Chuck Missler ~ Jude ~ Session 1 ~ Introduction ~ Verses 1 - 4

we're going to undertake a study of the epistle by Jude I have wanted to do this book for a long time frankly out of mischief there is so much spooky weird stuff in the how in twenty-five verses you could cram so many mysteries and enigmas and stuff fascinates me but the real reason I'm taking it on suggesting we dig into this is because as I really understand the Epistle it's written for us today it's a very very unusual book with a very very timely message the Acts of the Apostles was the beginning of the church Jude is the acts of the apostates it's written for the end times for the end of the church era and so it's an interesting book in terms of its allusions we're going to go to the dawn of human history we're going to be going all the way through Eden through the ancient early stages of Israel's history we'll be talking about princes and prophets of saints and sinners will be talking everything from the eternal fires to the everlasting darkness and the strange ways that you probably have not seen in the scripture unless you're a very diligent student about past judgments of strange beings and future glory we're going to travel in the unseen world and see and deal with angels that apparently got involved in some bizarre happenings we're going to that's going to take us of course into Genesis 6 it's going to take us into well some really creepy areas this is really a Halloween series I suspect we're also going to study a dispute between the Archangel Michael and the former cherub that covereth a guy by the name of Satan and how they disputed of all bizarre things over the body of Moses Jude flips that off like you all knew what he was talking about and I used to believe that you couldn't really deal with the book of Jude without getting into the Apocrypha there's a book called the book of enoch effect or several of them and there's the assumption of moses and a bunch of strange books and we'll deal with that when we get there so the the study of Jude is going to take us into some strange traffic now the other irony of the book of Jude fascinating as it is it's neglected how many of you been to a Bible study in the book of Jude you know I've been a Christian for you have okay good I I've been a Christian for a long time and have not been to a you know a study per se of this folks in the book of Jude it's also interesting as I study the commentaries you can get 25 volume sets of commentaries that have maybe three pages on the book of Jude you can go through some of the most venerated commentaries and it's amazing how little they have on this very very unusual book so it's all all that having been said it's a book of some substantial and neglect now you know my style we've generally go at a chapter of a week and that would you know so I have threatened to yeah I've threatened to make this a verse a week it won't be quite that bad but we're not going to finish I give you first bill you can relax we're not going to complete the book of Jude tonight so one chapter book of 25 verses we're not than verse tonight but probably not a lot better okay the Epistle of Jude first of all why take the book of Jude well I mentioned a couple of things the beginning of the church you might call the Acts of the Apostles a subtitle to Jude might be the Acts of the apostates we're going to talk about what apostasy is how it happened in the past and how we can anticipate prophetically the great apostasy before the Lord just before the Lord comes in fact the Lord poses the rhetorical question when the Lord returns will he find faith on the earth we're talking about that we're also one reason the book seemed particularly timely there is a specific heresy that's emerging throughout the body of Christ it's happening in the charismatic movement it's happening in the fundamentalist movement it's happening in the apologetic level and at the grassroots level it is involving some of the most distinguished leadership in America and secretly many of the leaders in the so-called Christian Church in America secretly espouse a doctrine that is not only a heresy but may be laying the very philosophical foundation for the Great Tribulation and we'll talk about that the timeliness of this and what's going on is one of the motives into undertaking this book at this time we're going to study a book that has a message for you and I personally and a book that has a message I believe to the believing body uniquely to the ER that we live in right now and so those are the those are assertions and to challenge you those of you that are taking notes I will of course indulge what probably is becoming my trademark in the upper right hand corner of your notepad put acts 17:11 it'll never be more important than in this series acts 17:11 is essentially where Luke tells you not to believe anything chuck Missler tells you but to search the Scriptures daily to prove whether those things are so Jude by the way is the only book that's devoted virtually entirely to the subject of apostasy and in luke 18:8 jesus says shall the son of man find faith on the earth a very interesting rhetorical question we might just pause here and take a look a loo we talked about apostasy its apostasy it's a word that gets kicked around a bit let's look at a couple not a lot but a few of these critical passages turn with second thessalonians chapter 2 it's very hard to hit some of these references without spending an evening them because there's so much background that's so visible but the particular verse I would like to focus on there's chapter 2 2nd Thessalonians 2 is a classic chapter among students of prophecy because it's full of all kinds of insights some of them quite technical I'll try to sidestep those for tonight and just focus on verse 3 where Paul tells the Thessalonians let no man deceive you by any means for that day shall not come except there come a falling away an apostasy first and that man of sin be revealed the son of perdition and then he goes on and talks about the Antichrist in a lot of ways I'm using the term Antichrist in the colloquial sense your sophisticated students know that that's not one of his titles he has 50 titles I think one of them but it's the one everybody uses so you know who I mean but the main point is an apostasy precedes the end times its associate it sets the stage for this leader to emerge so second Thessalonians is - is a key passage I won't derail our study and Jude to get into that more tonight but for those of you that are diligent you can dig out your notes in background and second Thessalonians 2 and both the preceding and subsequent events that surround the lie and the man of sin and so on let's take some more practical focus on this turn to 1st Timothy 4 just turn to your right a little bit confused of a few pages and you come to first Timothy chapter 4 paul is writing a practical letter to his buddy equipping him for the ministry and first Timothy 4 now the spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith giving heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons and from here you can go on into a whole study of false doctrine false doctrine is not just superstition it is not just deviations from the truth it's not just any of a lot of things it's engineered deception by the hosts of Darkness himself doctrines of demons that phrase comes out of first Timothy 4:1 you can go on from there I won't take that I'm just trying to give you just some high points to get a flavor of this turn to 2nd Timothy 4 verse 3 for the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine but after their own lusts they shall heap to themselves teachers having itching ears and they shall turn away their ears from the truth and shall be turned to fables and it's what's really fascinating is when someone rejects the truth of Jesus Christ the stuff they turn to most bizarre things but again I don't want to derail here the unwillingness to endure sound doctrine is another characteristic of what this is this whole area of apostasy and let's let's also turn and are just in the sort of highlight quick survey some of this is read by way of review 2nd Peter 2 let's first of all take second Peter 2 chapter 2 verse 1 the Apostle Peter says but there were false prophets also among the people even as there shall be false teachers among you who secretly shall bring in damnable heresies even denying the Lord that bought them bringing them on themselves Swift destruction bringing in damnable heresies let's talk about some of those that go on chapter 3 of that same letter 2nd Peter chapter 3 let's