1 00:00:00,400 --> 00:00:02,680 Good morning, everyone. Great to see everybody who's 2 00:00:02,680 --> 00:00:06,720 here today. I'm just so thankful that you 3 00:00:06,720 --> 00:00:11,040 are here. Commitment's a hard thing and 4 00:00:11,520 --> 00:00:15,880 the more in any organization, anyone tries to generate 5 00:00:15,880 --> 00:00:19,600 commitment and how to create commitment within a group of 6 00:00:19,600 --> 00:00:23,480 people, that's the hardest thing for any business to to do. 7 00:00:23,920 --> 00:00:27,160 If you're a company and you want to try to get people to come 8 00:00:27,160 --> 00:00:30,840 once to your store or as an employee to do the right thing 9 00:00:30,840 --> 00:00:34,600 once, that's easy. But to generate commitment over 10 00:00:34,600 --> 00:00:37,040 a long period of time to where people know they can count on 11 00:00:37,040 --> 00:00:39,040 you and trust in you is a hard thing to do. 12 00:00:39,480 --> 00:00:40,960 Thank you all for being committed. 13 00:00:41,000 --> 00:00:43,920 Thank you that I knew this morning it wasn't just going to 14 00:00:43,920 --> 00:00:46,480 be me and, and my wife here this morning, that there was going to 15 00:00:46,480 --> 00:00:49,480 be someone to hear the gospel, someone to commune with, to 16 00:00:49,480 --> 00:00:52,840 share our, our memorial of our Lord with. 17 00:00:53,520 --> 00:00:55,920 And I'm just thankful for every single person who's here today. 18 00:00:56,680 --> 00:01:00,000 And I'm excited to be leading our study in the book of Jude. 19 00:01:00,480 --> 00:01:03,920 Maybe I should rephrase that. I'm thankful to be able to study 20 00:01:03,920 --> 00:01:06,440 the Bible with you. Jude's not easy. 21 00:01:06,760 --> 00:01:09,720 And if you've read Jude before, you know, there are a lot of 22 00:01:09,720 --> 00:01:12,640 challenging things and there are things that we just don't know 23 00:01:13,200 --> 00:01:16,280 maybe anything about. And so we're sometimes given a, 24 00:01:16,480 --> 00:01:19,080 the, the door cracks open for a minute and then it closes shut 25 00:01:19,080 --> 00:01:21,080 again. And sometimes we don't have 26 00:01:21,080 --> 00:01:23,280 complete knowledge of, of all the things we're going to cover. 27 00:01:23,960 --> 00:01:26,720 So I've never heard a study on the book of Jude. 28 00:01:27,040 --> 00:01:31,120 And maybe you will get something out of this as I have, but I, I 29 00:01:31,120 --> 00:01:34,160 wanted to share what I've studied with you because that's 30 00:01:34,160 --> 00:01:39,440 the directions my study went. And I think God, I believe with 31 00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:43,160 all my heart, God put into Scripture for a reason. 32 00:01:43,320 --> 00:01:47,680 And so we need to study it. And who am I to skip over it if 33 00:01:47,680 --> 00:01:49,480 I just might not know everything. 34 00:01:49,480 --> 00:01:52,240 So we're going to go into the book of Jude and it's, I have 35 00:01:52,240 --> 00:01:54,640 the title up here, the letter that didn't want to be written. 36 00:01:54,880 --> 00:01:58,000 And I think you'll see what I mean in just a minute. 37 00:01:59,680 --> 00:02:03,000 There are a lot of warnings in this letter, similar to 2nd and 38 00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:04,760 3rd John. So I hope I'm not giving you an 39 00:02:04,760 --> 00:02:09,160 overdose of warning letters, but that's what the gospel writers 40 00:02:09,160 --> 00:02:13,120 gave us in some circumstances. They had to warn these churches. 41 00:02:13,120 --> 00:02:17,040 They had to give the information to equip these churches in light 42 00:02:17,040 --> 00:02:20,560 of their circumstances. And now obviously, 2000 years 43 00:02:20,560 --> 00:02:25,360 later, every issue that may have come up has now grown and we are 44 00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:26,600 seeing the fruits of that around us. 45 00:02:26,600 --> 00:02:28,840 And so we have to make good decisions and we have to 46 00:02:28,840 --> 00:02:31,000 evaluate things with a godly perspective. 47 00:02:31,720 --> 00:02:33,440 And hopefully this letter will help us do that. 48 00:02:34,160 --> 00:02:36,080 Verse one. And we're going to spend more on 49 00:02:36,080 --> 00:02:38,640 the time on the introduction maybe then we normally would. 50 00:02:39,200 --> 00:02:44,280 But verse one says Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ and 51 00:02:44,280 --> 00:02:48,520 brother of James, a bondservant of Jesus Christ. 52 00:02:48,920 --> 00:02:51,800 Well, first of all, I think it's important to understand this 53 00:02:51,800 --> 00:02:54,320 name. Jude is just a shortened name of 54 00:02:54,320 --> 00:02:56,840 another name. That name is in Hebrew. 55 00:02:56,840 --> 00:02:59,760 It's, it's Judah. You think back to the Israelite 56 00:02:59,760 --> 00:03:03,520 nations, the tribe of Judah that was a very important tribe in 57 00:03:03,520 --> 00:03:05,720 the nation of Israel. That's that's Jude. 58 00:03:05,720 --> 00:03:08,200 That's his name. It's just a shortened version. 59 00:03:08,400 --> 00:03:13,640 Many commentators believe or the reason by shorting his name to 60 00:03:13,640 --> 00:03:16,200 Jude is to try to create a distinction between Judas 61 00:03:16,200 --> 00:03:18,520 Iscariot. So people don't read this and 62 00:03:18,520 --> 00:03:21,000 think oh that's the same person we're talking about, different 63 00:03:21,000 --> 00:03:24,520 person. But it's his Greek version of 64 00:03:24,520 --> 00:03:27,040 his name is Judas, so it's all the same name. 65 00:03:27,200 --> 00:03:31,320 It was a very common name and there are 6 people we read about 66 00:03:31,320 --> 00:03:35,280 in scripture named Judas. So maybe we can narrow this 67 00:03:35,280 --> 00:03:37,120 down. What Jude are we talking about? 68 00:03:38,080 --> 00:03:40,920 Well, it clarifies for us. It's the brother of James. 69 00:03:42,120 --> 00:03:45,480 So if there are all these Judases and we know of 1 70 00:03:45,480 --> 00:03:48,800 specifically that has a brother named James, this might give us 71 00:03:48,800 --> 00:03:51,640 a good indication of who this Judas is. 72 00:03:51,880 --> 00:03:56,480 If you go to Matthew 13, verse 55, it says is this not the 73 00:03:56,480 --> 00:03:59,520 carpenter's son? Is this not his mother called 74 00:03:59,520 --> 00:04:01,280 Mary? They're talking about Jesus. 75 00:04:01,280 --> 00:04:06,040 Is this, isn't this this common person we know and his brothers, 76 00:04:06,040 --> 00:04:11,320 James, Joseph, Simon and Judas, these people are seeing Jesus 77 00:04:11,560 --> 00:04:13,560 and they're like, is this the guy you're talking about? 78 00:04:13,560 --> 00:04:16,600 We know him, we know his family, we know his his dad, just a 79 00:04:16,600 --> 00:04:20,680 common Carpenter. And so we have a clue here as to 80 00:04:20,680 --> 00:04:25,920 who this Judas might likely be. It's very likely the brother of 81 00:04:26,000 --> 00:04:29,720 Jesus, but maybe we should specify the half brother of 82 00:04:29,720 --> 00:04:31,840 Jesus. And you're wondering mate, how 83 00:04:31,840 --> 00:04:34,200 is it a half brother? Is there another man involved? 84 00:04:34,440 --> 00:04:38,760 Well remember, God is the father of Jesus and Mary is his mother. 85 00:04:38,920 --> 00:04:42,640 So there's only one way for him to be the brother of Jesus, and 86 00:04:42,640 --> 00:04:44,160 it's not through Joseph his father. 87 00:04:44,680 --> 00:04:48,360 They may have had the father be Joseph, a different person than 88 00:04:48,440 --> 00:04:52,080 Jesus had, because Jesus's father is God the Father, and 89 00:04:52,080 --> 00:04:54,360 the conception was not from a mortal man. 90 00:04:54,800 --> 00:04:58,840 So he, Judas, is likely the half brother of Jesus. 91 00:04:58,840 --> 00:05:02,400 And that also makes James the half brother of Jesus, which 92 00:05:02,440 --> 00:05:04,560 many scholars believe. That's who wrote the book of 93 00:05:04,560 --> 00:05:07,240 James. So I may be doing a series on 94 00:05:07,280 --> 00:05:12,000 letters from the brothers of Jesus, but he said he says that 95 00:05:12,000 --> 00:05:14,640 he's the brother of James. Why did he not just come right 96 00:05:14,640 --> 00:05:17,440 out and say I'm the brother of Jesus? 