Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: Take your Bibles, please, and turn to the Book of Jude.
[00:00:04] Speaker B: The Book of Jude.
[00:00:08] Speaker A: Small little book, Big Doctrine.
God willing, we'll be expounding verse two today.
Jude, verse two. Continuing our study in this wonderful little book.
[00:00:27] Speaker B: And in our study last week, we.
[00:00:31] Speaker A: Learned that Jude was one of two apostles named Judas.
Jude was one of two apostles named Judas. Come on in. It's so good to have y'all in here with us. Good to see you.
Good morning.
[00:00:50] Speaker B: Good morning.
[00:00:52] Speaker A: Don't forget to secure that door. Abel.
[00:00:56] Speaker C: Yeah?
Jude was one of two apostles named Judas. If you're just walking in, we're in. Jude, the Book of Jude, which is.
[00:01:03] Speaker A: The next to the last book in the Bible. Find the Book of Revelation. And the Book of Jude is to the left.
And Jude was one of the apostles of Jesus Christ. There were two apostles named Judas.
And the Judas we are reading about.
[00:01:19] Speaker B: From today is writing a letter about people who are in the Church who.
[00:01:26] Speaker A: Are like the infamous Judas who betrayed Jesus Christ.
The Judas who is writing us today.
[00:01:34] Speaker B: Was a godly Judas, but he's writing.
[00:01:38] Speaker A: About people like the ungodly Judas that he kept close company with when the Twelve apostles were following Jesus.
[00:01:47] Speaker C: Jude, as I told you last week.
[00:01:50] Speaker A: Is about to write some very heavy and troubling words to the Church, some warnings of damnation for people in the Church.
He's going to describe the false Christian teachers that are out there that have permeated the Church.
[00:02:10] Speaker C: But before he describes the false believers.
[00:02:14] Speaker B: He'S writing about, Jude first describes the.
[00:02:18] Speaker A: True believers he's writing to, lest the.
[00:02:21] Speaker C: True believers in the Church read the Book of Jude and then become confused and then begin to be afraid that maybe Jude is writing this damning letter about them.
[00:02:35] Speaker A: Christians get afraid, too.
We saw last week in verse one that by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Jude gave us a threefold cord.
[00:02:47] Speaker C: That binds the believer in Christ to.
[00:02:50] Speaker A: The eternal security of the Gospel. Look with me back in verse one, just to get our frame of reference. Jude said in verse one that he.
[00:02:58] Speaker C: Was writing, to whom? To them that are sanctified by God.
[00:03:04] Speaker A: The Father, number one, and preserved in Jesus Christ, number two. And number three called.
So the believer in Jesus Christ is sanctified by God the Father.
[00:03:17] Speaker C: And we learn that that means that.
[00:03:18] Speaker A: The believer is distinguished by God from.
[00:03:21] Speaker C: The rest of the unbelieving world. Just like a kernel of corn is.
[00:03:26] Speaker A: Distinguished from the cob, from the shuck.
[00:03:29] Speaker B: And from the stalk, the believer is.
[00:03:33] Speaker A: Also preserved in Jesus Christ. Just like the farmer would take that kernel of corn after distinguishing it from the rest of the corn plant. He then may put it, as my grandfather did, in a stocking or maybe as I do, in a paper envelope or something like that, to preserve the colonel.
[00:03:56] Speaker C: And the believer is not only sanctified.
[00:04:00] Speaker A: From the rest of the world and.
[00:04:02] Speaker C: Preserved in Jesus Christ, but the believer is called Jude, said to enter the new kingdom when Jesus comes. Just like that kernel of corn is.
[00:04:11] Speaker A: Preserved in that stocking or that envelope. Because they've been called into the new spring to come.
We learn, therefore, that if your faith is in Christ as your Savior, then you are preserved in Christ.
And if you are preserved in Christ.
[00:04:32] Speaker C: It'S because you've been sanctified from the.
[00:04:34] Speaker A: Rest of the world. And you've been sanctified from the rest of the world.
[00:04:38] Speaker C: Because God has called you to inherit his kingdom. And there is nothing that can stop that from happening.
[00:04:47] Speaker B: The threefold cord of our assurance you.
[00:04:49] Speaker C: Are safe in the threefold cord of God's divine and eternal plan for those.