pick verses 3 and 4 knowing this first that there shall come in the last days scoffers walking after their own lusts and saying where is the promise of his coming for since the father's fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation now by the way this may seem strange because of the one hand the characteristic of these false teachers as they're going to cast doubt about the second coming of Jesus Christ part of the viewpoint or doctrine of this is saying where is the promise of is coming it's a skeptical rhetorical question about denying the second coming their argument here doesn't seem linked at first blush at all he says for since the father's fell asleep all things continue as they were from the beginning of creation what's not obvious by the structure that sentences there's a link here in a doubt of creation with the second coming what is the second coming got to do with evolution and so forth and it's this whole idea this this disparagement of the idea that there is a god when the one hand created the universe in the first place and secondly intervenes in its history by returning and involving himself and one of the fascinating links that's not obvious but it's worth your consideration is to recognize that a faith in the creation is linked to a faith in prophecy and it has to do with uniformitarianism it has to do with the recognition that there is a creator who has a purpose and an involvement in your life as well as mine and that's the whole idea behind God's purpose in the first place and his willingness and interest and involvement in interfering in man's history in intervening and in fact intruding none other than his son - on a very special mission and one in which he will again intrude upon history and by returning and so forth so the whole idea of Second Coming is related to the Genesis one is related to revelation 22 it's all linked ok so Jude by the way we just seen Peter here we're going to discover the Epistle of Jude has a close relationship to the Peters last letters in several ways and we'll come to that when the time comes but it's probably most of all parallel to James the Epistle of James that pistola Jude have some very bizarre parallels James essentially deals with good works as evidence of faith James is often misunderstood James emphasizes works not a faith by works but at evidence of your faith by your works or fate James emphasized good works as an evidence of saving faith Jude structures his letter to point out that evil works are evidence of apostasy or a false faith and so there's interesting parallel one reason is also parallel which may have nothing to do with anything is that they were brothers so we'll get to that in a minute too jude is in many respects the vestibule of the book of revelation jude comes just before the revelation and it's it turns out for lots of reasons structurally that's very handy it sets the stage if you will for the book revelation jude will be fun for us as we get into it is because it gives us an excuse to peek in the dark corners of the book of the Old Testament Jude makes all kinds of offhand references to things he assumes you know and that causes us to scramble for our concordance --is and what have you to find out what on earth he's talking about so that'll be kind of fun one other thing before we get into the the book itself I'd like to give you an outline and this is one of those times that I almost wish I was using a view graph but I got away from that years ago because it forces me to put more on the tape so I want to give you an outline I'm going to try to describe how to do this is I'm going to give you about six indentations and then come back out so you'll go in other words we're going to go we're gonna have eleven lines there's eleven parts to the book of Jude but structurally it's quite interesting if you can make eleven lines the first and the last line is the assurance for the Christian it opens with assurance for the Christian and it closes with assurance for the Christian that's no surprise he's going to talk about apostasy but he's going to talk to you people not the apostates so one thing he wants to do is give you assurance both upfront at the end the second section from the beginning is the same idea as the second from the end the believer and the faith so your second and tenth in other words the second one from the front and the second in the back the title would be the believer in the end the faith the third from the front end is apostates described and the third from the back end is apostates described the fourth subject so to speak I'll go over this again and give you the verses as apostasy and Old Testament history the fourth from the end is apostasy and Old Testament prophecy the fifth section or part is apostasy and in the supernatural realm and the fifth from the end is apostasy in the natural realm and the middle section is a trio a very select trio of apostates that he focuses on so to go once again we're gonna go six down and then back in the first one is assurance for the Christian that's verses 1 & 2 the second section is the believer and the faith verse 3 the third part is apostates described verse 4 the next section is apostasy and Old Testament history and that's verses 5 through 8 that'll be quite an interesting survey the next section is apostasy in the supernatural realm verses 9 and 10 that's the spooky stuff then we have verse 11 which is sort of the fulcrum for the whole structure here an ancient trio of apostates the next section apostasy in the natural realm verses 12 and 13 apostasy and Old Testament prophecy verses 14 through 16 apostates described verses 17 through 19 the believer and the faith verses 20 through 23 and assurance for the Christian verses 24 and 25 what fascinates me about that provoked lines you can take any book and find it you know seven authors will have seven different outlines but this one kind of intrigues me because it shows that there's an underlying structure to this book that's really quite provocative okay so so much for that that gives us our 25 verse thing so at this point we're ready to jump in the book so usually I spend the first 80 minutes of the first 90 minutes in ancient history and diagrams Old Kings and stuff we never get in the first we have to we go this is pretty good and just didn't hardly any time at all we're in verse 1 the first word is the word Jude okay you notice that while you laughing right the name Jude and the Greek is Judas here's a book about apostasy whose name happens to be synonymous with traitor it's interesting you know we call our kids Samuel Paul Peter John Matthew how many have you named your kids Judas that's a little you know Jude and Judas was a very common name in Christ day there's four or five of them in the New Testament alone and yet because of one by the name of Iscariot the name has gotten sort of tainted it's not a popular thing you know you name your dog your name your kids Peter Paul so whatever you can name your dog Nero Caesar you don't even name your dog Judas I don't think the only pet that I know that his name is Judas I happen to have the opportunity in my consulting days to survey the largest meatpacking operation in South Dakota for John Murrell meat coming I was fascinated to discover there really is a goat when they get ready to they have these cattle to go up the ramp into the slaughterhouse there's a goat that leads them up the goat turns right they turn left it's a Judas goat and you hear that expression there really is in the in today's modern culture part of the operation of a slaughter operation a meatpacking plant is a Judas goat but I don't think we use the name normally except as an idiom for being a traitor so it's interesting that the book of Jude I'm not trying to spare age the particular writer don't misunderstand me but I think the Holy Spirit does in fact more often than not indulge in puns not not for humor but for a message when we in the Old Testament read they read the book of Joshua the name yahushua is a is the hebrew for jesus and when you realize that there's a name in the old book of the Old Testament whose name in effect is a namesake of our Lord it causes our attention and all kinds of things surfaced from that as we look at that sort of thing and so on so the fact that here's a book about apostasy who hat which happens to carry the name Jude is a provocative Jude the bondservant of Jesus Christ now most of you as students of scripture understand that what a duo says in the Greek a bond slave a slave for life now incidentally we're going to discover shortly well I'll get ahead he we believe