Defend The Faith

The person had a mishap with their truck and now needs to find a back window. They then discuss the importance of defending their faith and the need to learn and grow in it. They compare it to teaching children and how love involves discipline and growth. They emphasize the importance of studying and understanding the Bible in order to defend their faith intelligently. Oh yeah, it looks like we're even recording, good deal. Everything's technical these days. So yeah, I had a pretty good day, I worked a lot yesterday so I was sore, but I decided to put my four-wheeler away so I could take it to the car wash and clean it up, you know. So after I had moved all my deer hunting stuff and put it away, I pulled up into the back of the truck with my ramps and I hit the front of the cab just a little harder than I should have and my glass shattered all the way across. So if you thought my truck looked like Sanford and Son, now it really looks like Sanford and Son because now I've got a brown tarp taped in the back of it. So yeah, so now I'm in the market for a back window. But oh well, you know, that's how it goes. As you know, we are in the book of Jude. Jude's only one chapter, but we're going to be in this book for, you know, it's probably going to be a four to five sermons in that one chapter because Jude takes us places and when he takes us places, we jump on the magic school bus and we go right back there. So a lot of what they were talking about in 1st, 2nd, 3rd John and Jude, because by then the church is pretty mature, by the time they wrote those books, the church was up and rolling pretty good to the point that people were starting to get a little bit lax, you know, they kind of lost a little of their fire and so you see in those later epistles, you see a lot of focus on faithfulness. But before we go any further, we always do like to go to the Lord, so let's do that. Dear Jesus, again we come to you, Lord, as we dive into your holy word, which you told us that it's like you, the very personality is released as we read it, it's not like other words. And we thank you for that. We ask, Jesus, that you'd forgive us. We know we've sinned against you a lot since we've last prayed and we know that it's a struggle we're going to have our whole lives, but you told us that if we would just confess our sin to you, that you would cleanse us and we could regain fellowship and that's what we're after. We ask this in your holy name. Amen. So walking with Jesus, I think there's a new song out about that. It's a pretty simple song, but it's good. That's what he's talking about here. Jude, in 1-3-8, I remember Jude was most likely the half-brother of Jesus and the brother of James, and we studied through James too. He said, Dear friends, I had been eagerly planning to write to you about the salvation we all share. So we know now for sure he's writing to Christians. But now I find that I must write about something else. So you notice here, right off the bat, he separates salvation from hell from something else, from other things, salvation from other things. And if you're going to grow as a Christian, you have to totally understand that how you become a Christian and go to heaven is totally different than how you become a faithful Christian. The salvation from hell is faith alone and Christ alone. We see in Ephesians 2-8, one of our favorite verses, 8-9, For by grace you have been saved through faith. And that's not of yourselves, it's the gift of God, not of works that no one would boast. So we see there's just all kinds of theology in that one passage, that a person becomes a Christian by grace, meaning you don't deserve it at all. That's the only way you're allowed to use the word grace, is for something you absolutely don't deserve. Kind of like, as a matter of fact, the word charis in the Greek that grace comes from is the same word that free comes from. You can't say it's free if you're going to charge me a dime for it. You can't call it free then. And you can't call it grace if you had to do any work for it. You're not allowed to use the word grace. The Apostle Paul makes that point even in Romans. And then he says you're saved by grace, but through faith, which is trusting Jesus for it, trusting him for your eternal life, giving him your eternal life. And understanding that you had no work in it. There's nothing you can brag about, because you have nothing to brag about. You just basically surrendered to God. So you surrendered. Most people who surrender aren't bragging about their surrender. They're just thankful that their enemy allowed them to surrender in a good way. Jude 1.3b says, Now I find that I must write about something else, urging you to defend the faith that God has entrusted once for all time to his holy people. Now the word holy means to be set apart for something good. That's what the word holy means. That's why God's holy. He's totally different. And he's set apart from the rest of us. He set us apart, too, for something good, which is eternal life. But he wants us to defend. Jude says we need to start defending our faith, not letting people step on it. We see in 1 Peter, it says, But in your hearts, revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect. In the Greek, that's given apologia. Apologetics is a form of study where we prove to people that our faith is based on facts. Apologetics. And so it's kind of neat. He says be ready to give an answer, to give a reason, an apologia. Be ready to defend your faith. Now, a lot of Christians ignore this responsibility. They just don't want to take this responsibility on. They think that's just for pastors and Sunday school teachers and things like that. They just don't think that's their job. But