Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Take God's precious word and turn to the Book of Jude.
[00:00:06] Jude.
[00:00:11] The Book of Jude was written to warn the Church about counterfeit Christian leaders.
[00:00:21] He said they had crept into the Church. And, yes, I had someone call me a creepy clergy this morning. Those little things stick to those children.
[00:00:33] They'd crept into the Church unawares, without even being noticed. And they'd begun changing the truth of God's word into a lie, that life giving truth of God into a false and empty religion.
[00:00:50] Interestingly, when people read books like this, let me help put things into perspective. Someone get in here to the Book of Jude, and they'll start reading about how they've gone in the way of Cain and all those other things. They think, oh, dear God, I hope it's not me. I hope I don't one day go into the way of Cain.
[00:01:13] What you have to understand here, this is why Jude started off the way he.
[00:01:19] In the Book of Jude. You had people creep into the Church unaware, but you never had a Christian creep out of the Church. Never. They would creep into the.
[00:01:38] Give me a hot pulpit up here. That'll help make up the difference. Can you give me a hot pulpit, Mike, please? Is that possible? There we go. That way. If this one goes out, this one will take up the difference. It'll be all right.
[00:01:51] So the Book of Jude was written to warn us about these counterfeit Christian leaders. And Jude said that he gave all diligence to write this book to encourage the saints to earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto them. Look in your text. For Jude said, there are certain men, crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation.
[00:02:18] They snuck into the church, but they didn't sneak in to the Lord. They didn't surprise him a bit. Long before these men snuck into the Church, God had already written about them in his holy word. Jude said they were not good men who were mistaken about religion, but they were. Look back in your text, ungodly men.
[00:02:45] Ungodly men who, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness. And by denying the message of God, they were denying. Look back in text, the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.
[00:03:03] That was the warning that we've been given. And the shock of what I taught about last week, about how there's these creepy clergy in here and God's going to destroy them out of the church and everything that the shock of what Jude just told us. It may be hard for a lot of people to take in after preaching through the Book of Jude, I can just hear some liberal preacher calling us a bunch of conspiracy theorists. Can't you hear that, too?
[00:03:37] I can just hear them say, are those right wing fundamentalist Christians? They're always thinking somebody's out to get them. They're always using scare tactics to preach a message of hate against anyone who doesn't think like them. I can just hear them saying that.
[00:03:54] By the way, how many of y'all have ever heard a liberal preacher preach and expound the Book of Jude? I haven't either.
[00:04:05] Haven't either.
[00:04:07] I tell you what, that's one thing we do. We preach the whole word of God.
[00:04:13] I'm not preaching some conspiracy theory that a lot of mean spirited Baptists cooked up. I'm preaching the inspired word of God that a lot of creepy clergy have abandoned. And that's the difference.
[00:04:30] If you were to step into a church right now and one of these churches that have a creepy clergy in it, if you were to step in there and tell them that their beloved pastor is a religious Charlton, who's leading them astray from God, they would think you were crazy. They would think you were hateful. They think, man, we don't need people like that. They're too divisive. I mean, their pastor, Father Feelgood, he's the most kindest, sweetest person we know. They'd say, I want to read to you a news article from the Athens Daily Review that was written a little while back, not too long ago, and I think that will help us put some things into perspective.
[00:05:23] The headline of the article that I read is, quote, a blessing of the animals. A blessing of the animals. And underneath the headline, you see a man robed in long, flowing white priestly garments standing in the middle of a field out in the country.
[00:05:49] The photo caption read, Quote, Father Matthew Frick blessed a group of pigs who had been rescued from a farm in upstate New York. End quote.
[00:06:02] As I went ahead and read that article, the article goes on to say, quote, three rescued pigs, peanut, Jake and Pete, were prayed for and blessed on Wednesday by Father Matthew Frick of St. Matthias Episcopal Church, right behind my house, by the way.
[00:06:22] And then Father Frick said this, quote, I have blessed a lot of dogs and cats, said Frick, but this is a first for me to bless pigs.
[00:06:35] The Episcopal Church here in Maybank does the same stuff every year. They have a blessing of the animals here at the St. James on the Lake Episcopal Church. Any y'all ever gone there? St. James Lake Episcopal Church. In one of the articles I read about St. James. There was a picture of a big bellied priest. Looked like he had a long, gray ponytail in the back.
