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Jude-Msg-27-28_ · INSIGHT FOR LIVING: Biblical Wisdom For Everyday Living

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Speaker 1: In our survey of the Scriptures, we have come to
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Speaker 1: the next to last book of the Bible, and although
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Speaker 1: it is located just before the often mentioned Book of Revelation,
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Speaker 1: it is really an unknown piece of literature in the Scriptures.
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Speaker 1: In fact, one man, Douglas Rosston's declares that Jude is
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Speaker 1: the most neglected book of the New Testament. I would
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Speaker 1: almost venture to add, perhaps the most neglected of all
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Speaker 1: the scriptures, except for perhaps a few of the minor prophets. However,
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Speaker 1: it is although it may be unknown to the public
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Speaker 1: in general, there have been a few Christians who have
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Speaker 1: sort of grazed through this letter and then had very
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Speaker 1: little doubt as to why it is so unknown among
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Speaker 1: the public, because it does seem to be at first
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Speaker 1: glance a little bit bewildering. It is a complicated piece
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Speaker 1: of information. However, it is a great rousing, fiery cross
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Speaker 1: for the church. In fact, Moffatt is the one who
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Speaker 1: has said it is a fiery cross to arouse the churches.
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Speaker 1: Another man named William Barkley says there have been times
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Speaker 1: in the history of the Church, and especially in the
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Speaker 1: revivals of the Church, when Jude was not far off
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Speaker 1: from being the most relevant book of the New Testament.
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Speaker 1: Ed Bloom states that Christians and the Church today need
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Speaker 1: to listen to Jude's contribution. His emphasis on a fixed
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Speaker 1: core of truth known as the faith needs to be pondered.
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Speaker 1: I would certainly applaud that statement in our gullible and
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Speaker 1: relatively undiscerning age among Christians who fall back constantly on
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Speaker 1: an emphasis upon love and acceptance and tolerance with no
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Speaker 1: limits in mind, the letter of Jude stands as an
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Speaker 1: uncompromising statement of our faith. And I would commend to
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Speaker 1: all of us the careful study of this book that
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Speaker 1: is not easy reading. Though it is brief, it is
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Speaker 1: full of deep and profound thoughts that do not lend
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Speaker 1: its truths to the busy or hurried reader. And I
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Speaker 1: think you will see that before we're through with our
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Speaker 1: time in this study. First, a few words by way
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Speaker 1: of introduction. The man signs the letter at the beginning,
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Speaker 1: a habit that I wish we would still carry out.
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Speaker 1: When we receive a letter, the very first thing we
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Speaker 1: look for is who wrote it. In biblical days, they
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Speaker 1: save the looking, they put the name. At the very start,
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Speaker 1: he tells us that his name is Jude. He is
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Speaker 1: the writer. He even calls himself a bond servant of
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Speaker 1: Jesus Christ, which is quite a statement of humility, because
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Speaker 1: he was in fact a brother of the Savior, literally
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Speaker 1: or technically, he was the half brother. He was literally
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Speaker 1: the son of Joseph and Mary in their union, while
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Speaker 1: Jesus was simply the son of Mary and actually virgin born.
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Speaker 1: But he calls himself also the brother of James. This
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Speaker 1: is the James who wrote the letter that bears the
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Speaker 1: name James, and so he's quite a man if this
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Speaker 1: identity is true of him, and I think it is,
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Speaker 1: then Jude did not become a converted Christian until after
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Speaker 1: he was an adult. In fact, it was not until
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Speaker 1: the Resurrection of Christ that Jude moved into the ranks
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Speaker 1: of Christianity. So all of his young adult or adolescent
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Speaker 1: in childhood, growing up years, he was a skeptic. He
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Speaker 1: was a non believer. This might explain why his writings
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Speaker 1: seem deeper and more profound. He is a man who
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Speaker 1: has come through the ranks of the skeptic, and he
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Speaker 1: addresses some things in a rather direct manner, and he
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Speaker 1: doesn't mess around with a lot of preparation. He comes
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Speaker 1: at it with the mind of a man who has
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Speaker 1: come to faith later in life. Now the recipients of
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Speaker 1: the letter are addressed in verse one. They are those
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Speaker 1: who were called beloved in God and kept for Jesus Christ.
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Speaker 1: There's no doubt that these are the believers in that day.
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Speaker 1: The date is about a d. Sixty five to eighty,
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Speaker 1: and these are people who are slugging it out in
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Speaker 1: the trenches. Persecution is abounding. It was in a day
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Speaker 1: in which becoming a Christian was a great price to pay.
