Jude 1:1-5 - Mercy For The Trip - Jude Series #4

[Music] last week I took him to the book of Jude a little epistle 25 verses you know I don't really know how many messages I have ever heard preached I think I myself over the years have delivered maybe one or two concerning verse 21 but haven't really touched the rest of the book so we started there last week I'm going to take you back there this week if you see me write in Greek or in Hebrew in any other language don't let that scare you most of the people here are familiar with that and they're not afraid of it there are some people that immediately they see Greek or Hebrew and they go well I don't understand that that's okay that's my job to translate and as you become more familiar with what I do I encourage you to go and check out these words in fact the Bible that I'm using is a Bible that we have produced for the church here I always say if you have a Bible like mine but this Bible has some strong numbers notated through the whole Old and New Testament and most of the time you'll hear me say Strong's number and I referenced something so today I'm gonna make a correction in this Bible if you are using a Bible like mine and if you are using a King James translation we're going to actually make a correction so for the benefit of those who say well how could you correct the Word of God the King James is the in thereat Word of God right the King James Version is one of many English translations or versions but in order to be most accurate we have to go back to the Greek and there's a little something just in the opening here that I want to clarify Jude servant as I rightly translated last week slave of Jesus Christ and brother of James to them that are sanctified by God is your Bible reads sanctified by God okay we're gonna look at that real quickly before I get to that correction let me just point out I made mention last week and happened to get one or two questions about this particular reference I made regarding Jude who says he's brother of James and I made reference that we know Jesus had at least four brothers if you're interested in that reference put it down somewhere and go look it up in your spare time that would be in mark 6 3 I believe I hope I'm quoting this right where it talks about the the ones that are referred to James Joseph Jude which is also referred to as Judas not Judas Iscariot but Judas or Jude and Simon equally if you're interested as a footnote it is in Matthew 13 verses 55 and 56 where it references and his sisters were there to a number of sisters half sisters to Jesus so somebody is the word you get that information well it's in the book don't blame me so just a little footnote there interesting how Jude could have very easily done what most people would do today and say well I'm related to Jesus right he could have done that he could have used that as a tool to leverage over the people but very careful I like that although he says brother of James I'm not sure that that's something to be real proud of but brother of James very carefully and there's sometimes what is not written tells us a lot about the author and his mindset versus what is there and what isn't there is he doesn't say blood relative or I am the sand so to establish himself rather he takes that position using the word servant doulos slave of Jesus Christ and lets it be silently established in such a way that we see respect honor and dignity in his position whatever that was we don't know if Jude could be classified as an apostle or if he could be classified as whatever as I read this short epistle what I glean is that he definitely has an under shepherds heart because he's he's calling out these false teachers with false doctrine but he's also admonishing the faithful ones to keep strong in the faith and to build up themselves in that most holy faith to contend for what he calls the faith which was once delivered to the Saints so not just to look at him as some argumentative polemicists looking to have a good spat between Christians he's calling out what he sees and by the way he's not alone in this a careful study of 2nd Peter and Jude side-by-side share a lot of similarities in addressing these false teachers which by the way are not only addressed in 2nd Peter they are equally addressed in letters of the Apostle Paul such as Galatians we know this very well who hath bewitched you who is made you become a turncoat 2 doctrine which is not sound draw doctrine and Paul's complaint was don't be like those that are swayed with every wind of doctrine here there's some pretty clear admonition to the recipients the intended readers and we in the church become those intended readers as we as we study but there's there is a correspondence between 2nd Peter and Jude specifically when it comes to addressing these false teachers crept in unawares type people Jude maybe a little bit more mellow in his address verses 2nd Peter which tends to be if you read it the English waters it down but the Greek is pretty hard-hitting referring to those people who are perverting the gospel and even turning some away from the faith there will be some common threads here and some common words which will be repeated last week we looked at the word kept which I showed you how many times it was reappearing in the text 25 verses and I think we counted maybe five times although the King James translators used other words but the same Greek word was being repeated so what what do we know about this short epistle as I said there is something going on in this early church whoever as I said the intended recipients are that is a warning now over the years I've stood in front of you and I've have been very careful