Discerning Truth in a World of Falsehood

Pastor Reese led the first section for us last week in a message he titled, Deal With It. And today, I continue in this second section, verses 8 through 16, in what I'm calling Discerning Truth in a World of Falsehood.

Discerning Truth in a World of Falsehood. How do we see this through this small epistle of Jude? Jude, we know, is one of the five shortest books of the Bible. One of those five books that only have one chapter, the others being one in the Old Testament, Obadiah, and then four in the, or three others beside Jude in the New Testament, Philemon, 1 and 2 John. Those are the five shortest books of the entire Bible. Obadiah and Philemon and Jude, they all have 25 verses, 2 and 3 John, 13 and 15 verses respectively. Jude then is the fifth shortest book in the entire Bible. While it is, it joins with Philemon and Obadiah with 25 verses, over 25 verses, Jude has 461 words, and so then it is the largest of these five short books.

What does that have to do with our topic today? Well, sometimes we might be tempted to think that a book this minuscule should be insignificant, should be overlooked. And indeed, as many challenged and questioned the legitimacy and the canonicity of this book for various reasons in the past, Jude is equally inspired by God and potent. Jude has a message for you and me today.

Jude was moved by passion to deal with a particular situation of his time. Here's some things, a few facts that makes Jude stand out among the rest of the Bible. Again, not to say that is superior to the rest of the Bible.

It is equal as it is God's word. Jude was well versed in the Old Testament. Jude presents to us his knowledge of the Old Testament when he discusses in our short text, well, in the entire book here, six Old Testament characters he makes reference of. In verse 5, he speaks about Israel as a whole in the wilderness, and then he speaks of Sodom and Gomorrah, just general Old Testament references, and then he talks about these six Old Testament characters. He mentions Moses by name in verse 9, he speaks of Cain in verse 11, Balaam also in verse 11, and Korah in 11, and then in verse 14, he speaks of Enoch, and verse 14 also he speaks of Adam. So Jude was well versed in the Old Testament, similarly equally led by the Holy Spirit. There's something else that we see in our reading of the book of Jude that really warms my heart and truly helps me to understand the message of this book. If you're familiar with Hebrew literature, you may be familiar with a style of writing used by many Old Testament characters or persons that God led in the writing of the Old Testament, and this style of writing is known as synonymous parallelism. And usually synonymous parallelism usually presents a triad per se of ideas or thoughts or words or brief statements. They are parallel, they are synonymous as well because they're really expressing, emphasizing the very same point, but in Hebrew parallelism, synonymous parallelism, it uses each successive point to make a stronger, it uses a stronger synonym of the previous word to express or to emphasize a particular point. One place in the Old Testament that we see this easily and beautifully, clearly also I believe, is Psalm chapter 1. In Psalm 1 we read, blessed is the man or woman, it could be understood, who does a number of things.

Hopefully you're not surprised by now, but three things. He doesn't walk or stand or sit in the council and the path or the seat of the wicked, the sinners, the scoffers. That's what is known as synonymous parallelism. It's saying the very same thing. It's using synonyms to express a thought stronger with each synonym though it might be. So Jude borrows that. Jude capitalizes on that, again showing the equal inspiration of the Holy Spirit, showing also his knowledge I believe of the Old Testament. When Jude presents to us, some scholars believe, as much as 18 of these synonymous parallelisms. Now I'm not going to walk you through all 18 of those today or else there might be another Eucharist falling out the window, but instead I will share just a few of us just to help to orient us with where we are in Jude. In verse one, as Jude introduces the writer of the letter, he introduces himself as a bond servant, sorry, as Jude by name, a bond servant, a brother.

Very same person, but synonyms of the same. Then in verse two, in his greetings, he greets us with many or may grace, peace, and love be multiplied to you. Also in verse four, as he describes the apostates for their modus operandi, he tells us that these people were godless men. They changed the grace of our Lord and they deny Jesus Christ. You can easily see these synonyms paralleled with each other.