[00:06:59] He was holding some kind of red book in his hand with a cross. I don't know if it's a Bible or if it's some kind of book of blessings. I don't know what it was, but he was holding some kind of book in his hand.
[00:07:13] And as he was there holding that book with his big bell and his long priestly robes, he was blowing a kiss to a dog that one of his parishioners was holding for him to bless, blowing a kiss to him. Church? Have we lost our minds?
[00:07:29] How did the Church of Jesus Christ that we read about in the Book of Acts go from preaching the gospel to blowing kisses at puppies?
[00:07:42] How do we go from feeding the flock of God to blessing a bunch of pigs? Seriously, how do we do that? Certain men crept into the church, and the church never noticed because they weren't keeping their eyes on the word of God.
[00:08:04] I can just hear someone object to what I'm saying right now and say, but surely God wouldn't send a bunch of church members to hell that follow these people. Surely he wouldn't send pastors to hell, Brother Richard, who spend their entire lives preaching and leading the church, just because they have a different idea of what it takes to go to heaven about what church is all about than you do.
[00:08:29] Just because they don't believe the gospel the way you interpret the Bible. To say, it seems as if Jude, by the Holy Spirit, could hear those kind of arguments from carnal people that would come from writing his letter. He knew there would be people who had a hard time believing that God would actually condemn religious leaders and the churchgoers who follow them.
[00:09:01] So after pronouncing the incredible impending judgment on these creepy clergy, Jude said, if you look in verse five with me now, I will therefore put you in remembrance. He's saying, hey, if you think God won't destroy people who faithfully attend the Church, if you think that God won't destroy pastors who don't truly believe and preach the word of God, let me give you a quick history lesson.
[00:09:32] Jude's saying, let me refresh your memory.
[00:09:35] Let me put you in remembrance. Look back in your text, though ye once knew this. In other words, Jude was not to tell them something that was new. He wasn't going to tell them something they didn't know. He was about to remind them of something that they already knew.
[00:09:51] And this is why it's so important for us as a church to have a good understanding of the Old Testament. He's about to point them back to the Bible. He's about to use Old Testament stories to teach New Testament saints.
[00:10:06] This is one reason why we teach Old Testament stories to our children over here in Sunday school every Sunday morning, and why we continually refer you back to the Old Testament in our adult teaching as well. Because the Old Testament is the foundation of our understanding for God's word.
[00:10:27] Every time a Bible teacher takes you back to the Old Testament when he's teaching in the new, then he's putting you in remembrance of something that you should hopefully already know. But he's putting you in remembrance of the past, that you may understand the present and future things of the kingdom of God. So what was Jude about to remind them about? What was he about to put them in remembrance of in the Old Testament that would convince them of God's future judgment on these creepy clergy and the people who follow them? For remember, these creepy clergy, Jude said, were before of old ordained to this condemnation. Remember, we learned about that. There are three Old Testament examples that Jude is going to remind us of to help us understand what's happening in the church today and what will happen to these imposters in the future. Jude said. First, let me remind you, look back in your text, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not. Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word, and I pray that you'll give us the understanding we need. May all eyes be on you this morning in Christ's precious name. Amen.
[00:11:53] The Lord, after having saved them, the saved the people out of the land of Egypt. Jude said he afterward destroyed them that believed not.
[00:12:04] So after God saved Israel out of the land of Egypt, most of those Israelites weren't allowed to enter the promised land. We know the story. Why? Because of their unbelief. So they went out, but they never went into the promised land. And I believe the point Jude is intending here is to impress upon us the reality that just because you're traveling with God's people doesn't mean you're going to inherit God's promise. Okay, let me repeat that again. Just because you are traveling with God's people doesn't mean you're going to inherit God's promise. You can grow up in church, and you can go to church every day of your life. You can go to all the fellowships, all the socials, you can sing out of the same hymn books, but just because you're traveling along with God's people doesn't mean you're going to inherit God's promise time after time. In Israel's exodus from Egypt, we saw examples of the people's unbelief and of God judging those who did not believe him. It's amazing how many people did not truly believe. So if God ultimately denied entrance into Canaan for those unbelieving Jews, how much more will he deny entrance into his heavenly kingdom to those who do not believe on his son?
