This should be a book that you take the time to read. I have become an expert because I work just like you, I was always a working man, a working pastor. I have become an expert in a lot of the minor prophets, a lot of the books that people overlook. Because I might have only ten minutes at lunch to read something, even if it's five minutes, I'll run through Jude, it's one chapter. But because a book is short, it doesn't mean it's not important or it's not packed with doctrine. We have a very short document, a constitution, it's not many pages. But yet it runs the most successful nation the world has ever seen. So it's not the length of something, it's what it's packed with. And this is loaded with doctrine and you are getting the inside scoop from someone who is not only the Lord's brother, but also someone that came to believe and has teachings that we don't always hear in the other books. So he boils it down. So Jude is the book to go to when you need understanding for your life, for the church, when you want to see the old schemes that the devil has always tried to to plan when it comes to God's people. So we were reading through Jude, very short, we're up to verses eight through 10 today. And we remember that Jude, the servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to them that are sanctified by God the Father and preserved in Jesus Christ and called, mercy unto you and peace and love be multiplied. So again, this is a book that's a contract, it's a covenantal book. And Jude tells you that the man, the one you should follow, is not your president or your boss at work or some guru. It's Jesus Christ. He's the King. He's the one that you supposedly made a claim. To follow that you would follow him and be faithful. It's not anyone else. It's not a Pope. It's not a pastor It's not a denomination So even if your own parents even if your own wife or husband wants to become a Jehovah's Witness tomorrow and leave Let them leave You stay with Christ. Nothing emotional or physical or spiritual should be able to pull you away from belief in Christ. I teach my own family this. If I turn to Satanism tomorrow, if I said, I'm sick of this faith, I am joining whatever group I need to, I'm going to make mine. I'm making money. I'm going to be known. I'm tired of this life that I have. I tell my own children, don't you dare follow me. Pray for me. Pray that I come back to the faith, but don't you dare follow me. Your Father is not God. Jesus Christ is God. So that's what we need to learn. This is the contract. And Jude Like a loving elder, says Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you and exhort you that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints. For there are certain men crept in unawares, who were before of old ordained to this condemnation. ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness and denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ. I had preached a sermon, it's about grace, and I explained it's grace free, but never cheap. It's priceless. So even though Christ gives it freely, it's not a license to do whatever you want. That's the whole point. That's what he's saying. Crept in unawares. They snuck in. They didn't announce themselves. Hey, how you doing? I'm here to destroy your church. Take whatever money I can and then leave. They don't do that. They come in and they look like they want to be members. And sometimes they look like ministers of righteousness. But what they do is they sow seeds of dissent. They get into the group. They teach false doctrine. Their lifestyles are horrible. They're not being a good example. But we have to contend against these people. We don't just give in. If someone walks in and breaks into your front door and wants to assault your family, you're supposed to stand there. Some churches teach that. Biblically, it's wrong. We don't teach that. Well, the same way in God's house. If someone comes into God's house and wants to teach a name and enclavement thing, We have people that are well known on Christian cable and all this stuff. They're teaching oneness. They're called oneness Pentecostals. That there's no difference between the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. There are no three persons in the Trinity. There's only one. This is an old heresy. You don't let these people hang out in your church without being corrected. So we need to contend for the faith. And it gets better. Because Jude is not like Many in the ministry today, he names names, he gives examples. So, in verse 5 we see, I will therefore put you in remembrance that though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not, and the angels were kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, He hath reserved an everlasting change unto darkness, unto the judgment of the great day, even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves over to fornication and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. And then we get into the verses for today's sermon. Likewise, also these filthy dreamers defile the flesh, despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities. Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee. but they speak evil of those things which they know not but what they know naturally as brute beasts and those things they corrupt themselves so we see a couple of examples given what in the world is this these angels that fell from their first estate and now are reserved in darkness and we know that these are the sons of God in the Hebrew the Bani Elohim they are always referred to that way they are angelic beings that actually corrupted themselves with the flesh of human beings. And that comes from the Book of Enoch, which is not included in the Bible. These books that are in the Apocrypha, they're not something that we go to for official doctrine, but they were still valuable in history that they taught and they had nuggets of truth. Now why can I look at something like this that was in the Book of Enoch? Because I get permission from Jude. I can look at it, it's confirmed. in Scripture. So these books are good historical references. Roman Catholics have now included this in their Bible. They have the Apocrypha after the official canon. But we don't adventure in these books looking for exact doctrine. Now when it talks about the Archangel Michael battling for the body of Moses, we're going to get into why. That comes from a book called the Testament of Moses. These were books that were around that the Hebrew people read that were not included in the Bible because they had some truth and some error. But Jude, knowing his audience, he was speaking to Jews that came to Christ. He knew that they would know these books. So us as Christians and going that are not Hebrew or Jewish This is a great insight for us. We're getting some inside baseball on how he came up with this and what he was teaching. These are great stories that Judah's included for us. So it's a small book, but it's a valuable book. And we'll now look at how this works out for our faith. So we're told how Jude continues to exhoriate the covenant rebels God will eventually destroy. Even among God's people, we have unregenerate idiots corrupting the message of the living God. Now that word idiot has evolved over time, like the word gay, which used to only mean happy. People have the last name gay, I've spoke to you about this. But idiot, used to mean someone who was speaking about something they didn't know. And that's the context of what I mean. Okay. And I mean it when you say it, when we speak this way to those who don't know doctrine and are destroying families and nations for the doctrine that they have. Yeah. I mean it in the most insulting way. I speak to them as a pastor, the way I'm commanded to, to, to get their attention for those that would want to corrupt the church. You are an idiot. You are ignorant. You have no idea. what you're doing and what damage you're causing by teaching wrong doctrine. So we have in the Latin the word idiota and... The history and etymology for idiot, Middle English, from Anglo-French, idiot, from Latin, idiota, same in Italian, ignorant person, from Greek, idiotes, one in a private station, layman, ignorant person. So this is what I mean. I gave you the definition because we are We need explanations Sometimes so it's on your outline, but these are people that are ignorant, but these guys are a little different They are ignorant and what they speak about and they enjoy it. They like corrupting people so we always had covenant rebels and We're going to see that This is part of the story of Moses. I mean, we have to remember, why wasn't Moses allowed into the promised land? And people still question, what exactly was his sin? What did he do that was so bad? Well, let's review it today. Oh, I'm sorry, no one see what I want, here you go. Let me see, my son's not here, so. So, if you turn to Numbers 20 with me, And you'll soon be getting the outline. We're going to be reading Numbers 20. You can keep your finger there. And we're working in Jude. And what this does, we're going to explore why did Moses not get into the Holy Land? What did he do? Why was it considered so serious? And this is what many of us still go through today with people that sneak into the church that are not faithful and all they do is cause dissent. So we're told in numbers, we'll be reading verses 1 through 12. And we're told, then came the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, into the desert of Zin in the first month, and the people abode in Kadesh. And Miriam died there and was buried there. And there was no water for the congregation. And they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. And the people showed with Moses and spake, saying, Would God that we had died when our brethren died before the Lord? And why have ye brought up the congregation of the Lord into this wilderness, that we and our cattle should die there? And wherefore have ye made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us in unto this evil place? It is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates, neither is there any water to drink. And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation. and they fell upon their faces. And the glory of the Lord appeared unto them, and the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes, and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock. So thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink. And Moses took the rod from before the Lord as he commanded him. And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock. And he said unto them, here now you rebels, must we, remember that, must we. Fetch your water out of this rock. And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smoked