The Epistle of Jude.
We will read the whole epistle.
It's a very short one.
Only 25 verses.
Now the reason why I like to read
it because probably you have never read it
before.
Jude, born man of Jesus Christ and brother
of James, to the called ones, beloved in
God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ,
mercy to you and peace and love be
multiplied.
Beloved, using all diligence to write you of
our common salvation, I have been obliged to
write to you exhorting you to contain earnestly
for the faith once delivered to the saints.
For certain men have gotten unnoticed.
They who of old were mocked out beforehand
to this sentence, ungodly persons, turning the grace
of our God into dissoluteness and denying our
only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
But I will put you in remembrance.
You who once knew all things that the
Lord having saved a people out of the
land of Egypt in the second place destroyed
those who had not believed and angels who
had not kept their own original state but
had abandoned their own dwelling.
He keeps in eternal chains under gloomy darkness
to the judgment of the great day.
As Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around
them committed greedily fornication, in like manner with
them and going after other flesh, lie there
as an example undergoing the judgment of eternal
fire.
Yet in like manner these dreamers also defile
the flesh and despise lordship and speak ravingly
against dignities.
For Michael the archangel, when disputing with the
devil, he reasoned about the body of Moses,
did not dare to bring a raving judgment
against him, but said the Lord rebuked thee.
But these, whatever things they know not, they
speak ravingly against.
For what even as the irrational animals they
understand by mere nature, in these things they
corrupt themselves.
Rude to them because they have gone in
the way of Cain and given themselves up
to the error of Balaam for reward and
perished in the gainsaying of Korah.
These are spots, or rocks, in your love
feasts, feeding, feasting together with you without fear,
castrating themselves.
Clouds without water, carried along by the winds,
optimal trees without fruit, Christ dead, rooted up.
Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their
own shames, wandering stars, to whom has been
reserved the gloom of darkness for eternity.
And Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied also
as to these, saying, Behold the Lord has
come, amidst his holy myriads, to execute judgment
against all, and to convict all the ungodly
of them of all their works of ungodliness,
which they have wrought ungodly, and of all
the half things which ungodly sinners have spoken
against him.
These are murmurers, complainers, walking after their lusts,
and their mouths speak swelling words, admiring persons
for the sake of profit.
But ye, beloved, remember the words spoken before
by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ,
that they say to you that at the
end of the time there shall be mockers
walking after their own lusts of ungodlinesses.
These are they who set themselves apart, natural
men, not having the Spirit.
But ye, beloved, building yourselves up on your
most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit,
keeping yourself in the love of God, awaiting
the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto
eternal life.
And some of, and of some, have compassion,
making a difference, but others say with fear,
snatching them out of the fire, hating even
the garment spotted by the flesh.
But to him that is able to keep
you without stumbling, and to set you with
exhortation, blameless before his glory, to the only
God our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord,
be glory, majesty, might, and authority from before
the whole age, and now, and to all
the ages.
Amen.
Shall we pray?
Dear Heavenly Father, we do thank Thee for
the privilege of remembering Thy Son together this
morning.
Oh, how we praise and thank Thee that
through Thy beloved Son we are now accepted
by Thee, that we belong to Thee, to
the family of God.
We do praise and thank Thee that Thou
has given us holy boldness to enter into
the holiest of all, even Thy very presence,
to behold the glory of the Lord in
the face of Jesus Christ.
And our Father, we just ask Thee at
this moment that by Thy Holy Spirit Thou
will enlighten Thy word to our hearts, that
Thy word may not just be letters, but
they may be life and spirit to us.
To the praise of Thy glory we ask
in the name of our Lord Jesus.
Amen.
This little book of Jude is one that
is very much neglected by God's people.
Probably some of the Lord's people have never
read it, and yet, this little letter
is most relevant to our days.
Why is it so?
It is because this letter gives us some
history, certain things that happened to the early
church after the time of the book of
Acts.
We know the book of Acts gives us
the beginning history of the church.
But this little letter of Jude that is
written after the book of Acts is finished,
in other words, it gives us some history
that happened in the church after the record
of the book of Acts is finished.
In a sense, it testifies of
the church period, which gives us the beginning
of church history is the act of this
little letter of Jude, which gives us the
history of what would happen at the end
of the church period can be called the
act of the apostates.
Why?
Because it is through apostasy that introduced to
the world the man of sin, the man
of perdition.
Brothers and sisters, speaking prophetically, the last period
of the church age is the Laodicean period.