[00:13:30] In our study of first John, we learned about people who were in the Church, but who ultimately left the Church and abandoned the faith of Christ. Remember that when we studied through first John, because they were never part of the Church at all. They never truly believed the gospel. They were just there in presence, but they did not believe in the promised Messiah. In one John, chapter two, verse 19, John told us, they went out from us, but they were not of us.
[00:14:03] For if they had been of us, they would no doubt have continued with us, but they went out that they might be made manifest that they were not all of us.
[00:14:18] So, as John said, they went out from us, but they were not of us. In the same way those believing Israelites could have said they went out with us, but they were not of us. That makes sense. One says, they went out from us, but they were not of us. The others could say they came out with us, but they were not of us.
[00:14:43] The point is, we're not saved by the company we keep.
[00:14:48] We are saved by the truth that we believe.
[00:14:53] You can say, well, my grandma was a Christian.
[00:14:56] My mom and dad were Christians. I know they're in heaven praying for me right now.
[00:15:01] Listen, all the prayers of your mom and dad in heaven, your grandma in heaven, they won't get you to heaven. Growing up in a Christian home is not going to get you to heaven. The only thing that can get you to heaven is salvation, and that comes through faith in Jesus Christ alone. If we don't believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, we will surely perish. You can't just blend in with a crowd of Christians and sneak into heaven.
[00:15:31] You may be able to sneak out of Egypt.
[00:15:34] You may be able to leave the flesh and some of the pollutions of this world for a time. As the apostle Peter talked about, you may be able to sneak out of some of that stuff, but you're not going to sneak into heaven.
[00:15:47] You can't just put on a robe, occupy a pulpit, and enter into Heaven some other way than the door that God provided.
[00:15:58] Speaking of false pastors, the same people that Jude is speaking of. In the Gospel of John, chapter ten, verse one, Jesus said this verily, verily, I say unto you, he that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same as a thief and a robber. Let me give you an idea of what that means.
[00:16:25] If a pastor tries to get into the Church of Jesus Christ, any way other than the cross of Jesus Christ, he is a thief and a robber. Say it again. If a pastor tries to get into the church, or gets into the Church of Jesus Christ, any other way than the cross of Jesus Christ, that pastor is a thief and a robber. He's there to steal, kill and destroy. He's not coming to lead the sheep, he's coming to bleed the sheep. The cross, the gospel of Jesus Christ, Jesus himself, he is the door to the sheepfold, and he's the way to know if a person belongs in the church, if a person belongs in the pulpit, if a person belongs in the kingdom of God.
[00:17:14] If I were to drive by my son in law's house, I went over there the other day, Tammy and I did, to watch the kids while Luke and Allison had a date. Day had a hot date.
[00:17:30] And if I would have pulled up, or as I'm pulling up, if I would have seen the door open and someone walk in, I thought, oh, well, they've got company over. But if I pulled up on that street, if I would have seen 2ft hanging out the side window and some fella crawling in that side window, I'd think somebody's breaking in.
[00:17:54] The person coming through the front door that was open for them, I would think, well, they were invited and they're a guest, they belong there. The person coming through that side window and crawling through that side window, I'd think they need a good dose of what I got on my right hip right now. They don't belong there. They're coming in to hurt somebody in the same way. If I see someone preaching some other way into the Church of Jesus Christ, other than that door, the cross that God has given Jesus Christ and him crucifiEd, then that's a good indication that that person doesn't belong in the House of God.
[00:18:39] The Unbelieving Israelites, they traveled a long way, but they were Ultimately destroyed for their unbelief in the wilderness, never made it. And these false pastors, they can travel a long way. They're going to be with the Church a long time here on Earth. But ultimately, one day, the little kisses and blessing of the pigs and homosexual, LGBTQ, whatever they are preachers. And all this other stuff that preaches something other than the law that condemns and the cross that justifies, they'll be ultimately revealed and destroyed by God who knows the hearts of all men.
[00:19:31] So Jude said, example number one.
[00:19:34] Don't forget those who left with the Israelites who did not believe.