to say certain things to kind of say if you want to fall for that stuff then shame on you you know somebody said well D but these people who follow this ministry or that ministry they don't know any better well that can only be carried so far because it becomes obvious to me if you don't and I say you not you but individuals don't want to take the time to learn what the Bible says on certain subjects then it means that you don't care enough to know what God's last word through His Son Jesus Christ and through the senton ones that he gave is to the Church of God and therefore you really don't it it's like it's all good it doesn't matter with that mindset I'm not really quite sure what to do except stand back and say I've tried to point people in the right direction I've said don't just take my word I just said this a few minutes ago about Greek and Hebrew look it up for yourselves be a Berean study what I'm saying why because this is the foundation of our faith and I'm not looking to try and lead people into some secret you know this is a special doctrine only for the select few this is whosoever will available to anyone who will open their heart their ears and use their eyeballs to read and follow along and I I'm very glad I'm just gonna I want to boast a little bit about something it's good boasting it's not bad boasting about this church when I opened the door to teach Biblical Hebrew lots of you signed up when I opened the door and I said I'm we did those few lessons in Greek on festival many of you were following along and many of you have continued that's the mark of the desire to want to dig deeper because English can only take you so far it's good but it can only take you so far if you're wanting to dig deep and find deeper meaning in these words so what I'm telling you is that this letter basically is I think kind of somewhat neglected and I'm gonna raise my hand and say I haven't given it too much attention but we're gonna change that hopefully right now so take a look at one word that appears in verse one which is the word sanctified now this is not meaning to be funny if you have a Bible like mine there's going to be a number beside sanctified it should say thirty-seven can I hear somebody say yes okay thirty-seven I wasn't gonna say can I have an amen I'm not looking for that right now wrong Church but thirty-seven would be a Greek word hag yeah so from another word hagion which is holy sacred and although there's nothing wrong with that that word appears in many different greetings the problem is that in the Greek of this text it is not there instead and that's why I said I wish to share this with you because if there's corrections to be made there they sometimes are major or minor this is a minor one but it changes the feel of what's being said the right word here is the Greek word and if you have been following along forgive my chicken scratch here Gabi Gabi menos menos should look like that and if you are starting to study greed with me or if you've been here any amount of time you're gonna notice these letters right here in the Greek that's actually putting it in the past but form the word agape love so what we have here is the right word should not be sanctified you might say well how does how do you get from sanctified to love or a love word well first let me show you what the I'll go back to the Greek and show you what the word would have looked like I like to do this it's small corrections to show you some things but the word for holy looks like this and you say well how do you get from this to that real easily when you're dealing with New Testament letters where we know portions of the letter in our most extent in our oldest documents may be missing and what you might find is the beginning may be two letters and then a fragment is missing so what we know from our oldest and best is it is the word for love agapimú noise and not Hagee ah so which would change the reading of this to read as follows I'll read first from the 26 translations and some of what what appears in the 26 translation to them that are called beloved in God the Father another version says to those that have been called who are dear to God the Father and have been kept through union with Jesus Christ from what I've often referred to the temporary contemporary parallel New Testament with eight translations or versions in it that same passage will read something like this from the new American Standard Bible beloved in God from the contemporary English version to all who are chosen and loved by God the new century version - all who have been called by God God the Father loves you yes that's a more modern version the NIV who are loved by God which is probably after the King James the most popular version that's read who are loved by God and there's no the scholars are not all in agreement of how this should be translated the problem with this is it's not easy this it's a verb it's a it is a verb for love not sanctified so sanctified means set apart holy which appears elsewhere in the New Testament but here I kind of have to lean heavily towards the bulk of what the scholars including my own translation which I've done my own version which would either read beloved in God the Father or loved by why because this letter at the very front puts it in the past and it is a participle and perfect okay no more grammar all right step away from the grammar all right but what I'm trying to say there is this could be a little scary that word sanctified a lot of times scares people because you know when you hear people talk about holiness and sanctification and that those are their words that are tied together one is rooted from the Latin stream