As we find in the book of Revelation,
the seven churches, prophetically speaking, the last church,
the church in Laodicea, represents the church in
its last stage.
And we are living at the end of
the last days.
Therefore you find, generally speaking, we are living
in a Laodicean period.
And what is the characteristic of Laodicea?
One word, lukewarmness.
The church is lukewarm, neither hot nor cold.
And you know, leaven, it is going to
leaven the whole loaf, needs a lukewarm temperature.
You remember our Lord Jesus said, the mystery
of the kingdom of the heavens is like
a woman who puts leaven into three measures
of meal.
And this leaven begins to work until the
whole loaf is puffed up.
As a matter of fact, you find that
even towards the end of the apostolic period,
the leaven is already being secretly put into
the three meals, three measure of meals.
And it continues to work until when it
comes to the Laodicean period, with that kind
of lukewarm temperature, it is just the right
temperature for it to work in such an
extent that the whole loaf, which represents the
whole church, seems to be completely leavened.
And this is the period that we are
living in.
And because this is the time that we
live in, therefore it is of utmost importance
to us to know what is happening today
in the church, to recognize it, and by
the grace of God to avoid it, to
keep away from it, and to keep on
course towards the Lord.
And that is the reason why this little
book of Jude is so relevant and so
important to us.
This letter was written by Jude, born man
of Jesus Christ, brother of James.
Now Jude, or Judas, is the same word.
It's a very common name at that time.
And even in the New Testament, you will
find five persons in the New Testament had
the name Jude, or Judas.
Of the twelve apostles of our Lord Jesus,
in Matthew chapter 10, you'll find one of
them, the last one, the one who betrayed
our Lord Jesus, is Judas the Iscariot.
Now you have one Judas there.
And among the twelve apostles there is another
Judas.
Judas of James.
You'll find that in Acts chapter 1.
Because in Matthew chapter 10, it uses another
name, Claudius.
He is Judas of James.
And maybe in some of your versions you'll
find in parenthesis the brother of James.
In the original, it just said Judas of
James.
But the translators think, well, probably that is
the brother of James.
But in the original, it's not there.
And according to the usage of that time,
whenever it said someone of someone, it means
he is the son of someone.
So actually, that Judas is the son of
James.
Not the brother of James.
It is that Jude, you remember, in John
chapter 14, he asked the Lord Jesus a
question.
He said, is Judas not of Iscariot?
So, among the apostles of our Lord Jesus,
there are two Judas.
And then if you turn to the book
of Acts chapter 9, you'll find when the
Lord appeared to Ananias and tell him to
go to see Saul.
And see Saul live in the house of
Judas of Damascus.
So you have the third Judas.
And again, you'll find that in Acts chapter
15, the church in Jerusalem, when they send
that letter to the churches of the Gentiles,
they sent two brothers with the letter.
And one of them is Judas, also called
Basibus.
So you have the fourth Judas.
And then you have the fifth one.
And the fifth one is a brother according
to the flesh of our Lord Jesus.
You'll find that in Matthew chapter 13, you'll
find that in Mark chapter 6, of the
brethren according to the flesh.
Our Lord has a number of brothers.
And one of them is Judas, or Jude.
Now, which of the five Judas, or Jude,
is the writer of this little letter?
It seems that all agree that this Jude
is the brother of our Lord Jesus according
to the flesh.
There are many reasons.
But we are not going into it.
Now, this brother of our Lord Jesus according
to the flesh, he calls himself bondman of
Jesus Christ.
Instead of saying brother of Jesus Christ.
Now, if we are the brother of Jesus
Christ according to the flesh, probably that will
be what we will be putting in.
But you'll find that instead of doing that,
he said he is a bondman of Jesus
Christ.
Well, maybe on the one hand it is
because when our Lord Jesus was living on
earth, he as a brother according to the
flesh did not believe in the Lord Jesus.
It was after the resurrection of our Lord
Jesus that his brother according to the flesh
all came to know our Lord as their
Lord.
And maybe because of that he felt that
he couldn't he didn't want to use that
because he was unworthy.
But I think there is a better reason
behind it.
Because you'll find that our relationship with the
Lord Jesus is never according to the flesh.
Our relationship with the Lord Jesus is always
according to the Spirit.
And even though he might be our brother
to our Lord according to the flesh, but
that will not be the relationship anymore.
The relationship is a relationship in the Spirit.
And that spiritual relationship is he is a
bond slave to the Lord Jesus.
The Lord Jesus is his Lord and Master.
And he is but a love slave to
him.
