Lord Jesus, won't you please be with us?
Speak to us, O Lord, through your word.
Amen.
Our text for this Reformation Day we find
in Jude.
And we'll read from the first verse.
Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a
brother of James, to those who have been
called, who are loved by God the Father
and kept by Jesus Christ.
Mercy, peace and love be yours in abundance.
Dear
friends,
Although I was very eager to write to
you about the salvation we share, I felt
I had to write and urge you to
contend for the faith that was once for
all entrusted to the saints.
This letter of Jude
is an amazing letter.
It was written to all the believers, including
us.
And he introduces his letter in this way.
Jude, a servant of Jesus Christ and a
brother of James.
This Jude grew up together with the Lord
Jesus.
He was Jesus' brother.
And a brother of James, not James the
Apostle, but the author of the book of
James in the Bible.
And after the resurrection of Jesus, they believed
in him.
They had one mother, Mary.
But their blood was not the same.
They had a blood, a type of blood
like ours, filled with sin.
But Jesus' blood wasn't the same.
His blood was a precious blood without sin.
Jude and James didn't believe in the Lord
Jesus at the start.
According to John, they came to Jesus and
they said, Brother, it's time now to go
up to the feast in Jerusalem.
And he said to them, Look, your time
is always, you go up to Jerusalem, but
my time hasn't yet come.
According to Mark 3.21, Jesus was busy
preaching and speaking to people.
When his brothers heard him speak there, they
came and they took hold of him and
they said to him, You're mad, let's go,
you're insane.
They took hold of him and said, You're
mad.
Now that happens.
Jesus said, A prophet is never recognized in
his own country or amongst his own people.
But after Jesus had risen from the dead,
James and Jude believed.
And they wrote letters and books which we
find in the Bible today.
This one of Jude, which we've just read
from.
This one of Jude, which we've just read
from.
And the way in which they honored him
and worshipped him, they didn't point out the
fact or even mention once that they were
brothers to him.
They would say, like Jude here, a servant
of Jesus Christ and a brother of James.
They no longer knew him according to the
flesh.
In the New Testament we read where it
is said, We no longer know Jesus according
to the flesh.
But when I read the letters of Jude
and James, it's something very special to me.
And that which they say about our Lord
is precious to me.
And here Jude writes to those who had
just recently got converted.
Those who had repented, who had confessed their
sin and surrendered their lives to Jesus Christ
and followed him.
And Jude says, for a long time already
he had desired to write to them.
And he was very eager to write a
letter to the brethren concerning
the salvation which we all share.
I don't know what that letter would have
been like, a letter concerning the salvation which
we have received.
But even though he had wanted to write
about that, when he started writing, he felt
that he had to write about another topic.
He says he felt pressed not to write
about the salvation which we share, but to
contend for the faith that was entrusted to
us.
For what reason?
He said because of certain men who have
secretly slipped in amongst the believers.
And they were teaching them something which was
false.
Just imagine something like that.
During the apostolic age, right at the beginning
of the church, when the gospel was still
young.
There were those men already who slipped in
secretly amongst the believers and they started teaching
things that are false.
Coming in secretly, infiltrating.
And he said that God had written about
these people or God had already spoken about
these people before that time.
Of whom it was said that they would
be condemned.
They are godless men who don't fear God
and they changed the grace of our God
into a license for immorality.
What did these people say?
They would say it's good that you repent,
that you give your lives to the Lord
Jesus Christ and even that you confess your
sin.
And that you leave behind your old lives.
But remember Jesus Christ has paid the price
for your sin.
I would say, well, Jesus has paid the
price.
Jesus has paid the price for your sin,
even your future sin.
So whether you go back to that sin
and go and commit it again, it doesn't
matter because Jesus has paid the price.
It doesn't matter if you go back to
your sin.
They were false prophets saying Jesus has paid
the price for your sin.
Your past, present and future sins.
So even if you fall into sin again,
it doesn't matter.
Jesus has already paid for that sin that
you are still going to commit.
He's paid for your past sins and he's
paid even for the sins that you are
still going to commit.