the rock twice, and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also. And the Lord spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believe me not to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them. Very serious Judgment very serious judgment. So we'll work on verses 1 through 5 first Moses was dealing with these rats these traitors these horrible people that were mixed in with God's people his sister Miriam dies and What is their response? They get all over him and complain. There's no time for mourning. They have no respect for him. They don't care that God chose him as their leader. And we have to remember something about these people. They're mentioned in Jude. This was the group that saw the miracles. The Jordan River was parted and then brought back together on top of the Egyptian armies. These people saw that stuff. They witnessed it with their own eyes. And they still complain. They were still miserable. And this is why we are told to stay patient, stay in the Lord, and to protect our congregations from people who will come in and really don't believe. They just want stuff and they just want to make us miserable. And that's why we have church discipline. for anyone from the member to the pastor. No one is allowed to come into God's house and wreck it and destroy it and cause mischief and dissensions. Listen to these people. God has delivered them from bondage, 450 years of bondage, and they complain. They're like, you brought us out here. There's no wine. There's no place to hang out. There's no good food. We're sick in this place. We should have died with the other people that God killed, the rebellious ones. This is what they're telling Moses. His sister just died. No time of mourning for you, brother. We're all over you. We're not happy. And this is the group that Jude is talking about. Now we'll get into the next part where we see that We can't get caught up in compromising ourselves or losing our way because of idiots like this that corrupt the message of the living God. So we see that the angels themselves realize all power comes from the Father. They are careful not to exaggerate their power in carrying out God's commands. So these were wicked people. They thought who they were. I have one. They challenged Moses. They challenged the leadership. But we see from Jude that even angels did not behave this way. They knew that when they were doing battle, like we're told of Michael, who's mentioned in another part of scripture, they knew that all their power to do battle with evil comes from God. It's not in them. And when we read the narrative, when you read verses 6 through 12, Moses became tempted and he forgot this. Because he's told to get water for the people from the rock. He calls them rebels, which is fine, but then what does he say? He wants to hit back. He says, do we, meaning me and Aaron, Do we have to get water from this rock? And that was his sin. He didn't glorify God. He got upset. And it's kind of like when you suffer and you just want to push back a little bit. You know, as Christians, we get picked on a lot, especially now. Some countries, they really suffer. As a Christian, sometimes you just want to turn around and say, you know, like in the old days, do you know who I am? How many times do you hear people say this? They get upset. That's like their go-to cause. Do you know who you're messing with? Do you know who I am? But Christians, we don't do that. And that's what Moses did. He said, do we have to get water from this rock? His sister just died. He puts up with complaining people. They've seen the miracles. They don't care. God has sustained them. They don't care. They're angry. Even when he's a good leader, they're angry with him. It doesn't matter. So Moses has one of those moments. And what does he basically say? Do you know who I am? Do you know who my brother is? We're not to get caught up in that. Our power, as much as we want to lash out, it does not come from us. It comes from God. He should have been yelling like he has done before. Do you know who the living God is? Do you know what he can do to you? But he took it onto himself. This was his sin. And God was so serious about this, he let him see the promised land, but he would not let him enter it. God loved Moses, and he wouldn't let him be tempted into becoming a pope or a TV evangelist, where the people worshiped and looked at him as if he was God. God is God and men are men. Women are women. We are not God. So when you have that moment, you want to lash out, you're doing all you can, you have angry people around you, sometimes in the congregation. People come to the church many times, not all the time, they come to the church, their life was a train wreck before. Nobody respected them, everybody stepped on them, everybody used them, but once they come to church, all of a sudden they're hypersensitive. Think about it. I've told people this. Say you were stepped on in the street, you let yourself be used, you let yourself be abused, but you want to get mad at another sister because of a look she gave you? or another brother because of what he said, I wish you were like that in your life before. You wouldn't have came in here such a mess. But they come in here, and people come into the house of God, and they're looking for perfection. All of a sudden, we can't be offended. We get angry