that Jude here was the brother of James both of which were the brothers of the Lord I'll come to that in a minute we'll get into that but it's interesting he does not use that link as an identity he's not that presumptuous if we understand it right the four brothers of Jesus Christ didn't believe in him until after the resurrection this is we don't believe this is the Jude that's listed in the Apostles different Jude different James James was the head of the church in Jerusalem James and Jude were brothers they were linked to the family of Jesus Christ some feel they were actual brothers some feeling me have been stepbrothers from a form of marriage if there's all kinds of I'll get into that here because the language isn't that clear but we do he links himself obviously than the stew to James it's interesting that Jude says Jude the bond servant of Jesus Christ and this book sits just before the book of Revelation and to get what I'm after turn the page and let's refresh our memories as to the first verse of the book of Revelation first of all let me resize it's a singular word that's amazing how many ministers I even hear on the radio speak of Revelations plural it's not it's a singular it's not a collection of revelations it's a singular revelation the first sentence of the revelation of Jesus Christ that's the singular revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave unto him unto whom to Jesus Christ revelation seems a little strange in its style it's because the father talking to the son but which God gave unto him for what purpose to show unto his due loss his servants things which must shortly come to pass so the revelation is written to whom to the Jude to you and I to the extent that were in his shoes Jude the servant the dual loss the bond slave of Jesus Christ and that's what the book of Revelation is all about is a very very final climactic appendage to the scripture to inform the servants okay Jude the servant of Jesus Christ the brother of James now this is a great departure to go from here we go into seventeen hours of background and on the four different James as we find in the gospel so I'll spare you all that the brother of James who is the head of the church in Jerusalem he remember that he shows up prominently when they have this dispute that that gets resolved and you can chase that down in your leisure you know he's also the author of the Epistle of James also in Scripture and is if there are some interesting structural parallels between James and Jude and he is recorded in Galatians chapter 1 verse 19 as the Lord's brother no I don't think he was the large brother but I should share with you candidly there are some scholars who believe that the term is broader than a direct brother as you and I would use it and so there's that it's not tightly conclusive but for lots of reasons not the least of which you might want to take a look at either Matthew 13 55 or mark 6:3 they're pretty much similar let's take mark 6:3 because it does include one other interesting little thing mark chapter 6 verse 3 it says verse 2 says from where hath this man these things and what wisdom is this which is given unto him that giveth such mighty works as I wrought by his hand this is the crowd sort of responding here in verse 3 is not this the carpenter the son of Mary the brother of James and Joseph and of Judas and of Simon and are not his sister's here with us and they were offended at him des was you know that that was the response now I won't get into marking the whole situation but in incidental to this passage it lists four brothers and some sisters and some people especially if Catholic background have a real hang-up with that well mark here to bait beat it to death and there are some you know combat scholars who and Jesus goes on says you know is a prophet is not without honor except in his own country and among his own kindred in any case though we believe that well first of all this James was the J the head of the church in Jerusalem and there was a brother by the name of Judas or Jude this Jude is the writer who identifies himself as the brother of James and to the readership who is James that head of the church in Jerusalem the Lord's brother okay so that's why I don't think there's a big mystery we don't need to beat to death we'll just keep moving on and if you studied John chapter seven verse five you'll come to the conclusion that the brothers did not believe in him until after the resurrection and so it was after the resurrection of Jesus Christ that they seemed to grasp who he really was and and certainly James and Jude at least became active for his gospel James very distinguished and Jude obviously the author of this epistle and so on so it's interesting that neither one of them were numbered among the twelve that James James the last all of those are different cast of characters to the best of our understanding next we're going to check our equipment before we plunge into the book let's finish verse 1 this is the way in the King James to them that are sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ and called faces verse 1 okay there are three concepts here and the order depends on your translation they're called beloved and kept okay incidentally there's a Trinity there they're calling there's a loving and there's a keeping who called you the Father through whose love are you for God so loved the world that he it cetera gave His only Son so you the love you associate with Jesus Christ can and who preserves keeps you boy spirit so it's interesting and you can look at that several different ways but basically there is a Trinity of ideas there let's first of all take this word called I'm assuming all of you in this room I'm going to operate on the presumption that all of you are diligent students the word I'm assuming that the very fact that you're hearing my voice whether it's on tape or here in the room says that God is calling you but Jesus says I have chosen you you have not chosen me that's John 15:6 16 and 665 to mention but a couple of the places that idea shows up you don't choose him he chooses you second Thessalonians again in chapter 2 the chapter we just looked at we won't take the time now but verses 13 and 14 points out that God hath from the beginning chosen you when were you were chosen by God you didn't choose him he chose you when did he choose you there's so many places to deal with this I'm going to pick my favorite one rather than all these others I'll allude to those but I'll pick the one that I'll enjoy the best which is Romans 8 submit pause here and you'll discover five verbs in Romans 8 Romans chapter 8 is a chapter you should have tabbed if your life is as hectic as mine you refer to it frequently to see that it's still there we all know verse 28 if you don't you should memorize it it'll see you through a lot of difficulties for we know that all things work together for good to them that love God to them who are the called according to his purpose there's that concept of calling but Paul goes on in verse 29 on to elaborate a structure for whom he did foreknow he did also predestinate to be conformed to the image of his son that he might be the firstborn among many brethren moreover whom he did predestinate them he also called whom he called them he also justified whom he justified them he also glorified five steps foreign-owned predestined called justified glorified that happens to be the structure of the book of Genesis Abraham Isaac Jacob I missed one Joseph Abraham was anyway you have for known and predestinated ionized ik his seed was called if he can justify Jacob he can justify anybody and of course in Joseph comes the glorification as a type of Christ so Paul has in mind here a structure if you will apparently of the book of Genesis as an aside now if you're for known and predestinated and called is he faithful and just to finish what he starts you bet so justification glorification are the steps that that continue so having said that let's get back to notice what what Jude is saying here is that okay you're you're called we've talked about that also your beloved and I'm dealing here from the authorized rather than the King James but the word is beloved and and who are they beloved the church you can find John 14:23 John 16 27 John 17 20 and 23 who are the beloved let's take a look well let's just let's this is too important let's hold a finger here turn to John 14 and understand who to whom Jude is writing and what we mean by the beloved John 14 verse 23 if a man love me he will keep my words and my father will love him and we will come unto him and