Let me share maybe just two more with you. He also describes these heretical people as dreamers, right? They say they are polluting their own bodies. They reject authority and they are slanderers, the slanderer, the celestial beings. They're dreamers. He tells us these three things that they do. They pollute their own bodies. They reject authority and they slander celestial beings.

I'll share just one more with us as we transition here. He connects these false teachers with the foolishness of rushing down a particular path just like three Old Testament characters that he's going to identify for us in verse 11. Who are these? Cain, Balaam, and Korah. So he is borrowing from the Old Testament, led by the Spirit of God, using these parallelisms as it were to emphasize a particular message. And I hope that we will not overlook the message of Jude. Pastor Reese reminded us last week that Jude was written, and I would say two primary reasons. One, Jude was written to help us to understand or as a warning of the imposition of those who were crept in unawares. They've crept into the church of that time of the first century.

And then secondly, he wanted them to have a defense for the faith once delivered. And so you and I must ask ourselves the question, do we have those crept in unawares among us today? And if they are, how do we discern that?

How do we know them? And what do we do about that? Well, you know, any military campaign must have two strategic focuses. Number one, there must be a defense because the enemy is coming.

But number two, there must also be an offense. We also see this in many sports, right? Football, for instance, which I've not yet figured out in my 25 years of being in the United States why in the world y'all call this game football. I mean, you spend most of the time running with the thing in your hand and you barely kick it a few times throughout the game. I think it's more handball and run ball. But anyway, I'm from a different world, you know, known as an alien.

And some of you would say silly Jamaican, that's true. But in football, there's also the offense and there is the defense. And so when you have the ball, you are marching up the field to score on your opponent.

You're the offensive team. And when they have the ball, you have your defensive team and you're trying to stop your opponent. But in football, they don't have the privilege of simply focusing the defense team with absolutely no thought also about doing some offense. Because if the ball is turned over while you're defending, well, what should your defensive team do, right? I mean, is this team supposed to just look at the ball and say, interesting little thing on the ground? No, you're expected to take that ball up and get in the offense mode in rushing the ball across. Similarly, when the offensive team is there, they also need to be mindful of some defense strategies.

If they turn over the ball, want to go and retrieve the ball or stop your opponent. Similarly, we as believers, while we need to discern truth in a world of falsehood, we need to be able to know and identify the error, especially when it is among us. So then my question for us is, what is your plan? What is our plan to defend yourself, to defend your family, to defend the word of God, to defend the church, to defend your community? What is your plan to defend against the heresies of our day? Jude, I believe, will help us to understand how we can discern truth in a world of falsehood by looking specifically at certain characteristics. Five, I believe, is going to show us from the lives of those people, these deceivers, these immoral people who crept into the church.

Look with me, Jude, verse 8. He says, Yet in light manner these people also, denying their own armed dreams, defy the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. They're relying on their dreams, they defy the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but instead what did he do? He says, The Lord rebuke you.

Not so with these people, right? These people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively. Woe to them, for they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of the gain of Balaam's arrow, and perished in Korah's rebellion.

These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear. Shepherds feeding themselves, waterless clouds swept along by, what, winds, fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted, wild waves of the sea, casting out the foam of their own shame, wandering stars for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever. It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied saying, Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, to do what?

To execute judgment on all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness, that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him. Verse 16, These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires. They are proud loudmouth boasters showing favoritism to gain advantage. Well, first thing we see here is that these people, they are marked with their drive for arrogance. They live an arrogant life.

They were warned before, and so the idea yet here in the Greek suggests in spite of these warnings, they continue down this very same path. These people, who are these people? These people are those false teachers. They are those deceivers. They are those immoral, KJV says, filthy people, as we see earlier in verse four.

That's these people. Notice throughout this text, Jude is not going to identify any of them by their names. Simply by certain characteristics, we need to look, we need to be watchful, we need to know them. Look, we need to be watchful, we need to know them.

What are they going to be doing? Again, they are marked by their drive for arrogance, verses eight and nine. They rely on their dream. The idea here is indicative not just of someone who has a dream periodically or who dreams frequently.

