Well, I appreciate the birthday greetings. How kind of you. It's been a nice birthday. I always enjoy birthdays considering the alternative. Although I'm not afraid either of what that would bring, I nonetheless enjoy having birthdays. I think you understand the mixed emotions there. And it's good to have my parents here this weekend, my stepfather and mother, Mr. and Mrs. John Duffield. I'm not sure where they are, but they're here somewhere. Where are
you? Thank you. It's good to have them here. And of course, I'm especially grateful for my mother because without her part, this day would be impossible. It's good to have the Hexhams back from California, too, and maybe some others of you who have been traveling. Tonight we're going to turn again to the book of Jude for our study in the Word of God and possibly finish the book tonight. I hate to commit myself ahead of time, but my intentions are good. We intend to finish it beginning
with verse 17 of Jude. He has these words, but you, beloved, ought to remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, that they were saying to you, in the last time there shall be mockers following after their own ungodly lusts. These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid
of the Spirit. But you, beloved, building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. And have mercy on some who are doubting. Save others, snatching them out of the fire. And on some, have mercy with fear, hating even
the garment polluted by the flesh. Now to him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to make you stand in the presence of his glory, blameless, with great joy, to the only God, our Savior, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority before all time and now and forever. Amen. After the harsh words describing the false teachers and their damnation coming from the hand of God, Jude now turns to speak to those
of us who know Christ. You notice that twice in our text he says, but you, beloved. In other words, what we anticipate, what we enjoy now from God is the opposite of that which false teachers know and shall know. He turns from the denunciation of those people to an exhortation to believers whom he calls beloved of God. That is the special objects of God's tender love and mercies. Jude addresses believers who are facing what he calls the last time.
You notice that in verse 18? We are living in those days. There is one sense in which we have been living in them in this whole age, but I believe there is a special sense in which we now in this generation are living in the last days. And I believe that we are living in the last days. I never cease to be amazed how things are falling together
toward the program prophesied by God thousands of years ago. Just this morning after one of the services, one of our young men handed me a letter that he received this last week unsolicited. It was one of those bulk mailing letters. It was sent to him from the World Federalists Association. In the letter was a brochure, nicely printed, and on that they have placed their logo including these words, world peace through world law with justice.
And so I was quite curious as to what they were advocating. Basically this particular plea is for disarmament of the United States and of other nations as well. And among some of the other statements they say, will the world go on drifting until some spark ignites the powder keg? Can the U.S. with 6% of the world's population continue to consume over
30% of its resources? The World Federalists Association says no. We agree with Pope John Paul II that it is necessary to make a continuing and energetic effort to do away with the very possibility of war. A nuclear freeze is only the first though vital step. We need a structure which will guarantee there will never be a thaw. We need a system capable of ensuring not only peace and observance of international law, but also a just world and equitable use
of its resources. Interesting thought. How will this be done? Well they say the Constitution of the United States is one model. Another model is what they call the seabed authority under the law of the sea. Now I'm not familiar with that. I probably should be and I intend to be. But here are some of the things that they suggest are principal points under their seabed authority. Compulsory, dispute solving machinery. Two nations get in a fight, somebody
steps in and orders them, this is the way it's going to be. A tiered voting structure reflecting global economic and population realities. Now I'm not sure all that that means but I've got an idea of what it means. Enforcement procedures applicable to nations, corporations and individuals. They say the priority need is this. The most difficult international authority to attain is probably one for security through disarmament. It is