the other one from obviously where we get our Greek words but can be very scary because people will say well I faith I have faith but I'm certainly not holy or a holy one well that simply means and my late husband established this really well he said simply something that is set apart for the exclusive use of the DD which doesn't suggest that somehow you put on some white outfit and don't breathe don't smoke don't blink don't look in any way shape or form accept that you are and exist but rather something just set apart for the use of God that is the safest way to explain sanctified however that's not what is being read here so Jude a King James servant a slave of Jesus Christ and we put a positive connotation on that word in the biblical understanding of it and brother of James to them that are loved by God or beloved of God God the Father and preserved or kept in Jesus Christ and called now let me just stop right there there are only two verses that give us some form of a greeting unlike other writings in the New Testament where the greetings may be much longer this is a greeting and a short benediction in two verses and you know when you're talking about an epistle that's only 25 verses long the thing you want to grab hold of is how much can I say in the little time that I have now I'm gonna speak for possibly an hour and I'm gonna try and get as much as I can in an hour to you but writing a letter becomes much more challenging you really do have to think how the writer could get as much into that epistle as possible and by the way most of you text right you send text messages to people you know confusing that is in text short text can be misunderstood right well think of this as kind of a text message form in the New Testament because it's very short and you've got to get as much in as you can succinctly so he does I think an incredible job of doing so and carrying out this challenging task now here is the benediction as part of greeting and benediction mercy unto you and peace and love be multiplied I want to stop right there to tell you this is an interesting greeting and it's interesting for several readings reasons because mercy is not usually included when you read Paul's writing it's Grace and peace be to you grace and peace be multiplied even grace peace and love out of first and second Timothy you'll find those greetings but mercy being put into the greeting is quite unusual which opens up a very good question which I want to tackle right now because there's a lot of confusion about this one word mercy now most people if you ask them they'll say well that's kind of like grace right kinda well kind of but not really because grace is grace grace Cudi's the Greek word Cuddy's unmerited favor you can do nothing to earn it it is God pouring out onto the believer the fader something that you did nothing to get you did nothing to earn mercy however carries with it the Greek word illios carries with it quite different a meaning or definition and I want to take a few minutes to talk about this because I think it's quite important why Jude chose mercy many scholars are of the belief that he intended to say Curry's but Curry's is a very common grace is a very common word in the Greek and I don't think he made a mistake why because the rest of the body of the letter carries with it why we would why he would wish or desire for the intended readers to have the mercy of God the mercy of God peace and love be multiplied I wish this for you by the way that's a great wish or desire from any pastors mouth and what does mercy the first word carry with it it means we're already past the stage of grace because we understand the readers would have understood what that meant mercy is something you ever heard somebody when they're there in a crisis the lord have mercy on me that's in the moment of the best way to describe this is in the moment of misery or in the moment of in this case he's going to be talking about judgment that will come upon these apostates of the church and he's using the word mercy I think quite specifically it's not some random it sounded good so I put it there mercy unto you first word and interesting that these mercy peace and love are nouns they're not verbs but they must come from God and it denotes something that somewhere else we have in the New Testament it says judgment begins at the house of God I think that Jude had to have been familiar with that understanding to say mercy and it's a there's a book into this by the way if you read in verse 21 he says keep yourselves in the love of God looking for the mercy same word of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life mercy being poured out unto those who are going to be in the midst of beholding the apostasy suffering through the apostates design here which brings a whole trauma on the church I'm not sure for some of you that this will even some people will sit beat what does it matter to me it matters to me as a pastor and it matters to me before all before I used the word pastor it matters to me as a Christian and they don't use that simply as an adjective but as a follower of Christ when I see people prostituting the church for profit twisting the scriptures for their personal gain because somehow they've created this big monster called the megachurch which has to be fed you've got to keep feeding the machine so what do we do when we run out of this book well we come up with ideas that are pleasing to men or mankind I don't mean to be using a gender the middle door and somehow appeal to the very base nature that is within each and every person it's their greed coveting all the things that we know they lurk in the soul there there doesn't