Book of Jude: Be Warned, Be Encouraged

good morning my name is Tim I'm one of the pastor's here I want to welcome you I'm glad you're here with us if Metheny is your home and you're here all the time we're glad you're here we believe God has something here for you today and if this is your first time maybe it was the biggest step of faith you've taken in maybe your whole life or maybe a long time just to come this morning we're glad you're here we believe God has something for you and that it's not a coincidence that you're here with us this morning we are going to be wrapping up our series we've been working through called let the book decide let the book decide and I want to kind of summarize where we've been over the last handful of weeks the first week we came to the conclusion that the Bible must be our lens for all of life we looked at some writing from Peter and talked about the fact that the Bible was written as directed by the Spirit of God God himself directed people in what to write in the Bible so we concluded that we started to say in light of that when we look at life we look through the lens of Scripture here's what's happening to me what does the Bible have to speak about this situation we then looked at the book of Philemon and we talked about the topic of forgiveness and said that a heart transformed by Christ loves and forgives much Philemon was a man on a servant that service the servant bailed on him just left him high and dry this servant came to become a follower of Jesus and was sent back to his master Philemon and they were called to reconcile to love one another and we looked at 2nd John and we talked about this idea of truth filled love not just emotionalism on one side or just intellectualism on the other side but bringing those two worlds together that were called to be a people of truth filled love that's how we're called to live and then we looked at 3rd John which had a lot of different application points but maybe in particular the big theme was this idea that we're not to return evil for evil but were to return good even when evil is done to us so in in all these books that we've been trying to hit on is that we're called to let the book decide and if you can take it up to kind of that 50,000 foot level the question for all of us is are we doing that are we willing to let the scripture let God's truth be the deciding factor for how we live our lives we don't pick and choose I like this I don't like that so we won't apply that but I'll apply this we let the book decide for us and we trust that God wants to guide and direct us in that process I hope as you've dug into these books with me that you've seen we've mined diamonds in these kind of obscure books of the Bible maybe books that a lot of people don't read but there's good and there's joy that we actually find in that and then when we read the Bible only we let it decide it's exalting to god it's glorifying to god it's life-giving to us and it's a blessing to those who are around us so today we're going to continue on with that we're gonna read one final book I've asked my friend Wayne to come up and to read the book of Jude to us the entire book of Jude so if you're able to as we have in weeks past I'd ask that you'd stand as we read the book of Jude together Jude a servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James to those who are called beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ may mercy peace and love be multiplied to you beloved although I was very eager to write you about our common salvation I found it necessary to write appealing to you to contend for the faith that was once for all delivered to the Saints a certain people have crept in unnoticed who long ago were designated for this condemnation ungodly people who pervert the grace of our God into sensuality and deny our only master and Lord Jesus Christ now want to remind you although you once fully knew it that Jesus who saved the people out of the land of Egypt afterward destroyed those who did not believe and the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority but left their property Welling he has kept in eternal change under gloomy darkness until the judgement of the great day just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desires serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire yet in like manner these people also relying on their dreams to file the flesh reflect reject Authority and blasphemy the glorious ones but when the Archangel Michael contending with the devil was disputing about the body of Moses he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment but said the Lord rebuke you but these people blaspheme all that they do not understand and they are destroyed by all that they like unreasoning animals understand instinctively woe to them for they walk in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain in Balaam's error and perished and korah's rebellion these are hidden reefs at your love feast as they feast with you without fear Shepherds feeding themselves waterless clouds swept along by winds fruitless trees in autumn late autumn twice dead uprooted wild waves of the sea casting up the foam of their own shame wandering stars for whom the gloom of it her darkness has been reserved for every it was also about these that Enoch the seventh from Adam prophesied saying behold the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him these are grumblers malcontents following their own sinful desires they are loudmouth boasters showing favoritism to gain advantage but you must remember beloved the