And dear brothers and sisters, I think it
is most appropriate and this is what our
relationship with our Lord is today.
And yet he wants to identify himself so
he said brother of James.
Now everybody knew James at that time.
Because James was the leading brother in the
church in Jerusalem.
So by calling himself brother of James, everybody
knows which Jude or Judas he was.
Now this is the writer of the letter.
And he wrote to certain people.
The letter does not tell us to whom
he wrote.
But most likely he must write the letter
to the same people who received the letter
of James and the letter of Peter.
That would be most likely.
But instead of specifying to which place or
what kind of people he wrote, he just
said he wrote to the called ones.
To those who are called.
Beloved in God the Father and preserved or
kept in Christ Jesus.
So you find he specifies in a sense
the qualifications of those who received that letter.
The called, the beloved and the kept.
Now that includes all of us.
Are we not the called ones?
Thank God we are.
Out of every tribe, every tongue, every nation,
every people God has called us unto his
beloved son.
God has chosen us even before the foundation
of the world in Christ Jesus.
He has called us by mercy and glory.
He has called us by his grace.
We are not volunteers.
If you volunteer in, you can volunteer out.
But we are called and once you are
called, you are caught.
Thank God we are the called ones.
And we are not only the called ones,
but we are the beloved in God the
Father.
We are dear to our Heavenly Father.
He loves us dearly.
We are dear to him.
And we are preserved in Christ Jesus.
We are being kept by him and in
him.
Now this is the preservation.
This is the perseverance of the saints.
You know, sometimes you hear a term called
the perseverance of the saints.
Actually, the perseverance of the saints is the
perseverance of Christ.
Because he is the one who has preserved
us.
He has kept us.
And thank God we are not only called,
we are loved and we are kept.
And it is to these people that the
letter is addressed.
So dear brothers and sisters, this letter is
addressed to us.
Now when Jude started to write this letter,
he really had something in his mind.
He wanted to write about the common salvation.
In other words, he wanted to write about
the salvation that we all shared in Christ
Jesus.
And this was a subject very dear to
his heart.
But when he started to write, he was
moved by the Spirit of God to write
something else.
To write an exhortation.
Instead of describing our common salvation, he was
turned by the Holy Spirit to give us
an exhortation.
Why?
Because he was stirred in his spirit by
what he saw in the church.
Or coming to the church.
And he felt constrained by the Spirit of
God to give us an exhortation.
Now we know what an exhortation is.
Exhortation means two things.
On the one hand it is a warning.
On the other hand, it is an encouragement.
Exhortation always includes these two elements.
It warns and it encourages.
It warns us against something that is not
of God.
And it encourages us into something that is
of God.
Now that is exhortation.
So he said, I have been obliged, I
feel urged to write to you.
Exhorting you to contain earnestly for the faith
once delivered to the saints.
You know there is the faith once delivered
to the saints.
Now what is the faith once delivered to
the saints?
The faith once delivered to the saints include
all the revelations, all the truth that God
has given to us, to the church, through
the apostles and the prophets.
It is our heritage.
It is our faith.
It is that on which we build.
It is the faith once delivered.
It is called once delivered because we know
all the truth of God that controls our
faith is all being delivered to us in
the word of God.
In other words, all the revealed truth have
once been delivered to us and it is
all now in this New Testament or in
the whole Bible.
There is no more new truth, new revelation
as such because all the truth that compose
the faith has been once delivered to the
church.
So thank God we have the faith that
was once delivered to the church.
And it is said to contain earnestly for
the truth, faith, once delivered to the church.
Now this verse has been very wrongly used.
Why?
Because we find it is said to contain
earnestly for the faith.
And some people, you know, get very enthusiastic,
very zealous, and they argue with people, they
fight with people over what they call the
faith.
For instance, some people fight with other people
on the truth they call rapture.
And they say now rapture, this is what
rapture is.
And if you don't believe the same way
they will throw you out.
And they say it is because we have
to contain earnestly for the faith.
And you find in Christianity over the two
thousand years, how God's people have fought against
each other over certain aspects of our faith.
And you find you cannot give in, you
cannot compromise, because if you do, then you
give up your faith, and therefore you have
to fight to death.
And you find this is happening in Christianity
over two thousand years.
Actually, this verse is wrongly used.
Why?
Because to contain earnestly does not mean that
we have to fight to death for what
interpretation we hold, according as to the truth.
Actually, the word to contain means to agonize.
It means to strive.
And it does, it simply means we need
to agonize in reference to the faith once
delivered to the saints.