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Speaker 1: These are believers, however, who were kept, called and declared
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Speaker 1: as beloved in God. The theme of the letter is
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Speaker 1: given to us in a beautiful manner after a brief
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Speaker 1: salutation verse two. May mercy and peace and love be
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Speaker 1: multiplied to you. He gives us the theme beloved. While
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Speaker 1: I was making every effort to write you about our
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Speaker 1: common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you,
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Speaker 1: appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was
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Speaker 1: once for all delivered to the saints. Now I never
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Speaker 1: read verse three, quite frankly without remembering the work that
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Speaker 1: was done by Frank Morrison, entitled who Moved the Stone? Morrison,
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Speaker 1: a Britisher, is an unbeliever. He has the mind of
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Speaker 1: an attorney, and he set out to write a book
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Speaker 1: that would deny the resurrection of Christ. He believed that
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Speaker 1: it was the touchstone of Christianity, which indeed it is,
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Speaker 1: and he felt that if he could disprove the resurrection,
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Speaker 1: then he would sound the death knell against Christianity. The
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Speaker 1: simple fact is he couldn't carry out his desire, he
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Speaker 1: says in the preface of the book that's entitled Who
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Speaker 1: Moved the Stone? He says this, This is essentially a confession,
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Speaker 1: the inner story of a man who originally set out
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Speaker 1: to write one kind of book and found himself compelled
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Speaker 1: by the sheer force of circumstances to write quite another. Somehow,
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Speaker 1: my perspective shifted, not suddenly, as in a flash of
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Speaker 1: insight or inspiration, but slowly, almost imperceptibly, by the very
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Speaker 1: stubbornness of the facts themselves. The book, as it was
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Speaker 1: originally planned, was left high and dry, like those Thames
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Speaker 1: barges when the the Great River goes out to meet
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Speaker 1: the incoming sea. The writer discovered one day that not
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Speaker 1: only could he no longer write the book as he
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Speaker 1: had once conceived it, but that he would not even
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Speaker 1: if he could. Marson declares that when he began to
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Speaker 1: set his mind toward the discrediting of the resurrection and
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Speaker 1: began to probe the facts, the facts proved quite the contrary,
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Speaker 1: and he was left, as he put it, high and
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Speaker 1: dry on the river, with a hard set of facts.
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Speaker 1: And he, in fact wrote a book that stands in
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Speaker 1: favor of the resurrection, And though brief, it is one
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Speaker 1: of the most challenging of books you can read on
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Speaker 1: the subject. Less than two hundred pages long. Now, this
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Speaker 1: writer says, I set out to write one kind of letter,
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Speaker 1: and what was that verse three. I wanted to write
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Speaker 1: about our common salvation. I wanted to write a letter
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Speaker 1: on soteriology. I wanted to write about our salvation. But
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Speaker 1: the fact is, having faced the truth of where we
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Speaker 1: were in our walk, I decided I would really write
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Speaker 1: one concerning eschatology, the things concerning the last days. I
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Speaker 1: finally decided that the spirit of God was leading me
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Speaker 1: to contend earnestly for the faith that was once delivered
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Speaker 1: to the saints. So the theme of the letter that
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Speaker 1: bears the name Jude is contend earnestly for the faith.
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Speaker 1: He tells us that in verse three. By the way,
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Speaker 1: before I go to the whole style of the letter,
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Speaker 1: let me say a few things about this matter of
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Speaker 1: contending for the faith. The faith is not something that
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Speaker 1: is up for grabs. According to verse three, it is
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Speaker 1: delivered to the Saints. It has a definite article in
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Speaker 1: front of it. The faith. It means the body of
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Speaker 1: revealed truth concerning God, God, sin Man, Christ, eternal things.
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Speaker 1: We are living in a day in which there is
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Speaker 1: a continued emphasis upon continued revelation. There is a continuous,
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Speaker 1: so called continued body of truth still being written. Jude says,
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Speaker 1: it's not true. The body of truth concerning God, Christ, Man, Salvation.
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Speaker 1: That truth has been completed, and it has been delivered
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Speaker 1: as a package, as it were, to the Saints. Notice
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Speaker 1: it is not still going on. It was hophocks, delivered
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Speaker 1: once for all, delivered to the Saints. In other words,
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Speaker 1: it is a non negotiable body of information. We know
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Speaker 1: it today as biblical truth, the word of God contained
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Speaker 1: in the sixty six books of Scripture. It has been
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Speaker 1: set forth, preserved, delivered to the Saints. So let's put
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Speaker 1: it to bed forever, that God's truth has been entrusted
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Speaker 1: to the saints, and it is not still being written.
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Speaker 1: It is not still being revealed. Now his will continues
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Speaker 1: to be revealed, but his truth has been written. His
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Speaker 1: truth has been declared delivered for us. And I notice
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Speaker 1: also it is to be vigorously guarded. We are to
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Speaker 1: contend earnestly for the faith. You'd be interested to know
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Speaker 1: that the Greek word translated contend or contend earnestly has
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Speaker 1: in its root the word transliterated agony, agony. There is
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Speaker 1: on occasion pain. There is occasionally agony connected with the
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Speaker 1: contending for the truth. If you have had to stand
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Speaker 1: your surrounded by people who didn't believe the truth of God,
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Speaker 1: you don't need any further proof of the agony connected
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Speaker 1: with this action. On occasion you will find even religious
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Speaker 1: people denying some of the truths of God, or altering
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Speaker 1: the truths of God. So it shouldn't come as a
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Speaker 1: surprise to you that the style of the letter is passionate.