over everything. I wish you were like that in the world. You would have stood up for yourself and not as abused. So this is the type of group he's dealing with. Never happy, point out all the bad things, but you can never be tempted to say, do you know who I am? It's do you know who the Lord is? Always, don't fall into that. So we see that he was dealing with rebels like Jude warned us about, even Holy Moses, the greatness of Moses, God's friend, the only man whom he spoke to face to face before Christ came, And we see that he was tempted. He got upset with the people. You have to be like even the Archangel Michael, battling for the body of Moses. He did not rail against the Lord that way. So we are given the privilege to learn of the battle for the body of Moses. This story is included to show us how the Lord protects us from idolatry. We are not to worship even the greatest of saints. This sin has haunted the church through all ages. Saints, statues, relics. We do this now. We make fun of those in the past, but we do the same thing. Everyone has their pastor, their guy, their denomination. Have the word, have Jesus Christ the King. Everything else is secondary. It doesn't mean we don't honor people who love us or who faithfully preach the word, but it's not them, it's God. Always focus on the message. So this was the problem that they had. And this is what Moses was experiencing. All of us get in that situation where we want to yell, do you know who I am? And stand up for us. But we don't need to do that. God stands up for us. What we do need is to know our Bibles, know what church discipline is, know what's expected, and correct people lovingly. And if that doesn't work, then we go all the way. We're not just about numbers. If we need to exclude someone from the congregation, we do it. That's what the whole book of Jude is about. You can't exclude anybody now. Everybody gets in. Like Great Adventure, you got a ticket, everybody gets in. We turn no one away. And that's what the church has become. Rides and amusements and there's no cost to becoming a Christian. But not everyone is meant to be a Christian. The Lord has to call them. And when you have someone come to Christ in a way where the Holy Spirit did not move their heart, but they just feel like wrecking something or being included in something, as we identify them, if they don't accept church discipline, you have to push them out. It has to happen. We had a back in the day, right? I've been here 40 years. Back in the day, We had a young man, he always came around, would hang on now and then, always asking for money. I always saw him asking for money. He asked everybody for money, regular people, the elders, whatnot. He's in his mid-20s. Guy always had a story why he couldn't get a job, why he couldn't get the correct training, whatnot. Well, one day he came and He asked certain people for money who would usually help him from the kindness of their hearts, and they actually said no. And they kind of confronted him on, well, you were supposed to get this training for this job and this and that. We're talking about a person 25, 26 years old. And boy. Did he get mad? I heard him cursing from the front and we had to address it. And this guy, you know, we had a conversation outside and he was gonna punch this guy and that guy. We're talking about people 60, 70 years old that he's saying he's gonna, you know, he's gonna knock out. And these are the people that Judah's talking about. And he's been back and forth here, you know, for years. And I did what I'm supposed to do as a shepherd. I told him, if you touch one of these men, I will knock you out of your shoes. And I promise you that. Now, was I wrong? No, I'm the shepherd. Am I only supposed to take on the nicest shoes? Is that what we're supposed to do? We're supposed to back down with a situation like that? Now many churches do, and they let the membership get abused. Who are you in your mid-20s, because people don't hand you money anymore to physically threaten people in the congregation? And this guy was known to be violent, and he's hurt people before on the street. I was supposed to stand there? Or should we have just loved him back in? This is the point. So these are the extreme cases that they're not throwing out of any church now. They just hang on for years and ruin the place. So we have this group. They don't want the Lord. They just want the stuff. That's all they want. They make everyone miserable. They bring in damnable heresies. And that's why we properly need church discipline. So what about Moses? What's so beautiful about the story of Moses? We see he had this sin. God wasn't happy. He told him, you will not see the promised land. You should have threatened the people with me and you should have explained to them the power that I have not the power that you and your brother have and because of that even though I love you and you're one of my greatest servants I've ever had you will not see the promised land so when we look at this let's look at Deuteronomy chapter 32 verses 48 through 52 let's get a second look at what's going on Let's see how serious God was. And then we're going to see redemption, even for Moses, how merciful our God is. That even when He corrects us, when we accept the discipline, He'll restore us. So Deuteronomy chapter 32, verses 48 through 52, And the Lord spake unto Moses