We need to strive for the faith once
delivered to the saints.
And what does it mean?
Just like Paul said, I have fought the
good fight, I have run the race, I
have finished the course.
In other words, there is the faith once
delivered to the saints.
And this is the faith that we must
strive after.
This is the faith that we must win.
This is the faith that we must agonize
over, so that we may have the faith
once delivered to the saints.
That we may not lose out in anything
that God has given to us in grace
in Christ Jesus.
Now that is what is meant here.
In other words, it is not to use
what you call faith to fight with one
another.
Instead, seeing the faith, you strive after it,
you diligently seek after it, lest you miss
out.
Now this is what is meant here.
You know, we live in the time of
apostasy.
And that is the reason why we have
to contain earnestly for the faith once delivered
to the saints.
Otherwise, we will fall away just as other
people do.
And that is the meaning here.
Do not give up the faith once delivered
to the saints, living it, work for it,
strive after it, agonize over it, until you
win it, you gain it.
Until that faith becomes your heritage, your property,
your possession.
Now that is what is meant here.
Now this letter to Jude is a letter
on apostasy.
Now the word apostasy is not used in
this letter.
But the substance is there.
Now what is apostasy?
Apostasy in English has no meaning.
Because it is not an English word in
the beginning.
It is a transliteration of a Greek word.
Apostasia.
And the translator instead of translate it, they
just transliterate it.
In other words, turn a Greek word into
an English word.
So in Greek it is apostasia.
And in English it is apostasy.
Apostasia comes from a combination of two words
in Greek.
Apo, which means from, species, which
means to stand.
So when you put these two words together
it means to stand away from.
To stand away from that which you originally
stand.
And that is the reason why it means
departure.
Departing.
Falling away.
Stand away from where you originally stand.
You fall away from what you originally possess.
And that is what apostasy means.
You know in 2 Thessalonians 2 verse 3,
it tells us that there will be a
falling away.
An apostasy.
Before the sun of sin.
That is the sun of perdition shall appear
upon this earth.
And we know the sun of sin, the
sun of perdition is the Antichrist.
One day the Antichrist will appear upon this
earth.
But before he shall appear there will first
be a general departure.
A general falling away in the church.
And because the church begins to fall away
from where it originally stands.
Because God's people begin to lose what they
originally had.
That prepares the way for the Antichrist to
appear.
Brothers and sisters, we are living in the
day of apostasy.
You know apostasy or apostate strictly speaking do
not refer to unbelievers.
Why?
Because an unbeliever they have never had that
stand in the first place.
Now if some ground that you never have
stood on, you cannot fall away from it.
You cannot depart from something that you have
never possessed.
So in the first place you'll find that
you do possess these things.
But you begin to fall away from them.
And that's apostasy.
You know if you read Hebrews chapter 6
for instance there you'll find the writer of
Hebrews described certain situations.
And he said now if you have laid
the foundation, well the foundation, and we found
the foundation includes repentance from dead works, faith
in God, the doctrines of washings, imposition of
hands, resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.
In other words, here you'll find the believers.
They are believers.
Because they have already had the foundation laid.
They believe they have repented from dead works.
And they have faith in God.
And they know the teaching of washing, of
baptism, and they also know the meaning of
the laying of hands, which is identification.
And they know the resurrection of the dead,
and they also believe in eternal judgment.
In other words, you'll find these people they
have already had the foundation, they are believers.
And he describes it, they have been once
enlightened, tasted of the heavenly gift, partakers of
the Holy Spirit, tasted the good word of
God, and the works of the power of
the age to come.
Now these are not unbelievers.
Enlightened, tasted the gift, heavenly gift, eternal life,
partakers of the Holy Spirit, and not only
they have heard of the Holy Spirit, they
have the Holy Spirit, tasted the good word
of God, they know God's word, and the
good taste of it, and even all the
works of the power of the coming age.
Now these are believers, but they fall away,
apostatized, they fall away.
And then if you go to Hebrews chapter
10, you'll find again is described there, verse
26, for wherein we sing willfully after receiving
the knowledge of the truth.
Now the word knowledge there is epignosis, the
full knowledge of the truth.
See?
After we have received the full knowledge of
the truth, not just a little knowledge of
the truth, the full knowledge, we come to
know even the purpose of God in Christ
Jesus, and yet if we sing willfully, it
is like what?
Like we have trodden underfoot the Son of
God, esteemed the blood of His covenant whereby
He has been sanctified common, and insulted the
Spirit of grace.
So in other words, you find these people,
they have known the Son of God, but
they fall away.