here, you see, Jude is telling the church, it is your job. You need to know enough to be able to defend your faith. But do it with respect and gentleness, he said. You know, we talk about the, you know, the Apostle Paul was great at this. If you read through his epistles, he would be respectful and tough at the same time. You can get that mix. You know, the example was, you know, if someone says, hear puppy, puppy, at the same time they're picking up a rock. It's that kind of thing. That's diplomacy. But everybody, all Christians like the part about love and the part about peace and the part about grace and the part about mercy. Everybody loves that. You know, we all love those parts. Those are fun parts. Scripture says, though, if I have the faith that can move mountains but do not have love, I am nothing. So we all agree that that is the most important part. Love is absolutely the most important part. But we're also expected to learn doctrine and to grow. He wants us to do both of those things because that's love also. You know, it's a different flavor of love. It's just like your kids. You love them when they're in that little infant stage. We have a lot of little babies I see all over the church right now. Got little babies. And you love everything about them. And you don't mind at all changing their diapers. You don't mind at all when they spit up all over you and all those things. And boy, they're gross little critters when they're little, you know. I know this has happened to all of you parents where you're holding them up and shaking them a little bit and then they puke on your face. You know, all of you have had that happen. All of you have had that happen. Or they pee on you. I mean, they're disgusting little critters but you love them with all that you are. But you know what? When they're like 14, you don't want no puke in the face or anybody peeing on you at that time, do you? Because you expect them to learn a little bit. You expect them to grow a little bit. And so part of the reason that you love them is when you potty train them. Sometimes you got to get a little bit rough with them when you potty train them. Even though that's hard on them, you know it's better for them because that's love. Love is teaching them to be self-sufficient. Love is teaching them how to eat themselves, how to go to the bathroom themselves, and all those kinds of things. I know our kids are fond, of course, you know, fond of the oldest, you know, the child who is around adults mainly. Usually that oldest one just picks up on everything fast because they're around only adults. And then Seth comes along, you know. But he didn't do too bad on the potty training. You know, he didn't do bad because he liked to, you know, I'd throw things in the toilet for him to shoot at. He thought that was pretty cool, you know. How many of you guys still do that? Oh, never mind. But then we didn't have a baby for like five years. And then Sarah comes along. And she's probably listening. And Sarah, not only did we kind of baby her, we hadn't had a baby in five years, but she had the two older brothers and sisters that babied her too. So she learned, she was very slow at the potty training. I'd see the curtain shaking and she'd be over there behind the curtains, you know, pooping. I'm like, okay, if you knew to go behind the curtains, you knew you had the urge and you could have went to the potty. And then I had to start spanking her. And then about two of those, and she all of a sudden became potty trained. But the thing is, you have to be tough with your kids so that they can learn. You want them to learn. That doesn't mean you love them any less. That means you love them more. And it's the same with God. He's like, listen, you know, I want you to treat each other good and be kind to each other and be generous and all that. But part of love is learning. You know, the scripture says here in this picture, study to show yourself approved unto God, a workman, that needs not to be ashamed. Meaning that if you don't know your words, God says you should be ashamed. Because he says if you know your word, rightly dividing the words of truth. Rightly dividing means that you're intelligent when you interpret. You read it and you make sure it doesn't contradict somewhere else. If it does, then you are misunderstanding one side or the other. You study it intelligently so that you can intelligently argue it if you're asked to. He said, I say this because some ungodly people have wormed their way into your churches. I love that expression. They wormed their way into your churches saying that God's marvelous grace allows us to live immoral lives. You see the conclusion they're making? God's grace covers sin, so what the heck, let's just all party, you know what I mean? Because he's got a lot of grace, you know, let's just use it. He said, the condemnation of such people was recorded long ago, for they have denied our only Master and Lord Jesus Christ. In the same way that a worm really slowly works his way into the system. They lay eggs in your food, and then the next thing you know, they slowly work their way. Everybody has parasites. That's one thing that's bad about these western countries, us and England and some other countries. We think we're too good to have worms, you know what I mean, or to have parasites. Almost all other countries do cleanses for that. You do that for your animals, right? Your cats and dogs. They slowly work their way in, and then the next thing you know, you don't realize that you're being poisoned from the inside, and they snuck into your life. And that's what he's saying here. This false doctrine will sneak into your life. The next thing you know, you find yourself sick spiritually, and not