97 00:05:17,440 --> 00:05:20,320 If that's the case? If that's the case, that is 98 00:05:20,320 --> 00:05:23,520 really Jesus's brother. That's a pretty big deal. 99 00:05:26,040 --> 00:05:29,560 Well, if you look at James's letter, he says almost the exact 100 00:05:29,560 --> 00:05:31,960 same thing. Now this is not an uncommon way 101 00:05:31,960 --> 00:05:34,840 to start a letter, but he says the same thing. 102 00:05:34,840 --> 00:05:38,360 James, a bond servant of God and the Lord Jesus Christ. 103 00:05:40,440 --> 00:05:43,000 So why did he not just come around and say, why didn't these 104 00:05:43,000 --> 00:05:44,840 guys say I'm the brother of Jesus? 105 00:05:44,840 --> 00:05:48,760 Listen to me. I think it's because it's a sign 106 00:05:48,760 --> 00:05:52,160 of humility. There's no name dropping going 107 00:05:52,160 --> 00:05:55,840 on. There is no special treatment 108 00:05:55,840 --> 00:05:58,640 because if anybody could, you know, be seen as on par with 109 00:05:58,640 --> 00:06:05,040 Jesus, his followers, maybe, maybe other high religious 110 00:06:05,040 --> 00:06:07,200 leaders could say they're on par with Jesus. 111 00:06:07,440 --> 00:06:10,520 But man, his brothers, they're on the same level, right? 112 00:06:11,320 --> 00:06:14,640 They didn't claim that. And they humbled themselves 113 00:06:14,640 --> 00:06:18,040 before the Messiah when they realized who he really was. 114 00:06:18,520 --> 00:06:21,920 They're acknowledging we are like everybody else, simply 115 00:06:21,920 --> 00:06:25,120 servants of the Master. I believe that's why they start 116 00:06:25,120 --> 00:06:28,520 out their letters without some accolade to themselves. 117 00:06:29,720 --> 00:06:33,360 But there's also more as to why they might have not put 118 00:06:33,360 --> 00:06:36,320 themselves on that pedestal. If we look back in the Gospel 119 00:06:36,320 --> 00:06:39,520 accounts in the book of John in chat, in verse one, it says 120 00:06:39,520 --> 00:06:43,520 after these things Jesus walked in Galilee for he did not want 121 00:06:43,520 --> 00:06:46,840 to walk in Judea because the Jews sought to kill him. 122 00:06:47,720 --> 00:06:49,560 That's a pretty good reason not to want to go to Galilee, I 123 00:06:49,560 --> 00:06:51,520 think, because people are trying to kill you there. 124 00:06:52,240 --> 00:06:56,520 Now the Jews Feast of Tabernacles was at hand. 125 00:06:57,160 --> 00:07:01,560 So the question is, what is this Jews Feast of Tabernacles? 126 00:07:01,560 --> 00:07:04,600 It's a very important feast in the Jewish culture and in their 127 00:07:04,600 --> 00:07:08,160 religion. And it is these these are some 128 00:07:08,160 --> 00:07:11,400 summary points about it. Number one, this was a time that 129 00:07:11,400 --> 00:07:14,200 was supposed to remember the, the Israelite people were 130 00:07:14,200 --> 00:07:17,400 supposed to come together to remember their time in the tents 131 00:07:17,400 --> 00:07:20,080 in the wilderness. So when they were out in the, in 132 00:07:20,080 --> 00:07:24,080 the wilderness all those years and they were meeting around 133 00:07:24,200 --> 00:07:27,720 this common Tabernacle, that Tabernacle is a tent. 134 00:07:27,720 --> 00:07:30,760 It is a temporary dwelling for the presence of God. 135 00:07:31,240 --> 00:07:34,400 And so for all those years that they would pack up their tent, 136 00:07:34,520 --> 00:07:37,440 pack up all their houses, they would move through the 137 00:07:37,440 --> 00:07:40,960 wilderness day after day. This is supposed to remember 138 00:07:40,960 --> 00:07:44,960 back to that time, back to when they were in the wilderness. 139 00:07:45,440 --> 00:07:48,160 And it's a time to remember God's provision in the 140 00:07:48,160 --> 00:07:50,040 wilderness. We remember the things that God 141 00:07:50,040 --> 00:07:51,040 did. We're going to talk about in a 142 00:07:51,040 --> 00:07:54,000 minute to provide for them. It's a time for them to look 143 00:07:54,000 --> 00:07:57,200 backward and remember that. It's a time to look forward to 144 00:07:57,200 --> 00:08:00,600 the Messiah who would give them a permanent land and a permanent 145 00:08:00,600 --> 00:08:03,440 dwelling with protection and everything that was going to 146 00:08:03,440 --> 00:08:07,240 come with that Messiah. And maybe the most important 147 00:08:07,240 --> 00:08:11,480 part for this context, it is one of the three pilgrimage feasts. 148 00:08:12,000 --> 00:08:16,120 So we just said that the Jews are seeking to kill Jesus, 149 00:08:16,120 --> 00:08:18,560 right? Well, now there's a specific 150 00:08:18,560 --> 00:08:22,280 place in Judea, in Jerusalem, where all these Jews are coming 151 00:08:22,280 --> 00:08:25,040 together for. So all the more reason to avoid 152 00:08:25,040 --> 00:08:29,360 this place, right? Well, his brothers therefore 153 00:08:29,360 --> 00:08:32,520 said to him, depart from here and go into Judea. 154 00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:36,360 That's the region where Jerusalem is, where the where 155 00:08:36,360 --> 00:08:40,200 the feast is going to be, that your disciples also may see the 156 00:08:40,200 --> 00:08:44,120 works that you are doing. For no one does anything in 157 00:08:44,120 --> 00:08:47,200 secret, while he himself seeks to be known openly. 158 00:08:47,920 --> 00:08:52,040 If you do these things, Jesus show yourself to the world. 159 00:08:53,320 --> 00:08:55,920 For even his brothers did not believe him. 160 00:08:57,760 --> 00:09:01,360 So they, they know Jesus situation, but maybe they're not 161 00:09:01,360 --> 00:09:04,840 really in touch with Jesus because if they were really 162 00:09:04,840 --> 00:09:07,440 understanding what was going on with Jesus, they might not have 163 00:09:07,440 --> 00:09:09,880 said that. Or maybe they were thinking, 164 00:09:10,000 --> 00:09:12,160 hey, this will scare him into his senses. 165 00:09:12,680 --> 00:09:16,160 There are passages that kind of implied that some of these 166 00:09:16,160 --> 00:09:18,360 people didn't kind of thought Jesus was out of his mind. 167 00:09:18,800 --> 00:09:19,960 What do you think you're doing here? 168 00:09:19,960 --> 00:09:21,400 You're calling yourself the Messiah. 169 00:09:21,960 --> 00:09:24,040 And so maybe they thought, hey, if he goes down there to 170 00:09:24,080 --> 00:09:26,800 Jerusalem, that's going to make him kind of watch his, watch 171 00:09:26,800 --> 00:09:29,760 what he says, humble himself up a little bit. 172 00:09:30,240 --> 00:09:33,000 Whatever it was, they were out of touch because they didn't 173 00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:36,080 believe in him as the Messiah. And they said, go on down to 174 00:09:36,080 --> 00:09:37,880 Jerusalem. If you want everybody to know 175 00:09:37,880 --> 00:09:42,760 about you, go down there. Now, does this remind you of 176 00:09:42,760 --> 00:09:47,320 anyone in the Old Testament whose brothers did not believe 177 00:09:47,320 --> 00:09:52,920 him and who rejected him? Joseph, which ironically that's 178 00:09:52,920 --> 00:09:54,240 the Hebrew name for the name James. 179 00:09:54,240 --> 00:09:56,120 But anyway, that's a another conversation. 180 00:09:56,880 --> 00:09:59,520 Joseph was given a hell, a heavenly calling by God. 181 00:09:59,520 --> 00:10:03,960 God gave him those dreams and he was seeing prophetic dreams 182 00:10:03,960 --> 00:10:06,840 played out. He was rejected by his brothers. 183 00:10:06,920 --> 00:10:11,440 He was sold for the price of a slave, and he was sold to the 184 00:10:11,480 --> 00:10:14,560 world power of the time. During Joseph's day, the world 185 00:10:14,560 --> 00:10:17,040 power was Egypt. They were the prominent power 186 00:10:18,160 --> 00:10:20,200 and he had a good name through his life. 187 00:10:20,400 --> 00:10:24,320 He was also unjustly condemned with two criminals. 1 was 188 00:10:24,320 --> 00:10:30,200 acquitted and one was not, but Joseph ended up being sold into 189 00:10:30,200 --> 00:10:34,120 slavery and cast out from his brethren for their salvation. 190 00:10:34,280 --> 00:10:35,680 Does that sound like anybody else to you? 191 00:10:38,560 --> 00:10:39,720 Clicker doesn't want me to stop there. 192 00:10:40,480 --> 00:10:42,160 Jesus was given heavenly calling. 193 00:10:42,640 --> 00:10:45,800 He was rejected by his brothers, as we've just read. 194 00:10:46,000 --> 00:10:47,800 He was sold for the price of a slave. 