that self same day, saying, get thee up into this mountain, Abarim, unto Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab, that is over against Jericho, and behold the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel for possession. and die in the mount, whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people. As Aaron thy brother died in Mount Or, and was gathered unto his people. Because ye trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters of Meribah Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin, because ye sanctified me not. in the midst of the children of Israel. Yet thou shalt see the land before thee, but thou shalt not go thither unto the land which I give the children of Israel. Now, many people will read this but not actually see the story in numbers. That's why I read you the actual incident in numbers. We looked at it. So God in his mercy, remember Moses has dealt with these people over 40 years. He'll let him see the land. He'll let him see while he's still alive that God's promises are true, but he can't enter the land. God will allow no man or woman to become an idol for the church. It will not happen. It will not. So this is the situation that Moses was in. Turn to 1 Corinthians chapter one. We'll go to the New Testament. Verses 10 through 18. We have a commentary by someone who's pretty faithful. It's the Apostle Paul. Paul got into this situation. In the early church, everybody had their guy. They were worshiping people once again. All our ancestors worship people. You know what the myths are in different cultures? They're not myths. That's ancestor worship. A lot of these people, doesn't matter what continent your forefathers are from, they all have these idols, these statues, these gods. A lot of that is ancestor worship. They worship the ones who founded the nation or the tribe or whatever. God doesn't get into this. We worship Him and no one else. So Paul was addressing this. But he was smart. He was doing what Jude would want him to do. So he approaches the church at Corinth, which was a crazy church, but it was still a church. And what are we told? Paul gives it to him. He says in Verse one, starting at, I'm sorry, chapter one, starting at verse 10. Now I beseech you, brethren, I beg you, beseech you, I beg you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak the same thing, and that there be no divisions among you, but that ye be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment. For it hath been declared unto me of you, my brethren, by them which are of the house of Chloe, that there are contentions among you. Now this I say that every one of you saith, I am of Paul, and I of Apollos, and I of Cephas, and I of Christ. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were ye baptized in the name of Paul? I thank God, Paul is great, he's so like, right to the point. I thank God that I baptized none of you. but Crispus and Gaius, lest any should say that I am baptized in my own name. And I baptize also the household of Stephanus, besides, I know not whether I baptize any other. For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel, not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect. For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness. but unto us which are saved. It is the power of God. Paul did not repeat Moses' sin. He did not get upset with these people and say, do you know who I am? Do you know what I can do to you? He's saying, hold on, I don't want to be worshiped. Who cares who baptized you? Everyone is working for God's glory. We're all equal under the Lord. Some of us were made teachers. Some of us do more things for the Lord, even the regular membership. Some of us do great things for the Lord, and God will remember that. You will have rewards in heaven. But we're all saved by grace and by the power of Jesus Christ. He refused to be worshipped. And he's addressing people at Corinth, which we're used to, worshiping idols and worshiping men and women. What do people love about the gods? They behave like human beings do. So God would not let this happen. That's why I don't get caught up in, if I have a gathering, I have people there from all denominations. I might not agree with everything, but I'm not a Calvinist first, I'm a Christian. I read Calvin's commentaries, I've read his institutes. Some great teaching, a blessing to the church. There's also error. I've read Luther. Luther is wonderful. A lot of Lutheran doctrine. He has good doctrine. He has some stuff that's horrible. So we might use these labels to identify where we stand theologically when we discuss things with people, but I don't worship John Calvin, I don't worship Martin Luther, I don't worship the Church Fathers, I worship Jesus Christ. I use their writings to help me understand the Word, but I don't worship these men. And many of these men were faithful. It would be a nightmare. As the old saying goes, they're rolling in their grave. Well, if they could, they would be rolling in their grave to see that men were giving more glory to them and to their system than the Lord Jesus Christ. So let's be careful. I have Christians that they won't talk to each other because one has a certain type of doctrine. Now, as long as you're not a flaming heretic, and you have the fundamentals, I'll argue with you, and I won't let certain doctrines, as a responsible