predictions of the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ they said to you in the last time there will be scoffers followers of their own ungodly passions it is these who cause divisions worldly people devoid of the spirit but you beloved building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit keep yourselves in the love of God waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life and have mercy on those who doubt save others by snatching them out of the fire to others show mercy with fear hating even the garments stained by the flesh now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy to the only God our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord be glory Majesty Dominion and authority before all time and now and forever amen man you may be seated Thank You Wayne so as we as we've said every week context is King context is king so let's figure out something about the context of Jude we look at the opening two verses and it says Jude a servant of Jesus Christ and the brother of James to those who have been called who are loved and God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ's mercy peace and love be yours in abundance so we learned that Jude is the author of the book and Jude is with James so the two of them together are writing this book there is some debate about who the James is but he's clearly a person of influence in the early church and the two of them together writing this letter to a people group and the people group is described as those who are loved and called in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ's if you've read through parts of the Bible you probably know that different books are written to different people Paula Ray an epistle to the Church of Ephesus of the Church of Philippi this greeting is pretty broad and generic those are loved and called in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ's but it makes it a little bit easier for us when it comes to application because we can look and say okay who is this - it's two followers of Jesus and so if you're here today and you consider yourself a Christian this book can have a one-to-one correlation to your life as we draw the truths out of this and so we look at what he has to say verse three dear friends although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share I felt compelled to write to you and to urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to God's holy people Jude in the context of this letter where he's going to go as he starts off by talking about what he wanted to do and then he says but I had to write to you to tell you to contend or to fight for the faith so we've got a greeting we have Jude's desire we have the content of the letter and then we have his encouragement at the end those are kind of the sections of this with the greeting we have what he wanted to do we have the trouble that he wants to identify and then the response to this trouble we could jump right into all the issues that Jude describes in this book but let's pause and think about the fact that Jude's desire was to write to these people to talk to them about their shared salvation he wanted to write to them and talk to them about the salvation that he had and James had and his recipients had because of Jesus Christ salvation comes through Jesus salvation means to be saved and so the reality in Jude's heart in his mind is saying I wanted to write to you to talk to you about the fact that you and I have been saved by the work of Jesus by the fact that Jesus in his life death and in his resurrection has opened a door for you and me to be restored to our heavenly father Jude wants to talk about that more than anything because it's the ultimate reality for his life we would say this in a different way perhaps by saying the gospel defines Jude the good news of who Jesus is is at the heart and soul of Jude's life and so here's the reality is that salvation comes from Jesus Christ salvation comes when a person puts their trust in Jesus Christ salvation comes when you or I come to the point of saying in our heart of hearts and believing God I know I've sinned I've broken your holy law broken your Commandments by my conscience I know I've fallen short of how you want me to live and though I deserve to be judged for that God you've offered me forgiveness through what Jesus did on the cross instead of me taking responsibility for all my sin and my mess Jesus took responsibility for it and when he was put to death the judgment of that sin was put to death in three days later he came back by your power God to show me that I too can have eternal life if I trust in him that's a quick summary of this salvation that Jude wanted to talk about and so let me ask you a question if Jude wrote this letter to you could he say a desire to write about our shared salvation the Bible says it's good for us to test our hearts to examine ourselves and so my question to you today is this are you assured of your salvation the way they used to ask it back in the day was are you sure that if you died tonight then you would spend eternity with God in heaven some people in our more modern day scoff at that question say oh that's how the old timers used to ask the question but spoiler alert that's the most fundamental question anybody will ever ask you ever ever ever I make the joke that I've heard a million times right at ten out of ten people die according to recent studies we are all going to breathe our last breath at one moment and then you'll stand in the presence of the perfect and holy creator of the universe the one