They tread the Son of God under their
feet.
They have been sanctified by the blood of
the covenant, but then they consider the blood
as karma, as nothing.
They have the Holy Spirit, but they insult
the Holy Spirit.
So dear brothers and sisters, you find that
apostasy is not something in the world.
Apostasy is something in the church.
People who have believed in the Lord Jesus,
who have known the Lord, who have received
from the Lord, and yet you find they
fall away.
They leave their early faith.
It's a serious thing.
Very serious.
And of course we know there are different
degrees of apostasy.
Because if you read Hebrews, you will find
those who apostatized in Hebrews chapter 6 is
not as serious as those who apostatized in
Hebrews chapter 10.
You can see the difference there.
There are different degrees of falling away.
But, the point is these faiths, once delivered
to us, we are to hold on to
it, to strive after it, to agonize over
it, lest we fall away.
It is serious.
Brothers and sisters, look at the church today.
We find that Christianity today has fallen away
so far from the faith once delivered to
the church.
We live in the time of apostasy.
Now, who are the apostates?
In the book of Jude, it says in
verse 4, For certain men have gotten unnoticed.
They who of old were mocked out beforehand
to dissenters, ungodly persons, turning the grace of
our God into dissoluteness and denying our only
Master and Lord Jesus Christ.
You know, there is a similarity between the
book of Jude and 2 Peter.
When we talk about 2 Peter, we mention
that we will leave off something until we
come to Jude.
Now, in 2 Peter, especially chapter 2, you
find that 2 Peter chapter 2 and Jude,
there is much similarity there.
So, the question is, who copies who?
And, of course, we find that there are
different opinions.
But personally, I would think that Jude used
Peter's writings.
Why?
Because if you read 2 Peter chapter 2,
what Peter said, he said there shall be,
or there will be, among you false teachers
who were bringing destructive heresies, denying the Master
who bought them.
And their judgment is certain.
In other words, you'll find what Peter says
is, there will be among you false teachers.
But Jude said, certain men have gotten unnoticed,
turning the grace of God into dissonantness and
denying our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ.
So, in other words, Peter is saying that
false teachers will be coming in.
And Jude said, they have already got in.
They have already got in.
So, that's the reason why I believe Jude
make use of Peter's writings.
But anyway, you'll find who are those who
apostatize?
Who are the apostates?
Turning the grace of our God into dissonantness.
The grace of God.
These people know the grace of God.
The grace of God in Christ Jesus.
What is the grace of God?
To put it very simply, the grace of
God is His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
God's grace is His Son.
God so loved the world that He gave
His only begotten Son.
The Lord Jesus is the grace of God.
It is through our Lord Jesus that we
receive grace.
Give.
Free gift.
Undeserved gift.
Eternal life.
Through our Lord Jesus.
Now, these people, they know the grace of
God.
In other words, the grace of God has
been upon them.
And yet, they turn the grace of God
into dissoluteness.
Dear brothers and sisters, we all have received
the grace of God.
We need to stand upon the grace of
God.
We should not waste the grace of God.
We should not turn the grace of God
into dissoluteness.
Like people said, because God is so gracious,
God has so much grace, so it doesn't
matter if we sin.
It doesn't matter if we live a loose
life.
After all, God is gracious.
He will forgive us.
You can live your life self-willed because
the grace of God is so great.
Now, in doing that, you are turning the
grace of God into ungodliness.
The grace of God is given to us
that we may be holy.
That is what the grace of God is
for.
The grace of God is to make us
holy.
Without the grace of God, how can we
be holy?
How can we be separated?
How can we be completely belong to God?
How can we be godly, like God, with
that character of God within us?
It's impossible.
But the grace of God in Christ Jesus
has been shown to us that we may
be holy.
That we may be a separated people.
That we may be sanctified.
That we may serve God.
We may glorify God.
That is what the grace of God is
for.
But sometimes you find people turn the grace
of God into dissoluteness.
Into licentiousness.
Into loose living.
Into self-will.
That apostasy, that makes you an apostate.
And denying our only Master and Lord Jesus
Christ.
Deny.
You cannot deny what you have never confessed
before.
But here you find they have not denied
Jesus as their Saviour yet.
Now some apostates, they even go to the
extent of denying the Lord Jesus as their
Saviour.
And this is the spirit of Antichrist that
John wrote about in his first letter.
But these people in Jude, they haven't denied
the Lord Jesus as their Saviour yet.
They haven't denied the name of the Lord
Jesus yet.
But what did they deny?