That's not the idea here. Otherwise, I suppose all of us would be guilty of this because we have these dreams. This is not like the Joseph who was called the dreamer by his brothers in Genesis 37.

This is not really what is happening here. These are people who allow themselves to be carried along by their dreams. They rely on their dreams over and against truth.

That shouldn't be surprising, is it? Jude was addressing the Gnosticism of his days. And not surprisingly, one of the many principles of Gnosticism of that day, at least to a certain extent of today as well, they ascend to some higher level of truth, their own truth. What was truth for them, and certainly it was not the truth of God's word. So here are these people allowing themselves, again KJV calls them filthy dreamers, they allow themselves, they contrive their own dreams, they dream up their own dreams in essence, and they carry themselves by those particular dreams. Well, we know Scripture prescribes a judgment for those who do so in Jeremiah 23 and verse 32. Behold, I am against those who prophesy lying dreams. Again, the idea is to lead God's people astray, is to infiltrate with error and they are very intentional about what they do. They rely on their own dreams.

They defile the flesh, their own flesh. The Scripture uses a word here, an old verb that's suggestive of the process of dyeing a piece of fabric. You take a white t-shirt or a white piece of cotton or whatever other kind of fabric and you preconceive this, you know, changing from white to purple or one of my favorite colors, believe it or not, is pink.

I have a very dear family who supports me in that here. And so if you want to change it from white to pink, then you have your pink dye and you dip it into the dye once it's dissolved in warm water. And when you take it out, the color has changed. It's changed to be the color of the dye. They have defiled themselves with their own dye and they want to change you and me to look like them, to believe the same garbage that they believe.

In other words, to be dipped in their own dye. And in doing so, what is happening? They are defiling themselves. So if we are not careful, if we don't see them, if we end up following them, then we defile ourselves as they do.

We are called away from that. What else do they do in their mark in arrogance? They reject authority. Certainly they reject the authority of God. They reject truth of God. They want to frustrate the work of God. So this is not something that we as a church should take lightly. And so Jude initially wanted to write about our common salvation and he was led to write instead about this heresy, about these cryptic unawares to help us to be aware, to help us to see and to know, and to have a defense. They reject authority.

They wanted to nullify the truth of God's word. This is who they are. Yes, wolves in sheep clothing they may be, but don't be led astray by them.

Know them. They have ill intent and you and I should not follow them. What else do they do in their arrogance? They blaspheme or they revile the glorious ones. Later on we're going to see that God is going to use these holy angels to be a part of their judgment, but here they defile the holy ones. The verb blaspheme here comes from a Greek term or word which means or described to speak contemptuously of God or sacred things.

So that's what they're doing as they defile themselves and seek also to dip us in the same dye so that we can be defiled with them. Now in contrast to these arrogant people, Jude then moves into the next verse and he provides for us the response of the humble. He says, consider Michael the archangel. When he was struggling with Satan about the body of Moses, he didn't just stand in pride and I rebuke you.

We hear this very often around us, don't we? But no, instead his approach, he came in the name of the Lord. He would not stand in his own strength.

He certainly would approach with humility and so you and I, we should not fight in our own strength, but we should approach and fight in the name of the Lord, allow the Lord to fight our battles for us. They did not blaspheme. They did not issue a blaspheme. They did not issue a blasphemous judgment.

Why? Because this is not to be mentioned among us as believers. We ought to be Christ-like and even when we are reviled, we are told that we ought to revile not. So the response of the believer should be categorically different from that of these arrogant people, but also we do not and we must not underestimate the evil one. We must never underestimate the evil one. Certainly Michael did not underestimate the evil one and he understood that this is a battle for the Lord, so the Lord rebuke you. You know, all automotive, mobiles around us, they have makes and mottos and we have grown to know them by certain characteristics and limitations or speeds or strength, right, and we generally, not all of us, sometimes we might choose based on the certain brand is what we want because that brand is known for this. It is marked for certain excellence as well and so you and I need to be watchful so that we can know these ungodly ones, these arrogant ones among us.