of whom the prophet Isaiah saw this vision with angels flying around crying out holy holy holy is the Lord God Almighty the whole earth is filled with his glory you and I will stand in his presence and the only thing I could plead to him at that point is because of what Jesus has offered me and my acceptance of his forgiveness will you allow me into eternal life and so I challenge you today to answer that question before you go anywhere else think about this question could you receive the letter from Jude and say yes I too want to celebrate that salvation that I have that you have - Jude do you know beyond a shadow of a doubt that because of the work of Jesus that you have entrusted your life to him that you will stand in eternity with God forever that's the ultimate question that Jude wants to talk about but these other issues have popped up for me when I was 16 years old I grew up in a household that was split between my mom being Catholic and my dad being Baptist so imagine that on Sunday morning there were some challenges to that well one Sunday a month I would go or one Sunday once a week I would go with my mom and then the next week I'd go with my dad and next we gotta go with my mom and back and forth and so I was in the context of Christian sings and Christian relationships but I was sixteen years old and I can remember very very clearly starting to have these thoughts about what is life really all about you take these tests called the SATs and you get the SAT grade and then you can figure out what college maybe you can get - well before you take the SATs you take the pre SATs which are supposed to be less stressful but I found all my peers we're freaking out about the pre SATs and so here's what happened to my mind one day I started thinking to myself well I'm gonna take the pre SATs and then the SATs and then I'll go to college and then I'll graduate and I'll get a job and I'll probably get married and I'll probably have some kids and maybe we'll get a couple dogs we'll buy a house I'll have this job we'll take some vacations and then I'll die and that's it and at sixteen I said that's all I'm just going to become worm food at the end of it that's the purpose of my existence and so I started to reflect on this reality of the story of Jesus his life is death his resurrection and one stormy night about 1 a.m. I stood on my front stoop in Poughkeepsie New York and I looked to the heavens and I said god I've got friends making dumb decisions and I'm gonna probably make dumb decisions too if something doesn't change I don't think life has a whole lot of purpose so if the whole story of Jesus and the resurrection is really real well then you can have my life because I don't know what to do with it and that's when salvation came to my life now you might not know exactly when that's happened to you but today I ask you again are you sure of your salvation because while Jude has to talk about other things what he wants to talk about is that reality it's not something we do it's not something we earn you don't become a Christian by coming to church I've said it before but standing in a garage doesn't make you a car so coming to the church doesn't make you a Christian this morning I was thinking to myself what are other analogies going to Fenway Park and sitting there doesn't make you Big Papi so just being here doesn't make you a follower of Jesus what makes you in a relationship with Jesus and in turn God in heaven is that you have trusted him you have said you've given your life for me I trust your forgiveness and now I give my life to you if that's you today you know you have salvation in Christ and thanks be to God and may that be a rock on which you stand if you're here today and you're not sure then why would you leave here without knowing if that is the defining reality for our life and death is our relationship with Jesus you best get right with Jesus and why not today so as I say that if something stirring you the end of the service come find me talk to somebody don't walk out of here saying I don't know walk out of here saying yes I know I had the salvation of which Jude speaks let's continue on and out dig in to the other things that he wants to actually talk about verse 4 he says for certain individuals whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you their ungodly people who pervert the grace of our God into a license for immorality and denied Jesus Christ our only sovereign and Lord do you already know this I want to remind you that the Lord at one time delivered his people out of Egypt but later destroyed those who did not believe in the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their proper dwelling these he has kept in darkness bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great day ok so Jude opens he talks about salvation that he desires to discuss but he needs to focus on other things and now we enter into the portion of the letter where he describes the mess that these people are causing I want you to see here that he is identifying these people as being in amongst the ones to whom he's writing verse 4 he talks about the people among them and verse 5 he talks about the picture of Egypt and the Israelites being brought out of Egypt and in the people who were freed from Egypt there were some who didn't believe but they were mixed in amongst those who did believe and then he goes on to describe the angels and said there were angels who rejected their role and their gonna be punished for that I want you to see in all these examples that you have the faithful who are following God and