even really knowing why. And so some of these people, some of this sickness, some of these worms, were saying that you should just sin, because God's going to cover you anyway, so you might as well sin. You guys ever heard the expression, we've got a little picture here of a lady with a license to sin. You notice it's a woman, because most men, most of us don't sin very much. It says, When Christians push the boundaries of God's grace. Her name is Mia First. Kind of a neat little thing. But, a license to sin. You probably have heard this expression, because the Armenian doctrine loves this expression. And that was named after Jacob Arminius. And Jacob Arminius hated the Calvinist doctrine. Calvinist doctrine says that God just made some people for heaven, and made some people for hell. And we always say, to heaven with you, to hell you go. They said that he based it on nothing. He just decided, I'm going to make some people for heaven, and I'm going to make some people for hell. It's a horrible, nasty doctrine. And Jacob Arminius hated that doctrine. And he thought he could prove it wrong, and you can prove it wrong very easily. How could it be his will for everybody to be saved and come to his knowledge if he made somebody for hell? That would not be true. So it's totally untrue. But Jacob Arminius went too far the other way. And he taught a doctrine that said that you could become a Christian, and then if you sinned, then you were not a Christian. Then you had to become a Christian again, and then you're not a Christian. And if you go to churches like that, you're baptizing people all the time. So Jacob Arminius did that. And when I would meet him, his name was Brian, I'd say, hey Brian, are you a Christian today or not? I want to know if I need a fellowship with you or a witness to you. Yeah, he wasn't my friend anymore, but he didn't like that too much. And by the way, the guy now, he has got over that now, which is great. But you know what, it's a bad doctrine. He went too far the other way. And he certainly knows that sin is a bad thing. We all know that. And we all know that you're not going to get away with sin. It just doesn't happen to be connected to your eternal life. Because if it was, we would all perish. If that ingredient went into our eternal life, that would mean we would have to remain sinless the rest of our lives, and nobody can do that, because we're doing what God hates and hating what God loves. I think that's pretty good. The word sin is an archery term in the New Testament. It means to miss the mark. And when you miss the mark, that means you hit something you didn't want to hit. I love that they use that term. But our eternal destiny is based on faith alone and Christ alone. When we're talking about salvation Believe it or not, in the Bible 90% of the time it's not talking about eternal life whenever you see the word soteria, salvation is from war, from hunger, or from lots of things. So the Armenian and Calvinist are both wrong. They're both wrong, and both of them sleep on lumpy deathbeds. Because the Calvinist sleeps on his lumpy deathbed and he says, I wonder if I've lived a life that proves I'm one of the elect. Because they believe that if you are one of the elect you will live a quality life. They believe that if you're not living a quality life you will be one of the elect. One of the chosen ones. So they're laying on their deathbed wondering have I proved to myself that I'm one of the elect? The next bed over, back in the days when you had to share beds in hospitals you had to share one room with two or three beds in it. You don't see that much anymore. But the person in the next bed he's an Armenian and he says I wonder if I lost my salvation because I know I've sinned I'm being honest with myself I wonder if I've sinned serious enough to take my salvation from me. So both of them don't have any assurance. Now the guy in the middle bed he's like, you know what I'm a free grace person I believe that the only reason I'm going to heaven is because Christ paid the penalty for me so I know I'm going because I don't deserve it and I can't do anything to earn it or lose it so that guy is the only guy whose deathbed isn't so lumpy. What they do, both groups they try to reinterpret parables. The white horse and the gray horse mean this and that and they always come up with this real imaginative interpretations yet they can never explain away the simple verses they can't explain away those simple self-explanatory verses that have no way you can interpret them wrong like I'm going to fire through quite a few of those my sheep listen to my voice, this is Jesus speaking I know them and they follow me I give them eternal life and they will never perish so if one person who became a Christian perished then this verse is wrong and it's a lie no one can snatch them away from me next verse John 3.16 God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life John 5.24 Jesus said I tell you the truth those who listen to my message and believe in God who sent me have eternal life I love this verse because some people think eternal life is a ticket you get you come to the altar all the deacons swarm you and you say your prayers you have eternal life and you start to sin they take your ticket away but that's not how God teaches it he says that they have eternal life past tense and they will never be condemned so if the first Christian is condemned then this verse is wrong for their sins but they have already passed from death to life they're still alive on this earth they still have a sinful body but their eternity is already in place next verse says for my father's will the father's will is that everyone who looks to the son and believes in him shall have eternal