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Speaker 1: It is intense, It is compelling. That's a good word.
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Speaker 1: It is a compelling letter. It doesn't shake a fist
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Speaker 1: at you, but it does poke you in the chest.
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Speaker 1: It does say to you, this is straight from God.
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Speaker 1: Believe it and defend it. It's that kind of message.
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Speaker 1: It isn't delaid back, yawning sort of book. It certainly
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Speaker 1: isn't bedside reading. Jude says, I wanted to write about
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Speaker 1: our common salvation. Is going to read why in the
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Speaker 1: next verse I was led in a compelling way to
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Speaker 1: write that we might contend for the faith. Now, there
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Speaker 1: are three questions that seem key to me, and as
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Speaker 1: we understand this letter. The first question, if you've got
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Speaker 1: your outline in front of you, is why did Jude
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Speaker 1: change his plans? What was it about this letter that
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Speaker 1: caused him to, well, if you could use the word
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Speaker 1: abruptly change his direction, look at verse four because now,
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Speaker 1: as you go back to verse three, I was making
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Speaker 1: every effort to write you about our common salvation. While
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Speaker 1: it was going on, I felt the necessity to change
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Speaker 1: my message. Why verse four Because certain persons have crept
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Speaker 1: in unnoticed, those who were long beforehand marked out for condemnation,
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Speaker 1: ungodly persons who turned the grace of God into license
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Speaker 1: or licentiousness, and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
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Speaker 1: That's why he changed his direction. The spirit of God
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Speaker 1: revealed to this writer that there was sufficient erosion occurring
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Speaker 1: in the church that warranted a strong contending for the faith.
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Speaker 1: I want you to land with your eyes upon the
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Speaker 1: words crept in unnoticed. Those are very expressive words. Legally,
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Speaker 1: they were used in Jude's day to describe cleverly planned
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Speaker 1: words of an attorney seeping gradually into the minds of
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Speaker 1: the judge and or jury. This was also used of
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Speaker 1: an outlaw slipping back or fugitive slipping back into a
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Speaker 1: country from which he had been expelled. So it's the
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Speaker 1: thought of a quiet and to use Morrison's words, imperceptible,
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Speaker 1: even insidious, kind of creeping in. I give you that description.
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Speaker 1: I remember swimming in a reservoir as a little kid
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Speaker 1: years ago. I remember down at this bay cottage where
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Speaker 1: we would go every summer, my brother and sister and
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Speaker 1: I would take a walk over to an area that
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Speaker 1: was irrigated. These farms were irrigated by this large reservoir
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Speaker 1: of fresh water from a well, and it was a
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Speaker 1: refreshing swim because it wasn't in the salt water as
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Speaker 1: at the bay, and it was always pretty clear, unlike
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Speaker 1: the muddy bay where we had been swimming most of
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Speaker 1: the time. On one occasion, I dived in, and then
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Speaker 1: my brother and mister were dived in, and a friend
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Speaker 1: of ours, and the four of us were having a
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Speaker 1: great time until I opened my eyes the underwater and
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Speaker 1: I saw over on the side something that had crept
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Speaker 1: in unnoticed. It was a rather sizable water moccasin about
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Speaker 1: as long as from here to the back of the church.
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Speaker 1: As I looked at it from underneath the water, I mean,
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Speaker 1: it was one massive snake. And I crept out very
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Speaker 1: much aware, I might add, and so did they when
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Speaker 1: I said there's a snake in the reservoir. Boom boom,
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Speaker 1: boom boom. There were four explosions that happened as we
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Speaker 1: got out of that place. The snake had just sort
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Speaker 1: of slipped in unaware. That's the thought here, because slipping
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Speaker 1: into the church of this day, says Jude, have come
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Speaker 1: a number of people who have ungodly motives. They were
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Speaker 1: the hedonistic minded folks of that day. They were the
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Speaker 1: folks that said, pleasure at any price doesn't really matter
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Speaker 1: because matter is evil, it's not connected to your spiritual life,
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Speaker 1: and if it's of the body who really cares, God
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Speaker 1: doesn't notice. And the whole twisted message of gnosticism, for
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Speaker 1: it took the grace of God and twisted it to
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Speaker 1: mean license. And along with that those people had crept
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Speaker 1: in unaware they had brought the message of immorality, which
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Speaker 1: was called in that day antinomianism against law or there
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Speaker 1: is no such thing as a moral law, sort of
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Speaker 1: a lawless lifestyle. And on top of that, if you
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Speaker 1: look closely, they deny our only master in Lord Jesus Christ.