mean that they're active but they lurk there you know I don't think that there's a creature in the sound of my voice that hasn't passed by a lotto sign that says 300 million went home and what I couldn't do with that well there's no sin in that there's no sin in that but it becomes a little bit sinful when you understand that magnify that times a bazillion and reduce it down then into dust which is what resides in the soul that's what's in every person some of it comes out some of it's magnified some of it's suppressed but we are by the washing of our mind kept I'm gonna say sane because of this blessed word so he's using the term mercy and as I said I don't think it's an accident somewhere in my notes here I have Phillips use of this word where he talks about mercy I believe he said is the upward look peace is the inward look and love is the outward look describing our interpersonal relationships between man and man and man and God but whatever the cause here let me just kind of put this down and then I can move forward the greeting stops right after this be multiplied and then beloved when I gave all diligence to write unto you and he begins to talk about why he's writing so I don't want to be too quick to get into why he's writings will spend enough time talking about that but I do want to spend a little time talking about mercy peace and love as a great prayer magnified to you to me to those people who are following along in this day and age not just the readers of dudes day now here's something interesting for you because I couldn't help it I went back to look I have a Hebrew New Testament I know that sounds counterintuitive because the Hebrew is vague and ambiguous but as curious to see what what word they used when they were translating mercy and they ended up using this word which I have talked about many times before has said except here's what's interesting that word was used of God's unconditional love in the Old Testament it was also used of covenant love to those who kept the word who to those who were essentially faithful to the word or to the Word of God so it kind of struck a chord with me that the Hebrew used this word to kind of pull out something that I had to go looking for very earnestly mercy as I said in the in the New Testament sense carries with it what we receive through our troubles through our misery through our the course of life when we say God be merciful to me or like the one that was standing praying saying be merciful to me a sinner interesting that that word has said carries with it God's love to New Testament sense the sinner Old Testament that wouldn't have that would have worked at all but in the New Testament sense God's love his mercy poured out to the sinner and I've said many times the most unfortunate thing is encountering places people individuals Church who will tell you that once you come to the knowledge of the Lord you you are no longer a sinner that you've been saved there are people that hold the doctrine of once saved always saved and once they've been delivered they never sin again please give me your address so I can come talk to you I want to know what your thoughts are on some other things but John in his epistles not the gospel he says whosoever says he doesn't sin as a liar he says whatsoever is born of God cannot sin that's the implant of God's nature in you that cannot sin but we will remain sinners until we die this is why I've tried over the years to say if you know someone who is in a fundamentalist frame or someone who is in that perfectionist lifestyle you probably want to distance yourself because they will constantly be telling you how they have been cleansed saved delivered they don't sin anymore but they're the best at finding all of your faults and the things that you should repent for because you need to repent and yes some of us really you know have been battered over the head with that over the years in fact I've told you many times usually those people are sent by the devil they're doing the devil's work because what does the devil devil the accuser of the Brethren coming to accuse if we are like that picture that talks about Joshua being clothed with festive new garments take the clothes off and put the new clothes on him which is symbolic of the New Testament believer in Christ washed by the blood then I Got News for You anybody who comes and starts talking to you about what you did yesterday last month last week last year they're nothing but an accuser of the Brethren sent straight from the pit of hell to try and confuse you that the thing that was done at Calvary is not sufficient enough to have washed and cleansed you from those things that you've already talked to God that he knows you know and he knows and he's good with that because he obviously is still in contact with you just thought I'd add that in so when we get into this letter I want to make sure you don't think that I'm engaging in some fruit picking here I'm gonna pick through this letter and highlight some things that will take us into some interesting secondary literature which I believe Jude was familiar with some of it people call questionable but what is not questionable to show you how outside of the Bible this type of a greeting mercy unto you peace and love be multiplied if you're into reading the church fathers this is from a I don't know 12 volume the Antonis II and father's it's stupendous reading well I'll keep you riveted for hours or it will put you to sleep forget about ambien you don't need that just open up one of these books and start reading and it can be very interesting but it can also be very uh but the opening of the encyclical epistle of the church at Smyrna