a prerequisite for an orderly, equitable, prosperous and peaceful world. Establishment of a true world security system is essential for humanity's survival. Equally important it would free the billions now spent worldwide on armaments to help meet rising expectations in the developing world. Their program includes search for world security and they are pushing for disarmament
as I've said. They also are pushing for global education. They are assisting teachers and students with materials and counseling regarding inclusion of global content in current curriculum. In other words what they're pushing for is one world government and they want to see that put into the textbooks. Their association was a participant in the caravan for human
survival which culminated at the United Nations on UN day. Some 35,000 signatures endorsing the humanist manifesto were collected from 80 campuses for presentation to the secretary general. Then they give some of their like minded associations in organizations such as Campaign for UN Reform, Institute for World Order, Planetary Citizens, Global Education Associates, UNA-USA and Parliamentarians for World Order. Now you remember a few weeks
ago I brought to our attention the New Age Movement. These are the very same organizations that are part of that. So this is all tied in together except this one is called the
World Federalist Associations. Now here's what can be done. If you believe that the human race is one large family as major religions of the world hold, if you believe that ever increasing military expenditures are no guarantee of peace, if you believe that the ingenuity of the human race, that's an interesting word, ingenuity of the human race which has created threats to our planet survival can also create the means of coping with those
threats and ensure its own survival, if you believe war is obsolete as a means of settling disputes and it is time to create a cooperative world security system, if you believe the world is already technologically and commercially interdependent and it is time for the political
structures to keep pace, then join us and help to advance our common beliefs. Among those who are on the advisory board are Steve Allen, John Denver, John B. Anderson who ran for president a couple of years ago and Theodore Hesburgh, president of Notre Dame University and there are some other names there as well and they quote Bertrand Russell and Pope John Paul II as assisting them in their goal. Now if I didn't know better I would say that
that was published by Antichrist himself, on the other hand maybe it was. You see this is part and parcel of the direction we are heading in our world and that's why I especially appreciated the songs tonight which the Holy Spirit let's get to lead us in because they were songs talking about our response in this kind of a world in which we live. Dear folks the hour is later than most of us think. The end times are upon us. We are living in times
hard to deal with as Christians. Now with that kind of a background what does Jude say to us? Well he tells us in the first place what we are to expect verses 17 through 19, then how we are to respond verses 20 through 23 and finally what we are to know verses 24 and 25. Let's take a look at that. What are we to expect? Well he says beloved remember the words that were spoken beforehand by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ. All of
us need to remember what the word of God teaches. In Peter, Peter says the same thing. He says brothers I stir up your pure minds by way of remembrance. So often we forget the things we ought to remember, isn't that right? And the things that we ought not to worry about dominate us. Those things cause our minds to be caught up. Rather we ought to remember the word of God. Now he says that they were saying to you in the last time there should
be mockers following their own ungodly lusts. In other words in the last days what are we to expect? The answer is scoffers. And that is an interesting word. This word mockers is mockers. It refers to those who jest to play the game. Those who make sport. And the idea is that we should expect those who will think the faith that you and I hold dear to be comical. They will mock us and say things like we are funny mentalists. Instead of fundamentalists,
you've heard that. And there are scads of other comments that are used to try to degrade and put down our convictions and the teachings of the word of God. Scoffers will come in the last days. Another word for them would be apostates. Those who in the name of religion yet fall away from the truth and persecute those who believe in the truth. He says they follow after their own ungodly lusts. And do you remember that the word ungodly was
one he used commonly in verses 14 and 15 when quoting from Enoch, the man of old. Now the apostles had predicted that this would come to pass in numerous places. One of them is in 1 Timothy chapter 4. I invite you just to compare that. And here we see the apostle Paul and what he says. At the end of chapter 3 he gives to us a great doctrinal statement.