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Speaker 1: That these were insidious teachers who changed the message of
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Speaker 1: morality by giving it a new dress, and also denied
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Speaker 1: the deity of Jesus Christ. They denied that he is
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Speaker 1: in fact our master and Lord. Now, they didn't come
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Speaker 1: with big signs, they didn't wear placards, they didn't declare
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Speaker 1: that they were heretics. On the contrary, that came with
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Speaker 1: a wonderful message of great appeal. They always do. You
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Speaker 1: will hardly ever meet an offensive cultist. They are the
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Speaker 1: most gracious, understanding, pleasant kind of people you could be
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Speaker 1: around in the religious world. I mean, they have time
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Speaker 1: to talk, they understand your questions. They are willing to
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Speaker 1: give you space to work it through. They'll come back
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Speaker 1: week after week, and if you request day after day,
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Speaker 1: and they will do everything to let you know that
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Speaker 1: they're on the side of right. And their great hope
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Speaker 1: is to creep in like the snake in the reservoir, unaware,
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Speaker 1: and just at the precise moment when it tell with
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Speaker 1: its greatest effect the venom enters your system. Jude is
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Speaker 1: bright enough and sharp enough in his spiritual life to
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Speaker 1: know that the plans had to be changed. It would
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Speaker 1: be wonderful to write about salvation, But there was a
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Speaker 1: message more significant than that. What characterized the heretics, Well,
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Speaker 1: we've shown you there was a marked immorality. They turned
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Speaker 1: grace into license, and there was a denial of the
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Speaker 1: deity of the Savior. They said he is not Master
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Speaker 1: and Lord, he is simply one among many emanations from
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Speaker 1: the heavens. And there was a third question regarding the
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Speaker 1: development of the theme. And if you will look for
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Speaker 1: a moment at the chart we've given you, you'll sort
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Speaker 1: of see the flow of the theme of the letter.
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Speaker 1: In verses five through sixteen, there are comments made concerning
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Speaker 1: false teaching, and he talks at length about them. This
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Speaker 1: section answers the question why should we contend for the faith?
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Speaker 1: What's the big deal? Why gets so passionate and intense
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Speaker 1: about the faith. Verses five to sixteen will answer that one,
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Speaker 1: and then seventeen through twenty three addressed to the believer,
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Speaker 1: where the beloved are given four commands. Let me answer
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Speaker 1: first the why why we are to contend for the faith,
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Speaker 1: and then talk about how we can go about living
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Speaker 1: in these days if we hope to survive our times.
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Speaker 1: There are four reasons set forth in verses five to
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Speaker 1: sixteen why we are not to follow the teachings of
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Speaker 1: these false teachers. The first versus five. By the way,
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Speaker 1: they fall into little triplets five, six and seven, eight nine,
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Speaker 1: and ten, eleven twelve, in thirteen, fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, And
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Speaker 1: there is a reason connected with each triple verse section.
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Speaker 1: The first reason is because of their certain doom, he says,
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Speaker 1: and that's verses five, six and seven. I desire to
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Speaker 1: remind you, though you know all things, once for all,
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Speaker 1: that the Lord, after saving a people out of the
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Speaker 1: land of Egypt, subsequently destroyed those who did not believe.
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Speaker 1: So he's verifying, he's authenticating the fact that they have
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Speaker 1: a certain doom, just like those in that day. He
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Speaker 1: illustrates it by the angels who didn't keep their own domain.
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Speaker 1: They have certain doom. He illustrates it in verse seven
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Speaker 1: by Sodom and Gomarra. There is certain doom for those cities,
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Speaker 1: even though on the outside there were pleasurable things that
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Speaker 1: attracted many to those cities of that day. There is
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Speaker 1: a punishment of eternal fire awaiting these false teachers. So
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Speaker 1: the certain doom will keep us from following them. It's
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Speaker 1: the first reason. There's a second reason, continuing to read
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Speaker 1: in eight nine and ten. Yet in the same manner,
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Speaker 1: these men, also by dreaming, defile the flesh, and reject authority,
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Speaker 1: and revile angelic messages. And then he gives an illustration
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Speaker 1: regarding Michael, the archangel and the body of Moses. The
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Speaker 1: second reason we reject the teachings of the false teachers
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Speaker 1: is because of their blasphemous tongues. That's verses eight nine
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Speaker 1: and ten. They speak blasphemous, blasphemously concerning dignitaries, or I
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Speaker 1: should say dignities, and it's and then they speak blasphemy
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Speaker 1: blasphemously concerning the unknown things, and they will take their
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Speaker 1: shots at that as well. Because of their blasphemous tongues,
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Speaker 1: we do not follow the teachings of the unsaved, the
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Speaker 1: false teachers, and then he says in verse eleven, in
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Speaker 1: no uncertain terms, woe to them, with an exclamation point,
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Speaker 1: woe to them. And in eleven, twelve, and thirteen he
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Speaker 1: describes a spiritual emptiness in beautiful words. We don't follow
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Speaker 1: those false teachers because, thirdly, because of their spiritual emptiness.
