying that the basic doctrines are fixed as handed down. The faith needs to be maintained, not kind of found some new truth. And today is the same thing with us. We've got to maintain the faith. We've got to strengthen our faith. We've got to contend for the faith which was once delivered to the science. And then to conclude, he gives this encouraging glory of God, because only God will be able to make that happen. Only God is able to help us, to keep us, to pull this off and help us through this, because times are going to be difficult. And that's going to be the greatest joy in the end when God helps us through these. So let's just read this in conclusion. Now to him, which is God, who is able to keep you and I from stumbling, and to present you and I faultless before the presence of his glory of exceeding joy. You know, when Christ will come and will be there, it's joy that you and I cannot even understand. To God our Savior, who alone is wise, be glory and majesty to minion and power, both now and forever. Amen.