195 00:10:47,800 --> 00:10:53,240 He was sold to the world power of Rome to do the crucifixion. 196 00:10:53,600 --> 00:10:55,320 He had a good name through his life. 197 00:10:55,320 --> 00:10:58,240 But he was unjustly condemned with two criminals. 1 was 198 00:10:58,240 --> 00:11:02,080 acquitted and one was not, and he was cast out for their 199 00:11:02,080 --> 00:11:03,680 deliverance. That's just kind of a side 200 00:11:03,680 --> 00:11:08,920 tangent we're taking here for a second, but Jesus had brothers 201 00:11:08,920 --> 00:11:12,080 who did not believe in him until when? 202 00:11:12,080 --> 00:11:16,640 Well, we learned that after his resurrection, his brothers were 203 00:11:16,640 --> 00:11:21,720 there at some point. They saw and observed just like 204 00:11:21,720 --> 00:11:25,560 everybody else around him. They had to learn and to come to 205 00:11:25,640 --> 00:11:28,280 a realization. This was the Messiah. 206 00:11:29,520 --> 00:11:32,080 And I believe that is one of those two brothers who is 207 00:11:32,080 --> 00:11:36,440 writing here as we consider James and Jude the writers. 208 00:11:38,800 --> 00:11:44,480 I think this is very similar to what Judah, the brother of of 209 00:11:44,480 --> 00:11:46,360 Joseph, who sold him into slavery. 210 00:11:46,360 --> 00:11:51,280 It's very similar to what this Judah or Jude is saying. 211 00:11:51,680 --> 00:11:55,480 Take me as your servant. If you remember back into the 212 00:11:55,480 --> 00:12:00,400 story of Joseph, where Joseph is sold into slavery and his 213 00:12:00,400 --> 00:12:05,040 brothers Joseph is sold into slavery and he has risen his way 214 00:12:05,040 --> 00:12:08,200 up the ranks to where he is. He is way up there in the 215 00:12:08,200 --> 00:12:11,680 Egyptian rule. His brothers come into town 216 00:12:11,840 --> 00:12:14,320 seeking help from the Egyptian government, right, because 217 00:12:14,320 --> 00:12:18,120 they're they're starving. And at some point one of those 218 00:12:18,120 --> 00:12:22,240 brothers, Judah, stands up for the rest of his family. 219 00:12:22,240 --> 00:12:24,840 He was their family was about to be taken prisoners. 220 00:12:25,720 --> 00:12:28,480 And that brother Judah stepped out and said, take me as your 221 00:12:28,480 --> 00:12:30,240 servant. Let this Benjamin go. 222 00:12:31,840 --> 00:12:34,560 Judah stepped out and said take me as your servant. 223 00:12:34,760 --> 00:12:37,600 And in a similar way, I think that's Judah's message when he 224 00:12:37,600 --> 00:12:40,720 writes this letter. Who cares if I'm the brother of 225 00:12:40,760 --> 00:12:43,200 Jesus? I just want to be his servant. 226 00:12:43,880 --> 00:12:46,640 I just want to serve him. And it's a disposition of 227 00:12:46,640 --> 00:12:49,600 repentance and surrender. I tried to throw in a lot of 228 00:12:49,600 --> 00:12:51,120 kind of skin to surface information. 229 00:12:51,120 --> 00:12:55,000 I'm sorry if that was a little too fast or not clear at all, 230 00:12:55,000 --> 00:12:59,920 but Jude is a bond servant of Jesus and that's that's how he 231 00:12:59,920 --> 00:13:03,880 starts out his letter to those who are called, sanctified by 232 00:13:03,880 --> 00:13:06,480 God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ. 233 00:13:06,480 --> 00:13:07,760 This is all part of his greeting. 234 00:13:08,200 --> 00:13:10,400 So who is Jude writing this letter to? 235 00:13:11,320 --> 00:13:14,400 He's writing it to people who have been called sanctified and 236 00:13:14,400 --> 00:13:15,680 preserved. That's Christians. 237 00:13:16,120 --> 00:13:19,080 It's all in the past sense. So he's not writing this as an 238 00:13:19,080 --> 00:13:21,480 evangelistic letter reaching out to people who might become 239 00:13:21,480 --> 00:13:23,720 Christians. We learn about how that happens 240 00:13:23,720 --> 00:13:27,320 in other writings. It's to people who have already 241 00:13:27,320 --> 00:13:33,000 been saved, now called to those who are called. 242 00:13:33,920 --> 00:13:38,200 Doesn't it give you comfort to know that God called you, that 243 00:13:38,200 --> 00:13:42,120 you weren't banging on his door begging for him to open and to 244 00:13:42,120 --> 00:13:46,640 save you, and he had just had to do something about the riffraff 245 00:13:46,800 --> 00:13:48,560 because you were banging on his door? 246 00:13:50,240 --> 00:13:56,200 God called you and God came to you while we were dead in our 247 00:13:56,200 --> 00:13:59,320 sins, and He offered us salvation. 248 00:13:59,320 --> 00:14:03,160 God called you, and it's up to us to respond to that call. 249 00:14:04,600 --> 00:14:06,760 We are sanctified by God the Father. 250 00:14:06,760 --> 00:14:09,720 What does that fancy word mean? Sanctified just means to be made 251 00:14:09,720 --> 00:14:13,120 holy, to be set apart. Set apart from what? 252 00:14:13,640 --> 00:14:17,720 Set apart from whatever is going to be condemned and to put into 253 00:14:17,720 --> 00:14:20,360 a place of being saved your soul. 254 00:14:20,360 --> 00:14:24,440 Sanctification or setting apart from salvation is the most 255 00:14:24,440 --> 00:14:26,840 important job that could be ever done for you. 256 00:14:28,440 --> 00:14:31,760 I'm so thankful by that is God the Father who sanctified our 257 00:14:31,760 --> 00:14:33,760 soul. Your plumber may have done a 258 00:14:33,760 --> 00:14:38,200 terrible job on your house and you may have had some some 259 00:14:38,200 --> 00:14:41,800 crummy work done and that way it may cause consequences for your 260 00:14:41,800 --> 00:14:46,800 life and for your house. But the one who did the most 261 00:14:46,800 --> 00:14:50,520 important job for your life ever is a job that is done surely and 262 00:14:50,520 --> 00:14:52,960 confidently. We can be confident in that. 263 00:14:52,960 --> 00:14:57,160 We are sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Jesus 264 00:14:57,160 --> 00:15:00,440 Christ. Jesus Christ has a power to 265 00:15:00,440 --> 00:15:06,800 protect and to watch over our souls and to be preserved beyond 266 00:15:06,800 --> 00:15:10,080 the grave. In this life He will protect and 267 00:15:10,080 --> 00:15:14,920 provide when we are with Him and in the grave, He will preserve 268 00:15:14,920 --> 00:15:18,040 us beyond any decay that can happen to our soul. 269 00:15:18,360 --> 00:15:22,880 Your body might decay, but your soul is preserved in Christ 270 00:15:22,960 --> 00:15:24,800 Jesus. And He's reminding them of this 271 00:15:25,600 --> 00:15:29,240 at the beginning of the letter. He says, mercy, peace, and love 272 00:15:29,560 --> 00:15:32,120 be multiplied to you. Verse 3. 273 00:15:32,120 --> 00:15:35,760 Beloved, while I was very diligent, that word means eager 274 00:15:35,760 --> 00:15:40,520 to write to you concerning our common salvation, I found it 275 00:15:40,520 --> 00:15:43,600 necessary to write to you exhorting to you to contend 276 00:15:43,600 --> 00:15:48,840 earnestly or to struggle for the faith, which was once for all 277 00:15:48,840 --> 00:15:52,880 delivered to the Saints. So he starts out by saying I was 278 00:15:52,880 --> 00:15:56,280 really eager and excited to write to you about positive 279 00:15:56,280 --> 00:15:59,360 things, about sharing in our common salvation. 280 00:15:59,360 --> 00:16:01,840 Common doesn't mean like a normal, it's just kind of 281 00:16:01,840 --> 00:16:04,920 common. It means the shared salvation 282 00:16:05,120 --> 00:16:07,240 I'm writing. I wanted to write to you about 283 00:16:07,240 --> 00:16:12,640 our wonderful shared salvation, but I found it necessary to 284 00:16:12,640 --> 00:16:17,720 write to you exhorting, encouraging, challenging you to 285 00:16:17,720 --> 00:16:23,880 contend earnestly for the faith. OK, so his first instinct was a 286 00:16:23,880 --> 00:16:27,960 share in the positive. But what they had to know during 287 00:16:27,960 --> 00:16:30,560 this time is it was not always going to be this simple. 288 00:16:30,880 --> 00:16:34,640 And there was going to be some challenges, some nuance, and it 289 00:16:34,640 --> 00:16:37,080 involved contending for something. 