They deny our only Master and Lord Jesus
Christ.
You know the word Lord here is a
special word.
The word Lord here in Greek is despot.
A despot.
You know it's a bad word in English
today.
An absolute monarch who is a despot.
You know he does everything according to his
wish and he can kill people and do
anything he likes, you know.
Despotism.
But in Greek this is that word.
Not in a bad connotation.
But in a good connotation of that our
Lord Jesus, one who has bought us with
such a price, with his own blood, he
is to us our absolute monarch.
In other words, you do not belong to
yourself.
You belong to him absolutely.
He can do anything he likes with you.
He is your despot.
He is your benevolent despot.
He is your Lord and Master.
And you are his.
And you should obey him and you should
surrender, you should yield to him completely and
absolutely.
Now that's what you ought to do.
But instead of doing that they deny our
only Master and Lord Jesus Christ.
In other words they may not have denied
his name yet and yet they deny him
as their absolute monarch.
They want to live their own lives.
They want to do their own things.
They do not care about the Lord's interest.
They will not subject themselves under the authority
of Christ.
Now, this is apostasy.
Dear brothers and sisters, should not we be
warned about this?
Lest in callousness we too may have turned
the grace of God into dissoluteness.
Lest in callousness we too may deny our
only Master and Lord Jesus Christ.
It is serious.
That we'll be fallen away from the faith
once delivered to the saints.
Oh, how we need to stand on the
grace of God and let the grace of
God so work in our lives that our
lives may be sanctified wholly for God.
How we need to confess our Lord Jesus
as our absolute Lord and Master.
And surrender our life completely to Him.
Lest in any way we begin to do
our own will and go our own way.
How we need to be warned about it.
And how the church have fallen away.
Now, who are these apostates?
In verse 8.
Yet in like manner these dreamers also defile
the flesh and despise worship and speak railingly
against dignities.
In other words, these apostates are dreamers.
You know there are two kinds of dreamers.
One kind of dreamers are good.
We need to dream.
But these dreams come from above.
Vision.
God has given us vision.
He revealed to us His mind and His
heart in our spirit.
But there is another kind of dreamer that
is bad.
In other words, it does not come from
above.
It has come from their own lust.
It has come from their own desire.
Freshly desire.
You know, when you are thinking a lot
about certain things, you begin to dream about
it.
It's not something given to you, it is
something created from you.
And these are the dreamers.
They are not people who receive heavenly vision,
but they are people who dream of their
own dreams.
They defile the flesh.
As they dream, so they are.
What are you dreaming?
You will become what you dream about.
If you dream of the Lord, you will
be like Him.
If you dream of the world, you will
be like the world.
They defile their flesh.
In other words, they walk according to the
flesh, not according to the spirit.
They despise lordship and speak gratingly against dignity.
In other words, they do not obey authorities.
To them, they despise all authorities.
All authorities come from God.
And in despise all authorities, despise God.
In other words, they want to be their
own master and their own authority.
These are the apostates.
They will speak badly against things they even
do not know.
And what they do know, they corrupt themselves.
That's what they are.
And in verse 16 it says, These are
murmurers, complainers, walking after their lusts, and their
mouths speak squirting words, admiring persons for the
sake of profit.
They are murmurers.
They murmur all the time.
They complain.
And they speak squirting words, big words, in
order to gain.
These are the apostates.
In the Church today, there are many apostates.
Many false teachers, false prophets.
The spirit of Antichrist is already here in
the Church.
We live in the days of apostasy.
Now how do you recognize them?
By their ways, by their actions, you know
them.
So here you'll find, we can recognize them
because they have gone in the way of
Cain.
Now what is the way of Cain?
That goes back to Genesis chapter 4.
And in Genesis chapter 4 you'll find Cain.
He offered the produce of his land to
God as his sacrifice.
In other words, he thinks that he is
good enough for God.
He does not recognize himself as a sinner
that needs to be redeemed by the shedding
of the blood.
He thinks that he is good enough.
And he tried to offer his good works
to God thinking that he would be accepted.
But he is rejected.
And the result is he got angry and
killed his brother, Abel.
The way of Cain.
We can recognize those apostates by the way
they go.
You'll find they do not go in the
way of the Lamb of God.
You'll find they despise the blood of the
Lord Jesus.
You'll find they are so self-confident that
they think that they have enough good and
merit to please God.
They can be accepted on their own merits.
The way of Cain.
And secondly, you'll find that they have given
themselves up to the error of Balaam for
reward.