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Speaker 1: Look at eleven, woe to them. They've gone the way
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Speaker 1: of Cain, and for pay they have rushed headlong into
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Speaker 1: the error of balem perished in the rebellion of Cora.
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Speaker 1: These men are those who are hidden reefs in your
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Speaker 1: love feasts. When they feast with you without fear, caring
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Speaker 1: for themselves. They're clouds without water. See, there's an emptiness there,
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Speaker 1: carried along by winds. Autumn trees without fruit, doubly dead, uprooted.
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Speaker 1: They look alive, but they're dead. They're empty, wild waves
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Speaker 1: of the sea, casting up their own shame like foam.
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Speaker 1: They're wandering stars. They're not on a path for good,
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Speaker 1: the wandering stars for whom the black darkness has been
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Speaker 1: reserved forever. And those are eloquent terms that Jude uses.
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Speaker 1: Their spiritual emptiness causes us not to follow them and fourteen,
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Speaker 1: fifteen and sixteen the fourth reason because of their godless deeds.
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Speaker 1: And he doesn't mince words when he describes them. Just
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Speaker 1: look at verse sixteen. They're grumblers, they find fault, they
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Speaker 1: follow after their own lusts. They speak arrogantly, flattering people
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Speaker 1: for the sake of gaining an advantage. Remember that about
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Speaker 1: false teachers. You will receive a great deal of flattery.
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Speaker 1: You will think it's to build you up for good.
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Speaker 1: Their goal is to win you over. And this is
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Speaker 1: an ancient plan. It's a strategy that goes all the
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Speaker 1: way back to the first century. And Jude calls their
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Speaker 1: hand on it. He says, it's straight, extremely characteristic of
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Speaker 1: the same things that go on in our own day. Now,
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Speaker 1: how do I handle that? As a Christian? What do
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Speaker 1: I do to survive in a day of false teaching?
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Speaker 1: What is my direction? What charge do I take from God?
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Speaker 1: In Verses seventeen to twenty three, I hope your pencil
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Speaker 1: is ready, because I want you to circle four commands.
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Speaker 1: But you, beloved, ought to remember that's the first command.
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Speaker 1: You can even put a little exclamation point after it.
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Speaker 1: Remember the words that were spoken by the apostles of
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Speaker 1: our Lord Jesus Christ. I'll say more about that in
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Speaker 1: a minute. And verse twenty one is the second command,
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Speaker 1: keep yourselves in the love of God. That's the second command,
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Speaker 1: keep yourselves in the love of God. In verse twenty two,
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Speaker 1: have mercy on some. That's the third command, and the
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Speaker 1: fourth save others. You want to know how to handle
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Speaker 1: times like these, when you really need an anchor, when
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Speaker 1: you really need something to hold on to. These are
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Speaker 1: the directions you can take. First, remember the words spoken
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Speaker 1: by the apostles in the Last Time verse eighteen. You see,
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Speaker 1: this is nothing new. In the Last Time, there shall
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Speaker 1: be mockers following after their own ungodly lusts. And he
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Speaker 1: says it straight. These are the ones who cause divisions.
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Speaker 1: They're worldly minded. They're devoid of the spirit, no question
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Speaker 1: about it. There without Christ says nothing about their externals. Externally,
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Speaker 1: they are appealing, they have all the things that cause
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Speaker 1: you to want to attach yourself to them. But down
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Speaker 1: deep inside, down in the areas where God looks and
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Speaker 1: the areas in which God judges, the fact is there
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Speaker 1: is ungodliness, and there is a break with the teaching
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Speaker 1: of the orthodox truth of God. Remember the words first spoken,
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Speaker 1: this is a good time to say it in a
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Speaker 1: very practical way. You can never do better than the
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Speaker 1: truth of Scripture. Never. It may not be as scintillating,
26:06
Speaker 1: It may not sound as alluring and as attractive as
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Speaker 1: the message of today would sound. It certainly may not
26:15
Speaker 1: have a relevant ring to it as today's message. If
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Speaker 1: you just read it from the page, and if you're
26:22
Speaker 1: looking for something that is exciting and scintillating, you're not
26:27
Speaker 1: going to be drawn to Scripture. But the things that
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Speaker 1: will keep you strong are the things that are written
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Speaker 1: in the Word of God. You'll never do better than that.
26:38
Speaker 1: Remember that he says it in verse seventeen, Remember the
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Speaker 1: words given by the apostles before him. The second keep
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Speaker 1: yourselves in the love of God. It spells out even
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Speaker 1: how to do it. See for the three participles. Building
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Speaker 1: yourselves up, praying in the Holy Spirit, waiting anxiously for
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Speaker 1: the mercy of the Lord. Jesus spells it right out.