290 00:16:39,080 --> 00:16:44,560 So as we go through this letter, you might wonder, how do we 291 00:16:44,560 --> 00:16:47,320 contend earnestly for the faith? And we're going to break this 292 00:16:47,320 --> 00:16:51,840 down in a minute, but that word contend means to struggle for. 293 00:16:51,840 --> 00:16:55,440 And some commentators have said that word means to agonize over. 294 00:16:56,160 --> 00:16:58,680 It means to struggle for something. 295 00:16:58,680 --> 00:17:01,840 And how do we do that? The number one is we have to 296 00:17:01,840 --> 00:17:05,119 realize that we all have a part in this struggle. 297 00:17:05,880 --> 00:17:10,000 He's writing to the called, sanctified and preserved, not to 298 00:17:10,200 --> 00:17:12,040 the preacher, the elder and the Deacon. 299 00:17:12,280 --> 00:17:14,960 The called, the sanctified and preserved is all of us. 300 00:17:15,400 --> 00:17:18,599 We all have a role and a responsibility in the struggle 301 00:17:19,079 --> 00:17:22,720 for something. The struggle is for the faith. 302 00:17:22,920 --> 00:17:26,000 So we need to, number one, have an expectation to be part of the 303 00:17:26,000 --> 00:17:29,080 struggle #2 as you're going to see. 304 00:17:29,760 --> 00:17:34,080 Contending for the faith is mostly in this context. 305 00:17:34,080 --> 00:17:41,160 As he writes, righteous living. It is belief applied and it is 306 00:17:41,160 --> 00:17:44,120 staying in our God-given place and we're going to see what that 307 00:17:44,120 --> 00:17:46,360 looks like as we go throughout this letter. 308 00:17:46,360 --> 00:17:51,000 But that's if we go back to these kind of four things or 309 00:17:51,000 --> 00:17:55,200 these ideas, all the rest of it will take care of itself and 310 00:17:55,200 --> 00:17:58,080 everything else will lines up with these goals. 311 00:17:58,240 --> 00:18:01,880 Righteous living, having your belief applied and staying 312 00:18:01,880 --> 00:18:05,920 within our God-given place. Now, as many people look at this 313 00:18:05,920 --> 00:18:09,200 passage, they quote it saying we're to contend earnestly for 314 00:18:09,200 --> 00:18:11,040 the faith. That means we're to fight for 315 00:18:11,040 --> 00:18:14,080 the faith. And so when we talk to people, 316 00:18:14,480 --> 00:18:16,320 we are defending the faith every day. 317 00:18:16,560 --> 00:18:19,800 That's what a lot of the the typical references to this 318 00:18:20,080 --> 00:18:23,880 passage point out. And so I will say it is true 319 00:18:24,480 --> 00:18:30,520 that we need to struggle and wrestle and contend with others 320 00:18:30,520 --> 00:18:33,840 about truth to preserve and to protect truth. 321 00:18:35,640 --> 00:18:38,680 But that's not really what Jude spends time talking about. 322 00:18:38,840 --> 00:18:42,080 But it is true that that's one way in which we struggle to 323 00:18:42,160 --> 00:18:45,920 fight for truth. And we can also contend for 324 00:18:45,920 --> 00:18:50,600 truth and contend for the faith by not supporting other things. 325 00:18:51,160 --> 00:18:53,480 OK, That's there's a whole conversation to be had about 326 00:18:53,480 --> 00:18:57,080 that. But those are also true, but not 327 00:18:57,080 --> 00:19:01,080 really what Jude spends time talking about, contending for 328 00:19:01,080 --> 00:19:03,400 the faith, counter examples he gives. 329 00:19:03,680 --> 00:19:05,840 There's a long list and I've just kind of pulled out a couple 330 00:19:05,840 --> 00:19:08,640 of things to give us the idea. There are some counter examples 331 00:19:08,640 --> 00:19:11,840 of what it looks like when people are not with the faith. 332 00:19:11,920 --> 00:19:14,280 It's sexually immoral. They don't show their faith 333 00:19:14,280 --> 00:19:16,640 through action. They speak evil of what they 334 00:19:16,640 --> 00:19:19,640 don't understand or they talk about about authorities. 335 00:19:19,920 --> 00:19:22,800 They follow what feels good. They're motivated by greed. 336 00:19:23,160 --> 00:19:25,280 They're empty clouds. You're going to see what that 337 00:19:25,800 --> 00:19:27,840 and other illustrations mean later on. 338 00:19:28,240 --> 00:19:31,440 They're shameful, they're complainers, and they cause 339 00:19:31,440 --> 00:19:34,120 divisions. Now, that's just an A rough 340 00:19:34,120 --> 00:19:38,720 outline of what it means and what it doesn't mean to contend 341 00:19:38,720 --> 00:19:43,920 for the faith. OK, But let's let's focus on a 342 00:19:43,920 --> 00:19:47,000 couple other words here. It says to contend earnestly for 343 00:19:47,000 --> 00:19:50,360 the faith. Notice it does not say to 344 00:19:50,360 --> 00:19:52,920 contend earnestly for my beliefs. 345 00:19:55,240 --> 00:19:58,120 If we treat all of our conversations as we interact 346 00:19:58,120 --> 00:20:02,680 with people, as we are struggling and working and 347 00:20:02,680 --> 00:20:06,800 agonizing to make sure the faith is upheld and followed. 348 00:20:07,320 --> 00:20:09,920 If it is, if it's supposed to be, it's mine. 349 00:20:10,200 --> 00:20:13,080 This is my beliefs. Things become personal attacks 350 00:20:13,080 --> 00:20:16,960 very easily and it can lead us to being very defensive with how 351 00:20:16,960 --> 00:20:19,240 we respond to people. Like everything is a fight, like 352 00:20:19,240 --> 00:20:21,520 everything is a an argument to be won. 353 00:20:21,760 --> 00:20:25,840 And that is not our job. He he calls us to contend 354 00:20:25,840 --> 00:20:30,920 earnestly for the faith. So what that this tells us is 355 00:20:31,080 --> 00:20:34,000 this is not a call to be contentious for the faith. 356 00:20:34,720 --> 00:20:37,680 Being contentious is someone who's just always against 357 00:20:37,680 --> 00:20:41,600 everybody and always out there to start a fight in our 358 00:20:41,600 --> 00:20:43,680 disposition. We're not to be contentious 359 00:20:43,680 --> 00:20:47,480 people and our attitude. We're not to be contentious and 360 00:20:47,480 --> 00:20:51,560 our outlook, if we just seek contention, everything is a 361 00:20:51,560 --> 00:20:55,200 fight. Everywhere is a battle against 362 00:20:55,200 --> 00:20:57,920 people. I think we're missing the point 363 00:20:57,920 --> 00:21:00,880 of what it means to really contend for the faith in Jude's 364 00:21:01,120 --> 00:21:04,760 writings. There's a difference between 365 00:21:05,920 --> 00:21:10,120 working against something as your main motive versus working 366 00:21:10,120 --> 00:21:15,080 for something. And Jude calls us to contend for 367 00:21:15,920 --> 00:21:20,520 the faith. That has to be our goal. 368 00:21:21,040 --> 00:21:25,080 If we are contending to defend my beliefs, as a lot of the 369 00:21:25,080 --> 00:21:27,160 world wants to say, you got to stand up for what you believe 370 00:21:27,160 --> 00:21:28,360 in. Well, it's not really about what 371 00:21:28,360 --> 00:21:30,960 I believe. It's about the faith. 372 00:21:31,680 --> 00:21:33,040 PowerPoint is messing up my format. 373 00:21:33,360 --> 00:21:34,840 The faith is supposed to be right here. 374 00:21:35,080 --> 00:21:39,200 We should be working toward contending and fighting for the 375 00:21:39,240 --> 00:21:42,400 faith. Now, if that is our main goal 376 00:21:43,520 --> 00:21:46,400 and others have the same goal, it's supposed to be us and 377 00:21:46,400 --> 00:21:49,520 others have the same goal of contending for the faith, we are 378 00:21:49,520 --> 00:21:51,720 going to have a much better relationship. 379 00:21:51,720 --> 00:21:53,760 We're going to have better conversations. 380 00:21:53,760 --> 00:21:57,600 We're going to have higher quality and more impactful 381 00:21:57,600 --> 00:22:00,000 discussions. If we establish that our goal is 382 00:22:00,000 --> 00:22:03,400 to contend for the faith and not everything is a fight. 383 00:22:03,640 --> 00:22:06,480 Not everything is going to be US against other people. 384 00:22:07,880 --> 00:22:11,080 Now, it doesn't mean that doesn't end up happening, but 385 00:22:11,080 --> 00:22:16,520 that's not our motivation. This allows us to find common 386 00:22:16,520 --> 00:22:20,080 interest with people, proper motivations and even clear eyes 387 00:22:20,080 --> 00:22:24,680 to see our own faults. So after this, he says, I found 388 00:22:24,680 --> 00:22:28,080 it necessary to write to exhorting you to contend or 389 00:22:28,080 --> 00:22:31,560 struggle for the faith which was once for all delivered. 