[00:19:44] They looked like they were going all the way to the Promised land.
[00:19:48] They looked like they believed just as much as Joshua and Caleb and Moses. But when it came time to enter the Promised Land, they didn't believe God could get them there because the giants were much too big. That's example number one, verse six. And the angels, which kept not their first Estate. That's example number two.
[00:20:12] In example number one, we have unbelieving Israelites. In example number two, we have unholy angels.
[00:20:20] Now, what do these two examples have in common?
[00:20:24] In both cases, you have the Wicked Dwelling among the righteous. You see that? In both cases, you have the Wicked Dwelling among the righteous. Don't forget the parable. Let me put you in remembrance of the New Testament. Don't forget the parable of the Landowner that said, let the Tears and the wheat grow together.
[00:20:46] I'll separate them in the end. Right now, the tears and the wheat are growing together in the Church of Jesus Christ.
[00:20:53] But in the end, they will get separated, just like right before they got into Canaan. The Unbelieving and the believing, they got separated.
[00:21:04] And in these cases, both of these examples that Jude gave, if you were to look on the outward appearance, you would think that the Israelites and the angels were JuSt godly creatures. Look at them marching out of Egypt. Look at them up there in heaven. I mean, the Israelites were following God out of Egypt. The angels were living with God in heaven.
[00:21:23] But like the Israelites, the angels were eventually revealed to be the godless creatures that they really were.
[00:21:31] They were rebels. Jude said they were the angels. Looking back in your text, the angels, which kept not their first estate, and that means they didn't keep their place in God's creative order. God put them there. That's why homosexuality is an earmark of someone rejecting God, because when God created them, he says, I'm going to make you a man, and because I make you a man, this is your job. I'm going to make you a woman. Because I'm going to make you a woman. This is your job. And by the way, and y'all may get angry at me about this, that's okay. You'll be wrong. You'll be bad wrong.
[00:22:15] When I look on Facebook and I see a picture and someone posted picture of their daughter in the Marine Corps the other day. There she was standing with a rifle in the Marine Corps, and they posted and they say, here's what a true hero looks like. No, that's a woman. That's what a creature who is out of their God ordained order looks like.
[00:22:42] Do you know what a woman looks like? That's a true hero.
[00:22:45] That's one right back there in that back corner. Elizabeth Jeremini. That's someone who serves the husband, who cooks the food, who changes the diapers, who's a keeper of the home and is a mama.
[00:23:00] But if she were to leave that house, go join the Marine Corps, put a rifle in her hand, and leave her kids at home for Daddy to raise, she'd be out of the will of God.
[00:23:10] I don't care what uniform you put on her. I don't care what rifle you put in her hand.
[00:23:16] You said you're unpatriotic. No, I'm biblical.
[00:23:21] And if you praise someone who's out of order, you're unbiblical.
[00:23:26] And if patriotism gets in the way of God's word, I'd rather be biblical than patriotic any day.
[00:23:35] Let's just cut it up like it is.
[00:23:39] The angels didn't like the position they were given.
[00:23:44] A lot of women don't like the position they're given. You watch commercials today, you know what you'll see? You'll see the women out doing the men's job.
[00:23:53] Then you'll see the men over there rocking and feeding the baby.
[00:23:58] You'll see them being these little house husbands. Man, get some dirt under your fingernails and go to work, fella. Get the hot pink hairdo off of you and get out and be a man.
[00:24:11] Be a Billy Baker, be a Jess, be a man.
[00:24:18] But these angels, they're like, well, I don't like this job. I don't like the place God's given us. We don't like this over. This looks better down here on earth even than what we have here.
[00:24:32] We'd rather rule on earth than serve in heaven. I think that was their attitude. We would rather rule on earth, rather be gods on earth than servants in heaven.
[00:24:44] Jude said they kept not their first estate, they didn't keep their creative order, and they were the servants of God. But if you'll look back in your text here, it says, but reject. That is rejecting their God given design. They left their own habitation. It's amazing. And literally, that means they left their own house.
[00:25:11] And I believe Jews referring to their heavenly house. And I'm going to explain what I mean by that. They left their own habitation. They left their heavenly house. The Greek word translated habitation, here, it's only used two times in the Bible. And when you study these two passages together, they're absolutely fascinating. And that second time or that other time that this word is used in the Bible, it's when Paul was talking about dying.