make our abode with him turn over to John 16 a couple of pages we just hit a couple of these to get the flavor of it John 16 verse 27 for the father himself love with you because ye have loved me and have believed that I came out from God interesting ideas that are linked there God loves you right because you have loved me see it's it's elliptical its reflexive okay turn with me to John 17 this is the highway this is the height the high ground John 17 intimate prayer between the Father between the son to the Father he's praying for his disciple is awfully hard just to select a piece of this but let's pick over verse 20 he is saying to the father neither pray I for these alone but for them who also who shall believe on me through their word so Jesus here at John 17 this intimate prayer between Jesus and the father's the most intimate prayer that you will find between Jesus the father in the scripture John 17 and he's praying for you your name is in verse 20 and skipping on down here or just keeping on verse 20 verse 21 that they all may be one as thou father art in me and I in thee that they also may be one in us that the world may believe that thou has sent me in the glory which thou gavest me I have given them that they may be one even as we are one and I and them and thou and me that they may be made perfect in one and that the world may know that thou has sent me and has to love them as thou hast loved me that's a lot of love the love that you and I share is the love that the father has for the son i time you through with issues to get the fifth that they're very very inseparable this whole chapters worth your reading if you're ever in a meditative mood and don't know where else to go plunge into John 17 and read the prayer this this dialogue if you will between the father and the son or between the primary this Jesus words to the Father but it's it's it's clearly a reflexive fabulous period beloved we're gonna see shortly that the letter of Jude is written not to the unbelievers but to you and I and the beloved okay called love the third verb or category or attribute here is kept and this is strange because this is the only salutation in any epistle in the New Testament that has this word in the salutation kept the word in the Greek implies watchful care close attention it's at present possession it actually means continually kept okay the same word is used in acts 12 and 25 of Peter and Paul's imprisonment the verb and the structures that they were kept there confined there in the preservative the same word is used in first Peter chapter 1 of our heavenly inheritance I don't think our heavenly inheritance is very vulnerable that's the term that's used here okay we're kept now to get the same word we're going to find out in verse 6 in this vessel is used of the fallen angels who are kept who kept not their first estate so whatever is binding them you know they are kept okay in the same word is used the book of Revelation about in Revelation to the church in Philadelphia he will keep us from the hour of trial right that word keep it preserved so forth now we're also by the way no that's his side of it he keeps us right before we're through with his pistol we're gonna discover we have to keep ourselves verse 21 we're gonna discover we have to keep ourselves in the love of God whatever that means we'll talk about that when you get to verse 21 we are to be kept blameless unto the coming of our Lord and Savior that's in 1st Thessalonians chapter 5 so those are all ideas that are embodied here in this word kept so we're we've got we're done really well so far we've gotten through verse 1 okay okay so we're called loved and kept that's the category then he goes on to give his benediction or as salutation he says mercy unto you and peace and love be multiplied now you students of the pauline letters are probably surprised we're so used to what grace and peace write this is mercy right it's interesting that this letter on apostasy speaks of mercy rather than grace they're very close cousins we want both we desperately need both what's the difference between grace and mercy most of you know grace is getting something that you don't deserve right mercy is not getting that which you do mercy is not getting that what you do deserve grace is getting that what you don't deserve so they're both very desirable mercy implies failure on the part of its object you and I needs God's mercy because of our failure we welcome his grace because that gives us that to which were not entitled unmerited favor is one glib definition mercy is not getting that which we do deserve now why is it mercy rather than grace because it suits the message it's interesting how the Holy Spirit in the very subtleties of the styling of the led unless it anticipates the central message of the Epistle the Epistle is written by a guy who changed his mind we're gonna scour the next verse that he set down to write some things quite straightforward and was constrained was pressured is forced to write something totally different Jude is taken over but the subtleties are already showing up earlier the way of the message is coming mercy rather than grace now here we could get into an easy digression about the law and grace and between works and faith and so forth wherever we have the law we have death numbers 15 verses 32 through 36 as an example a guy collects some sticks in the Sabbath day and he's put to death God commands that under Moses he break that he was teaching them that you break the law the answer comes crisply the law speaks of death the law speaks of failure James 2:10 and lots of other verses that we've talked about okay works trips leads to the same chambers of horrors Galatians chapter 5 details the results of works verses 5 19 through 21 then again the needs to timing will digress with all of these things God's grace is the antithesis of that rather than digress too much on that let's take the second word mercy we've talked about peace we not we talked a lot about peace how do we have peace in Romans 5:1 we have peace with God through whom Lord Jesus Christ exactly there is no peace for the wicked Isaiah 57 tells us the whole ideal is to worry about nothing pray about everything and give thanks for anything and it's Philippians 4:6 crudely summarized worry about nothing pray about everything and give thanks for anything authority for that is Philippians 4 verses 6 and 7 being anxious for nothing do you know how to worry is a sin I worry a lot I'm a big sinner I got a lot of anxiety it's all unbelief why should I pray a lot about that I'm worrying less and less because he's just taking over more and more and I wish I'd learned that a long time ago they don't pay me by the hour they pay me by the altar and but he sees us through and what's interesting he sees us through never early always at the last minute because he gotta get us to the point where we finally give up and realize it's all in his hands and when we do that he comes through and fixes things and you'd wonder why don't we ever learn and just stop worrying and and we pray about everything and then whatever happened to give thanks and so forth so that's what it's all about Philippians 4:6 okay mercy unto you and peace and love be multiplied now love shows up in the first three verses of this epistle so I assume it's important it's our badge of identity John 13 tells us that that's how men are to recognize us as Christians that we love one another it's also interesting that it's the lack of love that goes from Philadelphia Leia see in seven churches those are the students of the seven-layer seven churches and understand that's a chronology of church history understand at Philadelphia brotherly love gives rise to what's the next one anyway it's when Leia to see it comes down we've got problems okay something else that's worth studying is Ephesians of the seven letters seven churches the church at Ephesus was commended that they were very rigorous and straightforward on their doctrine however where do they lose the first love very good right and we study the what happened to the church at Ephesus Paul John both won't both warn them what was coming they obviously didn't hear because their lampstand was removed how many of you visited the church at Ephesus okay incidentally these elements here also show up in verses 20 and 21 so the structure of the Epistle will be preserved but we'll take that on when we get there but that's interesting okay so we got mercy peace and love mercy is upward peace is inward and love is outward so there's something very structurally fundamental going on here in the interest