which is concerning the martyrdom of Polycarp opens with the greeting that's very much like Jude so you can see that this was not uncommon he says the church of god which sojourn zatt Smyrna to the Church of God sojourning in falow mininum or fill filo million and to all the congregations of the holy and catholic church which is not catholic as we know it today but universal in every place mercy peace and love from God the Father and our Lord Jesus Christ be multiplied so it wasn't that uncommon later that type of a greeting but usually used the word mercy usually used in a time of trouble and the church in this case whoever he was writing to was definitely in trouble the word peace we know we've studied this with you many times which comes from God which in a diversity of places Jesus says peace I leave with you my peace I give unto you which is the peace that Paul talks about that passes all understanding we're not able to even comprehend and from the Greek from the Hebrew universe the word Shalom which carries with it the concept of well-being wholeness and the last word their love which is our word for agape being multiplied all of these gifts all of these nouns coming from up above not something we have on our own that are needed for the trip and while I was preparing for this particular message I thought there's there could be no better tool for us because you can read this pistol' in three minutes or less so I want to just kind of pause here there could be no better tool for us as we go our walk which is usually fraught with attacks and their their needs this needs to be said in such a way where people who maybe are not familiar with following Christ and what it brings no I don't Anna have never preached I have never said to you following Christ will be easy it's not actually it's a paradox it's the easiest in in the way of reading and opening your heart and desiring but it's the hardest because the will like Paul says this double nature that's always fighting I know what the word says but my spirit is fighting against that and then there are these other attacks that we have to contend with with which most of the church world doesn't like to talk about because they say well that's kind of nutty when you talk about the devil people will think you're a nut well then the Apostle Paul was a nut and Jesus was a nut and they're all nuts and I want to be counted with those nuts because they knew what they were talking about Jesus after he comes out of being baptized the first thing that happens I've told you this before is tempted by oh he wasn't tempted by the Good Samaritan right and in the most perverse way using Scripture so we need mercy for the trip we need this elias of god for the trip that within the moment of things happening to us or the things that we behold as i've said many times the thing that rubs me the wrong way is when i see people actually treating the church like a business and it's not a business it's something that belongs to god the church his people which belonged to him this building this building as i've said could be here today and gone tomorrow we live in earthquake land and fire land I told you some of you know within the last year somebody trying to firebomb the church and burn it down it's just a building but we are his church we the people are his out called ones ecclesia so we need mercy along the way we need mercy for ourselves in the midst of our troubles and we need mercy for the things that we see where we say how is this possible in fact I was reading one of the commentaries that I have on my shelf which I sometimes I pull off just to read and go through because I don't know reading his messages sometimes it's almost like home is Vernon McGee's through the Bible and in one of the things that he says he he is commenting on this passage and he says you know why we need mercy and why we need peace and why we need love and he begins to tell about the fact that he says I'll tell you why he says the one who's preaching to you who's talking to you you know has been through a lot and people will say what do you know about whatever and he says from the voice of a man who at this point had gone through two rounds of cancer surgery and was essentially although he looked well in fit was dying needed mercy to make it through and he says that in his commentary albeit brief when people say why does this happen he says well I need to ask for God's mercy to make it through that's not stoicism that's saying Lord be merciful to me in whatever state I'm in in this case as this pastor was referring to his situation he needed mercy to make it through because he knew not uncertainty of where he was going but he knew about the fact that people don't necessarily and haven't necessarily wrap their mind around the destiny of the Christian why do good things why do bad things happen to good people is what he was essentially answering he said mercy is needed for this I believe for the readers of this recipient of this letter they needed that word of comfort from and I'm gonna call him under Shepherd and pastor because it's only an under shepherd and a pastor that would look out for the flock and say you need this don't forget about this tool you're gonna need it in your back pocket carry it with you understand that there's a time when you're gonna have to ask for mercy if you haven't already and peace not the thing that you see pray that something will go away but the peace that comes from him to be able to be like those that were with Jesus able to be quiet at least for a moment in the storm and the love of God which is shed in our hearts by the Holy Spirit it's almost as though Jude covers the Father the Son and