life and I will raise him up on the last day talking about the bodily resurrection Ephesians 1.13 and now you Gentiles have also heard that's us, Gentiles, non-Jews and now you Gentiles have also heard the truth the good news that God saves you and when you believed in Christ he identified you as his own by giving you the Holy Spirit whom he promised long ago and when you believed he owns you at that moment so the Holy Spirit the Spirit is God's guarantee that he will give us the inheritance he promised us and that he has purchased us to be his own people he did this so we would praise and glorify him so it's a couple of nuggets in there we're here to praise and glorify him for one and also the fact that he sealed you with the Holy Spirit of God God the Spirit himself not only sealed you because in those days you'd take a wax seal and you'd seal it across an envelope or a document and nobody could break the seal except the person it was addressed to or it was like a lot of times the penalty of death if you broke a seal that wasn't yours to break and he's saying you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of God and not only did he seal you he lives in you he actually rented a room in you and he's hoping you'll clean the place up a little bit he says do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God do not grieve the Holy Spirit upset by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption sealed till when? the day of redemption so you are very safe the verses go on and on and on you just have to stop somewhere easy verses that don't take a creative interpretation of the vine being this and the branch being that and this color and that color a horse you don't need any of that you've got common promises of God standing on the promises of God we sing is it grace that God gives them? well Smokey and the Bandit that's a big 10-4 good buddy how many of you are old enough here to know about the Smokey and the Bandit movie that was a hot movie everybody owned a Trans Am after that movie yes people will abuse grace as a matter of fact it gets abused more than it gets properly esteemed will they get away with it? no they will not God is not mocked for whatever a man sows that shall he also reap we don't get away with anything we don't get away with any sin we might deny that we're not getting away but we're not getting away with any sin sometimes we recognize the discipline sometimes we don't but just the same we don't get away with it God is not mocked meaning God is basically saying if you think you can get away with sin you're insulting me that would say I'm not a just God and I am a just God you're not getting away with it you're going to heaven only because Christ paid your way but when it comes to your time here on earth you've got to answer for that yourself Romans 5.20 Paul kind of explains a little bit on this God's law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were but as people sinned more and more God's wonderful grace became more abundant it's like we have these pumps at work it's a variable frequency drive it's kind of like a dimmer switch on steroids they're very expensive but what they do is if someone uses water out in the factory site say a guy turns on a fire hydrant that pump senses it and it will speed up until it matches the flow of that hydrant so that nobody else gets starved of water pressure so all the time 24-7 our telemetry is watching the pressure and if anybody turns I can even see when they use a 2 inch faucet I can see it and it follows it and that's kind of what God's grace does as you sin and as you go through the tough things His grace just increases and just follows you taking care of you the law was like a measuring stick or a scale you guys make any new year's resolutions? I make the same one every year it has to do with the buttons flying off of my pants right now I make that same one every year and it's not pretty I did find out a way this year to keep my resolution this picture says how to lose weight by 50% you just put your feet on two different scales you just use two scales instead of one and that has really worked out good for me but it's not the scale's fault that when I step on it that the springs want to jump out of it it's not the scale's fault the scale just measured what I was it had no opinion of me it just measured when I stepped on it when somebody says I'm 5'10 and they put the tape measure on them no you're not, you're not 5'10 but I am, I really feel that I am I don't care how you feel you're not 5'10 the tape measure told you the truth that's what the law did the law just told us what we were it measured us just like we were it's like the thing we always talk about where the wife asks the husband do these jeans make me look fat and the honest husband says no it's not the jeans that make you look fat not a good answer by the way but it is the truth sometimes the truth has to be handled wisely so the scale or the dress or the jeans they don't make you they just reveal the truth they don't make us fat it's that food we stuff in our mouth the law was the same way it just revealed man's sin it shined a light on it and showed there it is and his word still does that today even though the law is fulfilled we see this picture people on one side of the canyon I always explain it for the people online and on the other side of the canyon you've got God and there's just a big gap between us sin, it separates us from God that's why we needed a bridge nobody deserves heaven nobody deserves heaven you might think you live a lot better than that guy on the street corner with a bottle of whiskey and a bag you may think you're a lot better than him but the difference in you and him is so minimal it's almost not