[00:25:36] If you would take your Bibles quickly and turn to Second Corinthians, chapter five.
[00:25:54] Second Corinthians, chapter five.
[00:26:03] And I'm going to read verse one and two. And I want you to listen real close as we read this passage together. Okay?
[00:26:11] Watch what Paul says now.
[00:26:13] For we know that if our earthly house of this Tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God and house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.
[00:26:29] And so Paul says, if my earthly house of this tabernacle is dissolved, we've got this buIlding, not a tabernacle, but a building in heaven. Verse two. For in this, we grown, or we eagerly grown, earnestly designed to be clothed upon with our. Underscore the word house. That's the same Greek word. That's the other time it's used in the Bible. Same Greek word that Jude is using.
[00:26:58] We earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house, which is from heaven.
[00:27:06] When Paul is speaking about our earthly house, he's talking about our bodies, our physical bodies, and he's calling them a tent.
[00:27:14] Our earthly house of this tabernacle, in other words, the house we have right now in these bodies, you are a spirit, okay? You are a spirit who has a soul, and you occupy a body. Let me just put you as a creature in perspective. Every one of you here are spirits. Now, if you remember in, I think it's second Peter, he said that Jesus went and preached to the spirits in the Old Testament that were in prison. Okay? He's not talking about angels, talking about people.
[00:27:52] You are a spirit that has a soul, and you reside in an earthly house because of sin. Your earthly house is a tabernacle. It means it's a tent. It's not a permanent structure. It's something meant to be put up and taken down. It's not to be meant to be lived in. From now on, we don't live in tents. We live in structures, right? And so he says, if our earthly tabernacle, this tent, if it were to dissolve, he says, then we have a building. The ideas that are inner man spirits were clothed with a house made out of this earthly physical matter.
[00:28:38] That's our residence that our house, our residential or our house that our spirits live in right now. And Paul says, when this earthly house dissolves, in other words, when our body breaks then we have this building. Not a temporary tent but a permanent structure that's eternal in the heavens.
[00:28:59] So interesting in verse two where the word used in Jude today is used the second time. Paul says that we, that is our spirits being clothed with these dissolving earthly bodies we desire to be clothed upon with a house which is from heaVen. Isn't it amazing?
[00:29:22] And our house which is from heaven. That's the same word translated habitation in the Book of Jude today.
[00:29:29] So the angels left their heavenly house and we shall one day leave our earthly house. Isn't that amazing? The angels left their heavenly house.
[00:29:43] We shall one day leave our earthly house.
[00:29:47] Now do you remember?
[00:29:49] And it's amazing that how Brother Shepherd Sunday school and my message dovetail all the time. He has never seen my notes. I've never seen his. We didn't talk about it.
[00:30:02] But Brother Shepard mentioned about Jesus sending those demons into the herd of swine. Remember that? I wonder if they got blessed by Father Frick senior.
[00:30:12] It didn't work. They got choked. They should have had Father frick there.
[00:30:16] But when Jesus sent those angels into the herd of swine they asked Jesus to send them into the swine. Do you remember that story? They asked him, would you please send us into those swine?
[00:30:32] What do we learn from that? Those fallen spirits, they also desire to have a house even if it's swine flesh.
[00:30:42] So Jude said the angels left their own habitation. I believe it means that they left their heavenly house.
[00:30:50] And I think that means they are disembodied spirits.
[00:30:55] Spirits without a body. Disembodied spirits. I want you to think about that with me for a moment in the Bible. And we saw one instance this morning in Sunday school. Again, remember Elijah?
[00:31:09] He was asleep, he was hungry. Who poked him on the shoulder? An angel did. Angel talked to him.
[00:31:18] So here's Elijah looking at Angel. Angel's talking to Elijah. Angel fixes him some food on the fire. Had a crucifix of water sitting there for him. So in the Bible we see several instances where God's angels appear as men on earth. We saw it in Sodom and Gomorrah. We saw it here. We see several instances. We saw it at the resurrection at the empty tomb. Several instances where angels of God appear as men on earth. Can you think of one time where one, the devil and his angels, appeared as a man on earth?