While we are not to walk around certainly with spotlights or flashlights trying to identify that person to next to us who are left to a right or behind us or whatever you, could you be this one. That's not what we are called to, but simply we must know these characteristics so that we can mark them for who they truly are. Were we to think that among Calvary Church today that we could have some crept in unawares with the very same motive to distort the work of God?

Of course. What's the ultimate objective here is to frustrate of course, but ultimately what happens if these deceivers are allowed to have their own way? What happens to the gospel? The mission of the church seen in the great commission is to go and make disciples. So then if these men were allowed to distort truth, what happens to the process of making disciples? What happens to our efforts to reach the ends of the earth with the gospel of Jesus Christ? What happens to our faith?

We would begin to doubt everything. So no, we cannot allow ourselves to be driven astray by the error of these people. Number two, they are marked by their lack of reason. In other words, they are irrational people. Verse 10 tells us, but these people blaspheme all that they do not understand and they are destroyed by that they, like unreasonable animals, they just rush towards just instinctively, right?

And this in essence destroys them. Consider these three Old Testament characteristics, persons here. They are blaspheming what they don't understand.

Does that even make sense? And do we not see this among us today? There are those who simply will not believe the word of God. In fact, they come with a presupposition in mind as to what they believe scripture teaches or what they think scripture does not teach, oftentimes without even opening it for themselves. They come with their presuppositions.

One group is known as, you know, back in the days Rudolf Bultmann and others were involved in this. They developed a movement known as demythologization, and their quest was to demystify, was to remove any, the truth really, from miracles. They wanted to prove that miracles don't exist. How do you do that without first opening the word of God and examining the miracles that are stated there, looking at the response of those who live right there and then who were eyewitnesses of these miracles? You simply come with your presuppositions, miracles do not exist, and then they work backward to explain away anything scripture points to as a miracle.

Don't we have these among us today? There is no absolute truth. In fact, they would say there is nothing that is absolute, apparently, except their own statement that there are no absolutes because that's an absolute statement in and of itself. And they would want to say the pews, take 10 people and poll them.

What's the color? And if you have 10 different answers, they would want us to believe that all 10 persons are correct. None is incorrect.

They're all correct in their own version of truth. What does that do to the word of God? What does that do to the scripture?

Of course, it doesn't change it, but for you and me, that might be something else if we don't know truth. Understand, they are going to attack that which they do not understand. They're going to attack that which they even don't have an interest in understanding. This is how these people approach. They are irrational people, and we need to know them. Yet as they do that, they are destroyed by their own animalistic way of living on verse 10b. The idea here is that while they are seeking to destroy or to corrupt God's people, they are slowly destroying themselves. You remember that guy over in Europe who brought to us and really championed such things as evolution?

You remember him, don't you? While he was telling us how we evolved from various life forms, ironically what was happening to his own house? It was being eaten by termites, and I would say God has an interesting sense of humor, and apparently those termites, those termites were not evolving into anything else except their size.

That's the only thing that was changing. Their size was changing, and the numbers of those termites were changing, but while he's busy trying to convince us that we're evolving from one thing to another, his house was being destroyed. They are being destroyed by their own folly as it were, and we're given these three examples of these men. First we see that they are walking, they are living. This is not just a casual visitation. This is not something that just happened periodically.

They're walking. It's their modus operandi. They have intentionally chosen this path, and again really how stupid it is because you're being destroyed by this very path that you choose. You're following the falsehood of others and the error of Cain, for instance. We see in Genesis chapter 4, what did he do? We see Cain here, instead of following God's way of worship and presenting his offering, he presented just the offering that he wanted to present before the Lord, and when this was rejected, well then he's going to be upset because God rejected his offering, and even though God gave him an opportunity to repent, naturally of course he did not repent.

Instead what did he do? He went out and he killed his brother, and he was judged for it, and these people are walking. They're living in this very same manner of living, this same manner of thinking.

This is who they are. They also follow and destroy themselves by following the path of Balaam. Balaam, a false prophet, we see in Numbers chapter 22.