mixed into them those who have chosen not to believe and so while it is true that yes there are dangers outside the church there can be dangers inside the church too there can be dangers inside the church too now of course we're all in process no one's perfect and you might say well maybe Jude would just say hey be kind to these guys because they're just trying to figure it out but the picture Jude paints here is not of somebody who's kind of made some mistakes but they are actively in the process of denying Jesus Jesus as we mentioned is the source of salvation Jesus the foundation of all the universe Jesus the one to whom all the scripture speaks and they're saying now we're not too big on him so these are not people who just have a little bit messed up with their theology Jude saying that these people are very dangerous and he says realize that they are mixed in with you so that's a challenge for you and me to think about if these people are mixed in we shouldn't be blind to the fact that they could be around us he goes on to refer to the Exodus story he says I mean just think about this idea this is not just somebody who has had a little moment with God the Exodus story is Moses and this burning bush and it's God speaking through a bush and Moses goes into Egypt and says to the Pharaoh let my people go and the Pharaoh says no and then plagues they're poured out upon Egypt and then they flee and then Pharaoh's army comes chasing after them and they're red sea parts and they walk across the sea and then there's no food and then God provides manna and that's the story of some people who though that have experienced that have rejected God he talks about the angels and he says these are servants of God the word angel connected to the word Elyon means a messenger a servant of God these are angels beings have been in the presence of God and yet they reject God and go their own way and so we noticed that there are dangers within the church but here's the application let's notice this first let us not be that kind of person who has seen and experienced the goodness of God but turns and rejects him the implication here in the context is to say if you have seen and experienced the goodness of God got in whatever form you will be held accountable to that you will be held accountable to that that you and I we experience God and then we turn our back on him he doesn't say no harm no foul he says these are ones who should have known better the people who are led out from Egypt the angels in God's presence they should have known better let us not be this kind of person that's on the challenge side and now here's my encouragement to you is that mixed into the church are people who are mislead and can be misleading others and so love those people enough to warn them let us not be those kind of people but also when we see people doing that let us love them enough to say I know you've experienced God I know you know who God is in some way you know the truth of who Jesus is and the goodness of the gospel and so I love you enough to say don't do this don't make that decision do things differently now when I say that for some people you may get excited and think well now I've got carte blanche to start correcting everybody's I'm gonna grab my Bible and I'm gonna go to the mall after and just start walking around saying stop it stop it don't do that that's clearly not what he's talking about here he's talking first of all to the gathering of God's people and secondly if you know someone's life enough to know that they've experienced God you've probably got a relationship with them and so then the question is will you take the truth of God and bring it into their lives and warn them because there are significant ramifications according to this if they reject God when they've experienced God already a couple years ago I was with a dear friend of mine and we were sitting across the table from a young man named Adam and as we talked to Adam we had this discussion about where he was at spiritually and Adam could recite all the Christian lines and Adam was a good person he was kind he was caring Adam had grown up in the church and as we talked to him we just kept digging and saying you saved the right things but it feels like your heart is far from God and so at one point in the conversation we brought up this word that was really helpful for me which was affections and the question was do you have affection for Jesus not do you read your Bible do you pray do you go to church or you kind do you give your money do you have affection for Jesus in your heart and in that moment it became more and more clear to him I don't know if I do all of a sudden you could see the scale start to fall and we didn't know in that moment my friend and I as we talked to this young man we didn't know what his response would be but less than a year later with my say friend in a gathering of people as they were going around and sharing some of their story and how they came to follow Jesus this young man said yeah I had a conversation about a year ago with some people who challenged me and that's when I fully trusted in Christ now let's just be honest here okay if God can use a donkey to speak which he did in the Old Testament he can use me too so don't think this is me bragging okay I'm a tool in the box and let's emphasize the word tool okay here's the point is that my brother and I love this person enough to point out to them hey do you know Christ and be the way you're living doesn't seem to line up and God use that we think to actually bring this person to salvation so God