But he says, chapter 4 verse 1, the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons by means of the hypocrisy of liars, seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron. So he says in the latter days there will be apostates, that's literally what the word is there, from the faith who will pay attention to strange doctrines that will
be rooted in the spirit world. And that's exactly where this kind of thing comes from. What this is, is Babylon revived. A one world system. Men tried that in Genesis chapters 10 and 11. And it is the coming thing in the last days. Revelation predicts it, uses the term Babylon to describe the kind of a system that the world federalist association and
others are trying to see brought to pass. 2 Timothy chapter 3, but realize this, says the apostle, that in the last days difficult times will come, for men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, arrogant, revilers, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, unholy, unloving, irreconcilable, malicious gossips, without self control, brutal, haters of God, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God,
holding to a form of godliness, although they have denied its power. He says avoid such men as these, for among them are those who enter into households and captivate weak women weighed down with sins, led on by various impulses, always learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth. And just as Jannees and Jambrees opposed Moses, so
these men also opposed the truth. Men of depraved mind rejected as regards the faith, but they will not make further progress, for their folly will be obvious to all as also that of those two came to be, speaking of the ultimate exposure and the judgment upon the false teachers. Let's look at 2 Peter chapter 3 for a moment. Another of the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ whom we are to remember and what He says to us. I feel 2 Peter was in my Bible
the last time I looked. Yes, here it is. 2 Peter chapter 3 verse 3, He says, Know this first of all, that in the last days mockers will come with their own mocking, following after their own lusts. It sounds exactly like Jude, doesn't it? And saying, Where is the promise of His coming? For ever since the fathers fell asleep, all continues just as it was from the beginning of creation. In other words, they say there is a uniformity
about things. Things don't change. I mean, God has never intervened before. He's not going to intervene now. That's a lot of fairy tales, so they say. One more place. Let's look at John this time. We've looked at Paul and Peter and John in 2 Timothy, excuse me, 1 John chapter 2 verse 18 says, Children, it is the last hour, and just as you heard that Antichrist is coming, even now many Antichrists have arisen. From this we know that it is
the last hour. Well, we're living in the last few minutes of the last hour, I believe. And the spirit of Antichrist is the spirit of this kind of an organization that we've talked about tonight. Now, back in Jude, Jude says, Remembering that these days have been prophesied, we should also recognize that these are the people who cause divisions. That's an unusual word found only here in the New Testament. It's those who divide you.
He says they are those who are worldly minded. That is, their whole realm of thinking is the here and now. It's this world. They follow natural instincts. They are humanistic. There's no appreciation for spiritual things. They are earthly minded, self-centered. The Greek word really is psychic. And then thirdly, he says, they are devoid of the spirit. And Paul said, If any man have not the spirit of God, he is what? None of his. These people
do not have the Holy Spirit. So we are to expect these kinds of people to arise even within the sphere of Christendom, even under the umbrella of our faith in a broader sense. We are to look for people who are like this and be alert to them. And as Paul said, avoid them. We've said before that there are some false teachers on the air these days who are sincere Christian people who would stop sending the money. They would be off the air. Be careful
who you support. Be alert to the spiritual dangers that are present in our day. We are to expect these days. How are we to respond then? Are we to become like ostriches and stick our heads in the sand and forget about it? Are we to be like ostriches and stick our heads in the sand and forget about it? Are we to be idle? Are we to be resigned? K-sirah-sirah, as they say, whatever we'll be, we'll be. How are we to respond when
we see things coming to pass that God has told us will happen? Well, Jude explicitly tells us, he says in verse 20 and 21, You, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. Now if you look at that statement, there is one statement that is obviously the key exhortation, and that is in verse 21 where
he says, keep yourselves in the love of God. And the three other statements are subordinate to that. What does he mean by keep yourselves in the love of God? Well, I believe he means stay in fellowship with him. It's what Jesus said back in John chapter 15 in verse 9, Just as the Father has loved me, I have loved you, abide in my love. If you keep my commandments,
you will abide in my love. So what Jude is telling us is this, when you see these days coming to pass, when what you have been told to expect is upon you, respond this way, remain obedient to the word of God. And in being obedient, you will abide in the love of God. His blessing can be poured out upon you. He's telling us here to guard our communion with God, how easy it is to get caught up in rabbit chases these days. And to run after this thing
or chase after that and to get off the main course, we must be careful of that. We must be careful of that. When I see things like this, it makes me angry. It makes me really mad. And I'm tempted to go out and start some organization, maybe some vigilante group to bomb their headquarters. I don't know. Do something, you know. It infuriates me to see things like this happen. It would be easy for me to chase rabbits on that. But I want
to be careful not to do it. I want to be careful to obey the word of God, to keep my focus where it ought to be, to be balanced, to preach the word as we've been told to do. That's how we respond. Keep yourselves in the love of God. But then he gives three important subordinate thoughts. How do we do that? Well, he says, building yourselves up on your most holy faith. He's not talking about faith there as our response to God, but faith as
a body of truth that's been delivered to us. The same thought is back early on the chapter when he says we are to contend for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints, verse 3. He says build yourself up on that foundation. What he's talking about here is spiritual growth. And notice he says build yourselves up. In other words, I have a responsibility here. Spiritual growth comes with discipline, with exercise spiritually.