measurable it's like I always said if Michael Jordan can jump four times higher than I can but if the goal is to jump up and touch the moon we both miserably fail neither one of us look impressive when the goal is the moon and it's the same way with sin we live as good as we can but all of us fall short of it Romans says, so just as sin ruled over all the people and brought them to death now God's wonderful grace rules instead giving us a right standing with God and resulting in eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord God's grace covers our sin absolutely 100% covers our sin we don't pay for our sin when it comes to eternal life we pay for it a lot of other ways he says, well then, should we keep on sinning so that God can show us more and more of his wonderful grace that's the question, of course not and that word he used for of course not is such a strong word it's like chopping somebody up with an axe it's like, no I would never ever do that chop somebody up with an axe it's that kind of a word of course not no way on earth should I sin more just because God's grace is tracking my sin since we have died to sin how can we continue to live in it taking advantage of his grace is very dangerous remember you need his grace for more than just eternal life you need his grace for day to day living you need his grace at work and you need his grace in your marriage how would you like it if your friends were that way do you guys have that friend that when the phone rings and you see who's calling you and you know right away they need something it might be family, it might be friends as soon as it rings like when Fawn and Dane are getting ready for a date on a Friday or Saturday night and their phone rings they're like, so dad's going to try to horn into our date again you believe they went out without me yesterday they left me at home I couldn't believe that usually if I buy an appetizer or dessert I get away with it but man they just didn't want nothing to do with me yesterday but I looked at Adrian and Mike but I horned in on them already but that person that calls you what do they want it's usually you don't hear from them for two months they want something and that makes you feel used it makes you feel insulted when your friends or family or kids do that to you it makes you feel insulted and you see it all the time especially when kids are away I read a story of a guy his son sent him a real simple letter he just wanted to make it very simple and kind of creative and he put, no mon, no fun, your son too bad, too sad, your dad that was a good response but a true Christian this picture says desires to be free from sin not to sin freely based on Romans 7.22 so and that true is more like faithful a faithful Christian desires to be free from sin now you're never going to be free from sin you just never are but you need to always strive to try to improve you're going to be doing really good and then something's going to trip you that's normal, that's the enemy just like we talked about how grace tracks you the enemy tracks you too the enemy that lives in you when you start doing better ramps up his efforts I say his, his, hers because I'm talking about the enemy within and so when you start doing better then all of a sudden, out of the blue you're going to start noticing opportunities that make you less faithful you're going to start inviting people out you're going to even help the enemy sometimes and so but a faithful Christian constantly tries to keep returning, keep climbing Paul says in Romans since we have been united with him in his death and we also will be raised to life as he was we know that our old sinful selves were crucified with Christ there's a Philips Craig-Adean has that song, Mike I know you know it I've been crucified with Christ but yet I live I love that song it's a great song we were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives we are no longer slaves to sin because God's grace subdues it that's why we're no longer slaves to it that doesn't mean we don't sin that just means that ultimately God deals with it this verse in 1 Corinthians says the sting of death is sin why is the sting of death sin? and the power of sin is the law if there wasn't a law there wouldn't be sin in a way how can you break a rule that doesn't exist so that's what he's talking about there but Jesus satisfied the law with his sacrifice his sacrifice paid the price but now we need to satisfy him with our fellowship and with our good living because we should want to do that we should want to show gratitude for what he did for us and to what degree that we satisfy him then he can bless us to that same degree but the choice is ours every day you're going to be facing choices and you're going to be making choices every day but just remember this God gives us freedom of choice but we also have consequences that come with that Georgia Jones was one of my favorite country singers actually had the most popular country song of all time but this isn't it but this song is called Choices and he said I've had choices since the day that I was born and there were voices that told me right from wrong if I had listened no I wouldn't be here today living and dying with the choices I've made and I like the last verse I guess I'm paying for the things that I've done if I could go back oh Lord knows I'd run but I'm still losing this game of life that I play living and dying by the choices I make such a true song that is because so many times that sin worms in you like we talked about like Jude told us and the next thing you know your standards change and you accept less in yourself and you don't like self punish yourself like when you're doing something wrong you give yourself too many