He was invited by King Balak, who was quite lacking apparently, and he was troubled about Israel and their exploits and their victories, and he called on Balaam to come and curse Israel, and Balaam says, no, I can't do that. You see, I mean, I just can't do that. God wouldn't allow me to do that. Of course, God appeared to him and said, no, don't go. He sought still a way to go, and God says, okay, have it your way.

Go. It's not going to be good. So he went, but God says, still, don't curse my people.

I'm not going to allow that. Eventually this Balaam, because of his desire for greedy gain, would eventually set a trap where Israel would in essence fall under God's judgment as we see chapter 23 into 24 and 25 of the book of Numbers where Israel will fall in judgment and to be disciplined by the Lord. Of course, this also didn't end well for Balaam.

It also did not end well for those who followed him. So what's the point here? It is stupid, really. It is illogical to follow this path, but this is quite characteristic of these people. They seek to destroy what they don't understand, and they are being destroyed.

They're destroying themselves by their own desires. And then we see Korah. Korah's rebellion. Korah rebelled against God's leadership authority. We see that in Numbers chapter 16. And so because of that, he questioned God's authority through Moses and Aaron, but really he was questioning God's theocracy over the people. And he likewise was judged by God in a very harsh way we see, but justly deserved.

And the 2,250 men who also took side with him with their censors, the earth opened up and swallowed them alive with their family, their homes, their goods, everything they had was destroyed. And so here we are told that these people are irrational, and this is a path that they are pursuing. Is this really what we want to do? Is this really how we want to live?

Or isn't it better as God's people for us to stand on the truth of God's word? Do we want to be on something that is slippery, and when jerked or pulled we're going to fall and hurt ourselves? You know, growing up in Jamaica we, maybe it was just our family, certainly this might not be true of all families, but many of us, we learned to make our own toys. And if you grew up in the inner city or the ghetto as I did, you certainly didn't have, you know, ready-made toys and your parents could not afford just to go out and buy something, so you became creative with the toys you make.

And unlike today's children, they come home from school and they want to be in the house on their various devices. Back then we came home from school, we took off our school clothes, and we went out into the lanes or the streets, we went out to play. And I remember one of our little pieces of toys that we developed, which was quite slippery and dangerous, we didn't have a paved road in my little street, it was dirt road. And somewhere along the line someone took off what we call formica from a countertop and some kid put it on the ground and stepped on it and realized it was slippery under the dirt. And so that became one of our little toys and we would try to get this piece of material where we could get it and we will push someone on it or we will pull someone on it and it was a lot of fun. One young man who would remain nameless, he might be ashamed to say some of the things he did back in those days, I remember a friend standing on this formica and this young man, again he'll remain nameless but he's in front of you, he came up behind his friend and realizing how slippery this thing was, he just pulled the thing out from underneath his friend and his friend came crashing down to the ground.

Now the next time I needed to get on that piece of thing, what am I thinking? I have some wonderful friends who would like to do nothing but to return the same favor to me. So therefore I did not want anyone to push me, anyone to pull me, don't come near me, don't come behind me, let me do my own thing. I don't want to receive what I have already dished out and I knew that those guys would want to do the very same thing to me. Here are these men being destroyed by their own folly and what do they want to do?

Destroy you and destroy me. Thankfully, maybe they don't fully understand this, they're working for the devil. The devil is already defeated and nothing he does is going to triumph over the church of Jesus Christ. Matthew reminds us in Matthew 16 that Christ is building his church and the gates of hell will never ever prevail against it. Oh yes, the darts may come.

It might, you know, sort of distract us at times. Yes, it might distort some of our thoughts or mess with our home and our relationship, but ultimately the church will stand, the work of God will continue. They're marked by their arrogance, they're certainly marked by their unreasoning, their illogical way of living, but third they're marked by their fruitlessness, their fruitless life. Here Jude provides the readers with an extended description of these false teachers, these deceivers, these immoral people who are secretly and have secretly entered the church.