If I'm going to keep myself in decent physical condition, it takes exercise, doesn't it? It just doesn't happen naturally. The body tends to do otherwise when you don't exercise it. And likewise, spiritually we get flabby and soft unless we exercise ourselves in the study of God's word, in memorizing it, in meditating upon it, in learning of the grace of God and growing in that grace, and spending time daily with the Lord. He says build up
yourselves and in so doing you will keep yourself in the love of God. Secondly, he says pray in the Holy Spirit. See that in verse 20? Now he is not saying there pray in tongues. He is not saying that. In fact, that word is not even used there. What does it mean to pray in the Holy Spirit? It means to allow the Holy Spirit to lead you in your practice. It's the same thing as Ephesians 6.18 where he tells us, praying always with all supplication
and prayer in the Spirit. It is that our prayers are not just to come forth from our flesh, but as we pray we are to recognize the indwelling Holy Spirit and allow Him to energize our praying. Praying in the Spirit, it may be that that kind of praying doesn't even involve verbalizing our thoughts. Praying in the Spirit can be something that is so intense it's inward and without words. John Bunyan said in prayer it is better to have a heart without
words than to have words without heart. That's what he is talking about here, is having words and heart. You know really for prayer the Holy Spirit's control is a prerequisite. That's when real praying is done. Prayer that is energized by the Holy Spirit, prayer that is from the heart. And then he says we are to wait anxiously for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to eternal life. What is he talking about? He is talking about our eagerly anticipating
the coming of Christ. That's what he is saying. We are to eagerly await that which has begun, that completion that we long for when Christ will come as we talked about this morning in the rapture and our glorification will take place. He says look for that mercy of Christ that will be revealed in that day. You know it would be so easy to get caught up looking at organizations like this and the world scene and to get your focus off
the fact that Jesus is coming again. You know the Lord rebuked me just a couple of weeks ago I guess that for a period of time that had not really been a serious focus in my own life. That it wasn't that I denied it, it's just that it wasn't on the front burner as it should be. He is saying to us here as we see all of these things beginning to take place we are to keep our eyes heavenward looking for his coming lest we become discouraged,
lest our faith give way, remember Jesus is coming. Right now I feel like I am sitting in the audience watching the preparations on the stage. I remember back in our high school in Kansas, big high school, let's see I think there was 180 students in the high school that was big compared to the grade school I went to. I went to a little country school for the first six years of my life and I would not trade that experience for anything in
the world. Some of you have been there, it's a rare thing these days. I think there were something like six of us when I was in the sixth grade. Got a lot of personal attention that way. Then I went to the big school in town, it was town school. I remember sitting in the auditorium on certain occasions and there would be a play that was going to be presented and it was fun to watch the people under the curtain because the curtain missed
the floor about that far. You could see their feet behind there running around getting things set up and then they would open the curtains and it was all revealed. Well I sort of feel like we are sitting in the audience these days and God hasn't allowed the curtain to open yet on the tribulation period. He can't because we are the curtain, we are going up with the curtain. That's the rapture. The curtain is still there and underneath we are
seeing all the things getting ready for the tribulation period. Satan is starting to put in place all the things that he thinks will bring to pass what he is looking for. It's just getting set. Now as we see all that taking place, let's keep our eyes where they ought to be and realize that our Lord is in control and that Jesus is coming and he is going to reveal to us his great mercy in that day. He doesn't tell us just to sit back and yawn
and wait that way but he says wait eagerly with anticipation. It's as though you sit on the edge of your chair waiting for something. That's the way we ought to be about our Lord's return. Eager to see him, to be with him. That tests our hearts devotion doesn't it? So how are we to respond to this? We are to keep ourselves in the love of God but there's a second thing we are to do. We are to be alert to the peril of others. In verses 22
and 23 there seem to be three groups in view. Now there are variants in the manuscripts here in the Greek manuscripts and there are some minor textual problems, nothing serious, but that's why some translations take a little different approach in verses 22 and 23. One of the reasons I think he has three groups in view here is because Jude seems to follow
a triadic thought in his epistle. He puts things in threes. He seems to point out three groups and I'm not sure exactly who's in each group but he talks first about some who are doubting, those who are not convinced. Literally the word says those who are at odds with themselves. He may be talking about those who are under the hearing of the truth but also hear false teachers and they're at odds about it. They don't know which way to go.