passes and the next thing you know you find yourself there this says your life is a result of the choices you make if you don't like your life it's time to start making better choices so true find someone to imitate Paul said imitate me someone to hold you accountable it's alright to copy this is one time it's okay to copy remember in school they had all been out of shape because you copied your neighbor's answers I had a cousin his name was Phil they called him Phil Billy and believe me if you look up Phil Billy in the dictionary Phil's in there he was the whole package and that guy he could walk to the pencil sharpener and back and get like 13 answers and I told him I said Phil I said man if you're smart enough to be able to go to the pencil sharpener and back and get 13 answers you could probably study this stuff and really do well but Phil he didn't get too out of shape he's the one that walked in late to science class one day and the teacher says well Phil there's 3% of your grade he says I ain't very smart but I know 3% of zero is zero he says so Christians we have two natures it's like a split personality of sorts two natures I saw a bumper sticker once it said roses are red violets are blue I have a split personality and so do I so that was pretty good but our natures are like that we have two personalities and one day when we die the sinful personality the sinful nature is going to die if you're a Christian I'm talking about that sinful nature dies it's dead dead it's the Cleveland Browns when they're not going to make the playoffs they're going to hurt everybody on your team since they didn't make the playoffs that's who this is the sinful nature just punishes you because you turned over to the Lord but one day when you die that sinful nature dies but until that day the battle is on it's on because the sinful nature is never going to let you go never going to let off on you you just got to stay close to the shepherd you choose right you get rewards and you get blessings you choose wrong you get disciplined or loss of blessing sometimes it's hard to notice that sometimes you think you're just in a spell of bad luck or you're thinking everybody hates me everything's going wrong for me a lot of times you're being disciplined sometimes people say I was a Christian when I was a young person but now I must not be because all this bad luck is happening to me have you ever thought that that's the best evidence of all that you're a Christian because God would not discipline you if you were not his he said I discipline those I love so sometimes the best evidence that you are a Christian is when you're being disciplined and ignoring discipline is very dangerous scripture talks about having a hard heart the hard heart's a very dangerous thing don't get to the point where you overpower that discipline and it means less and less to you you remember when you were a kid I used to steal a pencil sometimes you need a pencil and somebody didn't lock their locker I reasoned they deserved to get their pencil stolen they should have locked their locker bad reasoning sinful reasoning but then it's easier to steal the next thing the bigger thing and then it's easier to steal even a bigger thing that's just how sin works nice little baby steps the warming the way in but sin loves to thrive on a cold heart and if you keep ignoring discipline Galatians 5.17 says for the flesh sets its desires against the spirit and the spirit against the flesh for these are in opposition to one another so that you may not do the things that you please next picture says I know that nothing good lives in me this is the apostle Paul arguably maybe the greatest man to walk through the pages of scripture he had some really good men in scripture but he's definitely in the top five I know nothing good lives in me he says that is in my sinful nature I have the desire to do what is good but I cannot carry it out he goes on and on read that Romans 7 sometimes he goes on and on about how he wants to do good but the next thing he knows he's just not doing good anymore and it's just a battle in him and this is a great man saying this sharing that with us that's why I know Christianity there's so many reasons why it's true if you were forming a fake religion you'd never share stuff like that you'd never share that stuff you'd make everything good but we have a formidable enemy that lives in us that's why we need Jesus to help us defeat it every single day is a new battle we can't earn salvation from hell we can't earn it that's why we can't lose it because Jesus earned it and nobody takes nothing from him and we dare not take advantage of his grace Galatians 5.13 says you my brothers and sisters were called to be free but do not use your freedom to indulge the flesh for you shall be free in love now Jude's going to give us some history because he wants you to see that God hasn't changed God doesn't change he's the same yesterday, today, and forever the things he hated in the Old Testament he hates in the New Testament you know the same things and he didn't allow in the past sin to be ignored so I want to remind you though you already know these things that Jesus first rescued the nation of Israel from Egypt but later he destroyed those who did not remain faithful you know it's temporal judgment not eternal judgment where you're going to spend eternity but it's temporal judgment on this earth which still is very important because you live on this earth your salvation is intact but there's more than just that to consider you know when you get married the wedding's fun and reception's fun and everybody comes and it's a great time but that's just the beginning of your marriage you have a lot of work to do now the best decision you