might want to use you in that same way to be someone who could lovingly challenge those who may be falling off the mark let's continue on this next section is long it's verses 7 down to 16 but again Jude is painting the picture of these troublemakers and what they're doing and he says this just as sodom and gomorrah and the surrounding cities which likewise indulge and sexual immorality and pursuit a natural desire they serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire yet in like manner these people - relying on their dreams to file the flesh reject Authority and blaspheme the glorious ones but when the Archangel Michael contending with the devil was disputing about the body of Moses he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment but said the Lord rebuke you but these people blaspheme all that they do not understand and they are destroyed by all that they like unreasoning animals understand instinctively woe to them for they walked in the way of cain and abandon themselves for the sake of Balaam zaire and perished in korah's rebellion these are hidden reefs at your love feasts as they feast with you without fear scheppers feeding themselves waterless clouds swept along by winds fruitless trees in late autumn twice dead uprooted wild waves of the sea casting up foam of their own shame wandering stars for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever let's jump into verses 7 and 8 because for a lot of people when they read you that's what jumps out then they say Michael the Archangel and the devil and the body of Moses what is that all about well I'm gonna tell you that nobody really knows it's one of those verses that you read and you say I don't know people know the ultimate context and everything that happened just warning you if you find somebody who says they figured it out perfectly they're not telling you the truth it's just this obscure verse but don't miss the point of the verse which is this in verse 8 it says these people again who were talking about these troublemakers it says at the end of that verse they blaspheme the glorious ones and then he gives an example of Michael the Archangel it seems to be in the context of the people who are causing trouble Jude is saying they caused all these problems and in the midst of that they're even blaspheming talking negatively about and engaging in an improper way with angels because then we see their responses he says even Michael the Archangel was smart enough to know that as he interacted with the devil he didn't say I'm Michael the Archangel I'm a big deal he said the Lord rebuke you and so in this context something is happening with angelic beings whether they're demonic or angelic whatever it looks like these people are so convoluted in their thinking that they're engaging with these godly messengers or demonic beings in a way that's flippant and arrogant and Jude's warning is don't do that and how lost must you be how confused must you be if that's how you interact with heavenly beings that's the point of those those few verses they're jumping down I want to go through verses 7 to 16 and if you're a note-taker I'm gonna give you their references so you can jot them down and look it up later but again as Jude paints the picture of these troublemakers look at the thing is apparently that they're involved in se uses these scriptures as examples verse 7 Sodom and gomorrah's from Genesis 19 sexual immorality seems to be rampant in these troublemakers verse 10 he talks about blasphemy blasphemy is speaking an ill word or reproach against God's name or character verse 11 walking in the way of Cain back to Genesis chapter 4 Cain was a murderer then he talks about Balaam zaire from numbers 22 to 24 selling out God's people for money he talked about korah's rebellion after that number 16 when they try to usurp the leaders authority verse 12 Shepherds feeding themselves a shepherd is given to take care of the sheep but instead of feeding the Sheep the Shepherd is feeding himself waterless clouds fruitless trees something that should be producing something but instead is empty verses 14 to 15 a reminder that judgment is coming and then verse 16 watch this grumblers complainers mount contents I love these lists in the Bible because almost every single time you see the obvious sins and then you see these really subtle ones Paul in the book of Romans talks about these sins that people are committing and they're clear and evident and any throws in their disobeying parents I mean it's like murderers and perjurers and people who disobey their parents you're like wow that's gonna cover pretty much everybody at that point right and he does it here he gives us this dramatic of sexual immorality and blasphemy and murder and then he says grumblers complainers malcontents following their own desires not giving and not the ways of God loud mouths boasters playing favorites here's an application point and this is a strong one but hear me this is God's Word and so we let the book decide if you see yourself described in this list repent to God let us not be like these people all of us let us not be like these people notice I didn't say if ten of these twelve match up with your character traits that's not what I'm saying if you see yourself identified anywhere in this then what you and I are called to do is to say god help me not be that way the word repent means to turn around to turn a different direction and it implies pursue God versus pursuing self and so if you resonate or identify with any of those than your call and my call is to repent and then Jude gives