of getting at least another verse or two we'll keep moving we could spend more time on this but with a with an experience sophisticated group like yourselves I'm covering very very familiar ground so we'll move on we get to verse three and we discover a strange thing first question is as to whom is the Epistle written it's very important when you read these epistles to try to understand who is the audience and why was it written that sort of thing this this is being written to beloved believers this is not written on believers this is not an evangelical piece this epistle will have very little meaning to you unless you're born again and abide in Jesus Christ you're not in that position this epistle is gonna be strange and boring and unrelated and not mean much a very little meaning to those who are not born into the family of God first gradience 2:14 the natural man receiveth not the things of worth okay and obviously the the the word here it comes from the verb agape Oh which means to be totally given over to now the structure is a little hard to unravel he says Jude says when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation it was needful for me to write unto you and to exhort you and he goes on what the language in the English doesn't get a cross is what he's really trying to say here when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation that's what he started to do what he's really saying is I sat down with all straightforwardness to write you a letter about our common salvation in other words gee we're believers and I was about to write you I infer that it's probably a letter like Paul used to write he'd be away on a trip but he'd write his churches to encourage them and pray for them and you know just write about our comments sometimes include some theological tidbits but basically one is just encouragement when I was gonna do saying I beloved when I I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation salvations common to you and I that's what he started to do it was needful for me that language in the English doesn't carry the intensity of the Greek there was a divine compulsion something changed Jude's mind as he started right and he was forced to write what he wrote the word in the Greek means to compress or to put pressure on the word is used in act let's let me show you how strong a word in the Greek it is turn to Acts seventeen three Paul is preaching here's his opening and alleging that Christ must needs have suffered and risen again from the dead that word must needs is the same compulsion how urgent was it for Christ to suffer and die and be born raised again pretty urgent the word in the Greek is pretty intense that's the same word used here another place first Corinthians chapter 9 verse 16 first Corinthians chapter 9 verse 16 Paul is talking about his calling to preach the gospel Paul says for though I preach the gospel I have nothing to Gloria for necessity is laid upon me yayyyy woe unto me if I preach not the gospel the drive the compulsion the pressure for Paul to preach the gospel into anything else if you read is like you know that's that's what he was driven to do that kind that was the word you see that necessity is laid upon it's it's that's the King James English what Jude is saying is when I go again back to Jude here when I gave all diligence to write unto you the common salvation I was divinely forced pressured to write to you and exhort you and then he goes on this whole letter is one of exhortation okay now I'm gonna suggest obviously that the use of words is very precise and my authority that second Peter 1:21 I'm sure we hit that if you haven't marked it let's turn to second Peter knowing this first the prophecy of the Scriptures is no prophecy is of any private interpretation verse 21 for the prophecy came not at any time by the will of man but holy men of spoke as they were moved by the holy spirit and as you know from my own from the background these other studies my own prejudices and the other things that that I really believe that every word every number every place name in the original is there by engineering of the Holy Spirit has relevance if there is such a thing as a New Testament equivalent to the Kabbalah of the old then that's that's at least the leaning that I have so I really believe that these words are not accidental they're very very important that's the only reason I try to I'm hitting that heart in any case Jude started to write nice little letter of encouragement but was compelled to shift gears and they says to exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which is once delivered unto the Saints and that phrase is going to be the theme if the whole letter deals with first the word exhort exhort in the Greek is a verb do you know what the noun is Paraclete okay the noun of that same word the noun forms the word we use Paraclete which we all recognizes the comforter the one that's called alongside to help the verb of that is the word that's translated exhort okay know exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith that's the key to this whole epistle that's the challenge that you and I are being given by the Holy Spirit tonight and in this letter now this word contend for the faith that Greek word means to agonize upon to contend strenuously in defense of how are you and I doing that I appreciate the crowd here tonight I know that time is just as urgent in your life as it is mine so you don't give your evening casually so coming to these Bible studies is a non-trivial commitment on behalf of your Laura designate but it's one thing for us to sit comfortably it's easy for me to comfortably go in my library and collect some notes to amaze and confound you on a Monday night that's one thing it's quite another for you too are you listening into a tape or on the radio or sitting here to you know knock off for a couple hours and take some notes and sort of feel good about it that's neat I'm not knocking that but is that contending for the faith see what the Holy Spirit asks us to do is to contend for the faith the word contend there is an active military word doesn't say be contentious that's a hit different issue now how can you faithfully follow this exhortation well let me give you some ideas of what I'm getting at you have to draw a sword and go find a hill to conquer that's that's the easy part let me give you some examples do you strengthen the hand of the faithful pastors you know here in this congregation were uniquely blessed in the country anything you do to strengthen his hand and army whether it's an offering or other kinds of support or personal support that's contending for the faith supporting those that are faithful Revelation chapter 3 verse 2 strengthen the things etc that which you mean the other thing you can do the obvious thing you do is an unflinching witness you got an opportunity to witness that you witness not just by guts and strength but by preparation the very fact you hear tonight is preparing you for a witness and as you find issues that the Holy Spirit leads you to dig in to dig into some book some background being equipped to give reason to every man that asketh you of the hope that is within you but with all meekness and fear something else you can do that's withhold support from those who are off-track who compromised your deny the whole counsel of God there are a lot of ministries around that should be shut down the Lord would love to shut them down but there's people that get in the way you need to be discriminating you need to understand when you support something what are the doctrines that are central to that and are they ones that are publicly supported do you speak out against the preaching of another gospel proverbs 19 27 Galatians lots of things about that it's interesting if we you might turn with me to Nehemiah Nehemiah chapter 4 did you know that Nehemiah had something to say to you tonight okay yeah the first question is where's Nehemiah the way you find out is going in front of the book find the table of contents quickly and that's why you need Pharisees tab Percy tabs in your Bible I didn't have to go to Nehemiah but the bookstore asked me to say yeah no I'm kidding okay Nehemiah and I want let's see chapter four and we're talking here about building the wall number after the regather after Babylon they're coming back to rebuilding the wall but verses 17 and 18 are kind of interesting and I'm going to infer that that's the way we should live he says and they who built the wall and and who bore burdens burdened themselves every one of his hands rot in the work and with the other