ever made but there's more to do than that because if you keep sinning against him there's a point that he might just take you out just like in a marriage if you keep sinning against your wife she might just take you out I'm not talking on a date either I'm talking a nice sharp blade but God said in 1 John 5.16 there is a sin leading to death we studied this when we were in 1 John you can get to a point where God can say you know what, you're in my way people say what sin is that? it would depend on whether or not you're in God's way same sin could have different consequences you could get to the point where God says you know what, I love you, you're my child I'm going to take you home early just like you do a kid that's acting up when you're out with your friends the kid keeps acting up, you grab the kid we're going home early and that kid knows when he gets home it ain't going to be pretty that's how God does sometimes it was outside and they were acting like they were so holy and they called it a supper belonging to the Lord but they were being selfish they weren't sharing their food with each other the poor people didn't have any food the rich people were gluttonous eating until they were stuffed up and they were getting drunk and everything and they were calling it a supper belonging to the Lord and the apostle Paul scolded them for that he said for this reason many among you are weak and sick because of the way they lived many among you are weak and sick and a number of you have died but if we judge ourselves rightly we would not be judged but when we are judged we are disciplined by the Lord so that we will not be condemned along with the world that's part of the deal for Him taking you in for free is that you got to endure the judgment you got to endure the discipline Jude gave a couple of examples people who abused God's grace the first was when Israel was rescued Jude says so I want to remind you though you already know these things he rescued the nation of Israel from Egypt but later he destroyed those who did not remain faithful they were slaves for 400 years 400 and something and finally the reason he let them be enslaved is because they turned on him and finally he was going to give them another chance Hebrews tells us a little bit about it it says but Christ as son is in charge of God's entire house and we, all of us, we are God's house and if we keep our courage and remain confident in our hope in Christ that is why the Holy Spirit says this today when you hear his voice God's voice don't harden your hearts as Israel did when they rebelled when they tested me in the wilderness there your ancestors tested and tried my patience even though they saw my miracles for 40 years and they saw tons of miracles all the plagues they got to see they got to see the Red Sea split and walk through on dry land they got to see God at night in a pillar of fire and God at day in a pillar of cloud man you talk about evidence but those guys had the evidence and they still rebelled against him because that's the sinful nature that lives in all of us he said so I was angry with them and I said their hearts always turn away from me they refuse to do what I tell them so in my anger I took an oath they will never enter my place of rest not talking about heaven he's talking about the land he promised them that bountiful land, Jericho and all that beautiful land of milk and honey places where grapes grew the size of oranges how bountiful that land was he says be careful then dear brothers and sisters talking to us make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving turning you away from the living God you must warn each other every day while it is still today so that none of you will be deceived by sin and hardened against God and there's that hardening again God warned us about this is what the world tries to do to our children with the evolution the evolution theory it's even hard to call it a theory anymore it's been disproven a million times but they just will not remove it from those textbooks and we see Hollywood every movie you watch always desensitizing you to homosexuality and transvestites and abortion always putting their little plugs in great series, you're in episode 5 and you're loving the series and then they start their indoctrination I hate that they know exactly the moment you turned it off when you're on these apps so when you see that stuff turn it off right then because their God is the dollar bill and when they see that that's what caused you to quit watching their show that helps our cause colleges are the worst pulpits on earth for the enemy politicians, companies like Disney the most evil company on earth ask Alexa sometime if you have the Alexa app who the most woke company on earth is and even they admit it that they are the most woke company on earth meaning that they trap our children with the nice beautiful cartoons and the nice beautiful theme parks and then they suck them in and try to indoctrinate them just like, this is sad stuff we have one of the few schools in our area that still has Christian leadership that still prays at sports banquets we are very blessed here this school system we have here because you just have to go 10 miles that way to get the exact opposite he says, for we are faithful to the end trusting God just as firmly as when we first believed we will share in all that belongs to Christ he wants to share everything with us remember what it says today when you hear his voice don't harden your hearts as Israel did when they rebelled and who was it that rebelled against God even though they heard his voice wasn't it the people Moses let out of Egypt maybe 6, 8 million people when there were a fighting age and who made God angry for