What he says here is show mercy on people like that and one rendering is convince those people. Maybe that's the thought here, the verb. Convince those that are doubting. But we are to have mercy, to convince those who are uncertain, who are at odds about the truth, to show them the truth. Then he says secondly we are to save others, snatching them out
of the fire. Here is vigorous action in view. Snatching them. It's as though they are falling into the eternal fires already and we are to have such concern that we are out there snatching them away from the fires. It could be he's talking here about the fire again a false teaching of the apostasy of the last day. But he says that we are to be out there vigorously seeking to aid people. And thirdly he says something similar to verse 22 when
he says and on some have mercy with fear hating even the garment polluted by the flesh. It may be that he has in mind here particularly those people who are involved in immorality that comes with false teaching. He talks about the garment that's polluted, stained, made filthy by the flesh. It's really not a very pretty picture. He's talking about people whose character, whose conduct is perverted and unclean and impure. I tell you it's easy
to hate people like that and to look at them with disdain and disgust. Some of us who have been down at the Capitol the last couple of weeks have seen examples of people that would fall into the category of what we're talking about right here. And sometimes the response you have to those kinds of people is in the flesh frankly. And what he's warning us about here is that we're to have mercy on them, recognizing that they too are candidates for
the grace of God. In one sense but by the grace of God there we would be going. We must never forget that. But he does say something interesting. He says have mercy with fear. In other words we are to be careful especially with people like that, lest somehow we ourselves should be infected by them. That's the thought. So have mercy on those people. We hate the activity, we hate even the garment polluted by the flesh, but have mercy on them. They
are valuable in God's sight. He sent His Son for their sins too. But have mercy on them with fear, with caution, lest somehow you should be taken by that that they have fallen
into. So to be alert to others' peril. Not just building up our own selves and being concerned about us, but looking out there and seeing people who are in peril, who are in danger of eternal damnation in hell folks, and being alert and concerned enough that we are having mercy and being compassionate with them and snatching them from the fires.
And finally He tells us what we are to know. Sometimes your response to things like this that we've read about and to the world's situation in general is one of anxiety and even fear. And you see the terrible days coming and even though I am personally convinced the Bible teaches a rapture of the church before the tribulation period. Amen. F.M. Pardon me. Amen. I believe that. Even though I believe that, I do believe this, that there
will be tribulation very likely before we are taken out. Tribulation in the general sense, real testing. And as we anticipate that, I mean as I anticipate that, I look at myself and I say, wow, I don't know if I can take that. I hear about what some of our brothers and sisters have gone through in Romania, in Poland, in Soviet Russia. What some of them went through along with the Jews and others in World War II and in Germany when
they were exterminated. And I say, I'm not sure I'm up to this. Well there's something that we can know, folks, as we anticipate these things. And the answer is found in the doxology that concludes the book. He says, to him who is able to keep you from stumbling, isn't that great? How can you be sure you're going to make it through the last days and that you're not going to cave in and give up the faith, as it were, under the pressure
of persecution? How can you know that you will be able to stand before a firing squad or face some other horrible things? You can know that you will be able to face it, not because you're strong, not because you're powerful, but because he's able to keep you or to make you stand so that you don't stumble into sin, so that you don't fall. He's able
to give you the grace that you will need. When that hour or any hour of testing comes upon you, he is able, to him who is able to keep you and to make you stand in the presence of his glory, blameless, isn't that a great thought? Not only is he able to keep us here in this world, but he is able to take us to heaven and present us there in his presence someday. There are some people who worry. I mean, they really worry that they are going
to fall away from the faith. They believe that you can lose your salvation, and so they keep running back and calling out for salvation again and going back to the cross and begging for salvation. We don't need to do that. We are kept saved once we come to the cross, kept saved not by our faithfulness, our good things, but kept saved by the power of God.