[00:04:55] Speaker A: Who believe in Christ. What a wonderful truth. We learned about this last week. But you know what? Before Jude goes on to describe these terrible hypocrites in the Church, he's going to give the believer more assurance before he dies.
[00:05:15] Speaker C: Jude is not finished talking about threefold cords.
In verse one, Jude gave us a threefold cord. To assure us of what God is doing with us.
And now in verse two, Jude gives us a three fold cord. To assure us of what God is giving to us.
To those who have been sanctified by God the Father. To those who have been preserved in Jesus Christ. To those who have been called to the new kingdom through the cross. That's what God is doing with us. Jude now says what God is giving to us. He says, look in verse two, mercy.
[00:05:56] Speaker A: Unto you, and peace and love be multiplied.
[00:06:02] Speaker B: Let's pray.
[00:06:03] Speaker A: Father, thank you for this wonderful book. Thank you for the beautiful day you've given us. Thank you for those who've taken their time out of this day. As you've sanctified the believers in Christ. They've sanctified this day, dear Lord, set it apart as the Lord's day to come, Lord, and hear the teaching of your word. That they may be fed from heaven by your scriptures. Thank you for all you've done. May all eyes be upon you today. Glorify your name. I pray, in Jesus wonderful name.
[00:06:36] Speaker B: Amen.
[00:06:38] Speaker A: Verse two, mercy unto you, and peace.
[00:06:42] Speaker C: And love be multiplied. What is God doing with the saints? He is sanctifying them. He is preserving them because he has called them into the New kingdom.
[00:06:54] Speaker A: Now take your pens and underscore the word here in verse two. Mercy.
Mercy, now underscore the word peace.
[00:07:07] Speaker B: Peace.
[00:07:10] Speaker A: Now underscore the word love.
In verse one, we're given the threefold cord.
[00:07:20] Speaker C: The saints are sanctified, preserved and called.
[00:07:25] Speaker A: That's the three things God is doing with us.
[00:07:28] Speaker C: And the threefold cord. In verse two, the saints receive mercy, peace and love. That's the three things God is giving to us. Man, is that good or what?
The saints undergo sanctification and preservation through their faith in the Gospel message because they have an eternal invitation calling that God made for them in Christ with the Gospel covenant.
That's what the saints undergo. But the saints receive mercy and peace.
[00:08:03] Speaker A: Through their faith in the Gospel message because God has loved them in Christ before the world began.
Now, the three things God is giving.
[00:08:15] Speaker B: To us is in accordance with the.
[00:08:19] Speaker A: Three things God is doing for us.
[00:08:21] Speaker C: You cannot have one without the other. God's not going to do those three things to us without giving these three things to us. You see? He's not going to be doing these things without giving us these things. In order For God to sanctify, preserve and call us, God must give us.
[00:08:45] Speaker A: His mercy, peace and love.
And as we enlarged upon the three elements of the three fold cord last week, what God is doing with us, God willing, we're going to enlarge upon the three fold cord this week of what God is giving to us. The three elements. Let's look at the first element together. Paul said, look now in verse two, mercy unto you.
[00:09:15] Speaker B: The concept of mercy is a beautiful concept.
[00:09:19] Speaker A: When you look up the definition of the Greek word that's translated mercy, here it gives you the word compassion.
[00:09:28] Speaker B: Compassion.
[00:09:29] Speaker C: If you would, if you have a.
[00:09:30] Speaker A: Pen and paper, would you take your pen out or in your Bible or wherever, or on a piece of paper and write down the word compassion? I'll spell it for you.
[00:09:41] Speaker B: C-O-M-P-A-S-S-I-O-N-C-O-M-P-A-S-S-I-O-N.
Did you get that spelled right, Brother Doug?
[00:10:02] Speaker A: All right, I was kidding.
[00:10:06] Speaker C: Now, if you would take your pen.
[00:10:09] Speaker A: And draw a vertical line between the.
[00:10:12] Speaker B: Letter M and the letter P, dividing that word up into two parts, calm and passion.
Calm and passion.
[00:10:27] Speaker C: Calm.
[00:10:28] Speaker A: Passion. The prefix calm means with or together with together.
[00:10:39] Speaker B: So the word mercy means with or together with passion.