hand did what held a weapon they were building this wall under conditions of adversity so they had a tool in one hand and a weapon in the other verse 18 for the builders everyone had a sword girded by his side and so builded and he who sounded the trumpet was by me and so forth I'm gonna suggest to you that's the job you and I have there's no work that we can do and I don't care whether you're trading international securities or doing mergers and acquisitions or engineering high-technology stuff for something more prosaic I'm just drawing upon my own horizons moment whatever you're doing I'm going to suggest to you that there's appropriate to have a sword girded by your side what sorta by talking about the Word of God right if General David Jones chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is a believer and can have a sword by his side he's generally the Air Force I don't know many generally are forced to have a sword girded on him but he does and so it's kind of interesting so anyway the point is you have a weapon along with whatever other tools God is putting your hands to fight the battle with okay that's the first exhortation is to contend earnestly for what the gospel salvation that's not the word he uses faith and boy here we could have an exam with 20 questions on it and we'd be lucky to answer two right I thought I knew what the faith was until I started digging into this the word faith is a more inclusive term than salvation or gospel and the Holy Spirit didn't use the term salvation or gospel here he used a much broader term and I'm gonna just mention a few things to you to sort of suggest a few things but there's actually 18 references that you could quickly come up with with things that what's all the faith about you can get your own concordance and do that but let's just look at a couple of places let's look at 2nd Corinthians 13:5 2nd Corinthians chapter 13 and this is skitty's neat little passages would scare you when you think about it Paul says in a second layer the Corinthians chapter 13 verse 5 examine yourselves whether you are in the faith fool whoa boy examine yourselves are you in the faith see I thought so prove yourselves no you not yourself so Jesus Christ is in you unless you're discredited and he goes on and talks about that what about the faith we are to examine ourselves to be sure we're in the faith what do we know about the faith first of all it's a mystery what faith really was was not revealed prior to the New Testament what am I getting at 1st Timothy 3 9 we just popped back quickly in the first Timothy chapter 3 in his in his discussions of qualifications and so forth for the ministry he says to Timothy in chapter 3 verse 9 says holding the mystery of faith in a pure conscience the word mystery there's mysterion in the Greek it means something was hidden up till now but I'm now revealing so something about faith it's not really obvious it's not a glib easy thing faith is more than belief believe on the Lord Jesus Christ you shall be saved your house great I can believe that that chair will hold my weight I don't have faith in until I rely on it faith has to do with not just believing but relying on that belief we just read in 1st Timothy 4:1 since we're on this page I'll call your attention to it again just a little over now the spirit speaketh expressly that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith and give heed to seducing spirits and doctrines of demons faith is something that is going to depart from the earth in the last days in some broad way that's what that's why the epistle to Jude is such a last day's issue apostasy is going to be not something that just happens the last days it's gonna characterize the last days as long as the first Timothy turn to first Timothy 5 verse 8 faith involves duty to others first Timothy 5:8 it says but if any provide not for his own especially for those of his own house he hath denied the faith which is worse than an infidel hey guys did you know that you had an obligation to provide for your families you sort of knew that I mean you book read the book of Proverbs your wife remind you that did you but first Timothy 5/8 kind of heavy if any provide not for his own and especially for those of his own house he hath denied the faith that's kind of heavy remember that girls or your husband's worry about trying to put bread on the table that's not materialism it says compliance with first Timothy 5:8 it's an act of faith what's it he needs to provide for his own that's an injunction from God himself it shows up lots of places but this is perhaps the heavy one because if you don't do it you're worse than an infidel faithful teaching establishes the church in faith we know that from Acts 16 5 and all believers are instructed to stand fast and continue in faith 1st Corinthians 16:13 acts 14:22 I don't think we need to take the time to chase those down those are pretty self-evident instructions and the epistles okay couple of other things though about this issue of apostasy any claim of additional revelation outside the Bible is evidence of apostasy what's my authority Deuteronomy 4:2 and revelation 22:18 just to give you a couple let's turn to the Torah I like this because we've familiar this in Revelation let's look at that in a minute those are the the bracketing ones there's dozens of verses like this but I'll take the fourier one and the last one the Torah the Pentateuch chapter 4 verse 2 God says he shall not add to the word which I command you neither shall ye diminish anything from it that you may keep the commandments of the Lord your God which I command you that's typical of many many passages in scripture it occurs obviously in the tour as I've mentioned just here and let's go to the and other end of the book chapter 22 Revelation chapter 22 verse 18 of try to speak specifically of the book of Revelation but I don't think it's I think it'd be pretty argumentative to try to argue that doesn't apply to the Bible as a whole let's read verse 18 of chapter 22 the book of Revelation for I testify unto every man that heareth the words of this prophecy of this book If any man shall add unto these things God shall add unto Him the plagues that are written in this book If any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy God shall take away his part from the tree of life and out of the holy city and from the things which are written in this book when I add anything or subtract anything I don't think so I don't think so now what that really says is that somebody that tries to add to the truths of God or subtract from them has got a heavy problem but in the generic that we're dealing if we're talking about apostasy no all this gives rise to an issue that for lack of a better word I'll call combat faith halon's you just published a book called combat faith which deals of this issue - but the whole idea is that your faith is not just a passive private invisible thing that you that's neat around the dining room table when you have a family night with your family faith isn't just something in the quiet hours of the morning when you read your allotted three chapters a day or whatever program you've set for yourselves faith is a combatant thing and your passage for that is Ephesians section it's interesting in our home we have kind of a large entrance and a library and right between it's the styling lends itself to a suit of armor and because of the house we some time ago acquired a suit of armor it stands there by the door and people come to our house and what's that thing you know and well that's Ephesians six and if they're questioned they know right away what we mean if they not we gives us an excuse to go and say you know put on the whole armor of God and feet shod to the preparation of the gospel of peace and so forth so Ephesians say so in the interest of time I won't get into details but those of you that are familiar with it it'd be well to review Ephesians 6 that you put on the whole armor of God and that's both defensive and offensive that's what you can withstand a combat that is destined for you and at the same time you can be an active warrior for the faith and so that not bad we got through three verses and to set a record we'll we got one more will go through verse four I think we can make it and that way we won't be lagging around here for okay now the question I'm going to ask then getting back to Jude verse four is why did Jude have to write the book we know to whom it's written we know the holy spirit diverted his original purpose to another purpose what is the purpose why is this necessary because of verse 4 