the Holy Spirit in this one verse telling you and be multiplied to you I wish for you to have this holy multiplication done unto you as you read this thing because you're going to need it for the trip now I can't think of a better more kind thing to wish or desire for the church and that brings me to some other factor about this before I get on in this book it seems to me that a lot of times when we don't have troubles when things are decent you're just you're just going along nothing has happened yet or it's in the past and it's in the distant past you and I will forget about this word mercy or you'll think about some other things maybe but mercy which by the way Christ spoke about in the fifth beatitude when he talked about mercy blessed are the merciful for they shall receive mercy he was speaking of those recipients who essentially know they are destitute without something coming from God which I stand at the forefront and say without him I have nothing and I'm nothing but they will be they will receive mercy and you can't get something unless you ask for it so as I said it's something good to put in your back pocket whether you're facing something now or in the future now on to the body of the letter he says beloved when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that you should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the Saints now we'll talk about this in the coming messages I will address this probably on festival but earnestly contend three English words summed up in one Greek word which if you remember when I translated Paul's fight the good fight of faith the Greek word was agonized you remember that it's the same word being used here that essentially you should agonize for the faith it means that for the Christian you may not like what I'm saying but I'd rather be blunt honest and have you walk away and say she's trying to tell me get put on the equipment put on the whole armor of God get suited up get prepared get prayed up not because you're going to be attacked in the next 30 seconds but because the attack happens when you drop your guard that's when it happens the most when you're not thinking about it right that you should earnestly contend that you should agonize for the faith which was once delivered unto the Saints and he's essentially referring back to the same thing that said in acts about the Apostles doctrine they didn't come up with something new and say hey today for your special love gift we've got this new idea that will get you through the week it'll make your life easy it'll make it fast convenient you'll get through it and what's the buzz words they use all these buzz words you know your seed it's a season it's a season of something okay whatever that season is in your life I prefer salt and pepper personally but all that seasoning my point is there was one thing that they preached Jesus Christ died for your sins Jesus Christ came out of the tomb and he lives Jesus Christ is the Messiah Lord and Savior and all of this is what we have to about he's telling his readers that was once delivered under the Saints because in a brief period of time as I mentioned last week perhaps no more than twenty maybe thirty years at best people were preaching subject matter for example for example it says that some say that Christ that there is no resurrection some were saying well but these things are only true for those in that first church but they're not true for us anymore which are doctrines by the way which you hear often today people will say well but that happened back then but God doesn't do that anymore well maybe the things that he did when he did them serve the purpose for that time but there's certain things that he has not changed god of deliverance God who is the Redeemer go back to the beginning of the book and you realize that he delivered those out of bondage for a purpose and yet unfortunately the lesson gleaned as he had to destroy those that he delivered why because they could not be saved even if he paraded his power and his miracles they refused now I don't know you know maybe we can talk very glibly and say well if God if God rained down manna today you know I've I'd be right there I'd be the immovable believer but God is raining down manna today is just not the same type of manna the manner that we received today is Jesus Christ which we know as a type in the Old Testament became factual what was a shadow became the reality in Christ so when we talk about this the body of this letter and the reason why he's writing is because he goes on to say 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 I will therefore put you in remembrance though you once knew this how that the Lord having saved the people out of the land of Egypt remember he's he's going way back afterward destroyed them that believe not now let me ask you a question why do you think he opens the first admonition with this one thing he's trying to get and I it's my opinion always tell you're going to have an opinion it's my opinion that perhaps his readers were of a more Hebraic understanding and perhaps even Jews because he's using concepts and terminology the deliverance out of Egypt regarding the body of Moses regarding Sodom and Gomorrah he's using all the imagery that those would be very well familiar with there's nothing that is what does that mean so I believe his intended readers had to be well familiar with the Old Testament which gives me good reason to believe they were of the Jewish faith but what's interesting is he begins with that as if to say let me stir up your memory a little bit God did this thing and yet he still ended up destroying these people now the reason why I mentioned 