his readers some direction he says verse 17 but you must remember beloved the predictions of the Apostles on our Lord Jesus Christ they said to you in the last time they'll be scoffers following their own ungodly passions it is these who cause divisions worldly people devoid of the Spirit dude dude says don't be shocked this is what was predicted don't be shocked my hey just know that this is what was predicted there's a difference between being sad and being shocked sometimes they overlap but Jude says to his recipients don't be shocked this is exactly what the Apostle said was gonna happen these people are going to cause divisions they're coming the Apostle said it and now you're seeing it they're actually there with you you can be sad but don't be shocked because they told you this is exactly what was going to happen and now Jude starts to turn the corner we went from the introduction to salvation to all the mess and then he starts to turn the corner and says what do you do in light of this verse 20 but you beloved building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit keep yourselves and the love of God waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life here's Jude's response praying in the spirit staying connected to the love of God waiting for God stay and pray and wait and stay some more and pray some more and wait some well that's what he says here's your response in light of all the mess pray stay connected to God wait for Jesus because he's coming back now if I said to you your answer to the challenges of life should be pray stay connected to God and trust him you would say are you telling me I drove all the way from my house to here just to hear that that could have been sent out in an email but you and I have this thing that's called spiritual amnesia where we need to be reminded every single day of the most basic realities and you'd say the same thing pray stay connected to God wait he's coming back that's Jude's encouragement how to deal with all the mess that's going on here I don't know about you but I I need that today not just for the brokenness of what church life is because every church is broken but just in the world that reminder in the midst of all the chaos of life you pray you stay connected to God and you wait for him I've never been one of those people when people say world is the world's going downhill fast I always say read Genesis chapter 3 and then tell me that it's going downhill fast it's been gone when sin entered the world it shattered the world when people say well it's gotten really bad the problem for me in my head is that I feel like people have this view of God here and humanity here and we thought you know during the good seasons of the world we were pretty close we've been a flatline pretty much since Genesis chapter 3 we've had little bumps along the way where we did slightly better if you're not sure that read the book of Judges read the prophets you think they call Jeremiah the weeping prophet cuz he was so excited he was crying he was weeping because it was a mess conversion rate for Jeremiah do you know what they say one person Jeremiah preached repentance one person responded that person helped Jeremiah write the Book of Jeremiah the world's a broken and messed up place and it has always been and in light of that Jude is saying pray they connected to God wait for him pastor Dirk is be teaching a revelation classroom when people think about how messed up the world is sometimes they start pointing to the book of Revelation they say okay so revelation says it's going to get worse at the end and it does say that let me give you a quick summary of the book of Revelation okay it's the same thing that Jude says already the entire book of Revelation in under four seconds Jesus wins so be on his team as the whole book of Revelation now if you want the details go to Pastor Dirk's class that's it that's the whole summary and so Jude's challenge is the same as the book of Revelation and say if you want to do this right you got to be connected to the one who's in charge of the whole thing so he turns the corner here and now gives them some more instructions look what he says of verse 22 and have mercy on those who doubt save others by snatching them out of the fire to others show mercy with fear hating even the garments stained by flesh I love this section because this is a picture of the church Jude doesn't command one person to do this he says to the group of people have mercy mercy mixed with fierce snatched them out of the fire I love the fact that we can stream online you can watch the sermons or a class after the fact and you've heard me probably beat this drill and I'm going to keep beating it until they do they tell me I can't anymore if you choose not to come on Sunday morning to the gathering of the saints merely for convenience you may be the mercy Giver that's missing that day it's not the professionals who get to do it the end of the sermon people want to come up and talk and shake hands and catch up a little bit when the sermon is done between now and when I leave here today I'll talk to maybe 10 15 people and so that's a small group of people maybe I could have some sort of meaningful conversation with but when we're all here you may be the mercy giver that somebody else needs according to this passage Jude says show them mercy you may be the person who needs to do that they're me somebody somebody who's about to walk off the spiritual ledge and because of your presence here you've snatched them out of that and I'm back so don't miss the fact that this is a