the 40 years wasn't it the people who sinned whose corpses lay in the wilderness why did they lay in the wilderness because he never let them go to the promised land they died out there not that day, they died out there of natural causes most of them but they didn't get to go they lived their lives in defeat what a waste I know a lady who is a lesbian and she loves children and I think what a waste you wasted your life you love children and children love you and you don't have any and I'm thinking you just threw your life away because you got fooled by some things and I think what a waste I hate seeing that and to whom was God speaking when he took an oath that they would never enter his rest wasn't it the people who disobeyed him so we see that because of their unbelief they weren't able to enter his rest because fear kept getting them the enemy worked fear on them oh you're out here in the wilderness you used to get 3 meals a day as slaves getting beaten and killed they threw their babies in the river but they said oh we should go back to Egypt where we got 3 squares a day and where they beat you and killed your children they didn't want to mention that part they let their fear take away their blessings that God had for them they didn't trust God to keep the promise and finally God reached his limit Moses sent 12 spies in to see what the land was like God didn't say go see if you can take it God said I've already given it to you I just want you to go check out what's coming and Joshua and Caleb come back and they said oh my gosh this land is awesome let's go get it today let's go get it this land is great the crops are great the buildings, the land, the soil is fertile but the other 10 spies oh my gosh they're bigger than us we look like grasshoppers in their sight we'll never be able to take them there's too many of them, they're too advanced and that was the last straw for God he was ticked the Lord said to Moses how long will these people treat me with contempt will they never believe me even after the miracles and signs I have done among them I will disown them and destroy them with the plague then I will make into a nation greater and mightier from you I'm going to take you after I wipe them all out I'll take you and Caleb and Joshua and we'll start over that's basically what he said but Moses objected what will the Egyptians think when they hear about it he asked the Lord they know full well the power you displayed rescuing your people from Egypt now if you destroy them the Egyptians will send a report to the inhabitants of this land who have already heard that you live among your people they know the Lord that you have appeared to your people face to face and that your pillar of cloud hovers over them now if you slaughter all these people with a single blow the nations that have heard of your fame will say the Lord was not able to bring them into the land he swore to give them so he killed them in the wilderness you love how Moses is really working it right because Moses loves these people even though they are very disobedient please Lord prove that your power is as great as you have claimed for you said the Lord is slow to anger and filled with unfailing love Moses is using scripture against God for every kind of sin and rebellion but he does not excuse the guilty he lays the sins of the parents upon their children the entire family is affected even children in the third and fourth generations in keeping with your magnificent unfailing love please pardon the sins of these people just as you have forgiven them ever since they left Egypt then the Lord said I will pardon them as you have requested but as surely as I live and as surely as the earth is filled with the Lord's glory not one of these people will ever enter the land Moses said okay I'm going to let them live I'm going to let them live but they're going to live very wasted lives and that's what they did they have all seen my glorious presence and the miraculous signs I performed both in Egypt and in the wilderness but again and again they have tested me and refused to listen to me they will never even see the land that I swore to give them not only can't they go I'm not even going to let them look at it none of those who have treated me with contempt will ever see it but my servant Caleb he has remained loyal to me so I will bring him into the land he explored his descendants will possess their full share of the land because Joshua and Caleb he didn't mention Joshua by name but later he did but Joshua and Caleb were the only two living so that's why they were out there 40 years just imagine they're not very far from the promised land they are so close but they just wandered around for 40 years living a defeated life instead of a victorious life you know how many times I see this in Christians they won't stand on the promises of God they live a defeated life they don't want to commit to God and they somehow feel safe in doing that they don't want people calling them Jesus freak they don't want people thinking they're weird and they live a defeated life as Christians will they go to heaven? yeah if they trusted Jesus with their eternal life they're going to go to heaven but man they're going to go smelling like smoke they walked so close to the line they're going to go smelling like smoke and when they face the Bema Seat judgment which is the judgment for Christians they're going to be ashamed people say how can you be ashamed because there is that judgment before we get to go into the eternal gates of heaven there's that judgment where all of us face God every last one of us faces God the book of Hebrews tells us all of us first face judgment then we face God and when we face God then we face God then we face God