He's able to make us stand in the presence of his glory. That's heaven. Heaven is glory, and as the songwriter said in the glory song, it used to be the great song and the Chapman and Alexander Crusades of old, oh, that will be glory for me, glory for me, when by his grace I look on his face, that will be glory for me. God is able, dear Christian brother and sister, not only to keep you from falling in the midst of the last days, but he's able
to assure you that someday you're going to be in heaven. He is going to present you to Jesus Christ blameless and with great joy. Now, that joy could be our joy in being there, but I really think the reading here means that he's going to do it with joy. You see, there is great joy to the Father in being able to present you to his Son, Jesus Christ. That's a tremendous thought. He says, to the only God, our Savior, be these four attributes,
glory, majesty, dominion, and authority. Glory is his moral perfection, his radiance. His majesty is his greatness, his awesome power. His dominion is his might. His authority is his sovereign freedom in all of his actions. What Jude is saying here in this benediction, in this doxology, is that God is able to carry out every purpose of his. We are secure in him. But in the meantime, as he writes at the beginning of the book, let's just turn
back there for a moment in verse 3 and look at it. Here's what we're to be doing as well as keeping ourselves in the love of God and all that that means and being alert to those who are in need. In verse 3 he says, Beloved, while I was making every effort to write to you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints.
There are those about us today who would seek to dilute the faith. They would seek to mix it with foreign doctrines so that it's no longer the faith that was delivered by God to us once and for all. He says that you and I are to guard that deposit. We are to contend earnestly for that faith. So God help us to be faithful as we respond to these last days
in which we live. I want to close with a poem by Martha Snell Nicholson which speaks about that day when Christ is going to come and get us and it's his joy that's pictured here. She says, Sickened with slaughter and weary of war, torn by bereavement and pain, daily our eyes are searching the skies for signs of his coming again. Longing we pray at dawning of day, Lord, wilt thou come before noon? Imploring him yet in the evening sunset,
O blessed Lord Jesus, come soon. Precious the word the ear of faith heard, Lo, I come quickly my bride. This longing of thine is not greater than mine, to have thee at last by my side. Lord, what a tremendous thought that is. You're our bridegroom and just as surely as a bridegroom here on earth longs for the coming of his bride to be with him in the wedding ceremony. So you are looking to that day eagerly when we shall be with
you in glory. To be presented there blameless, with great joy on our part and great joy on your part. O, we long for that day. And eagerly do we anticipate your mercy to be revealed. We want to be faithful, Lord, in these last days to live for you, to guard the faith, to be jealous for it, to defend it, to proclaim the word of God, to build up ourselves on this faith, to pray in the Holy Spirit, to keep ourselves in the love of God, to be alert
to the dangers of those around us. God, make us the people that we ought to be in these critical days until Jesus comes. And we pray this in his name. Amen. I'd like for us to close tonight by singing together number 327. You Swedes will especially appreciate this. Children of the Heavenly Father, safely in his bosom gather. We are
secure in him. But my friend, if tonight your spiritual walk is uncertain and you really don't know where you are with God, on the other hand maybe you do and you're not very pleased about it, could we help you and pray with you? As we close singing this hymn, I invite you to come. I'm going to stand here at the front. If we can pray with you and help you tonight, help you to know the Lord, to understand his word, God's will for your
life, would you come? And let's sing this, dear brethren, and rejoice in the words. Let's stand together. Children of the Heavenly Father.