That goes back to Numbers chapter 22 to
24.
You remember the Gentile prophet?
He was employed by Balak, the Midianite, to
curse the children of Israel.
But God would not allow him to curse.
God changed his curse to a blessing.
And because of that, he counseled the Midianites
how to entrap the children of Israel into
seeing that they may be cursed.
He sold his prophetic power for money.
For gain.
Dear brothers and sisters, we can recognize these
apostates because they always enter into the error
of Balaam.
God may have given them prophetic gifts.
But they try to use it for their
own gain.
Instead of faithfully uttering the oracle of God.
And then number three.
They perish in a game-saying of Korah.
That is Numbers chapter 16.
There you'll find Korah.
He was of the tribe of Levi.
And his conspirators, those leaders among the children
of Israel, they conspired against Moses and Aaron
because they wanted to get the position.
They wanted to get the power.
And they began to speak evilly of Moses
and of Aaron.
The game-saying of Korah.
And they perish.
Brothers and sisters, these apostates, they always try
to get some place, some position, something they
are ambitious.
Something that God has not given to them.
They are not satisfied with what God has
given to them.
Want something more?
And finally, you'll find they perish in it.
And the Scripture used several ways to describe
them.
They are like the spots.
Now the word spots in the original can
be translated rocks.
They are like spots in the Love Feast.
Now because when you say rocks in the
Love Feast, it doesn't make sense.
So the translator translated spots in the Love
Feast.
Now we know in the early church they
used to come together to have what they
call love, agape.
The word agape is for the feast.
In other words, they come together to eat
together as an expression of love.
You know, the early church used to do
that.
But these people, you know, they are in
the church so they come, but they are
right like the spots or the rocks in
the Love Feast.
You know, like the sunken rocks with a
little water over it, and when the ship
goes, then it sunk.
You know, so they are like the rocks
there.
You know, and they are pasturing themselves.
Everything is for their own.
Now that's these apostates.
And they are like clouds without water.
You see the clouds, you may think there
must be rain, but there is no water
there.
It is just a pretense.
Hypocrisy.
And you find they are like optimal trees
without fruit.
There is no fruit there.
No fruit.
Only an appearance.
And they are like waves of the sea
filling out their own shades.
You know, and they are like wandering stars.
End up in destruction.
So thus it is here you find these
are the apostates.
And their punishment will come quick.
We do not have time to go into
it, but you read it and you find
that the Lord will come and judge them.
Let us be warned of apostasy.
Lest we too may fall away from the
faith once delivered to us.
But thank God this letter does not end
here.
If it ends here it will be negative.
Now even though he feels, he felt constrained
to exhort.
To contain earnestly for the faith once delivered
to the saints.
And he did not have the time to
write about the common salvation.
And yet you know deep down in his
heart is still the common salvation.
So here you will find from verse 20
he turns back to the positive side.
Now you brothers and sisters who are called
beloved in God the Father and preserved in
Christ Jesus.
Now what should you do when you live
in such a time of apostasy?
In other words you find people apostatized all
around you.
But is it because they fall away that
you too can fall away?
No.
Because you find apostasy around you therefore you
need to strive even more than ever before
for the faith was delivered unto you.
That is what you should do.
Building yourselves up on your most holy faith.
Brothers and sisters when people are losing faith
when people are falling away from faith, this
is the time that you should build up
on the most holy faith.
You know one thing if you are not
going forward you are going backward.
You are not able to stand.
And that's the reason why in Hebrews chapter
6 it says we have to press on
unto perfection.
We have to press on unto maturity.
Why?
Because you find there are other people who
are falling away or falling back.
The only way for you to keep on
is to press on.
Is to build up.
If you don't build up you are torn
down.
We cannot afford to stand still.
Brothers and sisters let there not be an
unholy contentment.
There must be a holy discontentment in us.
In other words don't be so contented of
your own spiritual condition or so contented of
the brothers and sisters or the meetings the
assembly where you are in.
You are so contented you think that you
have arrived.
That you have everything now.
There is nothing more you need to contain.
You need to strive after.
Now if you have that kind of attitude
beware lest you fall.
The only way to keep us from falling
away is to build up.
Oh we need to build up.
Continually building up on the most holy faith.
There can be no let up.
There can be no let down.
We have to continue to press on, to
strive after, to agonize over and to wean
it and to build up on the most
holy faith.
You remember the word of Peter 2nd Peter
chapter 2?
How beautiful it is.
Peter said, but for this very reason also
using therewith all diligence.
In your faith have also virtue.