He's paid for everything.
And if you read his words, he doesn't
say exactly the words I'm going to tell
you, but it's the same.
He says those people are damned.
They are lost.
God's judgment is going to come upon them.
There is no sin that you commit that
will go without its consequences.
Let me tell you, don't be fooled like
those people and say Jesus paid for everything.
So it's not so serious.
If I've sinned, if you've sinned, confess, as
he says in this letter, as quick as
possible and repent of that sin.
And don't live one minute longer in it.
That's why he says, He says in verse
three, defend the truth.
If
it's
the truth, and it was the truth, that
shortly after the Lord's resurrection and the spreading
of the gospel, not many years, Jude had
to write that these false preachers and false
brethren had come in and were spreading their
evil.
And that beautiful letter he wanted to write
for such a long time about our wonderful
salvation of which we are all partakers.
He says, I can't anymore because I see
these evil men creeping amongst you and spreading
their evil.
He says, remember the children of Israel as
they came out of Egypt.
He said, God wasn't pleased with them and
he destroyed them on the way.
He destroyed them because of their unbelief.
They were so happy, they had rejoiced that
they had crossed the Red Sea.
They were victorious and they came out with
joy out of Egypt.
But the very same hand that saved them
was the hand that later on destroyed them.
Just think about it, the very hand that
saved them turned against them and destroyed them
in his wrath.
They had the promise to enter the promised
land where milk and honey flows, overflowing life.
They had the most wonderful promises but they
were all nullified, even if they stood upon
them.
God cancelled it and said you won't enter.
He
had
promised it to them.
People could turn against him, against God and
say, but you've trammised us and you didn't
keep your promise.
You can't expect God to fulfil his promises
that he gave to you in the past
if you don't keep his word.
You can't expect God to fulfil his promises
that he gave to you in the past
if you don't keep his word.
They on the way indulged in sinful pleasures
like dancing and eating and living immorally, making
idols for themselves and bowing down to those
idols.
Dancing around that golden calf which was made
by them.
Now Jude reminded them of that.
Now remember that child of God.
Don't get involved in immorality.
Don't grumble against God.
Don't go into the world because then God
will destroy you.
The same one who saved you, he will
go against you.
And he also gave another illustration.
And he says the angels who did not
keep their positions of authority but abandoned their
own home, these he has kept in darkness
bound with everlasting chains for judgement on the
great day.
He is reminding them and he is reminding
us.
He says God didn't even spare the angels
when they left their rightful place.
And he has bound them with chains to
this very day in darkness awaiting their eternal
condemnation.
And
then the example.
And then the example of Sodom and Gomorrah.
He said in a similar way Sodom and
Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up
to sexual immorality and perversion.
And so the fire of God, the judgement
of God came down of heaven, consumed them
and turned them into ashes.
John told us about whales.
They had a wonderful revival in 1903 in
those years.
In such a wonderful way that the donkeys
that were working in the coal mines wouldn't
work anymore.
The people were rough.
They swore.
When they got converted they turned into gentlemen.
And they didn't use that big language anymore.
And the donkeys didn't understand that.
They were used to those swearing words and
they didn't use them anymore.
And they couldn't understand their masters.
The masters had changed.
Now after 100 years, that wonderful singing, that
mighty work of God, that revival, you don't
seem to find a trace of it.
You just find darkness.
Why?
Evil men got in.
The devil himself got in.
About 100 years ago, God started revival in
Korea.
That Buddhist nation is called today a Christian
nation.
They send out the most missionaries into the
world.
You see the difference?
What happened in Wales and how did it
go in Korea?
In Wales, they steal cars, just think of
it.
A person with a white credit and burns
them.
They've got no work.
And in Korea, they're working.
They're prosperous.
They're producing many, many cars.
Some ministers, cleric people, are sitting on toilets
and when you sit there, you don't know
which button to press.
There are so many buttons.
And you don't know what do all these
buttons mean.
And they come out of the bush.
But today they are crying again.
Because that fire doesn't burn anymore as it
burned.
Some have got the biggest churches.