How many of you have ever gone to see the Passion play before?
[00:10:54] Speaker A: Anybody?
[00:10:57] Speaker B: I've never seen one live, but I've.
[00:11:02] Speaker A: Heard about them and I've seen them on television, the Passion play is a rendition of the crucifixion of Christ portrayed live by actors.
Have you ever wondered why a play portraying the crucifixion of Christ is called the Passion play?
[00:11:21] Speaker B: How many of y'all have ever seen.
[00:11:22] Speaker C: The movie that Mel Gibbs made, the.
[00:11:25] Speaker A: Passion of the Christ?
[00:11:28] Speaker B: A lot of people in here have.
[00:11:31] Speaker C: Have you ever wondered why Mel Gibbs, when he made that movie, titled it.
[00:11:38] Speaker B: The Passion of the Christ?
[00:11:42] Speaker A: It's because the English word Passion used to mean suffering.
Suffering. The Passion of the Christ, the suffering.
[00:11:53] Speaker C: Of Christ on the cross.
[00:11:56] Speaker A: I love the powerful art of language.
[00:11:59] Speaker C: And because of that, I hate it.
[00:12:02] Speaker A: When the meanings of words change over time on account of their misuse. That's why they change.
But if you continue to misuse a.
[00:12:11] Speaker C: Word, then the incorrect definition will eventually become the new definition, and then the.
[00:12:17] Speaker A: Correct definition will ultimately become obsolete.
And if you were to look up the word passion in the Merriam Webster Dictionary today, you would have to look.
[00:12:28] Speaker C: Down toward the bottom. If you look down toward the bottom, you would see the word defined as.
[00:12:34] Speaker B: Suffering, and then you would see a.
[00:12:37] Speaker A: Little note out next to it that says obsolete.
[00:12:41] Speaker B: Isn't that sad?
[00:12:42] Speaker C: That's really what it means.
Calm.
Passion, come with together.
[00:12:52] Speaker A: Passion, suffering.
So the word compassion means suffering together with someone else.
And this is the definition of our word mercy today.
Just think about it.
[00:13:09] Speaker B: How was mercy granted in the Old Testament?
[00:13:15] Speaker A: It was granted to God's people through suffering, wasn't it?
[00:13:19] Speaker C: It wasn't gold that was placed on the mercy seat.
It wasn't some beautiful love letter placed.
[00:13:28] Speaker A: On the mercy seat. It wasn't emotions placed on the mercy seat. What was it? It was blood that was placed on the mercy seat.
[00:13:38] Speaker C: Some innocent animal had to suffer and die for mercy, for compassion to be granted. The whole concept behind mercy is this amazing truth that God feels our pain.
[00:13:56] Speaker A: When Adam fell on the Garden of Eden.
[00:14:00] Speaker B: And his sin brought tragedy upon.
[00:14:04] Speaker C: The human race, the tragedy of death, the tragedy of suffering, the tragedy of heartache that we all experience today. Every one of us do.
[00:14:14] Speaker A: It broke the heart of God for his people.
My dear parents suffered the worst pain a parent could ever experience when they lost their youngest son this year.
Once a parent loses a child or a grandchild, life is never the same again. Would you all agree?
Never the same.
[00:14:36] Speaker B: You keep living, but the hurt and.
[00:14:40] Speaker C: The sorrow never goes away. If there's one thing I've learned as.
[00:14:45] Speaker B: A parent is that the pain I have experienced over my children gives me.
[00:14:52] Speaker A: A small glimpse into the pain that God has experienced over me.
I think the hardest thing in life.
[00:15:01] Speaker B: For a parent is to raise a.
[00:15:04] Speaker A: Child to do what's right.
[00:15:07] Speaker C: And then.
[00:15:08] Speaker A: Watch that child choose wrong instead, knowing.
[00:15:12] Speaker C: All along the trouble and the heartache that that child is going to surely face because of it. And when their children suffer, when they watch their children suffer, the parents, because.
[00:15:24] Speaker A: They have compassion for their child, suffer with them.
If you have ever lost a child.
[00:15:33] Speaker B: Or a grandchild that you love, then.
[00:15:36] Speaker A: You have a small taste of the pain, just a small taste of the.
[00:15:40] Speaker B: Pain that God feels for the people he loved and created and then lost.