minister, come into this church, neither will our elder, anyone who's an elder. But they're still Christians. And we don't worship the men. My argument is about the Word of God, not who we follow. And you see this, you take certain pastors that they're just beloved by the people, and you bring up one thing that they might have taught wrong, and some people are like, oh, don't say that, what are you, crazy? This guy, this person, it doesn't work like that. We worship God, we don't worship people. So as tempting as it might be at times, because we're all strained, by people within the church, without the church, remind them of the goodness of God and remind them of His judgment if they don't accept His goodness and His grace. It's not you. It's not your power. Now look at how beautiful our Lord is. I don't just love the Lord. People say, oh, I love God. You see their lives and what they do, they don't love God. They're like the stars. at the award show. They just had these horrible eyes, but I wanna thank my Lord and Savior, you know, as they received the award. When you really learn the person of Christ and who our God is, you will love him. Now let's see how great he is, the merciful heart he has. Let's turn to Matthew chapter 17. It's not the end of Moses in the Old Testament. We actually hear of him in the New. So we see God's serious judgment upon him. He was not allowed to enter the promised land. He would not let Moses become an idol. That's why the devil would have loved to have gotten his hands on the body of Moses to make him an idol. And this is why the archangel Michael had to come and fight him and do battle with him and make sure that Moses' body stayed up on the mount. It was not to become an idol for the people. Moses was not a pope or a celebrity minister. He was a servant of God and his body was meant to stay there. But let's read. We hear about Moses again. This is beautiful. And after six days, Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John, his brother, and bringeth them up into a high mountain, and was transfigured before them. And his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. And behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with them. So Jesus, the only time we get a description where he transfigures himself, he shows himself in his glory, and it's an amazing sight. Only this inner group of disciples were able to see that. But who are the two men that he is speaking with? One is Elijah and one is Moses. So we see that even though Moses had that judgment made against him because he fell, because he is human and fallible, he had the honor of being the two men that Christ held counsel with when he transfigured himself. It's beautiful. That's redemption. That's how we can fall, we can screw up God's plans, and then once we come to him in faith, if we really love him, he'll bring us right back into the fold. We have the Gospel of Mark. You know, the apostles had a problem with Mark. You read the story, right? It was a contention over Mark. Mark was not considered reliable. They didn't want to take him on one of the missionary journeys. And Paul was very vocal about not wanting Mark. And Paul actually went out on his own with a different apostle, had a strong agreement. He's like, Mark is immature, Mark is trouble, Mark is no good for us. And then when we read, before Paul is executed in Rome, who's one of the people that he mentions by name to come to him? Mark. So people grow in the faith. The reason why we correct people, the reason why we're stern, is because we care about them. We want people to grow in Christ. If you love someone, you'll correct them in love. If we didn't care about you, we'd do what 9 out of 10 churches do now, especially in metropolitan areas. We take your money, and we don't care what you do. And as long as you're tithing, you can come in here and behave whatever way you want. And by the way, bring your sinful mother, brother, sister, father, uncle, whoever. Bring them all! As long as they tithe. They tithe a lot, we'll make him a deacon. We'll ignore his six girlfriends, we don't care. He could be a deacon. Or a deaconess, we'll ignore scripture. Right? As long as the money is there, and I have a good report in my annual meeting. That's the way it works now. But they are dying. You see those churches closing. God's judgment is coming. The building closes. How many people, you travel around the country, a church might have been there 300 years. Church is closed. Somebody made it some dumb art studio or an apartment, or they just knocked it down. This is what's happening. So we'll still be here as long as we're faithful. God takes care of us. But this is the way we're supposed to behave. So Moses, who fell, now has this amazing honor that Jesus holds counsel with him and Elijah. It's beautiful. And then we see in Jude, verse 10, But these speak evil of the things which they know not, but what they know naturally is brute beasts, and in those things they corrupt themselves. These preachers, these fake apostles, fake pastors, these people that snuck in, there were two themes to what they were teaching the people. The greatest thing you could get your hands on is sex and money. It never changes. That's basically what the culture chases today. And that's all your messaging from commercials and they link it to sex or they link it to money. It could be