27:00
Speaker 1: How do I keep myself in the love of God? Well,
27:03
Speaker 1: I build myself up in the Holy faith. By the
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Speaker 1: way I do that myself. You can't do that for me.
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Speaker 1: And the other side of the coin is I can't
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Speaker 1: do that for you. If you're only building up takes
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Speaker 1: place in a worship service on a Sunday, you're not
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Speaker 1: really being built up. You're getting only a small part
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Speaker 1: of the package that's designed for you as a child
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Speaker 1: of God. You build yourself up on your most holy faith. Second,
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Speaker 1: praying in the Holy Spirit and waiting anxiously for the
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Speaker 1: mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ. There is a sense
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Speaker 1: of destiny in your praying. You have your heart set
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Speaker 1: on the tomorrow when God will come and finish the
27:46
Speaker 1: chapter of the book that takes a good deal of perseverance.
27:52
Speaker 1: By the way, and before you get just passionate without
27:59
Speaker 1: understand get the third command, have mercy on some who
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Speaker 1: were doubting. The thought is pity. I got to confess
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Speaker 1: to you that in my pilgrimage, in my growth, dealing
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Speaker 1: with people who aren't committed to the truth, I have
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Speaker 1: gone through a time of real severity and almost offensiveness
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Speaker 1: in dealing with them. And when I read over this
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Speaker 1: some time ago, I was caught up with the command
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Speaker 1: to have mercy on some who were doubting. And it's
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Speaker 1: remarkable what a difference it makes when you have mercy
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Speaker 1: or pity as opposed to simple anger. You can be
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Speaker 1: so passionate in your contending for the faith that you
29:05
Speaker 1: do in fact close the door in the mind of
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Speaker 1: the doubter, rather than have a hand in opening the
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Speaker 1: door for further truth. And I think that's why this
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Speaker 1: has been added, to be sure we maintain the proper
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Speaker 1: attitude towards the doubter, rather than coming in with both
29:32
Speaker 1: fists doubled up to fight for the truth. I think
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Speaker 1: there might be room here for a sense of pity
29:40
Speaker 1: and heartache concerning those who have begun to doubt. I
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Speaker 1: do not believe this has reference to the false teachers,
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Speaker 1: but to those who are being swept into the false teaching.
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Speaker 1: You got it, some who are doubting, not referring to
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Speaker 1: the promulgators of falsehood, but to those who are being
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Speaker 1: suck into it. And then fourth, it's beautiful save others.
30:05
Speaker 1: Now that's a direct message of evangelism, save others, snatching
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Speaker 1: them out of the fire. On. Some have mercy with fear,
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Speaker 1: hating even the garment polluted by the flesh. See, you
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Speaker 1: hate the sin, but you love the sinner. You hate
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Speaker 1: the stuff that has dragged them under, but you love
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Speaker 1: the soul of the person who is being pulled into
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Speaker 1: this and save some evangelize, get the message out, declare
30:35
Speaker 1: it model it engaged in snatching people out of the fire.
30:42
Speaker 1: And then that grand doxology to him who was able
30:48
Speaker 1: to keep you from stumbling. That's how you can survive.
30:52
Speaker 1: You can know when you stand before the Savior. You
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Speaker 1: are standing before the one who was able to keep
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Speaker 1: you from stumbling, canwithstanding no matter its appeal, and he's
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Speaker 1: able to make you stand before his presence blameless with
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Speaker 1: great joy to our only God and Savior, Jesus Christ.
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Speaker 1: To him be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time,
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Speaker 1: now and forevermore. Amen, I have a parable I'd like
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Speaker 1: to read you regarding how easy it is for there
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Speaker 1: to be erosion in the Church of God. Just listen
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Speaker 1: to it and with it. I'd like to close off
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Speaker 1: our study. On a dangerous sea coast notorious for shipwrecks,
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Speaker 1: there was a crude, little life saving station. Actually the
31:41
Speaker 1: station was merely a hut with only one boat, but
31:45
Speaker 1: the few devoted members kept a constant watch over the
31:48
Speaker 1: turbulent sea with little thought for themselves. They would go
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Speaker 1: out day and night, tirelessly searching for those in danger
31:57
Speaker 1: as well as the lost. Many many lives were saved
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Speaker 1: by this brave small band of men who faithfully worked
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Speaker 1: as a team in and out of the Life Saving Station.
32:09
Speaker 1: By and by became a famous place. Some of those
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Speaker 1: who had been saved, as well as others along the
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Speaker 1: sea coast, wanted to become associated with this little station.