Peter tells us they're coming in the last days. Jude here tells us they have entered the church and what do they want to do? They want to corrupt. So I haven't previously described them for their lack of humility, their lack of reason. Now he turns and he wants to think of them, he wants us as believers to be able to identify these people who are not even worthy in Jude's perspective of being named, whether he knew them specifically or he did not want to honor them by mentioning them, but here they're crept in unawares. And what are they?

We're told that they are like hidden reefs at your love feast. While not having our best interest, they will join our fellowship, they will come to be a part of our church. Praise God for the leadership we have here at Calvary Church. Doing our best as one of our main roles as pastor-elders to defend the truth and to defend the body of Christ. Think for instance our membership process. Some churches have done away with that.

They don't seem to be important anymore to have some set of guidelines for membership or membership period. I mean think of accountability as one thing that is important to membership. Thank God for the leaders we have and the commitment to stand firm on the word of God for which we exist.

The word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ helping us as the flock in general to discern truth in an era of falsehood. But know them, there are hidden reefs in your love feast. It's not going to be easy to identify them. Yes, there are just like a sheep but there are wolves in sheep's clothing. They are like the unjust shepherd who cares for their own self, not the sheep.

What do they do? They're gathering, they're pulling, they want to be served rather than to be served. Mark 10 verse 45 tells us that our blessed Lord and Savior, He came to serve not to be served but to give His life as a ransom for the sin of many.

Not these people. They have no interest in serving. They want to serve.

It needs to be all about them. Mark them. Praise God for the shepherds we have at Calvary seeking to shepherd the flock.

By the way, as our leadership election will be coming up again in January, naturally I will never tell you for whom to vote. That's between you and the Lord. But one thing I always look for is how is this person involved in shepherding the flock? That's a primary call of the pastor-elder office to shepherd the flock. Does this brother, yes, must always be a brother, does he have an interest in the brother?

Does he have an interest? Is there a sense of calling to this office? Is he involved in shepherding the flock?

When I was leading at the discipleship ministry as we talked about getting new leaders or teachers for classes, I would speak very little about teachers and I began speaking more about shepherding these flocks. We needed shepherds for these mini flocks. Watch them. They're not true shepherds. John 10 would call them heroines.

They're there to feed themselves from the benefit of the flock. They're like empty cloud. They cannot nourish the earth. Can you imagine living in a time where there's a drought and every day it's overcast and the clouds are thick but it never rains?

Can you think how disappointing that would be? There's nothing to water the earth. There's nothing for you to drink but yet every day we have all the clouds in the sky. These people are empty clouds. They can't offer what they truly promise.

In fact, what actually comes for those who follow them is a path or a trail of destruction, disappointment, deception that is all that is there. They are empty clouds. They are fruitless trees in late autumn, autumn or fall or in the winter. Very few trees have fruit. There are some fruit trees that would have fruits during this time of year but the list is very, very short. So can you imagine if you have one of these trees like a persimmon for instance would be one of these trees that would actually fruit during this time of year.

A good friend of ours has one in their backyard. Little do they know that I'll be coming for my basket pretty soon. And if there aren't any persimmons on that tree, I might go back and have a word with the tree.

And if they decide not to give me some, I might have another word with them. But that's beside the point. But can you imagine if this tree has no fruit during this time of year when most of the other trees have nothing. Again, fruitless. No true satisfaction is not there. It doesn't matter how green the leaves are.

It doesn't matter how wide the limbs are. They are fruitless. They have nothing of lasting value to offer you or me. That's who they are.

They are twice dead we are told. They have the semblance, the resemblance of life but internally there is absolutely nothing. They're empty. There's hollowness there. There's absolutely nothing there. Should we be so concerned about the external?

No. Scripture tells us that man might look at the external but God focuses on the heart. So with the limitations that you and I have relative to a person's heart, by their fruit they shall be known. So we should be careful in inspecting the fruit that would come from them.