[00:15:47] Speaker A: To eternal death on account of their sin.
[00:15:52] Speaker C: When a parent loses someone they love, they would give anything to have that child back, even their own lives.
And that's what God did for his.
[00:16:03] Speaker A: Wayward children like you and me.
[00:16:05] Speaker C: He looked down upon the world, he looked upon the people he loved in this world. And he had compassion on us through.
[00:16:16] Speaker B: Christ, extending His mercy to us, giving.
[00:16:20] Speaker C: His life to dies a sinner condemned before God in our stead. How many times have parents watched their children suffer?
[00:16:30] Speaker A: Perhaps up there at St. Jude Hospital, perhaps like Brother Noel Espaso, whose little girl down the Philippines has gone through, I think, 33 chemo treatments.
[00:16:45] Speaker B: And watching.
[00:16:46] Speaker C: Their hair fall out and watching them cry and watching them turn into skin and bones or some other traumatizing event, and they think, oh, I wish I could go through this for them. I wish I could take the place.
[00:17:03] Speaker A: Of my child and suffer instead of them.
Parents, the immense love and pain you're suffering for your children is showing you.
[00:17:15] Speaker C: The immense love and pain that God suffers over us. God had mercy in his great love for us. He felt our pain and he came and lived and fought our enemy, the devil, on our behalf. He took our sins upon himself. And now God extends this great mercy to every person who will accept it.
[00:17:39] Speaker B: By accepting his son, God has extended.
[00:17:44] Speaker A: His compassionate mercy to the world through Christ.
[00:17:49] Speaker C: And Jude is writing to people who have accepted that mercy.
[00:17:56] Speaker A: The unbelieving world will not accept the truth of the gospel because of this. The Apostle Paul in Romans chapter two, verse eight and nine said, quote to.
[00:18:09] Speaker C: Them that are contentious and do not obey the truth, that is the truth.
[00:18:13] Speaker A: Of the Gospel, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish upon every.
[00:18:22] Speaker C: Soul of man that doeth evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Gentile. So tribulation and anguish to them who do not accept Christ, but to those of us who do accept him as our Savior.
[00:18:35] Speaker B: Jude said, mercy unto you, mercy unto you, Jude is about to write about.
[00:18:42] Speaker C: Unbelieving people in the Church. He's about to write about religious hypocrites, and there's going to be damnation to them. But before he describes the damnation to them, he wants to assure us of the mercy unto us, God's tender, compassionate mercy unto you, he says, through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, his Son. Look back in your text, number two.
[00:19:04] Speaker B: And peace.
Peace because of God's mercy.
[00:19:13] Speaker A: Because God felt our pain and stepped.
[00:19:16] Speaker C: Into our shoes and suffered and died.
[00:19:19] Speaker A: For our sins in Christ, he not.
[00:19:21] Speaker C: Only gives us mercy, but through that.
[00:19:23] Speaker A: Mercy, he gives us peace.
From my own personal experience seeking God before I was saved and out of all the years I've since counseled people who are seeking or were seeking salvation.
[00:19:42] Speaker B: I found that peace is what people.
[00:19:45] Speaker A: Desire more than anything else. They desire peace.
The Bible says in Hebrews, chapter ten, verse 31, that quote, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands.
[00:19:59] Speaker B: Of the living God man.
[00:20:01] Speaker C: I didn't want to fall into the hands of the living God man. That's scary to think about that. People who understand that they are sinners, they don't want to be at ODs with their Creator.
[00:20:12] Speaker B: They don't want to be the enemies of God.
[00:20:14] Speaker A: They want to be the objects of his peace.
[00:20:20] Speaker C: They don't want to be the objects of his just and all consuming wrath. They want to have peace with God. One of the most common mistakes, though.
[00:20:28] Speaker A: That people make is confusing the peace.
[00:20:33] Speaker B: That God gives through Christ with the.
[00:20:36] Speaker A: Feelings that they experience at a given moment.
[00:20:39] Speaker C: I'm going to repeat that again. One of the most common mistakes people make is confusing the peace that God gives through Christ with the feelings that.
[00:20:50] Speaker A: They experience at a given moment.
The Greek word translated peace here is a fantastic word.
The literal definition of the Greek word translated peace here means to join.