a bar of soap. It doesn't matter what it is. It could be a beer. Like you open up that beer and all these beautiful women and money and anything. They link it to a car. Want to feel sexy? Like what? Getting into Mercedes is gonna make me feel a certain way. They do it all the time. So the two things, sex and money. There are whole genres of music like rock and hip hop. If you listen to any song, those are the two main themes, sex and money. That's all they chase, that's all they sing about. It doesn't matter if it's the Rolling Stones in the 60s, or my man Jeezy now, or whatever, Cheezy and Weezy. There's so many of them now. Weezy and Jeezy and Cheezy and whatever, it'll be something else. So that's how they make it. And what do the kids chase? Sex and money, that's it. If you get that, you've made it. And I won't use the word, but there's a famous line from when I was growing up, life ain't nothing but blank and money. That's what they used to live by. I had friends that lived by that. So, but this is not the way we're supposed to behave. So now, after I said this to you, you listen to the heretical preaching, and you'll see they change grace into a license to sin. So instead of you being an appreciative believer, Christ saved me, you know what I call myself? I'm God's dog. I say it all the time. I never want to be represented as anything more. I am God's dog on a leash. He rescued me. I am worth nothing more. He loves me, but I do His will. I stay in His will. I glorify Him. I am nobody special. If you listen to the messaging of much of the Christianity we have today, that's all they promote. You're saved by grace, you can do what you want. Nobody can say, nobody can judge me but God, right? That dumb tattoo that I see people getting. Nobody can judge me. Oh yeah, he sure can, he can throw you into hell too. He sure will judge you. So when we talk to people, we don't make a permanent judgment on who's gonna be a Christian or not. The person that you swear, is gonna become a Christian, many times won't. And then the person with the worst lifestyle, or they're the worst, most immature believer in the church, many times that's who comes to Christ, because God wants to show his power. So we don't put a permanent judgment on people that they can't change, but in love we correct them. So don't get caught up in this. The whole theme today is you're saved, now do what you want. Why would you want to embarrass the Lord that way? We're not perfect, but can you at least love the Lord enough to say what's sin and say what's righteous and want to wear Christ like a robe of honor? Can we do that? I think we can. So these books, they're not officially in the canon, but you can read the Apocrypha, the way we get the miraculous story of what they call Hanukkah, the way we get history between the Testaments, between the Old Testament and the New Testament, is from the Book of Maccabees, 1st and 2nd Maccabees. So there are books that we can use as history. I read these, I have them at home, but when it comes to the standard of scripture and doctrine, we only go to the canon of scripture that's accepted. But when we have someone who's an inspired writer, like Jude, quote one of these books, we can trust the story that he cherry-picked out of those books. And it's wonderful. It's wonderful. So if the archangel Michael had enough respect that when he was arguing with the devil, he said, the Lord rebuked thee, even the archangel Michael didn't say to Satan, do you know who I am? I'm God's most powerful angel. Do you know who I am? He didn't say that. He said the Lord rebuke you. Do you know who the Lord is? So let's not get caught up in this. Let's never brag about our power, but only the Lord's power. Amen. Lord, we thank you for your word. We thank you for the peace that you give us. We thank you, Lord, that you stand up for us. We know, Lord, that if we are faithful to your word, that if we have proper teaching and doctrine, that we worship only you, that we don't worship men, great spiritual teachers, and we don't talk about things that we don't know about, but only what's in your revealed word, that it'll be well for us. We thank you, Lord, that you've brought us into your covenant of life through the blood of your Son. We know, Lord, that grace is free, but it's never cheap. It is priceless, and it was bought with the blood of your Son on the cross. And we pray, Lord, for those that have family, friends, acquaintances, that have rejected this great offer that Jesus Christ has given us, that you would grab them, Lord, by their hearts. Take out that heart of stone where they will not accept your word, and we pray, Lord, like you promised in your word, that you give them a heart of flesh that can feel. We pray that you give them ears that can hear the gospel, and mouths that will speak truth and not lies. We pray, Lord, for so many that are lost right now, We thank you, Lord, that the church is splitting in many denominations. There are those standing up against evil. They don't care about money or losing their building or taking on the denomination, that they are standing up for the truth. We pray, Lord, that you keep us humble and faithful, and we will never, Lord, brag about our power, but only speak and warn about your power and we know that all of our power comes from you and from the work of your Son and from the Holy Spirit. Amen.