In virtue knowledge.
In knowledge temperance.
In temperance endurance.
In endurance godliness.
In godliness brotherly love.
In brotherly love love.
For these things exist and abounding in you
make you to be neither idle nor unfruitful
as regards the knowledge of our Lord Jesus
Christ.
Wherefore be read, brethren, use diligence to make
your calling and election sure.
For doing these things you will never fall.
For thus shall the entrance into the everlasting
kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ
be richly furnished unto you.
Brothers and sisters we have to build up
on the most holy faith.
How do you build?
From faith to faith.
From faith to virtue.
From virtue to knowledge.
From knowledge to temperance.
From temperance to godliness.
From godliness to love.
And from brotherly love to love.
You have to build.
Continually build on your most holy faith.
And number two.
Praying in the Holy Spirit.
Now praying in the Holy Spirit does not
mean praying in tongues.
Some people think praying in the Holy Spirit
is praying in tongues.
Now if you read 1 Corinthians 14 it's
praying with the tongue.
It is praying with the tongue.
Praying in the Holy Spirit whether it is
in tongues or whether it is in plain
words.
It simply means that when we pray we
do not pray according to our own mind
and words.
We pray relying on the Holy Spirit to
help us to teach us how to pray.
That we may be praying according to God.
That is praying in the Holy Spirit.
Why do we need to pray in the
Holy Spirit?
Because if you want to build on the
most holy faith you discover that how helpless
you are.
If you do not try you think you
are able.
But if you try you find that how
difficult it is.
That you can never make it on your
own.
You begin to realize your own weakness and
feebleness and thank God the Holy Spirit is
here to help you in your infirmities.
And pray so that you depend on Him.
That's why you pray.
And you pray in the Holy Spirit as
the Holy Spirit reveals to you your own
weakness and feebleness.
And you pray according to the mind of
God.
Keep yourself in the love of God.
This is the way to be kept in
the love of God.
How are you to be kept in the
love of God?
In John chapter 15 it says if you
keep your commandment then you'll love me.
And you will be loved by me.
In other words here you'll find we are
trying to build up and we are praying
and by the grace of God we find
we are able to obey.
And as we obey the commandment of God,
keep the commandment of God then we are
kept in His love.
Awaiting the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ
unto eternal life.
And all the time we are waiting.
Waiting for the return of our Lord Jesus.
When He shall return He will show mercy
to us.
It is all mercy.
We don't deserve it.
Do not think that you have accomplished something.
It is all by His grace.
It is mercy.
And it is still mercy that we are
waiting for at His coming.
Brothers and sisters this is the way that
we have to strive after the faith once
delivered to the saints.
And best of all is the last.
To Him that is able to keep you
without stumbling and to set you with exaltation
blameless before His glory to the only God
and our Savior through Jesus Christ our Lord
the glory and majesty, might and authority from
before the whole age and now and to
all the ages.
Amen.
After everything is done you have to see
that it is God who has kept us.
Dear brothers and sisters we cannot keep ourselves.
But thank God we know He is able
to keep us.
He is able to keep us from falling.
He is able to keep us from stumbling.
Not only that but He is able to
present us with rejoicing without thought, blameless even
before His glory.
Dear brothers and sisters this is our blessed
hope.
This is our confidence.
Our confidence is not in ourselves.
Do not think that we are better than
anybody else.
Brothers and sisters we will fall just like
anybody else will fall.
It is all because of Him who is
able to keep us from falling.
And to present us faultless before the presence
of His glory.
Now to Him be glory and majesty and
honor and power forever and ever.
Amen.
Shall we pray?
Dear Heavenly Father Thou has warned us that
we live in the days of apostasy.
Oh we do acknowledge that if it is
left to ourselves we will fall just as
other people.
But we do praise and thank Thee we
know that Thou art our God.
And Thou art able to keep us from
falling.
And not only from falling but even to
present us blameless before Thy glory.
Oh our Father we just desire to commit
ourselves to Thee.
We want to tell Thee as Paul says
I know whom I have believed.
And I am assured fully persuaded that You
are able to keep that which I have
committed to You until that day.
So our Father today we commit ourselves to
Thee.
Spirit, soul and body.
To Thy keeping Lord.
And we believe that Thou art able to
keep us until that day.
Oh our Father we do praise and thank
Thee because Thou art our confidence.
Thou art our perseverance.
Father we do pray that if there be
those who have begun to fall away that
Thou will restore because Thou art the God
of compassion and of love.
We ask in the name of our Lord
Jesus.
Amen.