390 00:22:31,680 --> 00:22:35,800 Some people try to tell you maybe in other religions that 391 00:22:36,240 --> 00:22:40,120 scripture has been tainted over time because man has been 392 00:22:40,120 --> 00:22:42,680 involved in scripture and translating and things like 393 00:22:42,680 --> 00:22:45,480 that. And because of that, scripture 394 00:22:45,480 --> 00:22:48,480 is no longer reliable and so they had to do revamps of it. 395 00:22:48,840 --> 00:22:52,760 There's other there's groups who have put out new scripture to 396 00:22:52,760 --> 00:22:55,400 fix the problem. Jesus says heaven and earth will 397 00:22:55,400 --> 00:22:58,880 pass away, but my words by no means will pass away. 398 00:22:59,440 --> 00:23:03,840 We know that scripture was given for US one time and we don't 399 00:23:03,840 --> 00:23:06,600 have to worry about it being tainted in any way. 400 00:23:07,120 --> 00:23:08,760 Remember, I was talking to someone this week. 401 00:23:09,240 --> 00:23:12,800 When we translate Scripture, it comes directly from the original 402 00:23:12,800 --> 00:23:15,800 language in the Greek. It's not a trail of translations 403 00:23:15,800 --> 00:23:17,880 that slowly get further and further away from the truth. 404 00:23:18,360 --> 00:23:22,920 It is all translations go back to the Greek or the Hebrew. 405 00:23:22,920 --> 00:23:25,080 That's the goal, that they all go back to the original. 406 00:23:26,040 --> 00:23:28,760 Things are not tainted as some people like to tell you or 407 00:23:29,240 --> 00:23:34,120 challenge you in. So why is there a need that they 408 00:23:34,120 --> 00:23:37,640 struggle for the faith? And here's where he opens up 409 00:23:37,640 --> 00:23:43,400 this argument of why it's so important. 4 Certain men have 410 00:23:43,400 --> 00:23:48,160 crept in unnoticed who long ago were marked out for this 411 00:23:48,160 --> 00:23:51,200 condemnation. So these people may have been 412 00:23:51,200 --> 00:23:54,120 creeping. Maybe they didn't realize they 413 00:23:54,120 --> 00:23:56,200 were creeping, or maybe it was a slow change over time. 414 00:23:56,200 --> 00:23:59,560 Or maybe they were intentionally creeping in and Christians 415 00:23:59,560 --> 00:24:02,640 around the may not have noticed. They may have been unnoticed, 416 00:24:04,320 --> 00:24:06,000 but they weren't unnoticed by everyone. 417 00:24:06,600 --> 00:24:09,160 These people were marked out a long time ago. 418 00:24:09,840 --> 00:24:12,280 They were marked out for this condemnation. 419 00:24:12,560 --> 00:24:17,680 The phrase marked out means to be written about openly. 420 00:24:18,400 --> 00:24:22,920 So it's not some like backdoor mysterious thing here. 421 00:24:22,920 --> 00:24:24,760 It's things that were written about openly. 422 00:24:25,120 --> 00:24:28,760 And many times in Scripture, or when Scripture says this, it is 423 00:24:28,760 --> 00:24:30,400 referring back to the Old Testament. 424 00:24:30,560 --> 00:24:33,120 In Romans 15, verse 4, it says the same thing. 425 00:24:33,320 --> 00:24:36,880 Whatever things were written before, that's the same Greek 426 00:24:36,880 --> 00:24:39,120 word used for marked out long ago. 427 00:24:39,800 --> 00:24:43,080 This for whatever things were written before were written for 428 00:24:43,080 --> 00:24:45,520 our learning that we through the patience and comfort of the 429 00:24:45,520 --> 00:24:50,040 Scriptures might have hope that Scripture says the same word. 430 00:24:50,040 --> 00:24:51,880 These people were marked out long ago. 431 00:24:51,880 --> 00:24:54,880 So we can start to see that these are likely people who are 432 00:24:54,880 --> 00:24:57,640 written about in the Old Testament, things that have been 433 00:24:57,640 --> 00:25:00,560 prophesied about. Who are these people who are 434 00:25:00,560 --> 00:25:02,120 marked out for this condemnation? 435 00:25:02,240 --> 00:25:07,520 They are ungodly men, he says. Ungodly means to not follow God, 436 00:25:07,600 --> 00:25:10,440 to not be godly in action, in heart. 437 00:25:10,640 --> 00:25:14,600 Ungodly men who turn the grace of our God into lewdness. 438 00:25:15,000 --> 00:25:19,400 Lewdness is sensuality. It's living for self and for 439 00:25:19,400 --> 00:25:25,160 pleasures and for what I want who turn the grace of our God 440 00:25:25,160 --> 00:25:29,640 into lewdness and deny the only Lord God in our Lord Jesus 441 00:25:29,640 --> 00:25:32,840 Christ. When we live in a lewd or a 442 00:25:32,840 --> 00:25:37,920 self-serving way and do not follow in a godly way, we deny 443 00:25:37,920 --> 00:25:40,000 Jesus as Lord. What does Lord mean? 444 00:25:40,000 --> 00:25:44,680 It means Master and these people who crept in, who may be 445 00:25:44,680 --> 00:25:48,320 unnoticed among you, these people are denying that Jesus is 446 00:25:48,320 --> 00:25:50,120 even their master because of how they're living. 447 00:25:51,480 --> 00:25:54,360 As we're seeing here, the the counterexample to contending for 448 00:25:54,360 --> 00:25:59,840 the faith is those people who are not living right, He says, 449 00:25:59,840 --> 00:26:04,400 But I want you to be reminded. But I want to remind you, though 450 00:26:04,400 --> 00:26:08,720 you once knew this, he feels the need to remind them. 451 00:26:08,720 --> 00:26:12,480 Why? Because perspective wanes. 452 00:26:12,760 --> 00:26:18,440 We forget, we say we lose focus on things that are important to 453 00:26:18,440 --> 00:26:22,120 our application in the moment. You know what this also tells 454 00:26:22,120 --> 00:26:23,800 me? It tells me that these people 455 00:26:23,800 --> 00:26:26,160 knew the references he's about to make. 456 00:26:26,480 --> 00:26:28,280 He's about to refer back to the Old Testament. 457 00:26:28,360 --> 00:26:30,680 He's about to make cross scriptural references. 458 00:26:31,120 --> 00:26:35,720 So as you read the Bible, if you don't find those connections, 459 00:26:35,720 --> 00:26:37,080 you, they don't work in your mind. 460 00:26:37,080 --> 00:26:40,080 Like there's no hyperlink there. It doesn't take you to a place 461 00:26:40,080 --> 00:26:43,120 in your mind. I hope you will see this as a 462 00:26:43,120 --> 00:26:48,680 challenge to study your Bible so that like these readers, you 463 00:26:48,680 --> 00:26:51,840 will be able to know when the writer is making a reference and 464 00:26:51,840 --> 00:26:56,960 you're going to know exactly what here he's talking about, he 465 00:26:56,960 --> 00:26:58,560 says. But I want to remind you that 466 00:26:58,560 --> 00:27:03,000 though you once knew this, that the Lord, having saved the 467 00:27:03,000 --> 00:27:07,400 people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who 468 00:27:07,400 --> 00:27:09,880 did not believe. So these readers would have 469 00:27:09,880 --> 00:27:12,760 understood the Jewish history and what had happened and that 470 00:27:12,880 --> 00:27:17,240 the Lord, some translations just say Jesus, this is the one who 471 00:27:17,240 --> 00:27:20,560 should be the Lord of their life, the one who's their 472 00:27:20,560 --> 00:27:23,400 master. This same Jesus, having saved 473 00:27:23,400 --> 00:27:27,680 the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those 474 00:27:27,760 --> 00:27:31,160 who did not believe. So just like these people crept 475 00:27:31,160 --> 00:27:37,000 into the church unnoticed, these people were saved out of the 476 00:27:37,000 --> 00:27:40,160 land of Egypt and they were destroyed. 477 00:27:41,320 --> 00:27:45,640 Those who did not believe. So the the the kind of flow of 478 00:27:45,640 --> 00:27:48,720 thought here is there are people who started well, seemed good, 479 00:27:48,720 --> 00:27:51,400 but are not legitimate. Therefore, we need to contend 480 00:27:51,400 --> 00:27:55,320 for the faith because of this. And as we read those who did not 481 00:27:55,320 --> 00:27:59,720 believe, that is a hyperlink, a connection to Romans 14. 482 00:28:00,000 --> 00:28:02,640 So if you click on that link in your brain, it takes you to the 483 00:28:02,640 --> 00:28:05,520 place where they were supposed to go into the land of Canaan. 484 00:28:07,120 --> 00:28:08,440 And we'll talk about that more in a minute. 485 00:28:08,440 --> 00:28:12,480 But leading up to the land of Canaan, you're saying these 486 00:28:12,480 --> 00:28:15,280 people didn't believe? Well, why should they have 487 00:28:15,280 --> 00:28:19,320 believed? They had the plagues, They were 488 00:28:19,320 --> 00:28:25,200 stuck in Egypt, and so God did many miracles to get them out of 489 00:28:25,200 --> 00:28:26,360 there. The first plague, if you 490 00:28:26,360 --> 00:28:29,880 remember, he turned the the river into blood. 