[00:31:58] Not one time. Think about it. When we see the devil and his Angels, they are inhabiting the bodies of other people and other animals.
[00:32:10] Satan inhabited the body of a snake in the Garden of Eden.
[00:32:16] A thousand devils inhabited the bodies of pigs.
[00:32:22] Before that, they inhabited the body of a man. That's how they appeared. That's how they spoke. They spoke to Jesus. We are legion. Our name is Legion, for we are many.
[00:32:33] That's how they spoke to Adam and Eve through the reptile.
[00:32:39] They never appear in their own bodies like the angels. Do you think of one time when one of God's angels possessed a person?
[00:32:50] They have their own bodies. You see the difference? They have their own bodies. I find it absolutely amazing that these angels left their heavenly bodies for earth.
[00:33:03] And now the earthly people that they tried to destroy will one day be clothed with the heaven they left when they entered into that man. They were clothed with earth. Because we're made out of earth, one day this spirit is going to leave this body and this flesh you see here, it's just going to go right back to Earth. That's all it is, is earth.
[00:33:26] But when I die, the man that's now clothed in earth will be clothed in heaven. Does that make sense? That's how it works. You just don't have spirits floating around up there in heaven. They have heavenly bodies.
[00:33:39] It's an amazing turn of events.
[00:33:42] They get earth, we get heaven.
[00:33:46] But had you seen these angels in their heavenly glory before their rebellion, you would have never imagined something like that would have happened.
[00:33:54] You would have assumed that they were the creatures of God, the holy creatures of God. But God wasn't looking on the outside of these heavenly creatures. He was looking at the sin on the inside. For those angels that sin, look back in your text. He hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
[00:34:19] Because they rejected the light of God.
[00:34:22] God has reserved them. That means he's kept them, held these angels in everlasting chains of darkness, waiting for the great day of his judgment that will soon come when he'll separate them from that which is holy and cast them into the lake of fire where the devil. They followed the first creepy clergy.
[00:34:47] The creepy clergy and his angels are going to be cast in Lake of fire. So if you think that God won't destroy the wolves that are in sheep's clothing, that have snuck into our churches, then you're wrong. Jude said God separated the unbelieving Jews from CanaAn. God separated the unholy angels from heaven.
[00:35:11] And God will separate these unredeemed pastors from the Church.
[00:35:17] I've got a couple of notes that I saw that I wrote years ago in the Book of Jude.
[00:35:27] Verse five, the first example.
[00:35:33] They had destruction in spite of profession.
[00:35:39] Verse six, the Second example, destruction in spite of their Position. You see the Difference? The Israelites left Egypt, destruction in spite of their profession.
[00:35:54] The angels that left their first estate, destruction in spite of their position.
[00:36:01] It doesn't matter what you profess to believe. It matters what you believe. It doesn't matter what position you hold.
[00:36:11] It matters who you hold on to.
[00:36:14] We are not saved by the crowd we keep. We are saved by the Christ we believe. And in that, we'll go ahead and close and take back up, Lord willing, in verse seven and learn about Sodom and Gomorrah as he continues to put us in remembrance. And as we get through from there, we're going to get back into the description of these creepy clergy and learn how they work and what they're all about.
[00:36:45] All right, we'll close the word of prayer. And don't forget, those who are interested in participating in the choir as soon as we close in prayer. Unless you just got to go to the bathroom real quick or something. That may be important, but as soon as we close in prayer, please come up here in the choir lOft, and Brother shepherd is going to meet with you and get things going. Father, we thank you for this wonderful day.
[00:37:11] I thank you for all these people here.
[00:37:14] I thank you, Lord, that they are people, Father, who've decided in their hearts that they don't want to follow some fake.
[00:37:26] They don't want to follow some maN.
[00:37:29] They don't want to just be happy hearing what feels good to their ears and to their hearts.
[00:37:38] For, Lord, they've made a decision to follow the truth of God's word. And, Father, I pray that both me and they will continue to hold fast to the faith which was once delivered to the saints and to all the wonderful scriptures in your word.
[00:37:59] And, Father, Lord, to do as the proverbs say, to buy the truth and never sell it. We pray in Jesus'precious name.