But if you go into the toilets in
their churches, you see drawings on the wall
and you say, Oh my, how is such
a thing possible?
One young man who came here to KwaSisabantu
went to Korea.
He went with them into the mountains to
pray.
When they got out of that long prayer
meeting, to go back home, he sat next
to a young girl.
And then, that young girl started flirting with
him.
Coming out of that long prayer meeting, touching
his leg.
When no leg should be touched, especially not
by a girl.
If it's a girl, that's the normal thing.
Can revivals carry on when there are such
abominations among them?
Well, Jesus died for us.
He paid for our sins.
If a girl and a boy are friendly
and flirting together, what does that mean?
Doesn't mean Jesus paid.
And those are the evil men of whom
Jude speaks.
If you return to your old sins and
they return to you, it doesn't mean a
thing that Jesus died for you.
He'll damn you.
You are doomed.
You are hell bound.
And Jude says, as God judged those angels,
he's going to judge you as well.
And you'll be in the same place with
them.
If a girl and a boy are friendly
and flirting together, what does that mean?
Doesn't mean Jesus paid.
If a girl and a boy are friendly
and flirting together, what does that mean?
Doesn't mean Jesus paid.
And Jude says, as God judged those angels,
he's going to judge you as well.
I'm just touching on a few points here
and there, not everything.
In verse 11, he says, woe to them.
They have taken the way of Cain.
Cain was in a service.
And then there was some feeling against his
brother.
And he killed his brother.
And Jude says, woe to them.
They walked the way of Cain.
Those are Christians born again.
But that can kill their own brothers.
They don't take a stick.
They don't take a saquila.
They don't take a revolver.
But with their words, they speak negatively about
them and they kill them.
And Jude says, woe to them.
They have taken the way of Cain.
They don't take a stick.
They don't take a revolver.
They don't take a saquila.
And Jude says, they have rushed for profit
into Balaam's error.
Balaam wanted to have and gain profit and
rushed into error because of
that.
So you get preachers who choose where they
want to go and preach, for which church,
in which group, because they say, when I
go there, I don't get anything, I remain
poor, but if I go to that group,
well there I'll get some profit, I'll get
some money, I'll be well off.
Those people have rushed for profit into Balaam's
error.
They shouldn't be in the church, they shouldn't
open their mouths and preach the gospel, they're
not worthy of that.
I don't know, as we are seated here,
whether we are pure before God or not.
Are we people that are to be condemned,
numbered together with the angels who sinned, and
those from Sodom and Gomorrah?
Jude says, brethren, I warn you.
I warn you, I warn you, I warn
you, I warn you, I warn you, I
warn you, I warn you.
Are we people that are right with God?
Are we sharp?
Do we have discernment?
Are we able to discern between that which
is right and wrong?
Or are we like heaps of dung that
the green flies follow after, and they even
come, and they sit on you, and they
sit on your leg, and they contaminate you?
Now, this is
an opportune time, on this day of reformation,
this reformation day, to examine our lives, to
see, are we walking according to God's way,
according to his will?
Are
we
walking according to God's will?
On the 31st of October, 1517, Martin Luther
went, and he nailed his 95 theses to
that church door, points that he raised where
he said, this is not right in the
church, and that's not right in the church.
And I suggest that on this reformation day,
you go home, and you write down all
the things in your life that are not
right.
You've got the Bible, and Luther's time, they
didn't have the Bible.
If you'd go to church, they'd read from
the Bible in Latin, and sing in Latin.
But because of the reformation, we have the
Bible.
And we can read our Bibles for ourselves,
so we can read God's word, and examine
our lives in the light of God's word.
So Luther said that there are things in
the church that aren't in accordance with God's
word.
But at one point, that was of paramount
importance, that was this scripture alone.
Only God's word is our sure guide.
Is that true in your life?
The way you women dress?
Is it according to God's word?
Or do we say the word of God
doesn't imply, doesn't have anything to do with
it?
That word in the Bible that says if
a woman wears men's garments, and men's womens,
is an abomination to God.
No, that doesn't count today, because it's natural,
it's our culture, it's done that way.