there are tares among the wheat that's what verse 4 says verse 4 for there are certain men crept in unawares who were before of old ordained to this condemnation ungodly men turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ three marks of an apostate that we'll get into but the first thing this is the reason it's because of race for the letter had to be written it's because of verse four that the Holy Spirit admonishes us exhorts us to contend earnestly for the faith why because their subversives in our midst now you all know the story of the tares and the wheat if you don't you can review refresh your memory in Matthew 13 verses 24 through 30 we won't take the time tonight in the parable in the kingdom parables of Matthew 13 we have the same symbols used and several the parables the sower goes to so it's to sow seed what is the seed the Word of God in one of those parables second parable at night when no one is around an enemy came and sowed tares or weeds if you will so when they started when they sprouted up they found out not the only the good wheat but there's also EADS and what do you do you let them grow until the time of the end and they'll be separated that's the gist of it Matthew 24 Matthew 13 verses 24 through 30 so that's the reason is that there is false brethren they've stolen into the church let's turn to Galatians chapter 2 and many many passages you just pick a few here but Galatians chapter 2 verses 4 and 5 Paul writing the Galatians isn't that because of false brethren unawares brought in who came in secretly to spy out our Liberty which we have in Christ Jesus that they might bring us into bondage to whom we give place by subjection no not for an hour that the truth of the gospel might continue with you and he goes on ok now as Saints are you in parallel apparently let's take us look at 2nd Corinthians chapter 11 Paul is here talking about perils and he lists a bunch of these for a purpose in his argument here at which I don't get into right now but he just says in journeyings often verse 26 in journeyings often in perils of waters in perils of robbers in perils of mine own countrymen in perils of the Gentiles in perils of the city in perils of the wilderness in perils in the sea you know Paul's life he was accident-prone you know I'm saying that facetiously of course but he was indeed a man that was buffeted by many things but you notice the last one this year in perils among false brethren okay so perils come from all shapes and sizes and he goes on to talk about this and I want don't belabor it ok Saints can be in peril and particularly in the latter times and this is again my references there would includes things like the first Timothy 4:1 passage doctrines of demons and so forth that's going to get increasingly relevant now the warnings of this were written as early as the earliest dawn of history none other than the earliest prophet you probably can imagine Enoch who was the father of Methuselah hmm whose child was a prophecy of the flood warns of these things and and Jude is going to take that up I won't take it up tonight because we're gonna get into that stuff it's gonna be kind of fun verses 14 and 15 in the book of Jude okay so the next question is what is an apostate as we get into all this and here we can go to another parable apparel the sower in the seed we all know the sower of the seed where he has good ground and rocky ground and so forth what most people don't do is study the words there it's interesting that the rocky ground in Luke 813 the rocky ground receives the word the word des des komai receives the word but it has no root the seed that falls on the good ground the Greek word is parody coli and that just receives it it welcomes it there's a different kind of reception going on the one leads to roots and fruit and good good results the others don't understand the word word does not bring up forth bring forth fruit this is all in Matthew 13 verse 23 as an example we're gonna discover that those and later on we'll get verse 12 of the Epistle we're gonna discover that they were without fruit they're twice dead and they're plucked up by the roots and we're gonna get into that what do you mean twice dead and we'll talk about that when we get to verse 12 that's a little bit ahead of us here now this concept of apostasy that we're dealing with is not simply indifference or error or even getting tangled up with a heresy the concept of pasta is actually a rejection of the truth of God people that received light but not life people that have the written word but not the living word in them and the examples we're going to discover obviously include Judas Iscariot we don't not mention the pistil but that's an obvious example of the extreme apostate but the three that are going to be mentioned this thing climaxes up in verse 11 will be Cain Balaam and Korah and we'll deal with that when we get there but those the earliest apostate is Cain Cain and Abel what's really going on there we're gonna take this issue all the way to the gates of Eden and start there and what is Balaam all about the strange character the surface and the Book of Numbers that is featured so prominently in the book of Revelation we'll talk about Balaam a bit and of course Korah which you know discovers what how God enforces his authority in some interesting ways now what manner of men are these these are men that creep in privately privately secretly they settle down alongside false teachers that bring in damnable heresies and we saw that in 2nd Peter 2:1 earlier there are three identifiers of these apostates they're ungodly whatever that means they pervert the grace of God into lasciviousness and they deny our Lord and Savior those are the three identifiers and by the way those three identifiers fit the three that are get clients the Epistle in verse 11 Cain of ungodliness Balaam and perverting the grace of God and Korah denying God's appointed leader at that time so there's a parallelism of the three that are chosen with these three identifying characteristics of the holy spirit lays out for us we use the term ungodly what do we really mean someone's destitute of a reverential awe of God that's what being ungodly means it doesn't have to be a militant atheist to be ungodly it's just somebody who does not have a reverential attitude of awe toward God look around at our society you don't have to be guilty of pornographic films on cable TV to be ungodly all you have to do is be a secular humanist who doesn't really acknowledge or recognize the existence of God and operative in our lives we're done godly it can be someone according to 2nd Timothy 3:5 who has the form button eyes the power of God it's Romans 1:16 it's someone who denies the gospel of Christ that's easy someone in Philippians 3:10 someone that denies the transforming power of new life you know what someone could be ungodly if he isn't embracing the essential truths of God now the interesting thing from sec from from the old several tests in romans it's the heart not the outward appearances at the key it's not the appearance of God and this is where are they at really now let me give you an example of something that appears Pleasant and rational this whole you we hear a lot about the brotherhood of man all men are brothers then a pleasant easy idea very comfortable very popular the brotherhood of man how many apparently worthwhile charities and efforts are under that manner the only problem with that is well there's several problems with it in John chapter 8 verse 44 Jesus Christ speaks speaking to part of the crowd the pharisaical part of the crowd ye are of your father the devil and the works of your father ye will do remember that term would be a Johnny I love John 8 because it's so tactful and it's so tactful John 8 is kind of fun because when you get down about verse 19 there's a little dialogue going on with Jesus Christ and the Pharisees and in the politeness of the King James you miss it in verse 18 jesus said I'm the one that beareth witness of myself the father that sent me birth witness of me and they say to him where is thy father now what you miss is the implied snide crack there they're calling him a bastard they're alluding to his illegitimate illegitimate Seavey's as Joseph and Mary Jesus just answers that you know neither me nor my father he goes on and this builds up so that by the time before the chapter is over he gives them a letter doesn't defend his legitimacy but he comments on Thurs I mean this all builds up pretty neat because it gets to verse 44 words as ye are of your father the devil and the lusts of your father ye will