picture of the church being the church if you've been here for a while and you're thinking I don't what's my next step and you're thinking it's hard to build relationships as scary as it is it's time to jump in and just just try the start a relationship with someone build friendships build community because now you may be that person for them and down the road they may be that person for you we can't do this thing alone and Jude says together you should reach out and be caring for one another I want you to note here in verse 21 he says keep yourselves in the love of God waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life Jude's deepest hope is placed in eternal life his deepest hope was placed in eternal life in our world today particularly in the Western world we take these two pieces of it the eternal reality of Christ and the moment-by-moment presence of him in our lives and we need to find the tension between those two and my my opinion is at this point in the history of our world we tilt too far this way Jesus make it better Jesus fix it Jesus show me a real Jesus show me your here those are good things to pray but the consistent theme of Scripture is that one day this life temporary as it is will pass away and eternal life will be the only reality and so Jude's hope is to say pray and stay connected to God and wait Jude wait for what wait till Jesus comes back so let me ask you when you think about the ups and downs the challenges of life what role does pondering heaven play in your heart do you never think about it do you always think about it Jude's eternal hope is placed in the fact that Jesus is going to come back and is going to make it all right one day come Lord Jesus those are the words that we read in Scripture is that the desire of your heart that Jesus would come and usher in the end of all things so that perfection would would be reinstated that's Jude's hope and it should be ours as well if you're a Christian here this morning a challenge of my encouragement to you is rewrap is don't settle the world as beautiful and wonderful and as mysterious as as it is this world is a shadow of what God has for us if you're here today and you don't yet know Christ I say to you this world is a shadow and God wants to offer you eternal life let Jude's perspective of eternal life be the defining reality for you and for me he closes with the challenge for all of us he says I'm writing this and here's how you should act and here's the mess and here's a response and you can imagine the reader saying dude how am I supposed to do this these people with all the mess they're causing all the trouble all the confusion and he closes with an encouragement and listen to these words now to him was able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy to the only God our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord be glory Majesty Dominion and authority before all time now and forever amen do you know the word Amen means let it be let it come to pass when we pray we say Amen at the end and that means God what I just requested let that happen you ever notice that Jesus when he speaks says in the King James verily verily or more accurately amen amen and then he teaches Jesus doesn't ask for the requests at the end he says this is how it is and then he teaches so at the end of this book Jude is saying God will keep you from falling away listen to his description again now to him God who was able to keep you from stumbling and falling away and to present you not just present you bruised and broken birth to present you blameless before his presence of his glory with great joy do you see that that who's the recipient of the joy in this is it you possibly more likely its God and that he says look what I've done in you with great joy to the only God our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord be glory and Majesty Dominion and authority before all time and now and forever amen the hope of the Christian is that this is what we can bank on not that I'm gonna do it perfectly but that Jesus has done it perfectly and what he started in you he will finish for that we give thanks let's pray father God we thank you for your scriptures a sacred book that you've given to us thank you for Jude Lourdes as much detail as we could go in as many complicated passages as there are there the big theme stands out God that we are called to to know this truth so we can identify falsehood in the midst of it to stay connected to you to pray and to love those around us who are in need that's something we can do every day God but we need to do it by your power and by your spirit God for those who are here today who know and love you may you help all of us to set our hearts on the eternal reality that one day you will make it alright for those who are here today who don't yet know you god I pray that they would today engage with you Jesus entrusting their lives to you that they might know salvation and have it forever thank you that your word points us to that and we pray because we have heard from you through your word it would be different people I pray this in Christ's name Amen

Channel: bethanychurchnh

Views: 3,921

Rating: 4.5636363 out of 5

Keywords: Bethany, Church, Greenland, New Hampshire, NH, Bethany Church, Bethany Church New Hampshire, Bruce Boria, Tim Carpenter, Dirk Rodgers, Jon LaMontagne, Christian, Protestant, Evangelical, Disciples, Disciples Making Disciples, Be One, Make One, Raymond, Raymond Campus, Raymond NH, Raymond New Hampshire

Id: VRAgNA40KyI

Length: 41min 13sec (2473 seconds)

Published: Mon Aug 28 2017