And Luther said, scripture alone, not the other
Christians, not their culture, but what does God
say?
Leading point.
Another point was faith
alone.
Not by your works, not by trying to
do different things will you be justified, but
we are justified by faith alone.
And we are saved by grace alone, not
because of your looks, not because of how
much money you give to the church, or
different reasons, but by grace alone.
There is so much we could say about
that, I said that we're just touching on
the hem of the garment.
We're just touching on the hem of the
garment, we're just touching on the hem of
the garment.
Just touching on the hem of the garment.
We're just touching on
the hem
of the garment.
spiritually speaking before God and ask and say
Lord haven't I perhaps gone astray and gone
into Balaam's era
where I see myself
as being right as a child of God
and yet I find myself on Cain's way
Luther
posted
his 95 theses there on that church door
saying these are errors in the church I'm
being pharisee,
don't
be a Pharisee, don't be a scribe or
a hypocrite but go and write down those
things in your life that are not in
accordance with God's Word.
If you don't find anything go to your
wife, if she doesn't see anything go to
your children.
If they are not straight enough to tell
you, go to your servants.
Go to those that are very small in
your eyes because Jesus said what you do
to them you do to me.
If you accept them you accept me.
If you reject them you reject me.
Don't only go to your friends, go to
your foes.
Sometimes they speak the truth in a better
way than those friends that don't want to
hurt you.
And you remember that women's meeting in Fe
'enachem where there were about 200 or more
women where I had to preach.
And after the service there was such a
huge crowd of them.
Those women had many ailments I tell you.
I think over half of them were there
who wanted to be prayed for.
I said I can't pray for you.
When I pray for a person, a person
has got to be counseled first.
The Bible says spiritual healing starts with the
heart.
If anyone is sick, confess your sins one
to another and then you pray for each
other.
I can't counsel you, I'm alone here, I
didn't bring one co-worker.
How can I pray for all of you?
So on one condition, that you bundle your
sins together and when we are there you
don't make a big story of it.
Just say one, two, three, I'm a liar,
I've stolen, I've committed adultery, one, two, three
and then we pray.
Don't make a long story and go around
in circles.
He said who will be the first one?
And a man got up who was amongst
these women.
He said come Oma, come Sam.
He said near Opa, Oma
Opa, Opa, Opa, Opa, Opa, Opa, Opa, Opa,
Opa, Opa,
Opa, Opa, Opa, Opa, Opa, Opa, Opa, Opa,
and he sick to sleep.
Now this elderly man, this grandfather said to
his wife now, come with me because I
don't do anything without my wife and she
said no if you go and confess your
sin do it alone and he said well
I don't do anything without my wife.
Well he came and then he started complaining
about his arthritis and the pain here and
the aches there.
I said no grandfather or no sir I
said to you you've got to confess your
sin.
I don't want to hear about all your
aches and pains.
I can't pray for grandpa.
We have to start where God starts.
No, that's actually nothing.
I said yes.
What a privilege I have today to meet
my angel.
Who has no sin.
No, no, I don't have any sin.
And then the grandmother said, grandpa, I don't
have
any
sin.
No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no,
no, no, no, no, no, no But why
don't you tell him about your reaction when
a black man passes you in a car
and overtakes you, or when they do something
wrong, how angry you can get, and swear.
Thank you very much, Grandma.
I am glad that Grandma came together.
Grandpa, thank God for the divine woman.
So, how should it begin?
How good that Grandpa brought Grandma together.
If you don't know how a pastoral conversation
is conducted, bring the woman together.
If you don't know how a pastoral conversation
is conducted, bring the woman
together.
Now, Wales, Korea.
Where have things gone wrong when I preached
in Korea?
I was very tired.
I was alone with Elizabeth, and she isn't
a counselor, when we had finished the service.
Then the leader of that group came to
me and said, Everyone here present would like
to come in repentance and confess his and
her sin.
Do you see why the fire has burned
so long?
Do you see why in Wales it's dead?
And you know, every revival, every without exception,
you won't be able to tell me one
revival that started without confession.