32:20
Speaker 1: They were willing to give their time and energy and
32:22
Speaker 1: money in support of its objectives. New boats were purchased,
32:27
Speaker 1: new crews were trained. The station that was once obscure
32:32
Speaker 1: and crude and virtually insignificant, began to grow. Some of
32:37
Speaker 1: its members were unhappy that the hut was so unattractive
32:40
Speaker 1: and poorly furnished and equipped. They felt a more comfortable
32:44
Speaker 1: place should be provided. Emergency cots were replaced with lovely furniture.
32:50
Speaker 1: Rough handmade equipment was discarded, and sophisticated, classy systems were installed.
32:56
Speaker 1: The hut, of course, had to be torn down to
32:58
Speaker 1: make room for all the addition equipment, furniture, systems, and appointments.
33:03
Speaker 1: By its completion, the Life Saving Station had become a
33:06
Speaker 1: popular gathering place and its objectives had begun to shift.
33:10
Speaker 1: It was now used as start of a clubhouse, an
33:14
Speaker 1: attractive building for public gatherings. Saving lives, feeding the hungry,
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Speaker 1: strengthening the fearful, and calming the disturbed rarely occurred. By now.
33:26
Speaker 1: Fewer members were now interested in braving the sea on
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Speaker 1: life saving missions, so they hired professional lifeboat crews to
33:34
Speaker 1: do this work. The original goal of the station wasn't
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Speaker 1: altogether forgotten, however, the life saving motifs still prevailed in
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Speaker 1: the club's decorations. In fact, there was a liturgical lifeboat
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Speaker 1: preserved in the Room of Sweet Memories, with soft indirect
33:53
Speaker 1: lighting which helped hide the layer of dust upon the
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Speaker 1: once used vessel. About this time, a large ship was
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Speaker 1: wrecked off the coast, and the boat crews brought in
34:03
Speaker 1: loads of cold, wet, sick, half drowned people. They were dirty,
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Speaker 1: some terribly sick and lonely. Others were black and different
34:15
Speaker 1: from the majority of the club members. The beautiful new
34:18
Speaker 1: club suddenly became messy and cluttered with these people. A
34:23
Speaker 1: special committee saw to it that a showerhouse was immediately
34:27
Speaker 1: built outside, away from the club, so victims of shipwreck
34:32
Speaker 1: could be cleaned up before coming inside. At the next meeting,
34:38
Speaker 1: there were strong words and angry feelings, which resulted in
34:41
Speaker 1: the division among the members. Most of the people wanted
34:45
Speaker 1: to stop the club's life saving activities and all involvements
34:48
Speaker 1: with shipwreck victims. Quote, it's too unpleasant, it's a hindrance
34:52
Speaker 1: to our social life. It's opening the door to folks
34:55
Speaker 1: who are not our kind as you would expect. Some
35:00
Speaker 1: still insisted upon saving lives, that this was their primary objective,
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Speaker 1: that their only reason for existence was still ministering to
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Speaker 1: anyone in need needing help, regardless of their club's beauty
35:13
Speaker 1: or size or decorations. They were voted down, and they
35:16
Speaker 1: were told if they wanted to save lives of various
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Speaker 1: kinds of people who were shipwrecked in those waters, they
35:22
Speaker 1: could begin their own life saving station down the coast.
35:26
Speaker 1: They did. As years passed, the new station experienced the
35:30
Speaker 1: same old changes. It evolved into another club, and yet
35:35
Speaker 1: another life saving station was begun. History continued to repeat itself,
35:40
Speaker 1: and if you visit the coast today, you'll find a
35:43
Speaker 1: large number of exclusive, impressive clubs along the shoreline, owned
35:48
Speaker 1: and operated by slick professionals who have lost all involvement
35:53
Speaker 1: with the saving of lives shipwrecks still occur in those
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Speaker 1: waters to this day, but now most of the victims
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Speaker 1: are not saved. They drown at sea, and so few
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Speaker 1: seem to care anymore. I believe the message of Jude
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Speaker 1: is a direct attack upon that kind of erosion, and
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Speaker 1: it is the easiest thing in the world, because things
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Speaker 1: creep in unaware, and by and by the whole direction changes.
36:44
Speaker 1: The ministry of the Church of Jesus Christ is a
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Speaker 1: saving ministry. Let me make this clear, not only the
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Speaker 1: saving of the lost, but the saving of the saved,
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Speaker 1: the deliverance of people from the dominion of sin to
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Speaker 1: the realm of eternal life through faith in Christ, and second,
37:10
Speaker 1: the deliverance of the Christian from himself to a full
37:16
Speaker 1: awareness of the power of the Holy Spirit and the
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Speaker 1: presence of Christ in his or her life. It is
37:24
Speaker 1: easy to lose direction and to become simply a club
37:30
Speaker 1: where we gather as exclusive folk who use code language,
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Speaker 1: talking only to ourselves, patting ourselves on the back, giving
37:43
Speaker 1: ourselves the applause, seeing ourselves in the mirror, and liking
37:50
Speaker 1: everything we see. The message of the Parable speaks for itself.