To join. Isn't that great? To join.
[00:21:12] Speaker B: To join.
[00:21:12] Speaker C: Not to feel.
[00:21:14] Speaker B: To to join.
[00:21:17] Speaker C: Not to experience.
Not to feel peaceful, but to join. Not to experience some euphoria, but to join.
[00:21:26] Speaker B: People can take Xanax and feel peaceful.
[00:21:31] Speaker A: People can relax on the beach and feel peaceful. People can listen to a soothing song and feel peaceful. But the Xanax will wear off.
[00:21:44] Speaker C: A storm will eventually brew out in the ocean and bring it upon the beach, and the song will eventually come to an end.
[00:21:52] Speaker A: So that's not the kind of peace that God gives. That's not the kind of peace that Jude is offering to God's people here. In this letter in John 1427, Jesus said, peace. I leave with you. Same Greek word.
[00:22:10] Speaker C: My peace I give unto you.
And then he says, this, not as.
[00:22:19] Speaker A: The world gives, give unto you.
[00:22:23] Speaker C: He says, let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. So Jesus told his disciples that when.
[00:22:30] Speaker A: He goes, he's going to leave them something behind.
He's going to leave them peace.
And he said, the peace he's going.
[00:22:40] Speaker C: To leave them is not the type of peace that the world gives to us. It's not the Xanax, it's not the beach. It's not the soothing song. Because the peace Jesus left us is an everlasting peace. It's an indestructible peace, a perfect, confident and unchanging peace with God.
[00:23:04] Speaker A: Remember, the Greek word peace means to join.
[00:23:08] Speaker C: And on the cross, Jesus put away the sins of the world. He reached out with the one hand because he is God in the flesh. He reached out with the other hand because he is man who came and took on human flesh. And so with one hand, with the.
[00:23:26] Speaker A: Hand of being man, he grabbed the sinner. With the hand of being God, he grabbed the Father.
[00:23:31] Speaker C: And he, through the cross, through his sacrifice, joined God and man back together through the sacrifice he made, through the mercy he offered. Turn with me, if you would, please.
[00:23:43] Speaker A: To Colossians, chapter one. Colossians, chapter one.
[00:23:56] Speaker B: Be back to your lefT.
[00:23:59] Speaker A: Colossians, chapter one. If you have trouble finding it, just look in your index.
[00:24:08] Speaker B: And turn to the page.
In Colossians, chapter one, verse 20, it says this.
[00:24:20] Speaker A: I still hear pages turning, so I'm going to wait.
All right, everyone there. Colossians, chapter one, verse 20. It says this. And having made peace through the blood of his cross by him, to reconcile all things unto himself, by him, I say, whether they be things in earth or things in heaven, would you take.
[00:24:47] Speaker B: Your pens and underscore having made peace?
[00:24:56] Speaker A: Having made peace.
How was that peace made?
[00:25:04] Speaker B: Through the blood of his cross.
[00:25:06] Speaker A: And what was the result of having made peace? It's that one word, reconcile. Guess what the word reconcile means?
[00:25:15] Speaker C: To put together, to join together, made you see the peace Jesus left us is not something we feel, it's something Jesus made.
You can't feel the peace Jesus made.
[00:25:35] Speaker A: It's not a feeling, it's an accomplishment. You see, it's different.
Underscore the word reconcile, if you haven't already.
[00:25:43] Speaker C: Again, the word reconcile means to join. And in this case, it's joining sinners back to God.
This is the peace that Jesus left us in the Gospel when he had compassion and died for our sins. On the cross rose again and went to heaven, leaving the peace behind, leaving the good news of what he accomplished behind. We believe the good news of the peace Jesus made for us on the cross and quote, therefore, being justified by faith, we have peace with God through.
[00:26:17] Speaker A: Our Lord Jesus Christ. Romans five one.
[00:26:21] Speaker C: So God's mercy and God's peace, look.
[00:26:27] Speaker A: Back in your text now in Jude.
[00:26:29] Speaker C: Verse two.
[00:26:33] Speaker B: And love, the three things God gives us through Christ and love.
[00:26:43] Speaker A: All of these three are given to us in the person of Christ. God loved the world, so what did he give?
[00:26:52] Speaker C: He gave his son.