do he was a murderer from the beginning and a boat when it who did he murder Adam you bet the first murder wasn't Cain and Abel the first murder was satan's murdering of adam by getting adam to become mortal it's a fact in effect and not in truth because there is no truth in him when he speaketh a lie he speaketh of his own and for he's a liar and the father of it and he goes on here and so forth and I and I love the way it ends where he claims to be the voice in the burning bush he says you know Abraham rejoiced to see my day verse 56 your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day and he saw it and was glad that you said it mo you not yet fifty years old huh can you see yep how can you say you've seen Abraham Jesus said verily I say unto you before Abraham was I am and he's using the very structure that the voice of the burning bush said to Moses and that's really the the I am statement the gospel John's built about seven around seven I am statements by Jesus Christ you and I missed that but they didn't because in verse 59 they tried to stone him they understood that that was what he was saying anyway the universal brotherhood of man it's interesting to me that first of all we need to understand that all men are not brothers there are members in the family of God and they're members that are not and that's sounds bigoted it sounds narrow but that's what God tells us and that's the brotherhood of man sounds appealing but as deny as the gospel of Jesus Christ it's very interesting to me that in Europe there's a confederation of Nations we call it the common market more properly called the European community you may know they have a parliament they have a budget they have things did you know they have a national anthem you didn't know that did you know what the national anthem of the European Community is Schiller's Ode to Joy under Beethoven's ninth next time you get a chance to read a libretto of Beethoven's it's that fabulous music we sometimes we have a hymn that goes to say music you know Allah mentioned bird and brooder all men are brothers Schiller's Ode to Joy it's an eloquent exclamation that of the brotherhood of man how each thing it is that this Federation of Nations that comprise the original Roman Empire are emerging as a confederation built on world trade as revelation 1718 suggests and maybe a precursor to a lot of other interesting things it's interesting that their national anthem is the brotherhood of man so I thought short here shall we moving on ungodly is the first part of apostates Eggman's perverts the grace of God and lasciviousness it's not hard for us to visualize how someone can pervert Ephesians 2:8 and 9 for the by the grace of God we are saved so therefore we have liberty in Christ therefore it's anything we do is alright and how easy it is to use the Liberty of Christ to be turned into lasciviousness what does the grace of Jesus Christ call the Christian to really do turn to Titus to nothing else will break open your Bibles and turn to pages you may not even turn to you Titus chapter 2 let's talk about the grace of God you know we talked a lot in our studies about the difference in grace and works and so forth great Grace's our liberty in Christ but what should that lead to what should that freedom in Christ lead to freedom from the law freedom from works reliance entirely on Jesus Christ completed work on the cross where's that lead to Titus tells us in chapter 2 verse 11 and 12 for the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men teaching us that denying ungodliness and worldly lusts we should live soberly righteously and godly in this present age and looking for that blessed open the glorious appearing of that Great God and our Savior Jesus Christ and he goes on what do we mean by perverting the grace of God well number one and Christian walk it's constructive but also I might suggest that the rejection of the word of God occurs whenever it's displaced by tradition custom loyalty to some other organization very worthwhile things very attractive things when they displace the primacy of the Word of God in your life that's perverting the grace of God the interesting isn't it tradition custom creed loyalty to an organization you name it anything that gets in the way anything that yields your loyalty to something other than his word is dangerous I know I've been loyal to a lot of things that cause me a lot of introspection there's only one thing you and I want to be primarily loyal to and that's his word ungodly perverts the grace of God the third thing the obvious thing is he did not that the apostate denies our only master and Lord Jesus Christ there are four ideas embodied in this denial our only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ and if you read dissect that you discover there's four items in there one is a sovereignty pre-existing creator of all things going to Colossians and elsewhere at this average that secondly he is the Lord of all true believers the name Jesus refers to Jehovah the Savior our martyr substitute he who died for us his role as our Savior that's different than being our Lord he can be your savior but is he really the lord of your life it's all thing I'll leave you with and of course Christ is a title the Messiah of Israel the Messiah the appointed one of the Old Testament prophecy and obviously if we deny him he'll deny us and there's plenty of verses on that Matthew 1033 2nd Timothy 2:12 1st John 2:22 and 23 to name a few where if we deny him he will in fact deny us first four verses of Jude we've completed next time we'll obviously pick it up at verse 5 let me give your homework assignments there'll be a quiz numbers 14 you might find it interesting to look at numbers 14 and find the answered prayer what happened to Israel in the wilderness is extremely important we know that from the amount of New Testament epistles who focus on it so in addition numbers 14 which you might find fruitful to read before next time you might turn to 1st Corinthians 10 the first 12 verses which deals with all of us and if you still got some time to dig Hebrews chapter 3 in chapter 4 deal this the lessons of Israel and the wilderness as they pertain to you and I terms are faithfulness those of you that are really ambitious and want to prepare for what probably won't occur next time but might and more likely maybe the time following would be I suggest when we get to Jude 6 you'll want to read Genesis chapter 6 first few verses 2nd Peter chapter 2 and you might also want to review the hit the origin and career and ambitions and destiny of Satan in terms of isaiah 14 and ezekiel 28 because we're gonna get on the creepy stuff as we go into that stuff let's stand for a closing word of prayer dudes gonna be fun a lot of stuff in it but the central issue the central issue is apostasy the central issue for you and i is are we contending earnestly for the faith are you contending earnestly for the faith when you find a ministry you find responsive do you support it with a letter of encouragement or an offering you fit Lord leads you that way whether it's a to church you attend a fellowship that has a need a broadcast whatever that's one of the ways can you support the ministries that are true to the whole counsel of God you speak out when you see a challenge to God's truth or the role and ministry and completed work of Jesus Christ the challenge that the Lord would have for all of us tonight and as we go through this epistle is are we and how are we faithfully agonizingly contending for the faith let's bow our hearts father we praise you that you have indeed called us to be your own we thank you Father that you have loved us so much as to give us our Lord and Savior we also thank you Father that you have pledged to keep us in your forever family we would ask you Father to just help us to grow in grace and the knowledge of a Lord and Savior Jesus Christ we would ask you Father to make us more sensitive more aware of the ways that we should indeed to be earnestly contending for the faith we'd ask you Father to help us prepare for those unique ministries you have for each and every one of us forthcoming we'd ask your father to increase in us a hunger for your word and increasing sensitivity to those things that will equip us for the warfare ahead in all these things father we would ask that you would feed us encourage us strengthen us that we indeed might be more effective bond slaves of Jesus Christ that we might be more pleasing in thy sight you Lord our strength and our Redeemer

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Published: Fri Jan 31 2020