491 00:28:30,400 --> 00:28:34,760 Can you imagine seeing that? I'm assuming fish came up dead 492 00:28:34,760 --> 00:28:37,440 floating down the river. Can you imagine being an 493 00:28:37,440 --> 00:28:41,560 Israelite in this world? The greatest power on earth, 494 00:28:42,200 --> 00:28:44,360 You're slaves in this great nation. 495 00:28:44,840 --> 00:28:49,240 And all of a sudden God steps in and he makes a distinction 496 00:28:49,240 --> 00:28:52,160 between you and everybody else. And the first thing he does to 497 00:28:52,160 --> 00:28:56,480 make that distinction and to try to get you out of there is he 498 00:28:56,480 --> 00:28:58,520 turns their great river into blood. 499 00:28:59,240 --> 00:29:02,280 I can't imagine what that looked like, how that must have 500 00:29:02,480 --> 00:29:06,960 decimated their, their daily life, what that would have 501 00:29:06,960 --> 00:29:08,960 looked like and how they how would have shaken things up. 502 00:29:09,120 --> 00:29:13,800 You saw that these people saw that miracle and later they did 503 00:29:13,800 --> 00:29:17,520 not believe these people saw the miracle of the frogs where God 504 00:29:17,520 --> 00:29:20,160 sent frogs to cover throughout Egypt. 505 00:29:20,880 --> 00:29:23,000 He took that plague away and he brought another one. 506 00:29:23,000 --> 00:29:26,320 He brought the plague of gnats and looks and scholars say these 507 00:29:26,320 --> 00:29:29,320 were likely biting gnats. And these people came out, the 508 00:29:29,320 --> 00:29:33,160 animals came out the people they were, this land was filled with 509 00:29:33,160 --> 00:29:36,280 gnats, not just like we might run into in our backyard. 510 00:29:36,280 --> 00:29:39,920 There was a, this was a plague. These people had the plague or 511 00:29:39,920 --> 00:29:41,600 they saw the plague of the boils. 512 00:29:42,080 --> 00:29:44,160 And this is where you really start to see a strong 513 00:29:44,160 --> 00:29:47,600 distinction between the Israelites and the Egyptians. 514 00:29:48,360 --> 00:29:51,760 The Egyptians had boils break out of their whole body. 515 00:29:52,320 --> 00:29:56,600 And these these sores, they were, they were super painful. 516 00:29:56,600 --> 00:29:59,760 I can't imagine. And you're an Israelite looking 517 00:29:59,760 --> 00:30:02,000 around you and saying, this isn't happening to me. 518 00:30:02,960 --> 00:30:07,320 God is stepping in to Get Me Out of here and he's setting me 519 00:30:07,320 --> 00:30:10,200 apart as different. They saw this. 520 00:30:10,760 --> 00:30:13,720 They saw the, the, the plague of the locusts that came through 521 00:30:13,720 --> 00:30:18,280 and wiped out all their crops. He's they saw these plagues, God 522 00:30:18,280 --> 00:30:21,320 pulling in all these natural wonders. 523 00:30:22,560 --> 00:30:26,600 They had the plague of darkness where for three days the sun 524 00:30:26,600 --> 00:30:29,760 didn't come out. We have lights, we flip on. 525 00:30:30,080 --> 00:30:32,720 They did not. Can you imagine the confusion, 526 00:30:32,720 --> 00:30:39,880 the chaos, the the, the fear when the lights go out, it gets 527 00:30:39,880 --> 00:30:45,640 dangerous. For three days, these Israelites 528 00:30:46,400 --> 00:30:49,200 were in awe of what their God was doing for them. 529 00:30:49,200 --> 00:30:52,800 They saw this and finally we didn't cover all the plagues, 530 00:30:52,800 --> 00:30:55,880 but finally they had that last plague where the destroying 531 00:30:55,880 --> 00:30:59,920 Angel came through and killed every first born, but not their 532 00:30:59,920 --> 00:31:03,280 families. And God let and and Pharaoh let 533 00:31:03,280 --> 00:31:04,720 them out. He said get out of here, be 534 00:31:04,720 --> 00:31:07,720 gone. And so the the Israelites got 535 00:31:07,720 --> 00:31:11,520 out of Egypt and he saved them. They saw that. 536 00:31:11,600 --> 00:31:12,920 You think that's the end of it? No. 537 00:31:12,920 --> 00:31:17,880 Then from there they had to get out and cross the Red Sea. 538 00:31:18,680 --> 00:31:21,720 And their scholars say that this might have been the path they 539 00:31:21,720 --> 00:31:23,640 took. There's all kinds of pinpoints 540 00:31:23,640 --> 00:31:26,320 that we're not going to go through to try to defend why 541 00:31:26,320 --> 00:31:29,360 that might be, right. They think this might have been 542 00:31:29,360 --> 00:31:31,800 the great location of that crossing. 543 00:31:32,240 --> 00:31:33,960 You're like, that's not as impressive as I might have 544 00:31:33,960 --> 00:31:35,320 thought. The Bible says it went through 545 00:31:35,320 --> 00:31:39,040 the heart of the Red Sea. Well, that's a conversation for 546 00:31:39,040 --> 00:31:41,520 another time. But if you think that is a small 547 00:31:41,520 --> 00:31:46,280 feat where scholars think they might have crossed, this diagram 548 00:31:46,280 --> 00:31:49,800 shows that this is a 10 1/2 mile wide section. 549 00:31:52,040 --> 00:31:57,480 And on this location there's a land bridge that they say, but 550 00:31:57,480 --> 00:32:02,880 it reaches a depth of 2500 feet. Now the Red Sea at its depth 551 00:32:02,920 --> 00:32:06,120 gets times over deeper than that. 552 00:32:06,120 --> 00:32:07,680 So it could have been deeper than that. 553 00:32:08,240 --> 00:32:09,840 But let's just think for a second. 554 00:32:10,920 --> 00:32:14,640 These Israelites who later did not believe he said and Jude, 555 00:32:15,400 --> 00:32:18,000 they saw this as they came out of Egypt. 556 00:32:18,000 --> 00:32:20,840 They were fleeing from the the Egyptians who are pursuing them. 557 00:32:21,840 --> 00:32:26,280 And they go through this Great Wall of water that may that was 558 00:32:26,280 --> 00:32:29,920 likely up to or more than 2500 feet deep. 559 00:32:31,200 --> 00:32:33,680 And we know that it was a long journey. 560 00:32:33,680 --> 00:32:35,920 If we know there's a long journey, it was likely that part 561 00:32:35,920 --> 00:32:38,360 of this was at night. Can you imagine trying to get 3 562 00:32:38,360 --> 00:32:42,680 million people through a river, bred pregnant women, children, 563 00:32:43,920 --> 00:32:46,800 old, elderly, how long this would have taken to get all 564 00:32:46,800 --> 00:32:51,360 these people across this river or this the floor of the Dead 565 00:32:51,360 --> 00:32:54,920 Sea for 10 1/2 miles? That would have taken a long 566 00:32:54,920 --> 00:32:56,560 time. It was likely this might have 567 00:32:56,560 --> 00:32:59,920 happened at night. And that's where the pillar of 568 00:32:59,920 --> 00:33:02,960 fire that God was leading them by would have likely come into 569 00:33:02,960 --> 00:33:05,720 play here. And that's part of why scholars 570 00:33:05,720 --> 00:33:10,120 say it was at this location, because there is a location, it 571 00:33:10,120 --> 00:33:12,520 looks like it is sand that's been super heated. 572 00:33:12,520 --> 00:33:17,200 Scientists say to 3000° that melted the sand to a point that 573 00:33:17,200 --> 00:33:21,320 it is a hard ground. And along this path, they have 574 00:33:21,320 --> 00:33:26,360 found none other than Egyptian Chariots. 575 00:33:27,880 --> 00:33:31,160 They saw this. The Israelites saw all this 576 00:33:31,160 --> 00:33:36,120 happen and yet they did not believe this is the tallest 577 00:33:36,120 --> 00:33:40,440 building in the world, the Burj Khalifa that stands around 2500 578 00:33:40,440 --> 00:33:46,000 feet high. They saw a wall of water some 579 00:33:46,000 --> 00:33:51,400 2500 feet high. Can you imagine walking through 580 00:33:51,400 --> 00:33:54,360 there? And then, as they, as we've 581 00:33:54,360 --> 00:33:56,960 already said, as they got through the other side, God 582 00:33:56,960 --> 00:34:01,360 closed the waters of the of the Red Sea and they covered up the 583 00:34:01,360 --> 00:34:03,320 Egyptian army to where they were not. 584 00:34:03,320 --> 00:34:06,200 They didn't have to fear them coming after them, because in 585 00:34:06,200 --> 00:34:08,520 that long stretch of land, you could fit a whole lot of 586 00:34:08,520 --> 00:34:11,000 soldiers that were then swept into the sea. 587 00:34:13,800 --> 00:34:15,480 So you think about the Red Sea crossing. 