2nd Peter is because 2nd Peter he's going to talk about the same type of thing and he takes it a step further by talking about the end of time on earth how that everything will be burnt up and it's kind of a little bit scary if you're reading it saying oh I don't like that well God basically is saying I've opened a door and instead of in time past giving you these symbols of thunder and floods and rainbows and clouds I sent my son to you my only begotten son now unlike all the other symbols that were sent this one is the last one you'll get right God has spoken to us in these last days through His Son Jesus Christ this is the last one you're going to there's not going to be another revelation sorry but this is where the church today has a big problem and I'm gonna say this very carefully there'll be people who will misconstrue what I'm gonna say but needs to be said we live in a day and age right now where any man or woman of God lives in the fear of preaching the Word of God as it appears as it is written because the world has now basically said these views are unacceptable these are not good views these are not acceptable to the world at large and in fact were we are the church is having to morph itself and there's a big lest you think this is archaic this is very current there's a big fight right now it's only escalating and it's only gonna get worse where if you're reading the news you hear about a pastor who potentially now can be fined for talking about subjects such as homosexuality or abortion I do not preach on those subjects because I type reach one verse that covers it all one verse that says everything about humankind Romans 3:23 all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God if you're going to start fruit picking about what is a sin and what isn't no one's going to be left there's going to be no one to be able to stand and talk about anything because we all are in a terrible state so I have made it my business to stay out of those subjects if you want to read about them take up your Bible but there's there's this battle right now where the freedom to actually preach the gospel which talks about some of these things this letter will actually address some of them people are scared to even open their pastors are scared to open their mouth for the consequences that may come the threat for some churches of losing their tax-exempt status or for others it could be sanctions because using certain terminology is offensive that's why I said don't think this is archaic this is a battle for the church right now and although I don't stand dogmatically to talk about certain subjects which I refuse to they are too politically charged without what I call the sanity of somebody looking at least into the book even if you're not a Christian at least at least look into the book our founding fathers and this early country didn't have any issue with looking into this book but people have now perverted and it is the state of the church to be almost in paralysis not able to tell people I prefer to take the bigger picture and spread it like a big blanket I don't need to go and say individually well you did this and you're doing that Paul summed it up I repeat again Romans 3:23 all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God that glory is Jesus Christ and there isn't some select group and although yes even the Apostle Paul in the opening of his letter to the Romans talks about certain behaviors and characteristics of individuals in his day probably when we think of historical writings of his day we have fantastic movies that have been depicted with gross sexual and immoral behavior depicting that day well we've just carried ourselves into a new drama which is trying to make everything homogenized perfectly acceptable because we don't want to offend in God forbid we should talk about this one thing which is more important than any subject what we call fruit picking or exploring what one sin we must talk about how about just the subject of sin at large and what is being addressed here he begins with those who saw and they refused they saw the deliverance of God they saw the hand of God there was no way if you were in bondage in Egypt that you didn't see the plagues hit and those plagues were not plagues for some to witness and others to not see why Pharaoh says why have you done this why have you brought this on my land death and pestilence everything that you can think of brought upon the land so there wasn't there could not have been a person in that land that did not see the power of God poured out and even Pharaoh at some point says it's just witchcraft it's magic my magicians can do well his magicians couldn't do what God could do but it says of these people destroy them that believe not and it's hard for us it's even hard for me because I have a lot of people in my life who I care about deeply who would prefer not to hear about the faith of Jesus Christ and the saving power of Jesus Christ and all I can do is pray and sometimes lament and think about what what would it take for someone to actually come to the faith I can't do it what would it take God would it take raining down manna once more would it take flooding the earth would it take burning the earth up or would it take what the end of the book talks about in the book of Revelation what will be poured upon the earth those same people will say that won't happen that could never happen what I'm saying to you is this is a very timely thing for us the church is in crisis not just this church Christendom at large and if you're reading the news I I'm sorry like I I don't like to read the news but I see these different articles on what's happening with the