God had mercy on the world. How did he show mercy?
[00:26:59] Speaker A: By the sacrifice of his Son, God.
[00:27:03] Speaker C: Made peace with the world. How did he make that peace? Through the blood of the cross of his Son.
So if you have received Christ as your savior, then you have received God's mercy, peace, and love.
And the only Reason you've received God's mercy, peace and love is because you have been sanctified, preserved, and called.
[00:27:32] Speaker B: What a deal.
[00:27:37] Speaker A: God's love.
What is love? God's love is the great affection. If you were looked that up in the Greek dictionary, you would see the word affection in there. God's love is the great affection he has for you.
Nobody wants to be rejected.
[00:27:55] Speaker B: How many of y'all have ever been on the playground as a kid?
[00:28:01] Speaker A: And they're about to start choosing up team members. You have team captains. I know Brother Shepard was always the one chosen first. If he was not the team captain, he was muscular, even as a little boy.
[00:28:18] Speaker C: But for the rest of us.
[00:28:20] Speaker B: For the rest of us, you always.
[00:28:23] Speaker A: Think, I hope they don't pick me last. Hope they don't pick me last.
No one wants to be rejected. People want to be valued by others, don't we? We want to be valued.
[00:28:36] Speaker C: And in Jesus Christ, God valued our.
[00:28:40] Speaker B: Souls worthy of giving his own life.
[00:28:46] Speaker C: Greater love. Jesus said, has no man than this, that a man lays down his life for his friends, and that wonderful grace, peace, and love that God gives us in Christ shall never fade away.
The cross has been accomplished. The cross is finished. The cross is a piece of history that can never be unwritten. The cross, the mercy, the peace, the love of God, it won't run out on us when times get bad. It won't give out on us as time continues. No. Jude says, these three things to the believer in Christ shall be, look back in your text, shall be multiplied, not divided, not subtracted, not diminished in any way, but they shall be multiplied to us.
[00:29:39] Speaker A: And this means simply, they shall be given to us in abundance.
[00:29:46] Speaker C: Why will God continue to give his.
[00:29:48] Speaker A: Mercy, peace and love to us in.
[00:29:50] Speaker B: Abundance simply because of this?
[00:29:54] Speaker A: Where sin abounded, grace did much more abound.
[00:30:01] Speaker B: Romans 520 Jude is writing to us.
[00:30:05] Speaker A: About religious charlatans who do not accept the Lord Jesus.
[00:30:11] Speaker C: He's about to tell us. He's about to warn us about people who, like the Pharisees, may hold positions of leadership in the Church, though they don't actually believe in the message of the Church.
[00:30:27] Speaker A: He will tell us about people, about.
[00:30:32] Speaker B: Unbelieving Bible teachers like Judas Ascariat, this.
[00:30:38] Speaker A: Judas's unrighteous counterpart in the Twelve Apostles.
[00:30:43] Speaker C: He's about to tell us about people.
[00:30:45] Speaker B: Like Judas Iscariot, who followed Christ but didn't believe in Christ and later betrayed Christ for the safety of the church.
[00:30:57] Speaker A: You say, Brother Richard, why would Jude.
[00:30:59] Speaker C: Go through all of this? Why not just preach inspiring messages for.
[00:31:08] Speaker B: The safety of the Church, for the.
[00:31:11] Speaker A: Purity of the message that saves the lost? Religious hypocrites like these must be exposed.
[00:31:20] Speaker B: But while we expose these wolves, we.
[00:31:23] Speaker A: Have to be careful to distinguish them.
[00:31:25] Speaker B: From the sheep, lest we, in our.
[00:31:29] Speaker A: Zealousness as pastors, and believe me, it happens, we take God's sword and we.
[00:31:36] Speaker C: Swing it in a reckless manner and.
[00:31:38] Speaker A: Frighten the people that God called and sanctified and preserved in Jesus Christ.
[00:31:46] Speaker C: For the people.
[00:31:47] Speaker B: Jude is writing about God's mercy.
[00:31:51] Speaker A: Peace and love shall never be known.
[00:31:55] Speaker B: For the people.
[00:31:55] Speaker A: Jude is writing to God's mercy.
[00:31:59] Speaker B: Peace and love shall be multiplied forever through the Savior.