588 00:34:15,480 --> 00:34:17,480 Is that it? Is that all these people saw Who 589 00:34:17,480 --> 00:34:18,960 had a chance to believe? No. 590 00:34:19,239 --> 00:34:21,199 Then later on they get out into the wilderness. 591 00:34:21,199 --> 00:34:24,040 I'm not going to cover all the things God did, but another one 592 00:34:24,040 --> 00:34:27,880 of the things he did was he gave them water out of a rock. 593 00:34:27,880 --> 00:34:29,080 They're walking through the desert. 594 00:34:29,880 --> 00:34:32,280 They were starting to complain and they got out of the Red Sea. 595 00:34:32,280 --> 00:34:34,440 But now we're going to go out here and we're going to starve 596 00:34:34,560 --> 00:34:36,040 and we're going to die of thirst. 597 00:34:36,800 --> 00:34:41,040 And so God tells Moses to strike the rock, and he strikes the 598 00:34:41,040 --> 00:34:46,520 rock and water comes out enough to satisfy the whole nation of 599 00:34:46,520 --> 00:34:49,000 Israel. They think they may have found 600 00:34:49,000 --> 00:34:51,760 where that is. This is just their estimation. 601 00:34:51,840 --> 00:34:53,199 Here's what it may have looked like. 602 00:34:53,199 --> 00:34:57,600 We don't know if this for sure is the exact site, but that rock 603 00:34:57,600 --> 00:35:01,560 split. They saw that they saw water 604 00:35:01,560 --> 00:35:04,760 come out of a rock. And the last one I'm going to 605 00:35:04,760 --> 00:35:08,400 touch on, they heard God's voice on Mount Sinai. 606 00:35:09,920 --> 00:35:14,320 It was so terrifying to them. As we read it was it was covered 607 00:35:14,320 --> 00:35:18,440 in lightning and smoke. It was so terrifying to them. 608 00:35:18,440 --> 00:35:22,400 They begged, Don't let him talk to us, Moses. 609 00:35:22,400 --> 00:35:24,240 You go up on the mountain, you talk to him. 610 00:35:24,440 --> 00:35:27,160 Bring us back the message. They were so afraid of him. 611 00:35:28,720 --> 00:35:31,800 You mean they saw all that and didn't believe? 612 00:35:34,960 --> 00:35:38,400 How? How do you see all these things 613 00:35:38,400 --> 00:35:42,080 that we've talked about as the Egyptians and still people were 614 00:35:42,080 --> 00:35:43,760 destroyed because they didn't believe? 615 00:35:43,760 --> 00:35:48,440 Well, what does that mean? Does that mean that they didn't 616 00:35:48,440 --> 00:35:51,720 really think God was real? That's not biblical belief. 617 00:35:51,720 --> 00:35:54,400 When it says that, it says even the demons believe in tremble. 618 00:35:54,560 --> 00:35:57,080 Belief does not mean you think it's true. 619 00:35:57,280 --> 00:36:02,440 Belief is about action. We fail to respond in biblical 620 00:36:02,440 --> 00:36:06,360 belief when we do not act in light of spiritual realities. 621 00:36:06,360 --> 00:36:13,560 We know well they knew it well. They knew all these things. 622 00:36:13,560 --> 00:36:17,120 They'd seen it all. They knew what they were 623 00:36:17,120 --> 00:36:20,120 supposed to do. They knew who was talking to 624 00:36:20,120 --> 00:36:22,400 Him. They knew what His goal was in 625 00:36:22,440 --> 00:36:27,200 for them, but they did not act in light of those spiritual 626 00:36:27,200 --> 00:36:28,320 realities. They knew. 627 00:36:30,240 --> 00:36:33,840 In Psalm 95 we hear a little bit more of God's reaction to this. 628 00:36:33,920 --> 00:36:37,200 For 40 years I was grieved with that generation and said it is a 629 00:36:37,200 --> 00:36:41,040 people who go astray in their hearts and they do not know my 630 00:36:41,040 --> 00:36:44,320 ways. So I swore in my wrath they 631 00:36:44,320 --> 00:36:47,600 shall not enter my rest. That's what Jude's talking 632 00:36:47,600 --> 00:36:51,720 about. These people were destroyed 633 00:36:52,520 --> 00:36:56,600 because after they saw all that, they get to Canaan and they get 634 00:36:56,600 --> 00:37:00,400 to the edge of this great land. They send in those spies and 635 00:37:00,400 --> 00:37:02,960 those spies come back and the majority of them, except for 636 00:37:02,960 --> 00:37:06,720 two, say it's it's scary in there, man. 637 00:37:07,800 --> 00:37:09,760 It's real bad. They got giants in there. 638 00:37:09,880 --> 00:37:13,240 We don't stand a chance. We thought they looked like 639 00:37:13,800 --> 00:37:15,840 giants, that we thought we looked like grasshoppers, and 640 00:37:15,840 --> 00:37:17,960 they thought the same thing. We were puny. 641 00:37:19,680 --> 00:37:21,240 And they started to grumble and complain. 642 00:37:21,240 --> 00:37:22,800 You just brought us out here to die. 643 00:37:23,440 --> 00:37:27,480 We got all this way out here and instead of thinking about the 644 00:37:27,880 --> 00:37:31,000 Egyptian deliverance, about the Red Sea crossing, about talking 645 00:37:31,000 --> 00:37:33,960 to God on Mount Sinai, about water coming off rocking, bread 646 00:37:33,960 --> 00:37:35,440 coming from the sky, you know what? 647 00:37:35,440 --> 00:37:40,760 They focused on their fear and they complained against Moses. 648 00:37:41,280 --> 00:37:45,280 That is their unbelief. It wasn't that they didn't think 649 00:37:45,280 --> 00:37:48,400 about God being real. It was that they didn't act 650 00:37:48,400 --> 00:37:50,040 according to what they knew to be true. 651 00:37:50,040 --> 00:37:54,960 And well, these clickers have no heyday up here. 652 00:37:57,880 --> 00:38:01,480 God gave them plenty of time and plenty of reasons to respond 653 00:38:01,520 --> 00:38:05,400 now. And the connection here is there 654 00:38:05,400 --> 00:38:09,120 are certain ones who have crept into the to the church who may 655 00:38:09,120 --> 00:38:12,640 think they're unnoticed, but they've been identified a long 656 00:38:12,640 --> 00:38:16,600 time ago along with people just like them who've done this for 657 00:38:16,600 --> 00:38:19,760 years to God. These people aren't new. 658 00:38:19,960 --> 00:38:23,560 They're not sneaky. They're not shouldn't be shocked 659 00:38:23,560 --> 00:38:25,280 that they're here. They've been doing this for a 660 00:38:25,280 --> 00:38:27,880 long time. These certain ones who are doing 661 00:38:27,880 --> 00:38:32,400 this in the church are doing the same thing who started out in 662 00:38:32,400 --> 00:38:34,920 belief, but they didn't come through. 663 00:38:38,240 --> 00:38:40,280 We're about to finish up here and we'll continue in another 664 00:38:40,280 --> 00:38:43,040 lesson. But verse 6 says and the angels, 665 00:38:43,520 --> 00:38:46,720 so he's moving on to another counter example of people who 666 00:38:46,720 --> 00:38:51,840 did not and the angels did not keep the angels who did not keep 667 00:38:51,840 --> 00:38:55,480 their proper domain, but left their own abode. 668 00:38:55,960 --> 00:39:00,000 He has reserved an everlasting chains under darkness for the 669 00:39:00,000 --> 00:39:03,960 judgement of the great day. There's a lot of debate about 670 00:39:03,960 --> 00:39:07,480 this meeting and there are some passage in Scripture that might 671 00:39:07,480 --> 00:39:09,000 leave you with your head scratching. 672 00:39:09,000 --> 00:39:11,200 And like I said, there are sometimes the door creaks open 673 00:39:11,200 --> 00:39:13,960 and then closes shut. We don't have all complete 674 00:39:13,960 --> 00:39:16,280 knowledge of this. So what I'm going to talk about 675 00:39:16,720 --> 00:39:19,480 is the thing, same thing that everybody agrees on. 676 00:39:19,600 --> 00:39:22,840 No matter what you interpret some of the depths of this 677 00:39:22,840 --> 00:39:26,920 passage to be diving into the lesson that everybody needs to 678 00:39:26,920 --> 00:39:28,960 take away from this and everybody does take away from 679 00:39:28,960 --> 00:39:38,000 this is that going outside of your natural place and order and 680 00:39:38,000 --> 00:39:44,280 operation and authority and morality designated by God and 681 00:39:44,280 --> 00:39:50,200 set in place by God, going outside of that always leads to 682 00:39:50,200 --> 00:39:53,120 judgement. He talked about the nation of 683 00:39:53,120 --> 00:39:57,640 Israel already people who who this has happened to physically, 684 00:39:57,640 --> 00:40:00,480 you saw it happen. He's talking about now, even in 685 00:40:00,480 --> 00:40:04,240 the spiritual realm, things that we have only clues into. 686 00:40:04,280 --> 00:40:06,120 But he's like, hey, it's happening here too. 687 00:40:06,600 --> 00:40:09,200 This is a universal principle. If you go outside of what God 688 00:40:09,200 --> 00:40:15,520 has set up and authority and morality and his bounds, He says 689 00:40:15,520 --> 00:40:18,880 there's judgement there. Nobody disagrees about the point 690 00:40:18,880 --> 00:40:23,280 of this passage. So if you are wondering, that is 691 00:40:23,280 --> 00:40:26,680 100% the point that is being made here and we can know of 692 00:40:26,680 --> 00:40:31,600 that and these certain ones who are doing almost the same thing. 