faith what is happening within different bodies and different denominations you know I'll just address this and you'll see I'm not a hypocrite this way I've told you God is sovereign and God can choose it's just choosing if he wants a woman or if he wants a man or if he wants the middle door that's his business all right it's not mine he's the boss but there is a certain I think it is the largest Protestant denomination which is now having its own turmoil why because inside of that denomination people are taking the events from the world and bring them into the church and saying well we want in this particular denomination I'm referring to we want women to be equal to the men well listen that denomination has stood for as long as it has existed on sorry erroneous interpretation of Scripture and if that's their policy then do yourself a favor ladies leave that's their policy let them be in other words if that's the way it is there and you knew that going in don't try and take the world's climate and bring it into the church if you don't like it get up and go and from my vantage point if you think you can do better somewhere else and preaching the gospel go do it do it do what you do quickly don't stand there and make a ruckus and say well this is what's going on in the world and we've got to import this into the church and at the I told you I'm not a hypocrite I am all for the sovereignty of God if God wants to speak through Balaam's ass if he wants to speak through a woman if he wants to speak through a monkey you're the boss you decide and if people think it's a mockery or it shouldn't be then so be it but on the flip side don't try and take what's going on in the world and bring it into the church and say you the church must conform to the world no this is why Paul wrote in Romans 12 be not conformed to the world be metamorphose be changed be transformed by God's power into something God wants you to be in not the designs of the world and this small little epistle tells me that what was going on just twenty thirty years in the wake of Christ's death and resurrection maybe less than that has exponentially grown into a movement of blatant redentor ejection of what God's design is for humankind I don't think that there was a row map created specifically for this one sin there was a road map created for all sin and anyone who stands to say these people will be condemned or these people are going to hell sorry you don't know what's going on in the heart of the individual and how they may have interactions with God that you or I know nothing about we're not to judge we're not we're no one's judge we're not to judge we're to stand and say lord I need mercy from you in this moment to deal with these things I need it for me for my for my relationship with you I need mercy for the things that I see that are disheartening I need peace which will surpass all the events going around even calm the storms of what I see but certainly the storm in my soul and the love that only you can bring to my heart and I Lord if you multiply it that'd be even icing on the cake why because there's waves going on not just in Jude's epistle but in the church today and for us the matter is to be equipped and to understand there are certain things being removed very carefully very quietly freedom of speech is one of them religious freedom is another and as I said this is a template that I intend to pick apart we'll look at it real carefully it's going to tackle some controversial subjects that Jude was dealing with and hopefully for us it will do one thing it will begin to crystallize the need as Paul said it to fight the good fight of faith to agonize the good agony to make it through why because this isn't about what you might leave behind in your behavior or your actions or your deeds only one thing is going to matter when you stand before the maker and that is your faith and your faith alone in Jesus Christ was your faith aimed at whatever he did was enough to save the world and I'm in that world regardless of who else rejects or picks apart and if I settle that matter right there God's looking at me we've covered this term before I made by my faith in his finished work just like he is he sees me that way although the world still sees me as whatever they want to see me as he sees me as I used the word last week kept secure guarded safeguarded garrisoned if you will by him for my faith in him this is why this small little letter packs a big punch and hopefully it will help us at least on this one level to understand nothing has changed in 2,000 years in fact if anything it's gotten worse and guess what really is kind of prophetic you know cheer up Saint it's going to get worse quite prophetic but for those who understand what it means to contend for the faith that's what we're going to do here contend for the faith that's my message you've been watching me pastor Melissa Scott live from Glendale California at Faith Center if you would like to attend the service with us Sunday morning at 11 a.m. simply call

Channel: Pastor Melissa Scott, Ph.D.

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Keywords: Jude, book of jude, end times, Dr gene scott, melissa SCOTT, epistle of jude, the meaning of mercy, mercy the bible, christian, dr gene scott, faith center, faith center glendale, faith center glendale ca, forgiveness, god, jesus, melissa, melissa scott, pastor melissa, pastor melissa scott, pastor melissa scott phd, pastor scott, peace, the bible, understanding the bible, Jude 1:1-5, Jude series, Mercy for the trip, pastor melissa scott 2018, jude 1:1, dr. gene scott

Id: ItvrBjA2VGE

Length: 58min 10sec (3490 seconds)

Published: Mon Jul 30 2018