Well, pretend to come from them because we know there would be nothing to begin with regardless of the trees. They're like wild waves of the ocean, waves that are destructive in a storm. Their foam will come and it will be displayed. It cannot ultimately be hidden. In other words, these small teachers, deceivers, immoral people can be expected to be selfish, can be expected to be deceptive. They're not easily seen, noticed. They're not easily identified but by their deeds they shall be known. Watch out for them. And then finally they are marked by condemnation and judgment. That's the ultimate thing.

Why? They're not saved. They're pretending to be.

They might know the language. They might pretend to be productive, spiritually speaking, but it's just all on a front. There's nothing of lasting value there. And so because of that, ultimately then they're not believers, therefore their end is destruction.

That's it. All of these ungodly people, marked for judgment, verse 14, tells us they are destitute. They lack reverence towards God.

Ironically, 2 Thessalonians 1, 7 through 9 tells us, of course, earlier we see that they question the holy deities. Later we see that holy angels are going to be involved in their punishment. All of these ungodly people will be judged by God. Not one will escape it. This is what we are told. Look at verse 15.

Again, they will not escape. To execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against Him. Harsh things, ungodly things, irreverent things, accusing God of error, accusing God of sin. That's what they can be known for or as. These ungodly sinners, ungodly men, their ungodly deeds, these ungodly sinners, they speak against God.

That's what we can expect. Then He also tells us again the condemnation and the judgment that is set forth for them. They're grumblers. They're complainers we see in verse 16. Lasciviousness can be known from them.

They're boasters. They show favoritism for gain. Don't be so excited to be favored by someone, one of these for instance.

They're really not doing it because of love for you or because they wish you well but they're doing it ultimately for their own selfish gain. What should we do as believers? Again, James calls us to be watchful. That's what we are called to be. We must be ready to defend and how can we discern the truth in these times of falsehood? We need to spend time in the Word of God.

Yes, they're seeking the destroy. Why is it that we are seeing so many men and women are being distracted by the things of the world whether it's social media or pornography or the career or the money or the material things of this world, totally distracted by that. That's exactly what the evil one wants because when we are distracted by those things of the world, we are not as productive for the Lord if ever at all as we really ought to be. Keep our focus on Christ.

I have five short applications here for us as we think throughout the rest of the week and how we should live this text out. Again, I say be watchful. Why should we be watchful? Because the enemy is near. This is the idea of being alert. Stay alert. We cannot afford to fall asleep anytime soon. Number two, be joyful.

Why? Our redemption is sealed in Christ. It doesn't matter what these people do around us, among us, our salvation is secured in Christ. And nothing can separate us from Him.

There's no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Number three, be patient. Why? Our Savior will not abandon us. It might feel that way at times. You might be going through some very difficult times.

You're feeling the darts of the evil one coming pressing in on you. I am telling you my beloved brothers and sisters in Christ, just be patient. Our Savior has not, will not abandon us. He has never and will never leave us nor forsake us. Number four, be faithful.

Why? Because our world needs to see Christ in us. Far too often we are falling under the pressures of temptation. And instead of building up the family, shoring the family, shoring up the body of Christ as it were, because of our distraction and eventual sin, yes, the evil one sits back there and he is laughing.

But no, the world needs to see Christ in you and me. Even in difficult times we are holding up the banner of Christ, the faith that was once delivered to us. And then finally, we need it to be hopeful.

Why? Our future is secured in Christ. Our future is secured.

Paul reminds us that if it were only in this world that we had hope in Christ, we would have been of all men most miserable. Our hope is firmly secured in Him. Be watchful. Be joyful. Be patient. Be faithful. Be hopeful. Even when we may have a few of these people among us, live for Christ and plan to do so until He comes.

That is a rewarding way of living. May the Lord help us as we seek to apply these words to our lives. Father, we thank you today. Thank you for the passion through which Jude has presented these thoughts to us. As we go forward this week, help us Lord to apply your word to our lives. And we think of those among us not knowing Christ as Savior, perhaps one of these cryptic unawares. And certainly we're not saying that every unbeliever has come in to destroy. We pray Lord that they will come to know the grace of Christ and to trust Him. The provision of salvation made before it's eternally too late. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.