693 00:40:31,840 --> 00:40:35,680 So what we do know for sure is there is a rebellion that 694 00:40:35,680 --> 00:40:38,480 happened among the angels. We learn about that from Isaiah 695 00:40:38,480 --> 00:40:43,360 14, how the host of heaven fell in Revelation 12, verse 4 says 696 00:40:43,360 --> 00:40:46,680 there's a third of the host of heaven that's talking about the 697 00:40:46,680 --> 00:40:48,440 stars of heaven. Those are referring to the 698 00:40:48,440 --> 00:40:50,640 angels. There was a section of the 699 00:40:50,640 --> 00:40:55,640 angels who fell in rebellion to God who went outside of their 700 00:40:55,920 --> 00:40:58,760 realm. And so we know that has been an 701 00:40:58,760 --> 00:41:02,680 issue in the spiritual realm as well as the physical realm. 702 00:41:04,920 --> 00:41:07,600 And finally, as Sodom and Gomorrah in the cities around 703 00:41:07,600 --> 00:41:10,720 them, in similar manner to these, having given themselves 704 00:41:10,720 --> 00:41:15,120 over to sexual immorality and gone after strange flesh, are 705 00:41:15,120 --> 00:41:18,520 set forth as an example, suffering, suffering the 706 00:41:18,520 --> 00:41:22,120 vengeance of eternal fire. So he's making that connection 707 00:41:22,320 --> 00:41:26,760 between the people in the church during Jude's time who are 708 00:41:28,320 --> 00:41:30,200 ungodly. He's making a connection between 709 00:41:30,200 --> 00:41:33,000 them, the angels who went outside of their realm. 710 00:41:33,320 --> 00:41:37,440 And also in a similar manner, you had the people of Sodom and 711 00:41:37,440 --> 00:41:41,440 Gomorrah who gave themselves over to sexual immorality. 712 00:41:41,800 --> 00:41:44,880 They're doing the same thing. These people are not new and 713 00:41:44,880 --> 00:41:48,800 they went after strange flesh. They went outside of their God 714 00:41:48,800 --> 00:41:51,920 ordained boundaries. That's homosexuality. 715 00:41:51,920 --> 00:41:54,200 That's what he's referring to. They went outside of a boundary 716 00:41:54,200 --> 00:41:57,960 God set. They're set forth as an example, 717 00:41:58,080 --> 00:42:00,480 suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. 718 00:42:02,920 --> 00:42:04,680 If you know what happened to Sodom, Gomorrah, we've talked 719 00:42:04,680 --> 00:42:06,360 about that recently. I'm not going to go over all 720 00:42:06,360 --> 00:42:12,720 these extra slides, but in the Old Testament, the sun had risen 721 00:42:12,720 --> 00:42:15,000 up on the earth when the Lord entered Zoar. 722 00:42:15,080 --> 00:42:17,960 Then the Lord reigned brimstone and fire and Sodom and Gomorrah 723 00:42:17,960 --> 00:42:21,920 from the Lord out of the heavens and he overthrew the cities, the 724 00:42:21,920 --> 00:42:24,960 plains, the inhabitants and all that grew on the ground. 725 00:42:25,320 --> 00:42:29,640 God rained down on those cities. His point he's making is this 726 00:42:29,640 --> 00:42:33,160 isn't new and the same thing happens to it every time. 727 00:42:33,960 --> 00:42:36,560 And we talked about in a previous lesson, Hebrews, how 728 00:42:36,640 --> 00:42:39,440 scientists have found things they think was the site of that 729 00:42:41,400 --> 00:42:44,000 and these have suffered the vengeance of eternal fire. 730 00:42:45,520 --> 00:42:50,040 Some people want to tell you that hell is a is a metaphor. 731 00:42:50,800 --> 00:42:55,360 I don't think Sodom and Gomorrah would would agree with that so 732 00:42:55,360 --> 00:42:56,440 far. We're going to pause here in 733 00:42:56,440 --> 00:43:00,560 this letter. It's a heavy note, but I want to 734 00:43:00,560 --> 00:43:02,920 take away these kind of key points so far. 735 00:43:03,000 --> 00:43:07,920 We have a place in God's world. It is a highly honoured place 736 00:43:07,920 --> 00:43:11,160 where we are called sanctified. Some translations in places that 737 00:43:11,160 --> 00:43:13,680 were sanctified say beloved, they're both true. 738 00:43:13,680 --> 00:43:16,400 Absolutely. And we're preserved. 739 00:43:16,920 --> 00:43:20,320 We have a great place in God's world and we have a role to 740 00:43:20,320 --> 00:43:23,400 play. We have a struggle, we have a 741 00:43:23,400 --> 00:43:28,800 work to do, and it's important. It's vital for God's purposes 742 00:43:29,000 --> 00:43:33,800 and for the church that we are a part of as we struggle for the 743 00:43:33,800 --> 00:43:36,440 faith. And He will give us support, 744 00:43:36,600 --> 00:43:39,320 just like He showed the Israelites all those wonderful 745 00:43:39,320 --> 00:43:41,080 things that gave them reason to believe. 746 00:43:42,120 --> 00:43:44,360 He will give us support for what we're going to do. 747 00:43:46,400 --> 00:43:49,640 But we need to remember, like Frank prayed this morning, most 748 00:43:49,640 --> 00:43:50,960 importantly, that God is glorified. 749 00:43:50,960 --> 00:43:53,760 This is not our story. It's not about us. 750 00:43:54,400 --> 00:43:56,520 We really like to make it about us as Americans. 751 00:43:57,160 --> 00:44:01,120 It is about God and his glory. And within that we must stay 752 00:44:01,120 --> 00:44:05,080 within our God-given bounds to glorify Him and to put him 753 00:44:05,080 --> 00:44:07,520 first. And so I know it may have been a 754 00:44:07,520 --> 00:44:09,800 heavy study this morning, but I hope we can leave with 755 00:44:09,800 --> 00:44:15,040 confidence that as we seek him in faith, as we contend for the 756 00:44:15,040 --> 00:44:19,240 faith that we realize that God is watching. 757 00:44:20,720 --> 00:44:22,320 This has been going on for a long time. 758 00:44:22,920 --> 00:44:26,240 May we evaluate ourselves as we go through what else this might 759 00:44:26,240 --> 00:44:30,120 look like for people who are not following the faith so that we 760 00:44:30,120 --> 00:44:33,440 can be sure and confident and joyful in His presence as we 761 00:44:33,440 --> 00:44:37,680 share in this wonderful gift that He's given us of salvation 762 00:44:37,680 --> 00:44:39,800 and common inheritance in the sun. 763 00:44:41,440 --> 00:44:43,800 I hope you are in that position of a safe place this morning. 764 00:44:43,800 --> 00:44:45,720 If you're not, you can be added to the church. 765 00:44:45,720 --> 00:44:48,640 You can be saved by the blood of Jesus. 766 00:44:48,880 --> 00:44:51,680 The Bible says that if we hear the Word, we can respond in 767 00:44:51,680 --> 00:44:54,440 belief. Mark 16 and 16 says he who has 768 00:44:54,440 --> 00:44:56,120 believed and is baptized will be saved. 769 00:44:56,400 --> 00:44:59,960 We have to believe. We have to have a surrender that 770 00:44:59,960 --> 00:45:02,040 goes along with that belief though, as we've learned today. 771 00:45:02,560 --> 00:45:05,400 And we have to be willing to confett, to be willing to 772 00:45:05,400 --> 00:45:10,080 repent, to go the way that God is asked that shows true belief, 773 00:45:11,160 --> 00:45:13,040 and to confess. The Jesus Christ is the Son of 774 00:45:13,040 --> 00:45:16,320 God and we can be baptized for their mission of our sins. 775 00:45:16,800 --> 00:45:18,520 And if you haven't done that today, you can do that. 776 00:45:18,800 --> 00:45:21,280 Or if you need the prayers of the church to get on the right 777 00:45:21,280 --> 00:45:26,760 path to make sure you are going the direction of godliness and 778 00:45:26,760 --> 00:45:30,040 not the direction of these people who are crept in. 779 00:45:30,760 --> 00:45:32,680 I don't think anyone hears that. I'm not implying that. 780 00:45:32,680 --> 00:45:35,080 But if you need assistance in any way, we'd be happy to help 781 00:45:35,080 --> 00:45:36,040 you while we stand and see.