37:55
Speaker 1: You don't need it analyzed. Our goal is to stand
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Speaker 1: with in contending for the faith, so that we are
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Speaker 1: not swept into this exclusive club mentality. The secret of
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Speaker 1: it all rests with the people of the church, the people.
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Speaker 1: The leadership has a hand in it, but it is
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Speaker 1: the people who help give that sense of direction. And
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Speaker 1: this is a word in order for the officers of
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Speaker 1: a local church. Your role is extremely important. Your voice,
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Speaker 1: your presence, your shaping of decisions, your model of the
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Speaker 1: message of Christ, which, by the way, is not simply
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Speaker 1: something limited to a Sunday meeting. It is something that
38:55
Speaker 1: impacts us day after day, regardless of our surroundings. I
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Speaker 1: wonder if my words this day fall into the ears
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Speaker 1: of a Christian leader. I wonder if in the process
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Speaker 1: of these last number of months, or maybe even years,
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Speaker 1: there has begun to be an erosion in your walk.
39:23
Speaker 1: How's your time with Christ? How are your contacts with
39:28
Speaker 1: the lost coming along? How's the warmth of your walk?
39:40
Speaker 1: How about the need for a teachable spirit, a contrite heart?
39:48
Speaker 1: How about mercy and care for the hurting? I'll say
39:54
Speaker 1: those things to myself as well. I don't think anyone
40:00
Speaker 1: sits down and purposely plans to erode in his life
40:03
Speaker 1: or her life. I think it's a process that happened
40:07
Speaker 1: quietly and imperceptibly. Are you caught up in bitterness? Has
40:17
Speaker 1: there been an offense that you have just simply refused
40:20
Speaker 1: to forgive? How can you be engaged in mercy and
40:28
Speaker 1: the saving of the lost and the save with that spirit?
40:38
Speaker 1: Serious words that come directly or by application indirectly from
40:43
Speaker 1: the letter Jude wrote us. He being dead still speaks
40:48
Speaker 1: maybe a bow together. Please, Father, we thank you that
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Speaker 1: in the establishing of your church, you called it out
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Speaker 1: from among the midst of people. You didn't bring in
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Speaker 1: a band of angels to declare your truths. You did
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Speaker 1: not set it up so that it would be a
41:05
Speaker 1: heavenly building full of earthly people. You didn't even take
41:09
Speaker 1: away and eradicate our old nature. You left us with choices,
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Speaker 1: so that when choices were made for your glory, you
41:18
Speaker 1: found great favor in those decisions, and you still do.
41:23
Speaker 1: We desire to have the kind of intensity that Jude had,
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Speaker 1: though it does not come naturally to us. We are
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Speaker 1: surrounded by falsehood, none of which is overt until after
41:35
Speaker 1: the fact. It is so subtle it is easy for
41:40
Speaker 1: us to excuse wrong behavior, and we are good at that.
41:47
Speaker 1: We thank you tonight for these people who have declared
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Speaker 1: openly and unequivocally their conviction that Jesus Christ is Lord.
41:56
Speaker 1: And they have done so following their comments with baptism,
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Speaker 1: confronting all of us with the truth their commitment. It
42:06
Speaker 1: has been a quiet and yet eloquent reproof to all
42:11
Speaker 1: of us. Some have even shared in their words words
42:15
Speaker 1: of reproof for us to heed. Thank you Father for
42:21
Speaker 1: those people. We pray for each one, not one of
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Speaker 1: whom is perfect, but all of whom are in the process.
42:30
Speaker 1: You have placed us in various realms of responsibility, and
42:34
Speaker 1: you have charged us with contending for the faith because
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Speaker 1: some have crept in unawares to steal away the truth.
42:44
Speaker 1: May we, in the process of contending, continue to be merciful.
42:50
Speaker 1: May there be a warmth in our confrontation. May there
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Speaker 1: be the kind of love that was evidenced but the Savior,
43:00
Speaker 1: who write up through the Cross forgave his enemies, yet
43:05
Speaker 1: stood firm with you in our day, our Father, of
43:10
Speaker 1: club meetings and social gatherings, where the truth of the
43:14
Speaker 1: scriptures scarcely heard, even though it was once a place
43:18
Speaker 1: of declaration. Guard this place and guard our lives, so
43:25
Speaker 1: that we do model what Judas said. What you have
43:29
Speaker 1: said through his pen go with us in a very
43:33
Speaker 1: special way, our Father, as we set apart the evening
43:37
Speaker 1: and this week for your glory, in the name of Christ,
43:41
Speaker 1: we pray these things amen. The preceding message, Jude Manual
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Speaker 1: for Survival, was copyrighted in nineteen eighty three and the
43:51
Speaker 1: sound recording was copyrighted in twenty twelve by Charles R. Swindall, Inc.
43:56
Speaker 1: All rights are reserved worldwide.